Marantz 7T. I’m surprised!


The universe works in strange and wonderful ways sometimes.

Was just gifted a Marantz 7T from someone. We were talking about interests and I had shown them photos of my DIY builds, amps, speakers and my audio set up etc. He mentioned that he had an old Marantz that had been left behind in a house he was renovating. He had it for a couple of years, never used it and said I could have it if I wanted it. Not too long after, he pulled this out of a bag and handed it to me. 
 

Since it had been sitting for years unused, and who knows how long prior, I temporarily replaced the power supply caps with dome cheap “appliance” grade capacitors. The codes on the caps dates them to September of 67’. The preamp is all original and complete with all the “bits”. And with the exception of the basement/cigarette smell, was mint. Inside it looks new! 
 

So I plugged it into a dim bulb tester and powered it up. Listening with headphones, I heard nothing, and there was no light on. Even at full volume, silence. Checked voltages, there was power going through it. Fuses were also original, best I could tell, and they were fine. Switched to phono thinking I should be able to hear something there. Yup, at 3/4 volume, slight hiss.

Hooked it up to an amp a voila, sound! After being on for a short while, the graininess in the sound went away. Day two of listening, and I can not believe how good this sounds, even with its 55+ year old caps! 
 

Wondering if anyone is familiar with this preamp and what your thoughts are? I’m going to order some proper power supply caps and let it settle in a while before I have at it and do a full restoration on it. 
 

Again, I’m kinda floored with how good this thing sounds.

 

Such a wonderful gift I was given.

 

 

perkri

Wow!Lucky man. Sorry I know nothing about them except I used to admire one owned by a friend long ago. Good luck with your project.

Agreed. I found a 7T on my local Craigslist years ago for $120 and it wouldn't power up. I spent another $400 at a repair shop (cap replacement and LED power on lamp)  and the unit has been singing along in my office system ever since. It's a fantastic pre-amp that I feel is underestimated when compared to the 7C at a factor of 10X the price.