[f575m]

Chaps,

Too many years ago, around 1965, I had a Marantz 7 preamp, it sounded great in a system of that era.

However, how does it sound by today's standards, can you justify the high prices in comparison with Electron Images, Shindo, Audio Note, VAC, CAT, Art Audio ...?

Cheers,

Horacio

[JakeJ]

However, how does it sound by today's standards, can you justify the high prices in comparison with Electron Images, Shindo, Audio Note, VAC, CAT, Art Audio ...?

No it does not.  It's all just "vintage" hype because everything old and new has some hype associated with it.  I have never owned a Marantz 7C preamp or a 10B tuner.  Oh, I lusted but never could afford.  Now I've several tube preamps in my equipment harem and lost interest in the vintage gear.  My experience is that newer gear does sound better in many ways which, for me, trumps the nostalgia.

[FullRangeMan]

Why not a SET instead with a hi sensitivity speaker?
These others brands you mentioned also are hype, a great deal is a made to order SET by a experiencied builder IMO.

[f575m]

I use phono 95% of the time, the other 5% CDs.