Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?

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medium jim

Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« on: 3 Mar 2012, 03:13 am »
I'm a proud owner of a pair of VAC Marantz Model 9 Reissues and was hoping there are some other owners of either the RI's or the real ones.

Jim

drjjpdc

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #1 on: 4 Mar 2012, 07:05 pm »
Jim,
They are out there. I have a friend with one. They are one of the best tube amps ever, right up there with the HK gourmet line, Citation. The Citation II & V are 2 great power amps. The II is the big brother and the V is a smaller variation. There are some that throw the Dyna ST-70 in the above mix but I think the the Marantz and the Citation are a bit better. 

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #2 on: 4 Mar 2012, 07:30 pm »
I think you meant a pair of them as they're monoblocks and it takes two for stereo.  I also have a Dynaco ST-70, while a decent amp, not in the same league as the Marantz 9's.

Thanks,

Jim

drjjpdc

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #3 on: 4 Mar 2012, 07:58 pm »
Yes Jim I was being generous to the Dyna owners, but I do agree the Marantz and Citatation amps were in the majors while the Dyna was in AAA.

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #4 on: 4 Mar 2012, 08:01 pm »
Haven't heard any Citations, so I cannot comment, but I've heard some Vintage McIntosh's and they're decent. 

Jim

OzarkTom

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #5 on: 4 Mar 2012, 10:03 pm »
I was going to say to buy yourself a 7c preamp, but those are going for around $6K on Ebay.

I knew I should have bought all of those I saw for $1K, 30 years ago. The 8B's went for about $6-800 back then

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #6 on: 4 Mar 2012, 10:38 pm »
Tom:

I know there are better preamps out there, but the McIntosh MX-110 I have really likes the model 9's.  In fact, I had a McIntosh C22, but the MX-110 seems more natural.

Jim

OzarkTom

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #7 on: 4 Mar 2012, 10:50 pm »
Here is an interesting story on the VAC company that made the Marantz reissues.

http://www.vac-amps.com/vactour.htm

kevin360

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #8 on: 4 Mar 2012, 11:01 pm »
It's not a Marantz 9, but it is built by the company that built the re-issues. I haven't made the pilgrimage yet (I'm still a newly converted sand-head), but I intend to. I have to admit that I was shocked by this amp - incredibly neutral.


SteveFord

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #9 on: 4 Mar 2012, 11:17 pm »
Good for you, Kevin.
I'd like to kick myself for waiting so long before going with tube amps.
Nice tour of the VAC plant!

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #10 on: 4 Mar 2012, 11:28 pm »
VAC makes some impressive amps and I feel my Marantz 9's made them are every bit as good, if not better than the originals due to the detachable IEC power cord, better binding posts and very stringent QC.

Jim

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #11 on: 4 Mar 2012, 11:32 pm »
It's not a Marantz 9, but it is built by the company that built the re-issues. I haven't made the pilgrimage yet (I'm still a newly converted sand-head), but I intend to. I have to admit that I was shocked by this amp - incredibly neutral.


Hi Kevin:

Have had chance to hunt down some NOS 6SN7's for that bad boy?

Jim

kevin360

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #12 on: 5 Mar 2012, 12:05 am »
I've had plenty of opportunity, just no desire. I did flip the switches back into ultra-linear mode (interesting, the change back didn't seem nearly as dramatic as when I switched it to triode mode) and I've pushed the XO point to 80Hz. It's odd that 80Hz really didn't work for me in triode mode, but it's the cat's meow in ultra-linear.

My current focus is diskless media. The call of the Bryston combo (BDP-1/BDA-1) is strong.

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #13 on: 5 Mar 2012, 12:35 am »
Kevin:

I've resisted the the urge to go digital, but them times are a changing and it's getting better all the time.  I do like the idea of having all my cd's on a server, the time is getting sooner and sooner.

Jim

kevin360

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Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #14 on: 5 Mar 2012, 12:56 am »
Hmm, the format of this forum gives definite weight to the 'hijacking of a thread' - I didn't mean to do that. Let me say that if the level of execution of the 9 reissues is like that of the products which wear the VAC logo, then I seriously doubt they give up anything to the originals.

The modern Marantz Reference gear would make Saul proud too.
 

medium jim

Re: Any other Marantz Model 9 owners?
« Reply #15 on: 5 Mar 2012, 01:04 am »
Especially in a forum dedicated to vintage gear :wink:

Jim