Is This The Best Quadraphonic Receiver Ever Made?

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

musicmemorabiliashoppellc

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Joined
Mar 24, 2018
Messages
2,966
Location
Ban
www.ebay.com

Marantz Quadraphonic 4240/SQA-2B/RC-4 = Premium Collector's Grouping | eBay
Condition - although used (duh.) - is as close to mint as you will find. Pics 1 and 2 are the current condition. 3-7 are as I received the 4240 with the WC-22. 8 is as I received the RC-4. 9 is a photo this 4240 underbelly - note the cover and stud machine screws, 10 is my collection - Currently...
www.ebay.com

Also in this day and age do you really need an OLD SCHOOL QUAD RECEIVER to listen to Quad LP's and 8-Tracks etc, or will the new surround receivers do a better or at least an equivilent job?
 
Way overpriced, and that isn't even the top model. The 4400 is the most desirable of the Marantz's. I have a 4070 (smaller amp-only unit from the same series) that only ran me $200.

Also in this day and age do you really need an OLD SCHOOL QUAD RECEIVER to listen to Quad LP's and 8-Tracks etc, or will the new surround receivers do a better or at least an equivilent job?

All you need is a receiver with analog multichannel inputs. It doesn't necessarily have to be from the '70s. Unfortunately, most receivers made today only have HDMI.
 
Way overpriced, and that isn't even the top model. The 4400 is the most desirable of the Marantz's. I have a 4070 (smaller amp-only unit from the same series) that only ran me $200.



All you need is a receiver with analog multichannel inputs. It doesn't necessarily have to be from the '70s. Unfortunately, most receivers made today only have HDMI.
The '70s gear is going to be way more finicky since they are old (needing recap etc.); but they sure are way sweeter to look at, and gives you that authentic feel when playing Quad!
But is it worth $2-3,000... hmmm only your hairdresser knows.
 
I have a 4230 that a friend who owned a repair shop gave me (I guess the original owner decided not to pay for repairs). I had to repair one amplifier channel, and sprayed all the switches with contact cleaner. I don't know about the 4240 but the 4230 uses a quasi-complimentary output stage as was common in the seventies (all NPN output transistors as they were cheaper than PNP at that time).
I also have a Sansui QR-4500 that I got cheaply on eBay years ago. The QR-4500 has a complimentary symmetry (NPN & PNP) output stage and sounds noticeably better than the Marantz. I mentioned in other posts about the "transistor sound" of virtually all seventies era amplifiers.
I already had an SQA-2 that I purchased as surplus (in the dying days of quad) from Etco Electronics, and so dropped it in. Anyway I was using the Marantz in the bedroom for awhile, I didn't find the SQ decoder to be all that good (it uses the Sony chips) and the Vari-matrix circuit is a joke. I believe the SQA-2B uses the Motorola chips. The one thing that the Marantz has going for it though is it looks really cool. Vintage Marantz equipment sells for high prices these days, I'm sure that's due to the cool factor and not by how it actually sounds.
 
I have a 4230 that a friend who owned a repair shop gave me (I guess the original owner decided not to pay for repairs). I had to repair one amplifier channel, and sprayed all the switches with contact cleaner. I don't know about the 4240 but the 4230 uses a quasi-complimentary output stage as was common in the seventies (all NPN output transistors as they were cheaper than PNP at that time).
I also have a Sansui QR-4500 that I got cheaply on eBay years ago. The QR-4500 has a complimentary symmetry (NPN & PNP) output stage and sounds noticeably better than the Marantz. I mentioned in other posts about the "transistor sound" of virtually all seventies era amplifiers.
I already had an SQA-2 that I purchased as surplus (in the dying days of quad) from Etco Electronics, and so dropped it in. Anyway I was using the Marantz in the bedroom for awhile, I didn't find the SQ decoder to be all that good (it uses the Sony chips) and the Vari-matrix circuit is a joke. I believe the SQA-2B uses the Motorola chips. The one thing that the Marantz has going for it though is it looks really cool. Vintage Marantz equipment sells for high prices these days, I'm sure that's due to the cool factor and not by how it actually sounds.

I always liked the Marantz units, but have found them to be way overpriced and getting any of the quad gear from the 70s restored isn't cheap. The Marantz quad stuff is very nice looking. I have a beautiful Sansui QRX-9001 that I bought from QRX Restore about 4-5 years ago and it was nearly $2k, which I thought was a good price at the time. I have always liked Sansui gear for it's more "tube-like" sound. While I don't know it, I've always suspected that their engineers tried to design their solid state amplifiers to have similar sound characteristics to their tube gear from the 60s on which they built their reputation.
 
I always liked the Marantz units, but have found them to be way overpriced and getting any of the quad gear from the 70s restored isn't cheap. The Marantz quad stuff is very nice looking. I have a beautiful Sansui QRX-9001 that I bought from QRX Restore about 4-5 years ago and it was nearly $2k, which I thought was a good price at the time. I have always liked Sansui gear for it's more "tube-like" sound. While I don't know it, I've always suspected that their engineers tried to design their solid state amplifiers to have similar sound characteristics to their tube gear from the 60s on which they built their reputation.
I love the look of the Marantz, when I get time I might pull it out and recap it. Wima makes small film capacitors that can replace of the many smaller electrolytics. While I don't claim to be able to hear the sound of an electrolytic capacitor in the signal path I do believe that numerous quantities of these capacitors in the signal path contribute to transistor sound. Most troubling of all is a large electrolytic on the output in series with each speaker. For that one you would have to use another electrolytic, audio grade ones are available.
 
Back
Top