Marantz 6300 - Is it's beauty only skin deep?

[Mikeandvan]

Spotted one of these on Ebay, then had a look on the Vintage knob, which doesn't rate its sound very highly, and wondered why people would spend big money on a TT just for cool 70s styling, so has anyone got/heard one?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Marantz-Model-6300-Direct-Drive-Automatic-Turntable-Record-Player/122819403856?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

[montesquieu]

Spotted one of these on Ebay, then had a look on the Vintage knob, which doesn't rate its sound very highly, and wondered why people would spend big money on a TT just for cool 70s styling, so has anyone got/heard one?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Marantz-Model-6300-Direct-Drive-Automatic-Turntable-Record-Player/122819403856?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

why?

1) it does look pretty cool in a 70s sideburns, tia maria with your prawn cocktail kind of way.
2) probably sounds pretty good too to most people who haven't heard a proper high end turntable (which is most people)
3) it'll likely be used by such people in a system where a high end turntable would be a waste anyway.

[jandl100]

Oh wow, yeah, seriously cool. :stalks:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/0f/a3/dd0fa3af973f0086d6d1ccc4ea39d760.jpg

[montesquieu]

In the 70s, even Spock was a cool dude

http://i.imgur.com/QSPgl.jpg

[jandl100]

.... says the guy with vintage-look Tannoys. ;)

[RobbieGong]

Pioneer did more than a few with a similar appearance ie wood and steal finish that appeal to me more - probably as good or better :)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pioneer+vintage+turntables&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizltTc2NXXAhWHOsAKHUKIBGsQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=949#imgrc=CAAwTaQqpWw4CM:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pioneer+pl+530&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi588an2tXXAhVILsAKHaQIBkcQ_AUICygC&biw=1920&bih=949#imgrc=2zSBotxmgZIGYM:

http://www.audioaffinity.co.uk/archive?lightbox=image_1u2e

http://www.pilotsw.com/make-vinyl-vintage-turntable-work/

[paulf-2007]

Nice looking turntable but I wouldn't pay that much for it, that doesn't mean it's not worth the money. My denon DP80 was a money pit but it worth it for the sound quality.
People are asking stupid money for standard lenco's.

[walpurgis]

The Marantz is overpriced in my opinion. I don't recall them quite matching the build quality of the best Japanese makes.

[jandl100]

Actually, I've seen those Marantz tts 'in the flesh' and those pictures don't show quite how cheap and poorly made they look.
As Robbie says, the Pioneers look much better.

Edit: Oops, overlapped with Geoff saying something similar.

[Mikeandvan]

Funny how much people buy stuff on 'reputation'. I mean that's where 90% of the LP12s profits come from!

[walpurgis]

Funny how much people buy stuff on 'reputation'. I mean that's where 90% of the LP12s profits come from!

The Linn's good reputation is probably deserved (if not for being great value). Not my cup of tea, but I can understand people wanting one.

[montesquieu]

The Linn's good reputation is probably deserved (if not for being great value). Not my cup of tea, but I can understand people wanting one.

The thing about LP12s is you have to qualify from which era you are talking about. They have improved a lot over the years.

[walpurgis]

The thing about LP12s is you have to qualify from which era you are talking about. They have improved a lot over the years.

I know that (altough some prefer older versions), but the VFM factor has probably remained the same.

[montesquieu]

I know that (altough some prefer older versions), but the VFM factor has probably remained the same.

Mine was an early 80s, Valhalla but pre-circus job with an Ittok on it and for most of its 20-odd years with me, an AT OC9. I though it was the dog's bollocks at the time. I got it with my first credit card not long after getting my first job, in about 1982. I seem to recall it was about £400. About the same as the four or five year old VW Golf I was running at the time.

Not anything like as VFM as a properly set up s/h TD124, which for well under £100 back then could probably have shown it a clean pair of heels. But what did I know then? At that time I read the magazines and bouncy tables were where it was at.

[WESTLOWER]

Fast forward from 1982 to 2013 and my new LP12 with upgrades all over it ,is a very good deck indeed and is a much better deck now than 1982, well it pleases me anyway and looks very nice.
VFM.. blimey, not at all in comparison to other TTs. If I add it all up it cost a lot! But all things relatively speaking,
I've certainly had enough value out of it as it hasn't stopped Spinning my collection and has done since day one.
And I suppose that's the litmus test.

[Barry]

I believe a fully fitted, upgraded, "breathed upon" and blessed by Ivor, Linn LP12 costs several grand to buy these days.

I lived with a standard LP12 for about a year in the early '80, whilst its owner was working abroad, so was able to compare it with my Thorens TD124/II (ten yeas old and cost me £38). There was absolutely nothing about the Linn which caused me to think about replacing the Thorens.

[Audio Al]

I own a PIONEER PL-570X ( Black ) super machine :)

[Marco]

Oh wow, yeah, seriously cool. :stalks:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/0f/a3/dd0fa3af973f0086d6d1ccc4ea39d760.jpg

It'd be a damn sight nicer without that horrible label plastered onto the left-hand side, spoiling the lovely wood veneer... Whoever's idea that was should be shot, for being guilty of aesthetics indecency! :mental:

Sonically, I reckon it'd be comparable with the likes of a Pioneer PL-71, and therefore more than decent, although the auto shut-off mechanism may spoil the party slightly.

Marco.

[agk]

Very similar in looks to my Pioneer PL-550. I notice that the platter doesn't seem as substantial and the arm looks a tad feeble maybe.

Very cool looking although that decal does indeed spoil it.

[Pigmy Pony]

Fast forward from 1982 to 2013 and my new LP12 with upgrades all over it ,is a very good deck indeed and is a much better deck now than 1982, well it pleases me anyway and looks very nice.
VFM.. blimey, not at all in comparison to other TTs. If I add it all up it cost a lot! But all things relatively speaking,
I've certainly had enough value out of it as it hasn't stopped Spinning my collection and has done since day one.
And I suppose that's the litmus test.


I think VFM is a personal thing.

One man buys a turntable for cheap, to have it sat unloved and unused in a corner of the room.

Another man spends a fortune on his deck, and spends even more money and time tinkering with it, and in return the turntable gives him joy every day.

Which one had the real VFM?

[Barry]

How about when someone doesn't spend a fortune on a TT, nor spends much on maintenance, yet gives him complete satisfaction for over forty-five years?

[WESTLOWER]

How about when someone doesn't spend a fortune on a TT, nor spends much on maintenance, yet gives him complete satisfaction for over forty-five years?

That's called Bingo!

[Minstrel SE]

I wonder if thats why they called the cd player the CD63 :)

Thats a very 70s look...what can I say :) I was sold on the minimalist UK 1980s designs.

The Japanese seem fond of their big direct drive record players (if you see a recent you tube tour of a Japanese dealer) which seems a direct conflict with the UK belt driven ethos. Im biased because I grew up with the UK marketing and it does sway us. I would still prefer a motor in a seperate unit and a platter driven with a belt

I still worry about rumble on a direct drive deck but it all fairness it must be good on the expensive Japanese decks and the Technics 1200 series is reported to have negated any issues there

[sumday]

As a fan and collector of late 70s Japanese gear( I started in the late 80s when "silver" gear, including some quite large amps and receivers could be had for peanuts...secondhand stereo shops in my city were piled high with the stuff) I never touched Marantz gear.
Something about the multiple fonts plastered all over the shop and....as on the TT pictured...always put me off.

I had just the one solitary tuner from the marque, a huge, gold thing with a yucky side on tuning wheel...lit up a bright blue dial so I guess it was 30+ years ahead of its time!!

I know the really powerful stuff sold mostly in the USA now commands BIG bucks but, bloody hell they are ugly.
Give me a Yamaha 2020 any day.....with a matching TT.

[Idlewithnodrive]

How about when someone doesn't spend a fortune on a TT, nor spends much on maintenance, yet gives him complete satisfaction for over forty-five years?

I've been up and down the TT cost ladder many times, as have many of us I suspect, from well into 4 figures to buttons and the deck I keep coming back to is the Lenco.

If I'd had any sense, and stayed with the Lenco, I needn't have changed TT at all in the 25 years I've wasted changing decks, so maybe it is called wisdom.

[Marco]

How about when someone doesn't spend a fortune on a TT, nor spends much on maintenance, yet gives him complete satisfaction for over forty-five years?

Yes, that happens when you buy something that was properly engineered to begin with ['fit and forget'], and so doesn't need continual 'nannying' to sound good! ;)

Marco.

[Marco]

I wonder if thats why they called the cd player the CD63 :)

Thats a very 70s look...what can I say :) I was sold on the minimalist UK 1980s designs.

The Japanese seem fond of their big direct drive record players (if you see a recent you tube tour of a Japanese dealer) which seems a direct conflict with the UK belt driven ethos. Im biased because I grew up with the UK marketing and it does sway us. I would still prefer a motor in a seperate unit and a platter driven with a belt

I still worry about rumble on a direct drive deck but it all fairness it must be good on the expensive Japanese decks and the Technics 1200 series is reported to have negated any issues there

It isn't anything to worry about, Martin, trust me. Also, when you factor in the gains, in terms of pitch stability and bass solidity/lack of coloration, the best D/Ds are a joy to listen to :)

Only high-mass string-drives truly get the 'belt' thing right for me - Platine Verdier and such like, otherwise most are too compromised to my ears, although VPI stuff tends to buck the trend. But, generally for me, it's either D/D or idler, done well. You can keep yer elastic bands, driven by puny wee motors ;)

Marco.

[Primalsea]

Im not really impressed by the vintage Marantz stuff. I used to have a CD94, it was solidly built but the electronics was actually quite crap. Good quality components for the time but a few measurements showed that the power supply rails were badly poluted with noise. Shame a real feat of electronics for the time, but you would hope that the basics would have been taken care of.

[jandl100]

Im not really impressed by the vintage Marantz stuff.

:eek:

Here's mine ... :stalks: ... cor, yummy. Not to everyone's taste perhaps?

https://i.imgur.com/WQAioFw.jpg

[Primalsea]

I love the look of the stuff and the features too, its just when you did a little deeper some things are less than desirable.

[Marco]

If I remember correctly, I think Jerry uses that stuff more as an ornament than anything else! Once using the phono stage in the receiver, when he had a turntable... Not sure that it all even works :eyebrows:

Marco.

[montesquieu]

:eek:

Here's mine ... :stalks: ... cor, yummy. Not to everyone's taste perhaps?

https://i.imgur.com/WQAioFw.jpg

Cool looks but just as typographically challenged as the Marantz TT.

[jandl100]

If I remember correctly, I think Jerry uses that stuff more as an ornament than anything else! Once using the phono stage in the receiver, when he had a turntable... Not sure that it all even works :eyebrows:

Marco.

Yep, I bought them cos they're pretty. :)

I've had both units checked out and cleaned.
Receiver works fine (or it did the last time I used it a year or 2 back). I showed them as an optional extra source at Scalford one year. They were much admired and enjoyed.
The cassette deck now shows signs of a tired motor, plays OK (mostly) but forget fast forward or backward!

And yes, I used the receiver's phono section for a while - including, I think, when Marco visited Jerry Towers. That could be the reason he didn't think much of my vinyl front end - the Marantz is forgiving rather than exciting. The whole receiver including the phonostage provides a pleasant, rosy glowed, quite laidback listen, nothing more. The only way it will pin you to the back wall is if someone throws it at you. :lol:

And no, I'm not at all concerned about what worries the AOS Typography Police. :D

[sumday]

Having owned a few vintage cassette decks over the years i'd bet your motor/s are fine.
Most likely the problem is rubber drive belts stretching and losing traction....soon to turning to goo.

Drive belts can be had on tinterwed for a lot of models but fitting can be problematic on some types.

Keep em spooling.

[jandl100]

OK, thanks for that!
I may well have it looked at.

[Beobloke]

Im not really impressed by the vintage Marantz stuff. I used to have a CD94, it was solidly built but the electronics was actually quite crap. Good quality components for the time but a few measurements showed that the power supply rails were badly poluted with noise. Shame a real feat of electronics for the time, but you would hope that the basics would have been taken care of.

Sorry, but I have to take this to task. Are you sure yours was in decent condition, as they can suffer from the aging effects of some of the "audiophile mods" that were fitted to them as new?

I have one, plus the matching CDA94 DAC, and it will have to be prised from my cold, dead hands. It remains one of the finest CD players I have ever heard.

[Marco]

Yep, I bought them cos they're pretty. :)

I've had both units checked out and cleaned.
Receiver works fine (or it did the last time I used it a year or 2 back). I showed them as an optional extra source at Scalford one year. They were much admired and enjoyed.
The cassette deck now shows signs of a tired motor, plays OK (mostly) but forget fast forward or backward!

And yes, I used the receiver's phono section for a while - including, I think, when Marco visited Jerry Towers. That could be the reason he didn't think much of my vinyl front end - the Marantz is forgiving rather than exciting. The whole receiver including the phonostage provides a pleasant, rosy glowed, quite laidback listen, nothing more. The only way it will pin you to the back wall is if someone throws it at you. :lol:


That's all cool, Jerry :)

Yes, the phono stage could've been the reason why your T/T, to my ears, was considerably behind the performance of your digital front end. Who knows, mate - there are so many possible variables...

All water under the bridge now anyway, as black frisbees are a thing of the past now at Jerry-towers! ;)

Marco.

[agk]

Quote for today, thank you Jerry.

"The only way it will pin you to the back wall is if someone throws it at you."

[Dylanthecat]

Hi I have had a 6100 and 6300. They look the part but never impressed. Philips 212 look cooler and with a little patience can sound pretty good too. More of a sleeper for me. Martin