Marantz was a difficult company to work with! While their products were magnificent at times, the company was awful. Even if we had a signed contract with them we could never be sure of which company imported the next large shipment of some out-of-production modell - or a new one that we had never seen. Once Arnfinn and I went to their Europe-office in Brussels, to talk serious. Oh boy - those guys were slick. We tried hard for a couple of years but changing leadership, ownership and problems with getting spares, and lack of understanding of the local safety regulations pissed us off.
They talked sweet, but nothing happened. Not if it would cost them anything! However, they had a problem here in Norway. Their old distributor was also working Pioneer. Which I should think was detrimental to the Marantz business. Also, Pioneer did very well in Norway - having a large and diversified product spectre, somewhat better priced than Marantz - if they could be compared at all.
I suppose Marantz saw us a lever towards the other company, for them to concentrate on Marantz. Nothing wrong about that, contracts were renewed every year, but Pioneer was growing all the time, giving good support to their distributors. So, their tactics didn't work out. Not as fast as they had hoped, anyway. Therefore, we could buy directly from Marantz for several years.
While we sold a few receivers and integrated amplifiers, what we sold most, relatively speaking, was their more expensive units. The most popular combo being the 33/250 pre and power amp. We made a big mistake with the 250. At that time there weren't that many amps able to give more than 250 watts continuous into 8 ohms - even more in 4 ohms! So we sold a few to some discotheques. They all came back - blown!
While the 250 was OK for domestic use - it was a disaster in more professional applications! It couldn't stand the strain for long, but over-heated and finally went bust. That cost us - and Marantz couldn't - or wouldn't, supply new output transistors. And if they could/would - it took months! When Arnfinn and I went to Brussels we used the opportunity to bring some back. They couldn't very well deny us, seeing us eye to eye - but it cost them blood. Like giving away diamonds! A device like the patented McIntosh PowerGuard system would have solved the 250's problem. As it was it had fuses, but these these did not protect against gradual build-up of heat and eventual oscillation and burn-out!
However, some of their units had a very special aura - and they sounded great. Our favourites were the before-mentioned 33/250 pre/power combo - sensibly used. The 1160 and 1200 integrated amps and the modell 22 receiver also were nice. We never imported the speakers even if they had some real monsters - looked much like the contemporary McIntosh speakers. Talking about that I would prefer a McIntosh for a Marantz - every time! The customers loved Marantz, though.
The old tube Marantz units are prized extremely high at the used-market today. But, I would take a McIntosh every time. If I could afford one!
Marantz was bought up by Sony/Superscope in 1980 and production was moved to the Far East. Today, the brand name is owned by Phillips, being manufactured in Japan.
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