Most of you that know me personally already know I’m a gear head and an audiophile. I always have been fascinated by knowing how things work. Over the winter I tend to hibernate inside my home and purchase vintage audio components to refurbish them. Most times I resell the finished products but this time is a little different.

When I was 18 years old I purchased my first piece of quality audio gear and that was a Marantz 2220B receiver. Years after the 2220B I moved on to bigger and more powerful refined gear but I always had a soft spot for that original 2220B receiver. To my ears (and apparently many other peoples) the meager 20 watts per channel that the little Marantz 2220B put out were very sweet sounding watts. About two months ago I found a Marantz 2220B in decent condition for sale and I grabbed it. I cleaned her up and went through the circuitry to make sure all of the 50 year old parts were within specs and the finished product is shown above. I actually bought this piece to collect and keep.

The last photo is showing my every day listening rigs which are two thoroughly modern Marantz pieces a Model 50 integrated amplifier and a Marantz CD 50n CD player – music streamer – digital to analog converter. I chose these pieces because of their refined sound and their classic industrial design that Saul Marantz made so famous in his 1950’s and 60’s designs including the porthole display on the Model 50 integrated amplifier.

Both photos were taken with an iPhone 15 ProMax.

For Marantz history and timeline click – here