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Marantz 10b Tube Tuner?


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Why does this tuner cost so much?

Is it really the best tuner ever made?

I found one at a garage sale and I bought it with out knowing anything about it and then I looked it up on Ebay...

Yikes!!!

prices from 2k to 3k in very nice shape.

Is this just more crazy Ebay prices like $1500 Heresy's?

Ebay only lets me look up things sold in the last 30 days so I could use a better historical prospective...

Please help me.

~Noah

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Yes, it is one of the best tuners ever made. Of course there are a handful of others that are in the same league too. Congratulations on your score. Normally these tuners don't show up in garage sales!!! If the tuner is in proper alignment it would be very enjoyable to listen.

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Why does this tuner cost so much?

Is it really the best tuner ever made?

I found one at a garage sale and I bought it with out knowing anything about it and then I looked it up on Ebay...

Yikes!!!

prices from 2k to 3k in very nice shape.

Is this just more crazy Ebay prices like $1500 Heresy's?

Ebay only lets me look up things sold in the last 30 days so I could use a better historical prospective...

Please help me.

~Noah

No there is nothing crazy going on. Marantz 10B's in very good condition have been getting $2000+ for years now.

It's a wonderful tuner that sounds so clear and rich it will make you start listening to FM again. Depsite the lack of decent FM radio, it's a joy to listen to radio with this tuner. It has a collectors following as do all the tubed Marantz pieces so that certainly adds to the price. I think it deserves it's reputation as one of the best tuners made however. As with any vintage tube piece, it will perform it's best after a good service.

You looking to keep it or sell it?

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Thanks for all the congrats and all that.

Thank you for posting the picture Pete, I thought the dial needle on mine was busted off -lol.

When I bought it I did not even know it was a tube unit as all the tubes were missing.

Except for the O-scope tube is still there...

The unit is a mess and I don't know if I can afford to have it restored.

I will give Terry De Wick a call and ask his opine tomorrow.

Thebes, I paid very little for a 10b it seems but a lot for the hunk of junk it looked like at that time.

If I get to keep it (if I can afford to get it restored) I will tell you what i paid for it

but if i have to sell it, I will be more happy without that bit of info floating around out there.

NOS tubes alone will cost a bunch to replace; man it uses a bunch of 12ax7's...

The electronics look pretty good.

Its still hard to believe a tuner could be worth that much money - I hope I get a chance to find out!

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Terry could fix it, and you may also try Audio Classics; Richard Modaferri has some mods that takes the tuner to a higher level. The mods that benefit this tuner a great deal would be replacing the photo cells and a few little changes in the RF section. Of course, Terry would know what to do too!!!

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Send it to Mike Zuccaro. He knows more about the 10B than anyone I've ever met and will be a good deal cheaper than Audio Classics . . .

http://members.aol.com/mjzuccaro/myhomepage/business.html

I too have one of these--it's a boat anchor--it's a model 10 (as opposed to a 10B) and Mike spent a month with it and couldn't fix it. Sure is pretty, though . . .

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I paid about $800 for mine to be fixed at Audio Classics. Unless yours is in mint condition I would not recommend spending that kind of money on it, as you will never recover it. They sound awesome though. I sold mine recently, but I intend to buy another in the future.

Kudret

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Why could you not get your money back?

Assuming you could sell your tuner for $600 for parts as is (since there were no tubes most probably it's not working). If you have it repaired for $800 and spend another $300 for tubes, means you'll need to sell it for $1700 to get $600. Whether it would sell for $1700 or not depends on its condition. If it is in very poor condition, you won't get $1700 for it.

How much do you think it would sell for?

How much it would sell for depends on the cosmetic condition. Can you post a picture of yours?

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I too have one of these--it's a boat anchor--it's a model 10 (as opposed to a 10B) and Mike spent a month with it and couldn't fix it. Sure is pretty, though . . .

As I recall, the 10s had some really oddball problem with the magnetic fields set up by the soldering irons used to assemble it throwing the alignment off.

I'm not looking forward to the day I have to get my 10b serviced.

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Oh, I get your math now.

Yeah, if I sunk big bucks into it, I would likely make less than just selling it as is.

After talking to Terry about it, I must say, it's in better shape than I might have made it sound.

There is NO rust on it, it's just dirty... Like 30 years of finger prints built up.

It's filthy but the funny thing is, it cleans up really easily.

The tuning dial works smoothly, the glass is not cracked or chipped.

I can't post a picture of how it would look after it gets restored, and it's hard to imagine.

I sent a pair of Scott 99 amps to Terry and he did a fine job of getting them back into shape.

I know he could get this unit back to looking very good.

I will post a picture of how it looks tomorrow as tomorrow is the right day to get it on Ebay.

I don't have enough time to get photos today - not enough time (light) to get it all set up to shoot.

I'm still up in the air about what to do with it...

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Oh, I get your math now.

Yeah, if I sunk big bucks into it, I would likely make less than just selling it as is.

After talking to Terry about it, I must say, it's in better shape than I might have made it sound.

There is NO rust on it, it's just dirty... Like 30 years of finger prints built up.

It's filthy but the funny thing is, it cleans up really easily.

The tuning dial works smoothly, the glass is not cracked or chipped.

I can't post a picture of how it would look after it gets restored, and it's hard to imagine.

I sent a pair of Scott 99 amps to Terry and he did a fine job of getting them back into shape.

I know he could get this unit back to looking very good.

I will post a picture of how it looks tomorrow as tomorrow is the right day to get it on Ebay.

I don't have enough time to get photos today - not enough time (light) to get it all set up to shoot.

I'm still up in the air about what to do with it...

If you get as far as trying to clean the glass, be careful. You can lose the lettering in the blink of an eye. It CAN be cleaned but you need to be very patient and careful.

I would agree if you're just going to sell it, don't bother having it serviced, you'll rarely recoup the servicing cost in a quick resale.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

thebes,

I'll talk now as the 10B sold last month on Ebay.

I paid $100 each for it and a McIntosh SS pre amp.

I was really after the McIntosh but the 10B needed a place to stay so I took it home too.

Glad I did.

~Noah

That is a super-duper score-o-rama-damma-ding dong!

You hit the jackpot!

Fantastic good news. Now tell us what you paid.

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