Serial numbers ?

[Phil Allison]

Trevor Wilson wrote:

**Back in the 1980s, NAD was manufactured by Fulet Electronic in Taiwan.

** NAD stands for "New Acoustic Dimension" a British brand and the early circuit designs were by a Scandanavian gent( see Wiki).

The early models were full of BC, BD and MJ prefix devices - which was wacky for an obviously Asian made amp.

Whilst performance of the product was decent enough, the mechanical

quality was crap.

** Saw one example of a NAD 3020 that had steel washers installed BTEWEEN the 2NJ3055/MJ2955 output devices and the heatsink !!

Plastic front panel, cheapest possible hardware and electros - yuck.

NAD parted ways with Fulet and went to Japan for most

of their manufacture. Fulet began manufacturing their own brand, Proton,

sometime before the split. Astonishingly, some of their early products

(like the 940 receiver) were identical to the equivalent NAD model (7150

receiver). So much so, that the service manual for the NAD could be used

with the Proton. Same part numbers, PCB designations, etc.

** LOL.

Never knew that before.


..... Phil

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 18/09/2014 10:17 AM, Arfa Daily wrote:

"Trevor Wilson" <trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au> wrote in message
news:c7uc2nFaklrU1@mid.individual.net...
On 17/09/2014 10:25 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
Trevor Wilson wrote:


**I usually place an ID sticker inside the product after service, with

my own reference number and date serviced. I never thought much
about it

until a smartarse brought an amp in for service, claiming that my prior

repair was faulty. No internal ID sticker, but the serial number
matched

one in my database. I decided to call him out. The arsehole had swapped

the serial numbers over on two identical amps. It's only time I've ever

seen it happen, but at least the system saved me.


** Any fuckwit manufacturer who sells items packed as pairs with
the SAME serial numbers attached - has just saved all such
arseholes the trouble of doing a tedious label swapping job.

In fact, they have made it so easy it will happen by simple mistake.


**Agreed. It is daft.


As a slight aside to this, and following on from the possibility of the
Chinese cloning the Alesis product, does anyone know if Yammy badge any
products that are not their own, or allow badging of any of their own
products by a third party ? I always thought that they were very
independent in this regard, and if a product said Yamaha on it, then it
had been designed and made by them. Likewise, any product that didn't
say Yamaha on it, wasn't one of theirs.

**Well, it was a lifetime ago, but B&O used Nippon Gakki (Yamaha) to
manufacture their model 85S turntable. I'm guessing that there may have
been other instances too. More recently? No idea.

Today, I had the removable amplifier box from a "Superlux Corporation
model SP108" portable PA system cross my bench for repair. I had never
seen this name before, but the actual item, both cosmetically and
internally, was a ringer for the Yammy Stagepas 300. I actually compared
it to a 'real' Stagepas 300 that had been written off some time back,
and everything looked pretty much identical. One or two minor
differences in a few components, mainly magnetics, but otherwise no
obvious differences. Except, curiously, the actual component reference
numbers ...

**Back in the 1980s, NAD was manufactured by Fulet Electronic in Taiwan.
Whilst performance of the product was decent enough, the mechanical
quality was crap. NAD parted ways with Fulet and went to Japan for most
of their manufacture. Fulet began manufacturing their own brand, Proton,
sometime before the split. Astonishingly, some of their early products
(like the 940 receiver) were identical to the equivalent NAD model (7150
receiver). So much so, that the service manual for the NAD could be used
with the Proton. Same part numbers, PCB designations, etc. Possibly
Yamaha contracted another company for one of their products?


--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 18/09/2014 3:16 PM, Phil Allison wrote:

Trevor Wilson wrote:



**Back in the 1980s, NAD was manufactured by Fulet Electronic in
Taiwan.


** NAD stands for "New Acoustic Dimension" a British brand and the
early circuit designs were by a Scandanavian gent( see Wiki).

The early models were full of BC, BD and MJ prefix devices - which
was wacky for an obviously Asian made amp.

**Whacky, but not unheard of. Quite a few of Korean products were full
of such things as well. Back in the 1970s, there were a couple of
Marantz models (Model 140, 2275) which used Motorola (in-house numbered)
output devices. They appeared to be similar to the MJ15003/4. That was
kinda odd, since the rest of the range used all Japanese devices
throughout. I suspect the engineers in California specified the
Motorolas for some, specific reasons. Possibly they were more robust
than the Japanese devices at the time. They were much slower (around
2MHz fT vs. 10MHz fT for Jap output devices).

Whilst performance of the product was decent enough, the
mechanical

quality was crap.


** Saw one example of a NAD 3020 that had steel washers installed
BTEWEEN the 2NJ3055/MJ2955 output devices and the heatsink !!

Plastic front panel, cheapest possible hardware and electros -
yuck.

**Yep. Saw it all. One of my mates used to play 'catch the knob' with
his 3020. Press one of the input selectors and the other one would pop
out, ejecting the knob in the process. It was all down to NAD not
maintaining proper QC over Fulet. Funnily enough, I sold NAD back then.
I also sold Sansui. Dollar for Dollar, through most speakers, the Sansui
was a far better product (AUDX series, not the cheap shit) than the NAD
(except for the excellent NAD tuners, with their Shotz topology -
excellent for those living near the bridge). Nontheless, the NAD walked
out the door. You couldn't tell people to buy the Sansui instead. They
just accepted what the Pommy mags said and bought the NAD.

NAD parted ways with Fulet and went to Japan for most

of their manufacture. Fulet began manufacturing their own brand,
Proton,

sometime before the split. Astonishingly, some of their early
products

(like the 940 receiver) were identical to the equivalent NAD model
(7150

receiver). So much so, that the service manual for the NAD could be
used

with the Proton. Same part numbers, PCB designations, etc.


** LOL.

Never knew that before.

**Yep. I remember when I first discovered it. I was gob-smacked. I
couldn't beleive that NAD either didn't have some kind of copyright over
the design, or failed to try to enforce their rights.


--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 18/09/2014 3:16 PM, Phil Allison wrote:

Trevor Wilson wrote:



**Back in the 1980s, NAD was manufactured by Fulet Electronic in
Taiwan.


** NAD stands for "New Acoustic Dimension" a British brand and the
early circuit designs were by a Scandanavian gent( see Wiki).

The early models were full of BC, BD and MJ prefix devices - which
was wacky for an obviously Asian made amp.



Whilst performance of the product was decent enough, the
mechanical

quality was crap.


** Saw one example of a NAD 3020 that had steel washers installed
BTEWEEN the 2NJ3055/MJ2955 output devices and the heatsink !!

Plastic front panel, cheapest possible hardware and electros -
yuck.

**OTOH, here is a NAD model I worked on a couple of years back (it blew
me away, quality-wise):

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nad+m3&biw=1280&bih=926&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=R24bVNvcCs3ZoAT9qoHYAw&ved=0CBwQsAQ

http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/107nad/index.html





--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

" there were a couple of
Marantz models (Model 140, 2275) which used Motorola (in-house numbered)
output devices. They appeared to be similar to the MJ15003/4."

Alot of Marantz buyers were aware of the change. They did not want to se "2S___" on the output transistors. Made them think they were getting a Sun Valley Marantz, not a Chatsworth Marantz.

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 19/09/2014 3:46 PM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:

" there were a couple of Marantz models (Model 140, 2275) which
used Motorola (in-house numbered) output devices. They appeared to
be similar to the MJ15003/4."

Alot of Marantz buyers were aware of the change. They did not want to
se "2S___" on the output transistors. Made them think they were
getting a Sun Valley Marantz, not a Chatsworth Marantz.

**I doubt that. Models released prior to those two ones (1060, 1030, et
al), concurrently to those models (2015, 2220, 2230, et al) and after
those two models, all used Japanese output devices. IMO, it was likely
that those two models were heavily designed by Chatsworth, rather than
Japan. In any case, the giveaway was the compliance plate on the back of
all Marantz amps which indicated that the product was designed by
Marantz California and manufactured my Marantz Japan Inc (MJI). The vast
majority of buyers would see that compliance plate long before they saw
any output transistors buried inside the products. I should also add
that the last Californian manufactured product (apart from speakers) was
the Marantz Model 510 and 510M. Both used Japanese output devices
(2SD555 and complement, if memory serves).


--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

I think I stand corrcted.

My sister has a 2225 which is a Sun Valley. On just lik it was bought nw my a late friend who sold it to me along with his record collection when he moved to Florida. He did say the Sun Valley units were bette than the Chatsworth units, and this was before they went to the silver tuning dial. I kinda took that to mean they were built here and never paid any attention other than that. (that unit got FMitis and I knew a guy was going to sell an identical unit at a yard sale and I was to clean up the switches, we swapped, YES with his consent)

At any rate, I just looked at the print and sure as shit we got 2S this and 2S that.

So pretty much any Marantz made here has tubes (valves) ?

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 20/09/2014 7:03 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:

I think I stand corrcted.

My sister has a 2225 which is a Sun Valley. On just lik it was bought
nw my a late friend who sold it to me along with his record
collection when he moved to Florida. He did say the Sun Valley units
were bette than the Chatsworth units, and this was before they went
to the silver tuning dial. I kinda took that to mean they were built
here and never paid any attention other than that. (that unit got
FMitis and I knew a guy was going to sell an identical unit at a yard
sale and I was to clean up the switches, we swapped, YES with his
consent)

At any rate, I just looked at the print and sure as shit we got 2S
this and 2S that.

So pretty much any Marantz made here has tubes (valves) ?

**Not quite. Here are some products and their VERY approximate
manufacturing dates from Marantz:

510/M - 1976 (I still own one of each - they were not a good sounding amp)
500 - 1973 (I still own mine - only 300 made)
3600/3800 - 1973
1200/1200b - 1972 (one of my all time favourites - I owned one for many
years)
250/240/250M - 1972 ~ 1976
3300 - 1971
18 - 1968 (a rip-snorter - I still have mine)

Naturally, there were many other solid state products. These are just
the models I have the most familiarity with. Many of the early solid
state models were not imported into Australia, so I didn't get to see
(m)any.

ALL the 2XXX and 4XXX recievers were built by MJI. After the blackout
dial was retired, Marantz products nose-dived in construction quality,
because they were experiencing financial difficulties, due to increased
competition and the oil crisis (amongst other things).


--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 20/09/2014 7:58 AM, Trevor Wilson wrote:

**Not quite. Here are some products and their VERY approximate
manufacturing dates from Marantz:

**Should read: ".........from Marantz US (manufacture) all are solid state):


--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

[chuck]

On Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:58:42 +1000, Trevor Wilson
<trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au> wrote:

On 20/09/2014 7:03 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:
I think I stand corrcted.

My sister has a 2225 which is a Sun Valley. On just lik it was bought
nw my a late friend who sold it to me along with his record
collection when he moved to Florida. He did say the Sun Valley units
were bette than the Chatsworth units, and this was before they went
to the silver tuning dial. I kinda took that to mean they were built
here and never paid any attention other than that. (that unit got
FMitis and I knew a guy was going to sell an identical unit at a yard
sale and I was to clean up the switches, we swapped, YES with his
consent)

At any rate, I just looked at the print and sure as shit we got 2S
this and 2S that.

So pretty much any Marantz made here has tubes (valves) ?


**Not quite. Here are some products and their VERY approximate
manufacturing dates from Marantz:

510/M - 1976 (I still own one of each - they were not a good sounding amp)
500 - 1973 (I still own mine - only 300 made)
3600/3800 - 1973
1200/1200b - 1972 (one of my all time favourites - I owned one for many
years)
250/240/250M - 1972 ~ 1976
3300 - 1971
18 - 1968 (a rip-snorter - I still have mine)

Naturally, there were many other solid state products. These are just
the models I have the most familiarity with. Many of the early solid
state models were not imported into Australia, so I didn't get to see
(m)any.

ALL the 2XXX and 4XXX recievers were built by MJI. After the blackout
dial was retired, Marantz products nose-dived in construction quality,
because they were experiencing financial difficulties, due to increased
competition and the oil crisis (amongst other things).

I read somewhere that the mid to late 70s Marantz receivers were made
by Standard Radio of Japan.

 

[William Sommerwerck]

"chuck" wrote in message news:sdb02a157gccp182r2t5e2v6mar69gmd64@4ax.com...

I read somewhere that the mid to late 70s Marantz receivers
were made by Standard Radio of Japan.

I believe Standard owned the Marantz trademark at that time.

 

[Phil Allison]

Trevor Wilson wrote:

**Marantz formed a relationship with Standard Radio in the 1960s.

Marantz purchased (I think) a 49% share in Standard Radio Corp sometime

in the early 1970s. As I recall, Marantz was the first US company to own

a substantial chunk of a Japanese company. Standard Radio was renamed

Marantz Japan Inc (MJI) sometime around 1975.

** Then, in 1980, all foreign assets were sold to Philips Electronics and this little wonder appeared in 1982 under the Marantz badge made in Belgium:

http://www.audioscope.net/images/marantz_cd_63-5.jpg

Before anyone starts up with the nonsense that it was 14 bit player instead of 16 - it was NOT.

16 bit conversion was an essential feature of all CD players and Philips/Marantz achieved that by using "oversampling" - ie making the 14 bit D to A converter used inside work four times as often.


.... Phil

--

Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

 

[Trevor Wilson]

On 23/09/2014 12:11 AM, chuck wrote:

On Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:58:42 +1000, Trevor Wilson
trevor@SPAMBLOCKrageaudio.com.au> wrote:

On 20/09/2014 7:03 AM, jurb6006@gmail.com wrote:
I think I stand corrcted.

My sister has a 2225 which is a Sun Valley. On just lik it was bought
nw my a late friend who sold it to me along with his record
collection when he moved to Florida. He did say the Sun Valley units
were bette than the Chatsworth units, and this was before they went
to the silver tuning dial. I kinda took that to mean they were built
here and never paid any attention other than that. (that unit got
FMitis and I knew a guy was going to sell an identical unit at a yard
sale and I was to clean up the switches, we swapped, YES with his
consent)

At any rate, I just looked at the print and sure as shit we got 2S
this and 2S that.

So pretty much any Marantz made here has tubes (valves) ?


**Not quite. Here are some products and their VERY approximate
manufacturing dates from Marantz:

510/M - 1976 (I still own one of each - they were not a good sounding amp)
500 - 1973 (I still own mine - only 300 made)
3600/3800 - 1973
1200/1200b - 1972 (one of my all time favourites - I owned one for many
years)
250/240/250M - 1972 ~ 1976
3300 - 1971
18 - 1968 (a rip-snorter - I still have mine)

Naturally, there were many other solid state products. These are just
the models I have the most familiarity with. Many of the early solid
state models were not imported into Australia, so I didn't get to see
(m)any.

ALL the 2XXX and 4XXX recievers were built by MJI. After the blackout
dial was retired, Marantz products nose-dived in construction quality,
because they were experiencing financial difficulties, due to increased
competition and the oil crisis (amongst other things).


I read somewhere that the mid to late 70s Marantz receivers were made
by Standard Radio of Japan.

**Marantz formed a relationship with Standard Radio in the 1960s.
Marantz purchased (I think) a 49% share in Standard Radio Corp sometime
in the early 1970s. As I recall, Marantz was the first US company to own
a substantial chunk of a Japanese company. Standard Radio was renamed
Marantz Japan Inc (MJI) sometime around 1975.

--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au