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Marantz 2 mod by Mike Samra

Posted by Judasmac (A) on May 5, 2007 at 12:52:31

Mike Samra is well known to AA readers, especially of the Vintage and Tubes sections, as someone very knowledgeable about vintage tube gear. He did a thorough modification/refurbishing of a pair of Marantz 2 amps for me. I’ve had them back for a few weeks now, and my appreciation of what he’s done continues to grow.

I got my 2s a couple of years ago. They had been well taken care of and all components were original. The advice I got here on AA from several folks was that if I wanted to sell, don’t touch a thing, but if I wanted to keep them, they almost certainly needed real work. I contacted a few techs in the Atlanta area and took them to one shop where I was charged way too much for a couple of cheap caps.

Then I started talking to Mike. Mike went through the amps with a fine tooth comb, and he has set me up to enjoy them worry-free for many years. He convinced me to go with quality components, such as Vitamin Q caps – to do it once and do it right – and I’m glad I listened to him. I feel the amps are like new – in fact better than new. It’s amazing how much Mike did for the price.

Mike knows vintage gear and this was for him clearly a labor of love. He respects these amps and wanted to do them justice. He did A LOT of work and was picky about the quality of the parts and about making sure that the look of the amp was unchanged.

The results are beautiful. The improvements that struck me immediately were deeper bass extension and a bigger and more clearly defined soundstage. As they’ve broken in, I’ve grown more impressed with the less obvious – the fact that these do not sound like different amps. I didn’t want different amps. I love these. They have the same qualities I loved before, but they do what they do in way that feels more controlled and effortless.

Mike is generous with his time and knowledge. You’ll learn a lot working with him. Before shelling out more for less, contact Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

Judd Owen

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