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Always
Risking Arrest!
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QUO
VADIS TANK TEST?
Testing the validity of audio manufacturers' claims about
solid-ness etc. is what The Audion is all about. Since staffers
agreed some time ago to debunk Western
notions of quality and longevity under unusual circumstances,
we agreed to subject some piece of audio junk to some sort
of test that would bunk or de-bunk the claim for the junk
under question made by the manufacturer. Now it should be
noted that a company such as Electrohome never made a tank-test
claim back in their golden years. The company over engineered
like it was going out of style.
Since there is a profound shortage of such claims by manufacturers
outside of our Russian buddies with their demonstrable claims
for the solidity of their gear, we were faced with possibility
of subjecting a Scott to the transmitter test (where a tuner
sits around for years on end in blazing heat or brutal cold
while remaining on channel to serve as a rebroadcast tuner,
an application that no longer exists in this day and age
of satellites and hi-band cable). Since your ed. tested
this out a few years ago by placing a tuner on his balcony
year-round for a few years with no noticeable drift in what
can only be described as a brutal reception area, recreating
this test seemed moot.
However, in 1974 Marantz made a bold claim that their 2270
receiver survived a fire, a drop, a subsequent drop, etc.,
and was then tested by its owner and found to work perfectly.
What a test to recreate, we staffers thought. Since we did
not wish to run the risk of electrocution from months of
sitting in wet carbon, we bypassed the step where the receiver
spent months submerged. Engineers only know what a layer
of crusty carbon would do to a circuit board. We chose to
assume that buddy would have subjected the receiver to high
pressure water whilst installing a new power cord.
Here Yugo...
The Tank Test in Pictures
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Here your editor is shown subjecting a Marantz 2220B
to a controlled burn. The fascia holds up well, as is
to be expected with any metal. Apart from the plastic
(speaker terminals, switches, etc.) the receiver is impervious
to a burn of this type.
Extra attention was paid to the inner workings of the
receiver. Because most of the internal wiring is situated
below the steel inner chassis and the steel bottom cover,
little but heat will affect these critical circuit components.
Since most electronic equipment uses wire that is heat
rated, this portion of the test had little effect. Further,
since the phenolic circuit boards, the resistors and the
capacitors are all impervious to heat, it was unlikely
that the fire or a heat test would compromise these circuits.
This was also true of the semiconductors, especially the
TO-3 encased power transistors which have the extra protection
of heat sinks which 'wick' the heat away from the transistors.
For kicks, the burn test was conducted on a vacant parking
spot which belongs to the uh... 'assistant building manager.'
She is never around, so her spot was an obvious choice
for the test.
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On The
Threshold Of A Drop
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Forlorn and showing the effects
of a 25 foot drop, the Marantz evidenced some of the heat
damage that it received during the burn. The midrange control
was gone altogether and many of the switches were rendered
nonfunctional. The aluminum front panel appeared undamaged
and all of the lettering was intact.
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"Whazzup?" called Jay
Bee from the heights.
"Looks like a hit to me."
Your editor reply'd.
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Post relocation to the basement for the final portion
of our truncated tank test, Jay Bee plugged the
Marantz in and, lo, some of the lights came on.
The tuning display remained dark, and as if auguring
other malaise within the unit's tuner, it didn't
look like it would work; the tuning capacitor's
plastic drive assembly was a hopeless piece of junk,
its dial cord melted.
Satisfied that the Marantz had in the most basic
sense physically survived its battle with a pyro
(it powered up), we argued that the claims made
by Marantz were not consistent with the TAS "in
the field" test. To wit:
The fire started on the first floor...
...worked its way to the second
floor where my Marantz 2270 was, and finally engulfed
the third floor. The floors collapsed and fell into
the basement where the Marantz remained buried in
debris and water until March when the wrecking company
came.
While the men were lifting the debris
into trucks I noticed a piece of equipment I thought
could be the Marantz. I asked the man to drop the
load, and the receiver fell 20 feet to the ground.
Out of sheer curiosity, I brought
the damaged receiver up to my apartment and after
attaching a new line cord to it, I plugged it in.
All the blue lights turned on. I connected a headphone
and the FM played perfectly. I then tested it with
my tape deck, and finally the turntable and the
speakers. They all played perfectly, too.
(Signed) Francisco Espina
Newport, Rhode Island
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Marantz then claims that the 2270 still meets factory
specifications. Line cord and all.
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Test completed, the Marantz 2220B was deposited in its
final resting spot, the dumpster.
For those softies who shed a tear at the sight of a Marantz
being so abused and disposed of, it is worth noting that
this particular unit suffered from Marantz cancer, having
a cheesecaked tone stage, a dreadful amplifier and a hopelessly
bad tuner that functioned not in FM, and did so in AM
only with the volume cranked to what should have been
a stadium level.
This particular Marantz most assuredly did not meet factory
specifications before the test, nor have others that have
come under your editor's scrutiny. Junk times three.
"Don't cry for me. I'm just a junk 2220B."
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Desperate
for something else to read? How 'bout the brilliant, but neglected
Audion Ideas Guide
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