What is the best receiver Marantz put out?

MARANTZ 2600

The Model 19 of course.

Saul Marantz had nothing to do with the 2200 series. He had long since sold the company and its name.

Muzikat, a buddy of mine had that exact set up with (I believe) a BSR turntable. This was, in my world at the time, a very nice set up and is what whetted my appetite for a better sound system.

Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful memory!

Thanks, TheDuke, for letting me know about Marantz leaving before the 2200 series. One of the things I've noticed when comparing any of the 2200 series receivers with some of the later series in their line as well as most of the other Japanese receivers is the 2200 receivers had a more relaxed and listenable sound ( although a little reticent in the upper registers). The only thing I can attribute to this relaxed sound is the proper( read: not too much ) of negative feedback. During the 70's and early 80's most of the mass- produced receivers had way too much negative feedback to get those ultra low distortion figures at the expense of a sound that was restricted and caused for me anyway severe listener's fatigue.At least there were some folks at Marantz that actually listened to their receivers and didn't play too much with the triple and quadruple digit distortion figures.