Marantz's Legendary Audio Classics
The Hot Tuners

Marantz made three, or possibly four, extremely "hot" tuners. We don't know if the 2140 was actually manufactured, though presently I'm inclined to think it shipped for at least part of one year. I've included it because Marantz published a few specifications for it and I have those in a brochure. Some editions of the "Orion Blue Book"^TM also mention the 2140, though in general that publication cannot be trusted with regard to a lot of the data on Marantz gear, particularly with regard to resale values.

The "hottest" tuner or tuners (if there is a tie) is indicated for each specification by a reddish or yellowish background. In the table, "n/s" means Not Specified, and "n/a" means Not Applicable. When an n/s and/or an n/a is in the compared specification, the "hot" markers do not, of course, compare against that tuner (but a red asterisk marks my measured winner, as explained below). Some specifications were not normally taken at one time as compared to another. Also, when there are more than one specification for a tuner - from different years, or from the service manual as compared to the user's manual and/or a brochure - I've taken the better specification in every case.

When the background is reddish, we have data for all four or the ones we don't have data for don't have the feature so the comparison doesn't apply to them. In these cases the result is definitive.

When the background is yellowish, we don't have numbers for all of them and so the "hottest" rating is tentative.

I own a 10b, a 150 and a 2130. I've never even seen or heard of anyone owning a 2140. However, I think I can guess quite a bit about the 2140, as it preceded the 2130 and they discontinued it in favor of the 2130. As a result, in the cases where the results are tentative because Marantz didn't publish specifications for one or more tuners, I've indicated which of my tuners is "hottest" with a red asterisk.

Please be aware that the red asterisk (*) "win" is as a result of measured performance comparisons, not specified ones, because that's all I can do at this point. If I can find anything in print that specifies the tuners lacking detail, I will use that instead, because there is no way to be certain that my tuners have not either deteriorated from a published spec. or have been tuned past the published spec. I include the asterisk because I believe that it is representative and fair. I'm very interested to hear from anyone who thinks I've got something wrong, and exactly why they think so.

Everywhere you see specific data, it is a published specification, not a measurement. Not all specifications were published for all tuners. And as always, if you believe you have found an error, first please accept my apologies, and second, tell me!

Enjoy!

--Ben

specification	10b	150	2130	2140
30 dB Quieting Sensitivity, Mono	2 uV	1.2 uV	1.2 uV	1.5 uV
50 dB Quieting Sensitivity, Mono	3 uV	2.2 uV*	2.2 uV*	n/s*
50 dB Quieting Sensitivity, Stereo	n/s	40 uV	25 uV*	25 uV*
THD, Mono	.20%	.15%	.05%	.07%
THD, Stereo	n/s	.30%	.07%*	.10%
Signal to Noise, Mono	n/s	n/s	83 dB*	83 dB*
Signal to Noise, Stereo	n/s	n/s	76 dB*	75 dB
Hum and Noise	n/s	n/s	80 dB*	n/s
Alternate Channel Selectivity, Wide	n/a	n/a	45 dB	50 dB
Alternate Channel Selectivity, Normal	150 dB	85 dB	85 dB	90 dB
Adjacent Channel Selectivity	42 dB*	n/s	n/s	n/s
Spurious Rejection	100 dB	105 dB	120 dB*	n/s*
AM Carrier Rejection	70 dB*	65 dB	65 dB	n/s
FM Stereo Separation (1 KHz) Wide	n/a	n/a	55 dB	50 dB
FM Stereo Separation (1 KHz) Normal	45 dB	45 dB	50 dB	42 dB
Ultimate Quieting	n/s	75 dB	n/s*	n/s
Frequency Response	n/s	30 Hz to 15 KHz +/- 1 dB	30 Hz to 15 KHz +.2, -1 dB*	n/s
Capture Ratio, Wide Bandwidth	n/a	n/a	1.5 dB	n/s
Capture Ratio, Normal Bandwidth	n/s	1 dB	.8 dB*	.8 dB*
IF Image Rejection	n/s	105 dB	120 dB*	n/s
IF Rejection	n/s	105 dB	120 dB*	n/s
Stereo Subcarrier Rejection	n/s	n/s	75 dB*	n/s