Marantz 2250B (1978–1980)

Most of what is known about the Marantz 2250B comes from its own service documentation, not from spec sheets and marketing copy. The service manual confirms it as a Stereophonic Receiver and lays out a modular chassis built around dedicated printed circuit boards - FM front end on P100, AM tuner on P150, FM-IF on P200, MPX on P300, phono amp on P400, power amp on P700, power supply on P800, and so on. Glossy brochures get thrown out. Board-by-board breakdowns like this tend to survive.

The most repeated figure for the 2250B is its power rating: 50 watts minimum RMS per channel into 8 ohms, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with no more than 0.25% total harmonic distortion. That number appears in period dealer advertising. A San Mateo hi-fi shop listed the 2250B at a regular price of $550 and a sale price of $340, alongside its stablemates the 2215, 2220B, 2225, 2235B, 2275, and 2325. The same ad also confirms the unit was marketed as an AM/FM stereo receiver, which matches the tuner sections documented in the manual.

Two details stand out from the service literature. First, the 2250B was fitted with a universal power transformer allowing operation at 110, 120, 220, or 240 V AC at 50/60 Hz, with a voltage selector plug. That is useful for collectors moving gear between regions, and it distinguishes international-market units. Second, the receiver included a Dolby FM section (board PC01), with a dedicated alignment procedure for setting the Dolby FM tape output to 580 mV. Dolby FM was a short-lived noise-reduction format for FM broadcasts, and its presence dates the 2250B firmly to the late '70s.

The record leaves a lot out. There is no confirmed original list price from Marantz itself, no published dimensions or weight, no tuner sensitivity figures, no phono S/N ratio, and no reliable production-year range beyond what appears on this page. The 2250B sits in the shadow of the more heavily documented 2270 and 2275, and much of what circulates about it online is inherited from sibling models rather than sourced to the 2250B specifically. An original owner's manual or a dealer sheet would fill the gap. The service manual says how to fix it, but not how it was sold.

Period audio press coverage of the 2250B specifically is thin. HiFi-Stereo (1977, p.54) ran a receiver roundup that included a Marantz model with Dolby FM de-emphasis, two AM tuner ranges, and a $649 price, but the OCR is fragmentary and the model attribution isn't certain enough to pin to the 2250B. Treat that as context for the era, not a confirmed review of this receiver.

Known Specifications

Type: AM/FM stereophonic receiver
Power output: 50 W minimum RMS per channel, 8 Ω, 20 Hz–20 kHz
THD: ≤0.25% at rated power
Power supply: Universal transformer, switchable 110 / 120 / 220 / 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz
Notable feature: Dolby FM noise reduction (board PC01)
Advertised price (period dealer ad): $550 regular, $340 sale
Circuit boards: P100 (FM front end), P150 (AM tuner), P200 (FM-IF), P300 (MPX), P400 (phono amp), P700 (power amp), P800 (power supply)