Marantz MODEL 2A (1959)

It hums to life quietly, and few vintage mono amps have the presence of this one.

Overview

The Marantz Model 2A Tube Mono Amplifier was built for a single year, 1959. It sits apart from the better-known Model 2, and it looks less like a successor than a short experiment that got caught between catalog pages. Owners report it sounds wonderful and is very quiet when idling. That's a rare thing for a tube amp of this era, when hiss and hum often gave away aging components. It's a mono amplifier, designed for a single channel, so you'd need two for stereo. Finding two is the hard part, because the Model 2A is extremely rare, one of the most elusive Marantz amplifiers ever produced. The catalogs back this up. Before 1959, including in the 1958 Allied Radio catalog, Marantz wasn't selling a "Model 2A." Then it showed up in the 1959 catalog and vanished again by 1960, when the name went back to simply "Model 2." Why the name changed, the fact sheet doesn't say.

Specifications

Manufacturer	Marantz
Product Type	Tube Mono Amplifier
Production Year	1959
Power Output	25WPC

Historical Context

The Marantz Model 2A appeared only in the 1959 Allied Radio catalog. That was a one-year break from the naming used for Marantz's early amplifiers. Before 1959, including in the 1958 catalog, the amplifiers were not labeled Model 2A. By 1960 the designation was gone, and the amplifier was advertised as the Model 2 again. In many audiophile circles, the Marantz Basic Amplifier known as the Model 2 is considered the sweetest and overall best sounding of the Marantz amps, which included the Model 2s, 5s, 8s, 8Bs, and the Model 9s. Whether the Model 2A shares that reputation is harder to confirm, since its rarity limits listening opportunities.

Collectibility & Value

The Marantz Model 2A is described as extremely rare and very collectible, which fits its single year in the catalog. A unit listed on HifiShark was priced at $4,499 as of February 14, 2021, and another undated listing on PicClick reached $5,999.99. One known unit shows cosmetic wear, including minor rust and partial repainting, with the tube cage completely refinished. That suggests restoration is common among surviving examples. A restoration kit is available for $116, though no detailed information on common failures or maintenance procedures exists in the record. Original pricing has not been confirmed, and technical specifications beyond power output remain undocumented.