Marantz Model 1122

A 60-watt receiver that sits between Marantz's separates and the mass-market black boxes, and has two phono inputs.

Overview

The Marantz Model 1122 sits in a curious spot in the company's mid-1970s receiver lineup. It's not the flagship. That job went to the big-numbered monsters with the gyro-touch tuners and power meters that looked like they belonged in a cockpit. It isn't an entry-level compromise either. At 2 × 60 watts into 8 ohms (1% THD, both channels driven), it has enough headroom to drive real speakers without the heat sink bill of a separates system. The hifi-wiki.de documentation references photos and a schematic dated 1977, which places it in production around that time, though the archive holds no explicit production year statements.

The front panel follows the house style of the era, with the circular tuning knob and the long, backlit dial scale. The big receivers got twin power meters. The 1122 keeps things more restrained. The chassis is 475mm wide, 142mm high and 306mm deep, and it weighs 9.5kg. That's heavy enough to feel serious and light enough to move without dread. It was built for the person who wanted Marantz sound and build quality but didn't need to rattle windows at forty paces.

Collectors like the 1122 today for its input flexibility. The sensitivity spec sheet lists two phono inputs (PHONO 1 and PHONO 2), both accepting 2.5mV. That means two turntables can run at once, a feature that got rarer as the industry moved toward single phono stages. Someone with a dedicated mono rig next to a stereo table, or a second tonearm setup, gets a real practical advantage that modern receivers don't offer. The line-level inputs (AUX, TUNER, TAPE) all expect 150mV, with a minimum input impedance of 25 kΩ.

Performance and Specs

Here is what those numbers mean. The 60W-per-channel rating at 1% THD into 8 ohms is old-school conservative power. It's a continuous figure with both channels driven, not the optimistic single-channel bursts some manufacturers quoted. Drop to 4 ohms and it goes to 2 × 80W at the same 1% distortion threshold. That matters because many receivers of this class struggled with low-impedance loads. The 1122 delivers more current into 4 ohms, which suggests a power supply with real reserves.

The total harmonic distortion figure of 1% at 1kHz at rated output needs a careful read. It's not a laboratory-grade number. Marantz's better separates of the era were quoting 0.05% or less. But it's the spec at full rated output with both channels running, which is a far more demanding condition than the usual 1kHz, one-channel, just-below-clipping measurement. At normal listening levels, distortion would be substantially lower. The signal-to-noise figures look better: 78dB (IEC-A) on the phono inputs and 90dB on the high-level inputs. At 90dB on AUX/TUNER/TAPE, the noise floor is effectively inaudible, so there's no hiss in quiet passages, even with efficient speakers.

The documentation gets thin on the FM tuner section. The fact sheet confirms a frequency response of 30Hz - 15kHz for FM, which is the standard broadcast bandwidth. Detailed sensitivity, selectivity, and capture-ratio figures haven't survived in the archive's sources. Mix (September 1978, p.53) noted that by the late 1970s, studio professionals were increasingly relying on outboard noise reduction and processing gear in their monitor chains. Even the best consumer tuners of the period were up against increasingly sophisticated professional broadcast equipment.

Power consumption is rated at a maximum of 300W from a 220V AC, 50Hz supply. The unit was built for the European market, so American collectors may need a step-down transformer. The 300W ceiling against 120W of continuous rated output (both channels at 8 ohms) leaves a reasonable margin for transient peaks, plus the tuner, lamps, and preamp sections drawing their share. It's not a huge reserve, but it covers the rated output.

Build and Design

The internal layout follows Marantz's established practice of the period. The hifi-wiki.de documentation confirms a "Marantz 1122 Schematic (1977)". The circuit diagram exists and is dated, but the archive hasn't captured detailed topology information. Collectors who have handled these units report that Marantz's mid-1970s receivers were built to a standard that outlived the warranty period by decades.

One detail from the sale listings: the Audio Exchange unit came with "internal speaker wires with connectors" included, and its power cord had been replaced with a newer one. The original cords and internal wiring from the 1970s can get brittle, and a replaced power cord often means someone has already dealt with the most common age-related issue. The Canuck Audio Mart unit was described as "Very Good condition, all original - works perfectly, light marks/scratches on top," which suggests these receivers survive well when stored properly.

Collectibility and Market

Prices for a Model 1122 are all over the place. A Reverb listing shows a completed sale at $65.00, while UsedPrice.com lists units at $255.00 and $325.00, and Audio Exchange asks $489.00. That's a spread from bargain-bin to nearly five hundred dollars for the same model. It reflects condition, originality, and the volatility of the vintage receiver market, not any inherent quality difference between units.

Take the $65.00 Reverb sale with a grain of salt. That price could reflect a unit with issues, such as a blown channel, a scratched faceplate, or a tuner that drifts, or simply a seller who wanted it gone. The higher asking prices from Audio Exchange and UsedPrice.com more likely represent cosmetically clean, fully functional units, which is what collectors are actually paying for. The Audio Exchange unit's replaced power cord isn't original, but it adds value rather than subtracting it, since the seller addressed a known weak point.

Condition is everything with these receivers, and the listings bear that out. The Audio Exchange description emphasizes cleanliness and included accessories. The Canuck Audio Mart listing stresses "all original" status and perfect functionality with only light top scratches. For a receiver approaching fifty years old, "all original and works perfectly" is good news. It means the electrolytic capacitors haven't drifted catastrophically out of spec, the tuner hasn't lost alignment, and the switches haven't oxidized beyond cleaning. Mix (March 1979, p.56) documented how studios of the era were layering in tape machines and outboard processors to shape their sound. A receiver like the 1122 needs none of that, since it was designed as a complete, self-contained music system.

Nobody seems to have documented common failure points for the 1122. Many receivers of this vintage have well-known issues: the STK module failures in some Japanese units, crumbling foam surrounds on certain speakers, noisy selector switches on nearly everything from the 1970s. The Model 1122 is absent from the usual failure discussions, which suggests it has no signature catastrophic fault. The usual age-related concerns apply - electrolytic capacitors drying out, lamps burning out, potentiometers getting scratchy - but nothing that should scare off a collector.

For a buyer considering a Model 1122 today, the practical advice is to pay for condition and provenance. A clean, original unit with service history is worth the premium over a cosmetically rough example that may need a full recap. The dual phono inputs add practical value for anyone running multiple turntables. At 9.5kg, it's also manageable to ship. It's lighter than the big receivers, so freight costs are lower and there's less risk of shipping damage.

The Model 1122 comes after the Model 7 and Model 10B tube components and before the brand's decline into mass-market mediocrity. It's a solid-state receiver built with the company's usual attention to tuner quality and phono stage design, in a package aimed at the mid-range buyer. It's not the most collectible Marantz, not the most powerful, and not the rarest.

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