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Beautiful Marantz 6300 Turntable Service

6 Comments / Turntables & Vinyl, Repair, Service / By / / direct drive, Marantz, Marantz 6300, turntable, turntable repair, turntable service
Table of Contents:

Join me as I service and revive another lovely Marantz 6300 direct drive turntable!

Welcome back during one of my busiest times of the year. I hope you enjoy this article about the gorgeous Marantz 6300 direct drive turntable, surely one of the most beautiful turntables from the golden era of vinyl. My review of the Marantz 6300 has become one of the most popular articles on the site. If you’d like a little more info on the 6300, have a read of that. I wrote that nearly 10 years ago, though, so it’s about time I wrote another article on this popular turntable.

Today’s 6300 is a job I did back in November 2023, and one of about a thousand more articles I’d like to write up! I service, repair and overhaul a few Marantz 6300s, so if you’d like to see more of them specifically, let me know. The only Marantz turntable I like more is the epic and ultra-rare Marantz TT1000, one of the greats from the golden era. If you have one of these you’d like me to look at for you, let me know.

Marantz TT-1000
Another Marantz beauty, the Esotec TT1000, made by Micro Seiki, one of the rarest of the golden era heavy hitters, and around $2000 USD in 1984!

Marantz 6300 Specifications

Courtesy of Vinyl Engine

Tonearm: S-shaped
Effective length: 231mm
Overhang: 15mm
Stylus pressure: 0.5 to 4.0g
Motor: Servo-controlled direct drive
Speeds: 33.33 and 45 rpm
Speed control: +-3%
Rumble: -60dB
Wow and flutter: 0.04%
Platter: 31cm
Platter weight: 1.6kg
Dimensions: 435 x 180 x 381mm
Weight: 10.0kg

Issues

This beauty came to me in need of a few things and some long-neglected TLC.

  1. She had nasty feet, badly fitted, and even worse ones supplied by her well-meaning owner
  2. She needed a new lid and hinges
  3. She needed a new cartridge and a deep mechanical and electronic service
  4. Her tonearm bearings were loose, leading to a clickety-clunkety tonearm that had to be fixed for this deck to play records properly.

Some work had been done previously, I’m not sure by whom, but it seemed limited to replacing a few capacitors with ordinary new parts. This approach is ineffective in a case like this, of course, where a piece of equipment needs about five other critical things sorted before looking at capacitors! It’s like taking your car in for gearbox work and getting it back with new tyres!

Marantz 6300

Her owner, Glenn, asked me to resolve as many of these issues as possible, supply and fit a new lid, feet and generally get her back up and running nicely again. He has some other lovely Marantz equipment he is bringing in for work in due course, I believe.

Service

One of the first things I did for this job was order a new custom-made lid from my lid supplier. The owner supplied some hinges for the deck, but unfortunately, they were the wrong type. This sometimes happens when customers supply parts, so lid fitment had to wait in this case, as sourcing hinges was not part of the scope of work. Hopefully, Glenn found some!

Marantz 6300
I’m sure I got some nice pics of this new lid, but I can’t find them; my apologies. Anyway, the lid stays in the box and is protected until her owner finds the correct hinges.
Marantz 6300
I have the deck turned around here to more easily access the tonearm bearings, which are loose and need adjustment. Someone has played with these bearings, but sorting this is reasonably straightforward with the right tools, just not something I can do whilst taking a photo. Fixing this is critically important to restoring the performance of the 6300, and I’m pleased to say that after careful adjustment, the freeplay was removed, whilst leaving very low friction in both the lateral and vertical axes. Job done!
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The veneer on this Marantz 6300 also desperately needs some love in the form of my usual furniture oil.
Marantz 6300
That’s better; some UV damage is evident here, but the wood’s lustre and deep grain and texture have certainly benefited. Several applications will help here.
Marantz 6300
A beautiful result, certainly much improved.
Marantz 6300
Cleaning the near-perfect, but it turns out incorrect, hinges. I didn’t know this until I tried to install them.
Marantz 6300
Now it’s time to sort out these feet. Unfortunately, the feet the customer purchased, visible to the left of the deck, are unsuitable and cannot be used here. No matter, I will install a much better set.
Marantz 6300
This is what was on the turntable, stuck on with adhesive tape. That’s NOT the way to do it!
Marantz 6300
Nasty…
Marantz 6300
This is a premium yet affordable solution I employ, which should last the life of the turntable, where long feet are needed, like with the Marantz 6300. These dense rubber feet give some damping and absorption of higher frequency vibes, which is what we want, whilst remaining firm and strong enough to properly support heavier turntables than the 6300.
Marantz 6300
Now it’s time to attend to the lovely mechanical switches and linkages of the Marantz 6300. Everything here needs careful cleaning, lubrication and adjustment, where necessary. You may note that some capacitors have been previously replaced in the power supply.

Whoever did this didn’t fix the feet, cartridge, tonearm bearings, speed issues, or do any of the important mechanical service work. The parts used are ordinary, too. The recap approach is, unfortunately, a one-trick pony with a complex electromechanical piece of gear like this.

Think of it as like replacing spark plugs in a car that needs a major service. Are the spark plugs/capacitors important? Sure, but mostly if they need replacing, and certainly not at the exclusion of other important work, yet sadly, this is what we often see.

For comparison, these power supply capacitors are usually the last thing I replace in a 6300, after doing the other stuff. One has to know that other stuff needs doing, though, and how to do it; this is the problem. Note also that the motor module comes apart and contains drive circuitry, which is often repairable, depending on the failure mode. There are capacitors in this module, too.
Marantz 6300
A little more detail here, note the preponderance of solid metal parts and serviceable mechanisms and switches, a big reason why so many of these decks remain running today with correct maintenance. Just don’t use WD-40 here! ClearAudio could certainly learn a thing or five about build quality from this image alone.
Marantz 6300
This lubrication takes time and is frequently overlooked, but really important. I’m using a clear synthetic grease here, but a moly-type lube can also be used. Here, I’ve applied grease to key areas. Next, I will clean up the excess.
Marantz 6300
Motor service is an often overlooked aspect of turntable service work, and something I’ve written about. Here, I’ve removed the rotor to clean and re-lubricate the spindle bearing with special synthetic bearing oil.
Marantz 6300
These Matushita motors were widely used in various turntable models, and I always like seeing the production tolerance grading; in this case, bearing and rotor are both ‘+1’ graded parts.
Marantz 6300
Here I have the deck elevated for the purposes of speed adjustment, again, an often overlooked aspect of service. The goal here is to get the deck’s speed verniers back into the middle of their range, with the deck running at the correct speed.
Marantz 6300
The last job is to fit a new cartridge and perform a full, precision alignment to extract the most from the new cartridge and the now clunk-free tonearm. I’ve used my favourite Audio Technica AT-VM95ML, my pick, along with the VM95SH, at around the $300 mark and a good starting point for decks like this.

Results

I think you’ll agree that keeping a deck like this beautiful Marantz 6300 running properly is always worthwhile, especially in a case like this where it needed a little attention across a few areas. Hopefully, Glenn fitted the new lid, but if not, and you are reading Glenn, just let me know!

Marantz 6300
There is something about the proportions and styling of these machines that draws many. No, it’s not the ultimate turntable by a long shot, but these are excellent performers and generally very reliable. They scale quite well, too, and a nice cartridge really helps them. Just don’t be tempted to ruin one of these with silly feet, cables or other accessories that have no place on a classic like this.
Marantz 6300
The full auto mode offered by the 6300 is also nice, if you like that kind of thing!

Should you buy a Marantz 6300? That depends on your goals and the rest of your system, but if having one of the coolest and most vintage-looking turntables is part of your raison d’être, then I highly recommend it. Something like a Kenwood KD-650 comfortably outperforms it though.

Marantz 6300
Yeah baby!
Marantz 6300
Just beautiful. I particularly like how the new feet match the Marantz 6300 aesthetics. They are discreet, and yet when you notice them and don’t know better, they look like they could be a factory fitment. The factory originals are, of course, black.

As always, I’d like to thank readers for stopping by, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. If you have a Marantz 6300 turntable, or any other beautiful Marantz turntable you’d like me to service for you, I’d be happy to. Just get in touch via my contact form on the contact page.

Dont forget to like, share and subscribe, and I’ll see you again soon!

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6 thoughts on “Beautiful Marantz 6300 Turntable Service”

  1. Connor G

    Another job well done Mike! Those feet worked wonderfully and the plinth really looks a million times better after rejuvenation. I’m sure the owner is stoked with the results. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more posts and hopefully more videos soon, too! I know how hectic it can be to keep up with posts and uploads, but it is immensely appreciated by all who follow. Cheers!

    Reply
    1. Liquid Mike

      Good on you, Connor, thank you, and can I just say you must be one of the nicest people I’ve come across in my time doing this! I apologise for not being better with socials, etc, I will try to be better across all fronts!

      Reply
      1. Connor G

        Thanks, Mike! You’ve been a big inspiration for me working on audio gear and starting my own YouTube channel. Your passion and attention to detail speaks volumes to me. If you ever want to chat, feel free to email me primehifiaudio@gmail

        Reply

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