best speaker for marantz pm5004

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

hey

I am searching for a good speaker for my marantz pm5004. I went to the local hifi shop and listened to the b&w cm8 connected to a pm8004.

I thought these were real good, very detailed and a clean sound. But my question is, do you guys have other options. And aren't these speakers an overkill for my receiver?

My room is 40 m² and I will use it only for music, no video.

The price of the cm8 is the max, that I want to spend. So in the range of 1000-1800 euro. It's just a range, so less then 1000 is also good🙂

Thanks Daan

 

[BigH]

With that budget I would be inclined to change the amp, the 5004 is a budget amp I believe. B&Ws are often hard to drive so not suitable for low power budget amps. If I were you take your budget and hear some amps and speakers assuming you have dealers near you. Dont know which country and what is available to you so hard to advise. What sort of music and how much bass do you like?

 

[CnoEvil]

If I'm right, the PM5004 is a £149 amp, and would be better matched with something more in its own price range.

IME. If you are looking to drive much more expensive speakers, you need a more capable amp....at least the quality of the Arcam A19 or Creek 50A.

 

[knaithrover]

I had a PM5004, nice cheap amp with a warm punchy sound although lacking in detail somewhat. Monitor Audio BX2's brought the best out of it with the clarity (and quality) of the speakers offsetting the limitations of the amp.

 

[Al ears]

hey

I am searching for a good speaker for my marantz pm5004. I went to the local hifi shop and listened to the b&w cm8 connected to a pm8004.

I thought these were real good, very detailed and a clean sound. But my question is, do you guys have other options. And aren't these speakers an overkill for my receiver?

My room is 40 m² and I will use it only for music, no video.

The price of the cm8 is the max, that I want to spend. So in the range of 1000-1800 euro. It's just a range, so less then 1000 is also good🙂

Thanks Daan

Very personal things speakers. What sounds right to you may sound rubbish to me. Best to try speakers in your own home if you can as what works well in a demo room might not work well in yours. Get speakers that suit the room and not necessarily the amp. Not much help I know but you are just going to have to try and audition as many makes as you can. Any more dealers in your area? What brands do they stock? Yours is a good size room but rather than saying 40 sq metres it would be more useful if you wrote 4m x 10m or whatever as some rooms can be a very strange shape.

Other posters on here that mentioned changing your amp may have a point but for your budget I don't see this as a good way forward (split 1000 euros between amp and speakers could be a backward step, 1800 euros might make a difference.).

The CM8's can be had for about £950 in the UK but perhaps, if you like B&W sound you might look at the cheaper 684 S2's and then you may have enough cash left to upgrade the amp.

Oh, welcome to the forum Daan

 

[Tzutzu]

PM5004 with Monitor Audio BX2 was my first system. I changed it for Arcam A19 with Focal Aria 906. Now I have an Accuphase with Focal Electra 1008Be.

You can either take the short route (and get to the cherry right away) or the long route (and really enjoy the ride). *smile*

 

[PT_2014]

Howdy,

I would tend to agree with the other chaps, it may be better to consider an upgrade to the amp before considering more expensive speakers. However if you are keeping the Marantz I also agree that the Monitor Audio Bronze speakers are hard to beat at the price

.

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

I am from Belgium. And I like Marantz as brand. Mayby an upgrade to the pm6004 or 7004?

And Iisten mostly to rock and blues/jazz. Sometimes to soft electro but not that much.

I like a clear and honest sound. Not to bass, but a rich and detailed sound.

 

[CnoEvil]

I am from Belgium. And I like Marantz as brand. Mayby an upgrade to the pm6004 or 7004?

What other brands have you heard?

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

the pmc22, but these were connected to a naim amp.

These are the only brand, that i have listened to. There aren't much high quality shops nearby. And mostly they have only one ore two brands of speakers.

 

[CnoEvil]

the pmc22, but these were connected to a naim amp.

These are the only brand, that i have listened to. There aren't much high quality shops nearby. And mostly they have only one ore two brands of speakers.

You are at least the third Belgian in recent days looking for a decent choice......Doc is yer man, so hopefully he will see this.

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

ah really? I think we are now in the fase that we want a good system to listen to music.

Thanks for your time and information. It was already really helpfull. I will consider to first upgrade my amp and then the speakers🙂

 

[DocG]

Hi Daan,

Belgians are finding their way to hifi --- or to this forum at least! Welcome to the Belgians-at-WHF-forum club! *music2*

So where in Belgium are you based? What shops have you visited yet?

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

I live in Denderbelle. I visited kompakt in Aalst (b&w) and wideScreenAudio in Gent(PMC).

But tomorrow I have an appointment in Ninove, SoundCenter.

 

[DocG]

OK, and which speakers are on the menu? Raf has some nice stuff, but most of it is a little more expensive. He sells Harbeth mainly, but also has some less well known speakers, like Heco, Devore, Esotheric (manufactured by Tannoy) or Paradigm. And Guru, though I'm not sure which models he has on demo. Last time I was there, he had the (big and expensive) QM60s. But his menu changes regularly.

I know Henk at Widescreen and Hans at Kompakt Hifi too. Henk has a very fine selection of brands, though most of it is again rather expensive. Kompakt Hifi have a very limited choice; if I'm not mistaken, Hans only has B&W speakers.

You could also try Radiyole in Gent and Mimesis Audio in Lovendegem. Both have a rather limited choice, but very good equipment.

Are you in a hurry to buy? If not, do take your time to explore your options. There's a whole lot of fine products waiting for you to discover!

 

[CnoEvil]

Are you in a hurry to buy? If not, do take your time to explore your options. There's a whole lot of fine products waiting for you to discover!

That should be made into a large Fridge Magnet and stuck where it can't be missed by anyone starting out into this minefield!

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

Non in specific. Its just for more information about the speakers and maybe a amp. I am very interested in good stuff but I am still a student, so I haven't that mutch to spend🙂

Yes indeed, Hans has only B&W.

And no not at all. I have much time, and I want to look around because there are so many possibilities and choices.

 

[DocG]

Right, go and listen! Don't bother too much about the budget at the moment. But don't buy anything (yet).

Do you have speakers (any speakers at all) to use with your PM5004? If so, you've got the time to look properly into this. If not, I'd go for a pair of budget speakers, to take the pressure away, as not to rush into the wrong (more expensive) speakers. Maybe even some second-hand speakers...

Now some general advice (as I see it; others may disagree). The first thing (IMO) is to choose speakers that match your room. Most speakers need a fair amount of space around them to sound balanced, give or take 50 cm off the wall as a minimum, and often significantly more (like > 1.5 m). If you force these much closer (because there is just no more room for them), they will never sound right. No amplifier, source, speaker cable or interconnect will change that. So that's the first thing you must think about. And as a student, you might not have a longer-term sight on this (which makes it all the more difficult to choose well)...

PS: it's kind of funny. I'm from Lede, near Aalst and work in Aalst and Ninove. So Kompakt and SoundCenter were the very first shops, where I dipped a toe into hifi. It's a small world...

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

Yes I have old speakers. Its the system of my dad, but we slowly are to upgrade our set. And we just upgraded our turntable, so the next thing would be the speakers. But this is in the future, but hifi has my interest so I think it don't harm to retreive some information and knowledge of the different brands.

So you would buy in the future some good speaker and then upgrade the amp? because in the older reponses they would first upgrade the amp.

Yes it is really a small world en specially Belgium😛

 

[DocG]

So you would buy in the future some good speaker and then upgrade the amp? because in the older reponses they would first upgrade the amp.

Frankly, I think you'll have to upgrade both, and you have to start somewhere. And I think the most tricky part is matching the speakers to the room. Then look for an amp that drives those speakers properly (and don't underestimate how an amp can make or brake the system!).

Indeed, the other option is to start with an amplifier, and then look for matching speakers. If one is particularly smitten by the valve amp magic for example, it's very sensible to go amp first, and look for adequate speakers afterwards.

Actually, I started my quest into hifi (must be some 5 or 6 years ago) looking for speakers, but as it happened, I first bought my new amplifier and just recently found a matching pair of speakers (which I bought as a temporary solution, but now everything sounds so well that they won't go anywhere anytime soon!). That was because our new house is being built, and it is taking years and years (complications with a contractor), and at a certain moment in time I needed something to cheer me up. And as the amp is not that dependent on the room it will be in, I bought the amp first.

So no hard and fast rules here. Just think things over carefully, end then take your time and listen. To the equipment and to the dealers' advice. And you won't go wrong.

(You might end up spending a whole lot more than you planned at first though. But only because it's worth it!

)

 

[knaithrover]

So you would buy in the future some good speaker and then upgrade the amp? because in the older reponses they would first upgrade the amp.

Frankly, I think you'll have to upgrade both, and you have to start somewhere. And I think the most tricky part is matching the speakers to the room. Then look for an amp that drives those speakers properly (and don't underestimate how an amp can make or brake the system!).

Indeed, the other option is to start with an amplifier, and then look for matching speakers. If one is particularly smitten by the valve amp magic for example, it's very sensible to go amp first, and look for adequate speakers afterwards.

Actually, I started my quest into hifi (must be some 5 or 6 years ago) looking for speakers, but as it happened, I first bought my new amplifier and just recently found a matching pair of speakers (which I bought as a temporary solution, but now everything sounds so well that they won't go anywhere anytime soon!). That was because our new house is being built, and it is taking years and years (complications with a contractor), and at a certain moment in time I needed something to cheer me up. And as the amp is not that dependent on the room it will be in, I bought the amp first.

So no hard and fast rules here. Just think things over carefully, end then take your time and listen. To the equipment and to the dealers' advice. And you won't go wrong.

(You might end up spending a whole lot more than you planned at first though. But only because it's worth it! )

He does need to upgrade both - in the future, right now he has a PM5004 and is asking what speakers would match. Q Acoustics 2010, 2020, Boston Acoustics A25''s and Monitor AUDIO BX2's would go great and match the amp budget-wise aswell

 

[hybridauth_google_116440872573040825435]

just back from Ninove. wow I was blown away by the sound.

First he let me listened to creek evolution 50a, the sound was really really good and very detailed. But then he said, he had an FLD 4 in occasion. Then i fell in love with it. The sound was rich en wide and very hard to descripe. But it was the best experience that I had with an amp.

The speakers were from elac.

i had a really positive experience. The person was also very kind and helpfull. It's worth the time🙂

 

[DocG]

just back from Ninove. wow I was blown away by the sound.

First he let me listened to creek evolution 50a, the sound was really really good and very detailed. But then he said, he had an FLD 4 in occasion. Then i fell in love with it. The sound was rich en wide and very hard to descripe. But it was the best experience that I had with an amp.

The speakers were from elac.

i had a really positive experience. The person was also very kind and helpfull. It's worth the time🙂

LFD amps are somewhat special indeed. They sound great (although I only heard them with Harbeths, which are a relatively easy load; not sure if they can handle more difficult speakers; not many specs to be found either...) but you must do without 'comfort options', like a remote. So very oldskool, and they probably need suitable speakers to let them shine. But in the right combination: excellent!

And yes, Raf is a nice guy. And he has a very personal selection of equipment on demo. So a great place to get bitten by the hifi bug indeed! *diablo*

 

[DocG]

He does need to upgrade both - in the future, right now he has a PM5004 and is asking what speakers would match. Q Acoustics 2010, 2020, Boston Acoustics A25''s and Monitor AUDIO BX2's would go great and match the amp budget-wise aswell

That is why

Do you have speakers (any speakers at all) to use with your PM5004? If so, you've got the time to look properly into this. If not, I'd go for a pair of budget speakers, to take the pressure away, as not to rush into the wrong (more expensive) speakers.

And you add some specific suggestions. Excellent (though Q Acoustics and Boston are hard to demo in Belgium)...

 

[CnoEvil]

But the creek, for that price is also excellent. I think in that price range, the best to buy🙂

The reason that I mentioned the Creek and the Arcam earlier in the thread, is that they are the ones to beat in that price range. The fact that you have found something that does just that, is a very good sign.

Follow Doc's lead and you won't go far wrong.....and it will save you a lot of legwork.