This is a follow up to:
http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/an-audition
after a couple of months of using the system.
I have least to say about the PM8005. It handles everything I throw at it with aplomb and seems to my ears to be close to that ideal of being “a wire with gain”. Some were concerned that it wouldn’t be man enough to drive the Kef R700s but it seems to be capable of doing so at all the volume levels I have tried. Looks are a matter of taste but I have always liked Marantz boxes from a visual point of view. I really like the blue lights on this model, they somehow make it look purposeful. The remote is simple and easy to use (there is one that controls the amp and the CD player). I’ve not tried the tone controls, there are three, as I use the amp in “Source Direct” mode. It is built like a brick outhouse and gives the feeling that it will last a lifetime. Really nice build quality on a different level to the PM6004 it replaced.
The SA8005 is a real star. It produces Leona Lewis moments, you remember the first audition where Simon Cowell, obviously bored out of his shoes listening to people who can’t sing, suddenly looks up with £s in his eyes when she starts to sing. I keep doing that in all types of music. I’ve been revising intensively for an exam over the last three weeks and I kept looking up. I know it’s a hifi cliché but it does seem to extract much more from the CDs, stuff that I had forgotten was there. I give examples later. It does this when listening on both headphones and speakers. The build quality is the same as on the amp. The tray mechanism is really nice, it just oozes quality. It is very intolerant of the CD being in any way not centred; it just won’t work! The tray can’t be opened and closed from the remote which isn’t a problem but I’m not sure why they didn’t put it in. Sadly the player doesn’t have any blue lights! I have tried dimming the display as the manual says it may affect sound quality but I can’t hear any difference. I also don’t think there is much if any difference between SACD and CD. I think I might convince myself that SACD is a little better but I’m not sure that is true. I haven’t blind tested this.
I fell in love with the Kef R700s at the audition and if anything my affection has grown. My apartment is loft style with double height ceilings so there is a big volume to deal with. The Kefs just fill it with sound. What’s more they are equally effective at low volumes, which I have to use in the evenings when the neighbours are in, and higher volumes, which I can use in the daytime. Effortless is the word I would use, there is no strain or stress just music. I don’t listen to bass heavy music so I can’t say anything about their effectiveness in that area but for classical and 60s-70s pop / rock they are excellent. Of particular note is how well they produce voices which come across as being completely natural. Examples are given below. They look great, I have the white finish which fits in well with my minimalist apartment, and they are very solidly put together. I have two issues with them. They have made my headphones seem inadequate so I think I’m going to have to spend some more to bring my late night listening to the same level. They are also very, very heavy. So heavy in fact that with my bad back I can’t move them on my own so have not been able to experiment with toe-in etc. I’m going to have to get my rugby playing son-in-law to spend a day here so that I can play!
The three pieces of kit seems to work very well together. You’d expect nothing less from the Marantz boxes of course as they are meant to go together. I think I have been lucky to find very compatible speakers. I haven’t heard anything like as much kit as many posters here so I can’t claim that my expertise was instrumental in putting the system together.
I won’t bore you all with a comprehensive list of everything I have listened to so here are the highlights in no particular order:
· Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Deja vu – I hadn’t played this for a while and had come to feel that it was an album that seemed outstanding at the time but now was bland. What a revelation! Suddenly those vocals that were just one mishmash were separated into individual voices singing in harmony, individual instruments stood out to be blended together by my ears.
· Evita (original version) – For me only Julie Covington can sing Evita! Now the acid edge to her voice, which you either love or hate, comes through exactly correctly. A heads up moment came with the applause for Mogaldi in the cafe scene, it was like being there.
· Chopin Piano Concertos 1 & 2 – New SACD from Linn with Ingrid Fliter – Absolutely stunning piano sound
· Chopin Etudes – Pollini on DG – I’ve just put this on as I’m writing and it’s another heads up moment. Wonderful playing of course but the piano tone is absolutely true as you would hear it in a concert hall.
· Joan Baez – Joan Baez – I used this at the audition and it’s even better here. What it is is truly believable. I’ve not seen her live sadly but I imagine it would sound like this.
· Under Milk Wood – Original BBC recording with Richard Burton – Spellbinding - the spoken word is a real test in my opinion and a friend and I sat through it without moving a muscle. The voices were so real.
· Copland’s Lincoln Portrait – On Decca with Gregory Peck doing the narration – The orchestral sound is excellent with the timpani showing through very strongly as it should. The old actor’s mellifluous voice comes over very strongly as he speaks Lincoln’s great words.
· The Civil War, The Music and its sounds – Mercury Living Presence – I’ve been to a Civil War re-enactment in the US and this came over as very authentic. The narration in its echo laden ambience is great. The fifes and drums are excellent. The muskets are scary, I blinked when they went off and you can hear the bullets flying through the air. As for the cannon ... (I know I am sad listening to gun fire on a hifi!)
· Bellini – I Capuleti E I Montecchi – DG with Netrebko and Garancha - If you like opera you will own this set and if you don’t you should go and buy it. On this kit it is simply tremendous, my apartment turns into an opera house. Died and gone to heaven.
· Adele – 21 – Truly terrible! I have written before about how poor this recording is and if you want to hear it exposed for what it is this kit will do it. Some of it is like scraping fingernails down a blackboard.
· Tallis, Spem in Alium – Tallis Scholars – This was a great disappointment at the audition as I thought it was “muddled”. I still think it is! Matt thought it might be because they sing it quite quickly but I have since bought the version by The Sixteen on Coro and that is even faster but is not muddled. As it is a highly regarded version it remains a bit of a mystery.
So to summarise, I am extremely happy with the kit. The SA8005 is in my opinion outstanding and the speakers are wonderful. If you like the same type of music as me I would strongly recommend that you audition this kit. I know it’s very much in the mainstream but mainstream can be good.
Chris
http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/an-audition
after a couple of months of using the system.
I have least to say about the PM8005. It handles everything I throw at it with aplomb and seems to my ears to be close to that ideal of being “a wire with gain”. Some were concerned that it wouldn’t be man enough to drive the Kef R700s but it seems to be capable of doing so at all the volume levels I have tried. Looks are a matter of taste but I have always liked Marantz boxes from a visual point of view. I really like the blue lights on this model, they somehow make it look purposeful. The remote is simple and easy to use (there is one that controls the amp and the CD player). I’ve not tried the tone controls, there are three, as I use the amp in “Source Direct” mode. It is built like a brick outhouse and gives the feeling that it will last a lifetime. Really nice build quality on a different level to the PM6004 it replaced.
The SA8005 is a real star. It produces Leona Lewis moments, you remember the first audition where Simon Cowell, obviously bored out of his shoes listening to people who can’t sing, suddenly looks up with £s in his eyes when she starts to sing. I keep doing that in all types of music. I’ve been revising intensively for an exam over the last three weeks and I kept looking up. I know it’s a hifi cliché but it does seem to extract much more from the CDs, stuff that I had forgotten was there. I give examples later. It does this when listening on both headphones and speakers. The build quality is the same as on the amp. The tray mechanism is really nice, it just oozes quality. It is very intolerant of the CD being in any way not centred; it just won’t work! The tray can’t be opened and closed from the remote which isn’t a problem but I’m not sure why they didn’t put it in. Sadly the player doesn’t have any blue lights! I have tried dimming the display as the manual says it may affect sound quality but I can’t hear any difference. I also don’t think there is much if any difference between SACD and CD. I think I might convince myself that SACD is a little better but I’m not sure that is true. I haven’t blind tested this.
I fell in love with the Kef R700s at the audition and if anything my affection has grown. My apartment is loft style with double height ceilings so there is a big volume to deal with. The Kefs just fill it with sound. What’s more they are equally effective at low volumes, which I have to use in the evenings when the neighbours are in, and higher volumes, which I can use in the daytime. Effortless is the word I would use, there is no strain or stress just music. I don’t listen to bass heavy music so I can’t say anything about their effectiveness in that area but for classical and 60s-70s pop / rock they are excellent. Of particular note is how well they produce voices which come across as being completely natural. Examples are given below. They look great, I have the white finish which fits in well with my minimalist apartment, and they are very solidly put together. I have two issues with them. They have made my headphones seem inadequate so I think I’m going to have to spend some more to bring my late night listening to the same level. They are also very, very heavy. So heavy in fact that with my bad back I can’t move them on my own so have not been able to experiment with toe-in etc. I’m going to have to get my rugby playing son-in-law to spend a day here so that I can play!
The three pieces of kit seems to work very well together. You’d expect nothing less from the Marantz boxes of course as they are meant to go together. I think I have been lucky to find very compatible speakers. I haven’t heard anything like as much kit as many posters here so I can’t claim that my expertise was instrumental in putting the system together.
I won’t bore you all with a comprehensive list of everything I have listened to so here are the highlights in no particular order:
· Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – Deja vu – I hadn’t played this for a while and had come to feel that it was an album that seemed outstanding at the time but now was bland. What a revelation! Suddenly those vocals that were just one mishmash were separated into individual voices singing in harmony, individual instruments stood out to be blended together by my ears.
· Evita (original version) – For me only Julie Covington can sing Evita! Now the acid edge to her voice, which you either love or hate, comes through exactly correctly. A heads up moment came with the applause for Mogaldi in the cafe scene, it was like being there.
· Chopin Piano Concertos 1 & 2 – New SACD from Linn with Ingrid Fliter – Absolutely stunning piano sound
· Chopin Etudes – Pollini on DG – I’ve just put this on as I’m writing and it’s another heads up moment. Wonderful playing of course but the piano tone is absolutely true as you would hear it in a concert hall.
· Joan Baez – Joan Baez – I used this at the audition and it’s even better here. What it is is truly believable. I’ve not seen her live sadly but I imagine it would sound like this.
· Under Milk Wood – Original BBC recording with Richard Burton – Spellbinding - the spoken word is a real test in my opinion and a friend and I sat through it without moving a muscle. The voices were so real.
· Copland’s Lincoln Portrait – On Decca with Gregory Peck doing the narration – The orchestral sound is excellent with the timpani showing through very strongly as it should. The old actor’s mellifluous voice comes over very strongly as he speaks Lincoln’s great words.
· The Civil War, The Music and its sounds – Mercury Living Presence – I’ve been to a Civil War re-enactment in the US and this came over as very authentic. The narration in its echo laden ambience is great. The fifes and drums are excellent. The muskets are scary, I blinked when they went off and you can hear the bullets flying through the air. As for the cannon ... (I know I am sad listening to gun fire on a hifi!)
· Bellini – I Capuleti E I Montecchi – DG with Netrebko and Garancha - If you like opera you will own this set and if you don’t you should go and buy it. On this kit it is simply tremendous, my apartment turns into an opera house. Died and gone to heaven.
· Adele – 21 – Truly terrible! I have written before about how poor this recording is and if you want to hear it exposed for what it is this kit will do it. Some of it is like scraping fingernails down a blackboard.
· Tallis, Spem in Alium – Tallis Scholars – This was a great disappointment at the audition as I thought it was “muddled”. I still think it is! Matt thought it might be because they sing it quite quickly but I have since bought the version by The Sixteen on Coro and that is even faster but is not muddled. As it is a highly regarded version it remains a bit of a mystery.
So to summarise, I am extremely happy with the kit. The SA8005 is in my opinion outstanding and the speakers are wonderful. If you like the same type of music as me I would strongly recommend that you audition this kit. I know it’s very much in the mainstream but mainstream can be good.
Chris
. No tray open/close on cd the remote, strange, I wonder why they deleted this button as I've still got it on my cd remote.
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