Marantz KI Pearl Lites seem great value?

[paulsue38]

Both the Marantz KI Lite amp and CD are currently available for around 650 each. This seems great value and they have received great reviews from several publicatons including group test winner and outstanding product. The CD player can be used for SACD, it can be used as a DAC and has a front and rear USB. The amp has phono and can drive difficult loads. Is there a catch? Any owners out there?

 

[plastic penguin]

Both the Marantz KI Lite amp and CD are currently available for around 650 each. This seems great value and they have received great reviews from several publicatons including group test winner and outstanding product. The CD player can be used for SACD, it can be used as a DAC and has a front and rear USB. The amp has phono and can drive difficult loads. Is there a catch? Any owners out there?

From the reviews I've read of the KI Lites, the only "catch" that I can evisage is speaker matching. It has, according to reviews, a smooth presentation so I'd avoid the likes of Dynaudio, if you don't want to cross the sonic plimsole line and end up with an overly warm sound.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Taking into account features and their sound quality, they would be pretty hard to beat. I suppose the main alternative would be the Pioneer A70 and PD50, which have pretty much identical features.

 

[paulsue38]

Thanks for the advice. I do prefer a sound on the warm side of neutral though to be honest. I do have Dynausio Excite x 12 but I have found them to be very neutral so far. The Excite range do seem to be different from previous models in this respect - and not difficult to drive either! I may go for the CD to start with and make a judgement about the amp at a later stage.

Paul

 

[Mooly]

I've had my Pearl-Lite SACD for around 18 months now and can't fault it. Sound quality (that's such a vague term and doesn't do it justice) is outstanding. It replaced a Micromega Stage 2.

As an electronics tech I can also confirm that the internal build quality is first rate in all respects and that this player appears (from what I can tell) to use one of the best pickups in the business, the OXX8005 laser & mech from Pioneer.

 

[Ketan Bharadia]

At that price they're a really good buy. Just make sure you try them with your speakers first, though, just to make sure.

 

[paulsue38]

Thanks for replying Mooly. Have you found it to be on the warm side of neutral?

Paul

 

[paulsue38]

At that price they're a really good buy. Just make sure you try them with your speakers first, though, just to make sure.

They were 900 I think when What Hi fi reviewed them! Not sure whether you have heard the Dynaudio x12 but people seem to wrongly assume that they are overly warm (and / or difficult to drive)
Paul

 

[Mooly]

Thanks for replying Mooly. Have you found it to be on the warm side of neutral?

Paul

It's extremely musical and non fatiguing is probably the best way to describe it. Absolutely no harshness or over bright quality. Its not warm as in a "bit mushy". All the fine detail and soundstaging is there but without that "etched" artificial quality that some players exhibit.

 

[paulsue38]

Sounds what I am looking for. Do you make use of the digital inputs and have you tried any SACD's?

Paul

 

[cse]

I have the Pearl Lite SACD player and love it. Not overly warm at all. The only disappointment is looks, it doesn't really look much different to the cheaper range. I prefer the looks of heavier casing on British HIFI. Still undecided whether or not to go with matching amp. I have it with Neat Petit SX speakers, which aren't warm, just very detailed and perhaps a liitle bit boomy, but that could be my small room and wooden floors

 

[paulsue38]

Thanks for replying the problems with your room sound like mine!

Paul

 

[Mooly]

Sounds what I am looking for. Do you make use of the digital inputs and have you tried any SACD's?

Paul

Yes and yes. The digital inputs I use for listening to occasional podcasts and the like put onto a USB flash drive. I thought I would never use them but in fact they are really useful.

SACD's I haven't many. Quality is well... if I'm honest there isn't a huge difference between the normal CD layer and the SACD. Both sound stunning and show how "right" the original format was (is) when executed properly. Output from SACD is slightly higher than CD so that can make the SACD "sound" more impressive on first listen.

You won't be disappointed.

 

[plastic penguin]

At that price they're a really good buy. Just make sure you try them with your speakers first, though, just to make sure.

They were 900 I think when What Hi fi reviewed them! Not sure whether you have heard the Dynaudio x12 but people seem to wrongly assume that they are overly warm (and / or difficult to drive)
Paul

No, what I said is that Dyns can be smooth sounding compared to MA or Focals and all the reviews point the Marantzes in a similar direction. Therefore you'll need to listen to one with your speakers and see how you find them.

Personally speaking (and this is purely IMHO) I like to partner smooth or warm components with stuff that has an 'edge' or something that gives a bit more pep.

 

[whiskywheels]

Getting the KI pearl lite amp and CD player put an end to my year long search for a replacement system! I started with CA 620, then NAD, Rotel RA1520, Audiolab 8200CD and a few others until at last finding something that had a natural and stunning sound. The DAC is very good, as is the phono stage which stands equal to the rega mini fono and CA 640, plus there's a headphone amp in the CD player which sounds as good as listening through the amp. Another selling point for me was the ability of the remote control sensors to respond to the right angle position of my listening chair and speakers. I'm using PMC DB1i speakers, and it all sounds great for all kinds of music. Highly recommended, and at that price an absolute bargain!

 

[Overdose]

Both the Marantz KI Lite amp and CD are currently available for around 650 each. This seems great value and they have received great reviews from several publicatons including group test winner and outstanding product. The CD player can be used for SACD, it can be used as a DAC and has a front and rear USB. The amp has phono and can drive difficult loads. Is there a catch? Any owners out there?

Slightly lateral thinking, but what about the Audiolab 8200CDQ with a pair of active speakers? Nice and simple.

 

[paulsue38]

Thanks for the suggestion but I have recently purchased some Dynaudio x12.s.

Paul

 

[plastic penguin]

There's a very nice Leema Pulse on a auction site. :cheers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leema-Acoustics-Pulse-II-/251196536876?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item3a7c7af82c

 

[Longjohn]

Dear all,

I'm interested in buying the Marantz Pearl Lite pair, but would like more information on what speakers could be suitable. I notice that Delfinus has rather expensive ones. Someone above mentioned the PMC DB1s.

What about speakers such as those from the Monitor Audio RX range or the Rega RS3 / 5?

Kind regards to all,

Longjohn

 

[delfinus]

Hiya there,

I believe that Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite is one of the best value solid state amplifiers available on the market. After all these days I'm still amazed how good it is and it really drags me into the music. And that is all what is important for me. I don't like the amplifiers that are just effective for a short period of time with all that audiophile trickery and then at the end you find out that it starts to annoy you with some spitting or sibilant sounds and that with time you find out that music is robbed of the soul and emotions.

With Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite I can finally enjoy music for hours and hours. Marantz has tone controls and I give this feature a big plus as I use amplifier also for listening of the Internet radio stations and there you can compensate a little bit. My bass tone control is in neutral position, mid is in neutral and highs are at 11 o'clock at the moment. When needed I just turn off Source Direct and this way no music can annoy me anymore. But on average and also when listening to my CDs I'm bypassing tone controls as I found out that I receive a little more dimensionality and deeper sound stage. Music is so sweet to listen through Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite. I can confirm once again that is the most natural sounding amp I had in my system. I can describe sound as very coherent through all frequency spectrum and nothing is hanging out. Musical presentation is just very involving and smooth.

I can compare Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite with some very expensive amps and I would still rather opt for this amp. Before purchasing this amp I had also Modwright KWI 200 shortlisted, but to pay 5.000 EUR for an amp and that maybe at the end I will not be completely satisfied what I would pay for? I did not take a risk. Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite has also few advantages in comparison to Modwright KWI 200. It has phono input by default (didn’t tried it yet), it has tone controls, it has balance control if you need it, it has headphones output which I use, and it has A+B speaker binding posts which I need as I use also REL B2 for my lowest octave.

What was interesting for me was that character of the Modwright KWI 200 is very similarly described as Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite and Marantz PM KI Pearl. On that basis I decided I would just try it blindly and yes it was a thing with which I'm very impressed. My initial impression and a little bit longer review can be found here: http://www.whathifi.com/review/marantz-pm-ki-pearl-lite/user-reviews

Happy musical holidays to all.

delfinus.

 

[garyw77]

I have a KI Pearl Lite Amp (that i snagged for £500 )paired with PMC DB1i's and i agree with the previous posts. I replaced a Cyrus Amp with this and the improvement for me was huge. Best Hi-Fi bargain i ever found!

It's fed from a Mac Mini playing AIFF files through Pure Music and a M2Tech Young DAC using Audioquest cabling and i find it very involving with no fatigue at all, bringing more out of the PMC speakers.

Highly recommended, especially at the price it's going for now, very hard to beat for value and a lovely detailed sound.... go for it!

 

[cse]

Hiya there,

I believe that Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite is one of the best value solid state amplifiers available on the market.

delfinus.

Have you thought of buying the matching Pearl Lite SACD player? An excellent machine. And how come you have such expensive speakers???

 

[delfinus]

@cse

I have Anthony Gallo Reference 3.5 speakers already for some time now. I bought them new and used them with Musical Fidelity A308 and Musical Fidelity NuVista CD player.

Having good speakers is not bad thing at all. If you read a review on the Stereophile about original Marantz PM KI Pearl you will see that reviewer has connected the amp with very high end speakers Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 3 which are even 10 times more expensive than my speakers. http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/marantz_pm-ki-pearl_integrated_amplifier . What I found interesting is that his observations are very similar to what I discovered with cheaper Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite. So if I wrap that up I can see that Marantz Pearl gear has a lot of headroom and it can offer an extremely good musical presentation also on the best speakers out there.

For some long months I had shortlisted some very expensive amps that I would buy as my next upgrade and plug into the system with my Gallo's. Shortlisted were Gryphon Diablo, Gryphon Atilla, McIntosh MA7000, McIntosh MA6900, Leben CS600. I was closest to buy Modwright KWI 200 as I loved a combo of Modwright LS100 and Modwright KWA100SE that I heard at the dealer. Modwright KWI 200 is an integrated amplifier and has almost similar character as previous mentioned combo, but the price for this integrated is also very high (4.990 EUR new) in comparison to Marantz. Then I just experimented with my budget Marantz gear that I had at home and I found out that is not bad at all with my speakers and in some aspects also better than what I heard with more expensive gear. Then I shortliested also Marantz PM KI Pearl original and Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite as its sound was on many forums and reviews described exactly what I was looking for and very similar to Modwright character. Then opportunity came and I went with Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite which I would say is the best "recession amp" you can buy and enjoy in full and touch or overpass also some very hi-end gear. I bought it and I was not wrong. I enjoy Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite much more than with some extremely expensive gear that I heard in my system, at the dealers or at the Hi-Fi shows. I'm certain that this is the best amp you can buy for the money.

As far as the SACD I do not intend to buy it as I practically do not have any SACD media. I have a very good CD player Musical Fidelity NuVista 3D which I just renewed with new transport. Combination with Marantz is very good and much better than my previous combo with MF A308. But if I go back to Marantz SA KI Pearl Lite I can read only good words about this combo. Price is also convenient and I think it is a smart direction to go to.

I can conclude that a lot of audiphiles has too much prejudice about Marantz gear and they do not want to touch it. They usualy say that it is just a mass production for the masses. But from my experiences I can say that Marantz Pearl gear is extremely good gear with simple and great engineering, nice design, smart technical solutions and what counts most with excellent musical result. And you can get all that for a very honest price.

delfinus.

 

[cse]

I have a KI Pearl Lite Amp (that i snagged for £500

Where did you manage to purchase at such a great price? Was it new or second-hand?

 

[cse]

@cse

Having good speakers is not bad thing at all. If you read a review on the Stereophile about original Marantz PM KI Pearl you will see that reviewer has connected the amp with very high end speakers Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 3 which are even 10 times more expensive than my ....

Comprendo!