Do you have all your new kit at home now? I am just interested in how you are finding the pairing in your own room?
I sent back the PM7000N, but for a while I had the following in my living room (I promised my wife it was temporary!) Although I still have Q100s running in an A/B mode.
AMPS:
Cambridge Audio CXA81
Marantz PM7000N
Marantz PM6003
SPEAKERS
KEF LS50s
KEF Q100s
I obviously tried all combinations.
I must say that initially I found the LS50/CXA81 combination to be too "bright" for my ears. I was drawn back to my old set up, but over time (it's probably my ears that changed not the kit), what I thought was too bright was probably just more detail. I do find it a wee bit light on the bass site. But I can definitely hear "more" going on, and on some stuff it is really exciting.
I had the CXA81 for a for a few weeks, before going back to the sales guy and said I wasn't 100% happy (he was top notch), and he suggested I tried the PM7000N as it would be more like the sound I was accustomed to. He was right. I had to buy the PM7000N, with the understanding that I would return one of the other (or both!).
I tried
new amp, old speakers;
new amp, new speakers;
new amp, both speakers
etc etc etc
I think the comparison is important, I think you HAVE to try them out in your living room, with YOUR music. I found that the CXA81/LS50 is unforgiving, for example, bootleg recordings are hard to listen to. But put something on that has some meat on the bones, and it really is good. The Marantz is definitely more forgiving.
Features of CXA81 which PM7000N did not have (this were nice to have, but helped seal the deal)
- AptX HD bluetooth (I preferred using the Amazon Music app to the HEOS app, so this made more sense for me)
- A/B speakers (I liked this as I have my old speakers wired into the CXA81)
Downsides CXA81:
- NO TONE CONTROLS. I can mitiagate this with the equalizer in the Amazon music app. But I don't like doing that, so tend not to. All I was doing as adding some bass, so I added (in process) a sub woofer.
- With HEOS you can get best available HD format from (for example) Amazon HD. My phone and FireTV aren't capable of the highest format.
TIP: If you buy the CXA81 from Cambridge Audio, they will give you 100 day return guarantee. I bought it from the only other place where you can buy it.
NOTE: I have also recently added a sub-woofer and I'm not certain what sub yet, but that's another story.