I decided to go ahead and buy the Marantz system. It certainly is much more solidly built than my old Marantz PM67 and CD52MKII and looks like a quality product.
The sound is very different too, the biggest difference is there is no loudness button. When using my old system at low volume I always used it because the sound was lacking somehow even when the bass and and treble were adjusted. The new amplifier has in addition to the bass and treble a mid adjustment. I have found that ths really brings out the vocals. It is now possible to adjust the amp to get a really good sound even a low volumes, but it has less bass than before with the loudness function.
Its not a bad thing because the clarity of the music is a big improvement over the old system. The biggest improvement I think is with the iPod there is much more depth to the sound.
Does anyone ever use the source direct function? I know its how the music is supposed to sound but i can't say I like it much.
I believe the SA8005 can play FLAC files, I am looking forward to giving them a go!