To WHF Team - Amplifier Awards

[da_grudge]

I have a short question to you. This year awards in the under-300 is Marantz PM6002 and then you have the Roksan K2 for the next category, but this amp is 750.

There is a big difference of money between both. What do recommend as a winner in the middle price (i.e.around the 500 price tag).

 

[Clare Newsome]

Ok, firstly a bit of background as to our Awards selection procedure. We choose the products first, then add price breaks - a product only wins an Award if we feel it's the next major step up in performance for the money.

So, in some categories - speakers spring to mind - you've got a wider range of products at smaller price breaks, as we feel each winner represents a genuine increase in quality for its price.

In the case of amps, we simply considered nothing sitting between the Roksan and Marantz that represented either a) a significant increase in performance for the extra money over the Marantz or b) something nearing the Roksan's capabilities for less money.

But the Awards represent less than 100 of the thousands of products we test: plenty of great options in our reviews section, and indeed we're just about to test a whole new batch of sub-£1000 hi-fi kit for our January issue so there's bound to be some interesting alternatives there.

@£400-£500, incidentally, also seems to be a good price point to pick up end-of-line kit that was once priced higher - there are bargains to be had on products that got excellent ratings in years past....

 

[matthewpiano]

This is ludicrous. My present round of auditions is showing me that there are big leaps in performance to be had by moving up to the £400-£500 price bracket. The Marantz seems to have been lauded as some kind of giant killer and yet, to my ears, it isn't even a clear winner at its own price point. Granted, it might suit SOME music and SOME ears extremely well and it certainly represents very good physical value for money. It does sound very much like a budget amp though and I can't help agreeing with HFC's review which suggested that it can sound a bit dead and shut-in unless you really crank it up. For similar money the about-to-be replaced NAD C325BEE is a much greater all-rounder IMO. I'd also say, despite the fact that I'm not a fan of its presentation, that the CA Azur 540A offers better overall sound across the frequency range.

If you move up to the £500 region, even though I didn't get on with it as a permanent house partner in the end, the Cambridge Azur 740A is a significantly better amp than the Marantz. Its much better balanced and more flexible across a wide range of music. Marantz's own PM7001, particularly in KI-Sig mode, represents a significant step up as does the Arcam A18, the Audiolab 8000S, and Denon PMA1500AE. I'm quite sure there are other examples that I haven't yet heard.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Some off-topic discourse deleted - let's keep this one on-topic, huh?

 

[Andy Clough]

Agreed.