accidental amp

Suzy6toesSuzy6toes
in Amplifiers
Oops, I seem to have accidentally / impulsively become the owner of a Marantz PM6004. I'm not sure how I should be reacting to this.
It's arrived. But won't get set up until this evening. I'll be trying it out with my Castle Chesters. 

Comments

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    How did that happen? You can tell me. I'll keep quiet.
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    If it's the silver version, I'll allow it.
  • Suzy6toesSuzy6toes
    uglymusic said:
    How did that happen? You can tell me. I'll keep quiet.
    The voices told me to do it.
    Docfoster said:
    If it's the silver version, I'll allow it.
    They weren't as choosey on colour as you, Doc. 

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Suzy6toes said:


    uglymusic said:

    How did that happen? You can tell me. I'll keep quiet.

    The voices told me to do it.

    Docfoster said:

    If it's the silver version, I'll allow it.

    They weren't as choosey on colour as you, Doc. 



    Be wary of the voices. Very wary.
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Suzy6toes said:
    uglymusic said:
    How did that happen? You can tell me. I'll keep quiet.
    The voices told me to do it.
    Docfoster said:
    If it's the silver version, I'll allow it.
    They weren't as choosey on colour as you, Doc. 

    Just call me "the hifi racist". (Actually, please don't.)

    Most importantly, how is it sounding? I haven't heard a Marantz amp in ages!
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    Be wary of the voices. Very wary.
    That's odd. They they say the same thing about you.

    :P
  • Suzy6toesSuzy6toes
    "Most importantly, how is it sounding? I haven't heard a Marantz amp in ages!"

    Well, this is the bit that makes me quite nervous. I really don't have the lexicon for this. So I'll go at it in my usual circuitous route.
    The thing I really enjoy about trying out a different amp or speakers, is how it seems to take me on a different journey through my music collection. I tend to start in a similar place, usually some Bob Marley or Llasa de Sela, and there will be some Cymande in there too, but where it goes from there, is always quite telling in itself I feel. (Which, as an aside really reminds me of teaching poetry collections to the students. Not only can I never keep the same order from year to year, I can't even keep the same order between 2 different classes studying it at the same time!The connections and links seem to be unique to every group!)

    So, the first thing I noticed last night was that the tunes that really seemed to be shining with the Marantz / Castles combo were: Red Right Hand (Nick Cave), Dead Man Walking (Bowie) and some Ashley Beedle remixes I haven't been near for a while.
     I was pleased with the Cave as there are some (purposefully) glassy high frequencies in this track that can feel (too) discomforting at times, and the Castles can have a tendancy for this. But this combo seemed to bring more warmth through in the vocal to help make it less...um... ugly, Dave? ;-)

    My sense is that the bass is well contained and "tidy" (classic hifi review terminology I'm sure you'll agree!). And I think that seems a good description across the frequencies really. But sometimes I feel I want to ground a whole track a little more. Give it a bit more flesh on its thighs.
    But, I want to stress, that there is warmth. It's not a clinical sound. And, I know that trialling with a more bass friendly pair of speakers would be interesting (hmm, wish I had the Wharfies here!)

    ....

  • Suzy6toesSuzy6toes
    .....

    I've been interested to experiment with the variation in source. This is mostly because the Marantz comes with this little rectangular hand held box which is apparently called a "remote control". (never had one of these before!) So, the reviews (that I momentarily glanced my eyes over before placing the ebay bid as I wandered past the computer last week) had praised the phono stage on the Marantz. Moving between JRiver/pc and phono, I would say, at the moment, that the pc is the richer source. But, I'm thinking this is probably more a case of revealing the poorer quality of the source in this comparison, rather than how that source is getting amplified. I'm certainly not unhappy with the sound I'm getting.

    What I was looking for, was a safe, reliable amp to fill in the gaps in service with my Claymore 2. And I'd say that's what I've got. I can't imagine having the same kind of romance with it that I had with the Claymore 1 I borrowed last year. But I don't feel I've made a complete fudge-up in my impulsive purchase :-) 
  • DocfosterDocfoster
    You knew what you wanted. You did your research. Sounds like it paid off.
    <:-P
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