Marantz sound.

[Frank D]

A friend of mine is interested in buying a Marantz SR 4023 stereo receiver. He asked me how does the sound of the new Marantz receivers compare to the receivers of the 70's. He did own a Marantz receiver back then but which model I do not know. I never owned Marantz so I can't answer his question. And a question from me, is Marantz considered audiophile grade today? Their hifi stereo seems higher priced to me with no discount from the list prices.

[F1nut]

Marantz makes some TOTL gear that one could consider audiophile grade. Stereo receivers are never audiophile grade.

[Frank D]

No I wasn't referring to the receiver but they have a 70 watt integrated amp that sells for $999 whereas a NAD c355BEE at 80 watts is $799. I would think the NAD is better but I have been wrong before.

[cnh]

A 200 dollar difference is not really relevant. The current Marantz high end consists of 1000s of dollars of powerful mono-block amps and multi-thousand dollar CD/SACD players, etc. Almost all of those are made in Japan, if that means anything!

NAD IMO used to be good, but it's not what it used to be. And Finut is absolutely right! He has a lot more experience with the higher end of things than most of us.

cnh

[Face]

I can tell you their CDP's are on the warm side, I'm not familiar with their amps/receivers. It probably is less colored and more transparent than their 70's gear though.

[engtaz]

More transparent is the sound I hear when listening to them. Not warm or colored, Neutral.

[reeltrouble1]

I would say the audiophile CDP I have heard from Marantz are just a tad to the warm side, I like it, I suspect one would need the matching level of components to really hear, although LSi speakers I heard were rather Grand.

For some time I used a lo-fi marantz 2ch integrated from the 70's definitely warm, but after a while in a not so Grand way, I love old NAD, but have moved on and cannot comment on new NAD except I do see members who like it.

RT1

[DeadFeat1]

I own a very humble Marantz SR48 MK2 receiver that has been pushing a pair of vintage Allison Four speakers for eight years. It came highly recommended by a very nice high end brick and mortar shop in Baltimore that has been in business for years and was the first shop to sell Polk speakers way back in the day. I have the receiver paired with a Marantz CDP CD6000OSE and I have been very pleased. Although I have heard countless Marantz products since the late 60s it is hard for me to say if the new ones sound like the ones from that era. I can say that the new products are quite good sounding and mine have been dependable. I like the fact that Marantz comes with a three year warranty and that my particular model has a phono stage. Marantz receives very positive reviews from a variety of publications. You can find them discounted from a variety of internet stores. Enjoy!