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Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$125.00
from EBAY Summary:
As for the Marantz 1060, just get one. But first I have a Story Here.
At age 60 I've been an audiophile since BEFORE the peak in mid 1980' when vinyl half speed master recordings from the original studio tapes were readily available. Introduction of low sampling rate CDs in that era produced anarchy, mostly because any junk producer could release the worst reproduction on these (perfect digital media) and get away with it. The audiophile world, IMHO, only recovered in the last ten years.
The big news is the CD begot SACD (note the Sony NS90V in the photo). These recordings are almost universally created from the original tapes, just like the half speed master people did 25 years ago. If you buy a SACD you can be confident it will not be an accoustic dissapointment. M. Jacksons 'Thriller' is just, well, thrilling.
However, decades ago I put my money into speakers, not amps. My 30+ year old KEF 104's cost about $2,000 in 2007 money. Each. So I decided to experment with used amps. This included one Marantz 1060, and one NAD 310 for about the same cheap price. The 1060 made the NAD sound like a cheap pocket transistor radio from my youth. Litterally, not figuratively.
The 1060 now drives four KEF 104's including a recent EBAY 104ab (accoustic butterworth filter) version. The 1060 is simply astonishing in this set up. My suppostion is the 100 Speaker Damping Factor of of the 1060 simply enslaves these speakers, that are themselves "reference" models.
For less then $150 use, how can you go wrong?
Strengths:
High frequecies
Mid range frequencies
Very tight and musical bass
Weaknesses:
At more the 30 years old the variable pots (volume, balance etc) may need some cleaning to produce linearity. Mine have a small 'volume hickup' at about the 1:00 master volume possition. I just live around it.
Mine came with new capacitors (the 1060 is capacitor coupled). I have never seen any others offered with new capacitors. If capacitors work, they generally do not go bad if they are warmed up and used once ever decade or so.
Similar Products Used:
Forget the NAD 310. The 1060 is probably an irreplaceable classic. However, I am going to recommend AccoustcSounds solicit for a reproduction version. A number of the expensive tube amps they sell emulate pre-solid state tube amps from McIntosh and Marantz.
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