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Review NaN of
Price Paid:
$499.00 Summary:
This review is about the Marantz pm 7200
Having a budget to spend about $500 up to 600, you cannot go wrong: any brand will do just fine.
The differences in sound are marginal.
You will soon get used to the sound and end up liking it a lot.
In 90% of shortcomings of sound (bad recording etc.) the tone control will be sufficient.
My advice: buy the best looking amp.
Having said that I wouldn't follow that advice (although I'm dead right), because I want to listen and find out for myself.
So I did.
I compared 3 Amps:
Marantz PM 7200 $499 (played in AB, not in class A)
NAD c352 $599
Rotel RA-02 $599
I conected them on my Marantz cd 5000 cd-player (I wrote a terrible review about this player on this site) and Dynaudio audience 52 speakers.
I used the sound of a Sony headphones, plugged in the cd 5000's phones-socket, as an inaccurate reference to adjust my perception of Marantz cd 5000's sound: clean, delicate (easy to distort), good stereo image tight but lean bass, at times too bright and remarkable (for the money) depth.
As expected: the differences were small.
With most cd's the differences were very little, with few cd's the differences were more obvious.
And with some there weren't any differences at all, at least I couldn't hear them.
So pay in mind that the sound differences I've written down are a bit exaggerated .
The Rotel RA-02 came the closest to the headphones sound, although the sound was even cleaner, faster and tighter, but unfortunately also brighter.
The bas sounded equally lean but faster and punchier.
The NAD sounded bigger, more dynamic and confident; the delicate cd 5000 sound transformed into a more stable sound, even at high volumes. The Rotel sounded strained, nervous and distortedat high volumes, but obviously the cd 5000 is to blame for this.
The NAD also has a bigger and stronger bass which suits the cd 5000's lean bass.
The low midds are a bit dark coloured, so you can call the NAD a warm performer.
Still the sound is more open and detailed than Rotel's, sometimes a bit clinical which is a strange contradiction to warm character this amp also has.
The Marantz PM 7200 surprised me completely by getting rid of the roughness and brightness of the cd 5000.
It sounded not as tight, fast and precise as the Rotel, nor does it have the dynamics and the powerfull bass the NAD has, but the music flows with more eas.
The delicacy of the cd 5000 remains without distorting at high volumes.
I mentioned that the NAD is a warm performer, well the Marantz is even warmer without colouring the midds and that puzzled me; it looks like the Marantz brings out the warmth of the recording itself.
The sound is almost as detailed as NAD's, but to my ears more natural (to other ears perhaps too smooth).
There is no real winner here (as already said in the beginning: the differences are small), but the Marantz is definitely the best match with my cd-player (and the cheapest too!)
The Rotel obviously needs a better source and appears to be the most neutral, precise, fast and punchie amp.
The NAD will be liked by a majority of listeners for its speed, strong bass, superb dynamics and detailed sound, probaply this amp will outshine the Marantz when a better source is used.
The Marantz is the most forgiving and gentle amp, but also the most natural and warm sounding. At times this amp is a bit excentric: the colours and tones this amp produces are from a different league (not better, but very special): so sweet, refined and warm.
I didn't use the class A mode in this comparison, later I found out that there isn't any difference in sound between class A and AB... maybe I heard a slightly warmer sound through heaphones.
This amp runs very warm, so it needs some space, but there isn't anything to worry about.
A slight buzz is noticable when you're near the amp. You can hear the buzz also through headphones in the left channel when both speaker buttons are switched OFF, running the amp in AB. This buzz dissappears when one or both speakerbuttons are switched on. (so when you use only use one pair of spakers, you can switch OFF speaker button one and switch ON speaker button two.)
Or you can listen in class A and this buzz will not appear at all.
This buzz is not what you'll expect from a $499 amp, but it doesn't really bother me.
I love this amp for its sound, power and good looks too. Strengths:
warmth
depth
natural sound, detailed without sounding mechanical
deep bass
colourfull
gentle
refined Weaknesses:
in comparison with rivals:
less accurate
less dynamic Similar Products Used:
as said in review:
Rotel RA-02
NAD c352
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