Summary:
me and my friends was listening PM78 side by side with PM17

It was very suprising that PM78 are sounding very much alike PM17 (we're all preety much agree about it/with class a switch on). The vocal is clear, heaps of presence, coherence, sweet and detail. Which makes this amp a steal considering the price.
PM78 is really poor man PM 17!

Strengths:
Poor man's PM 17

Weaknesses:
hates metallica

Similar Products Used:
marantz pm17

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Correct

Summary:
I bought this amp because test results in a german magazine were very good, and it was really cheap.
As I had it installed and listened to it, I was disappointed rightaway.
I tried it with Dali 850 and B&W matrix 805 speakers.
In both cases the amp sounded constipated and non-dynamic.
The really high frequencies almost completely disappeared, and in the mid-section everything was mixed up. I remember it sounding as if someone had put sand in my equipment.
I couldn't hear much difference between class A and A/B.
Phono sound was awfull.
My 14 year old Denon PMA-250 amp. ($225) sounded a lot better.
After a few days I put the Marantz in its box and sent it back.
If you are looking for a cheap amp. NAD and Denon offer more quality at the same price.
If you want to spend some more, maybe other Marantz amps are O.K. I can Recommend Onkyo integra 9911, Or NAD 319.

Strengths:
Heavy amp, well built, cheap

Weaknesses:
Poor sound quality

Similar Products Used:
Denon, Onkyo, NAD

Price Paid:  $300.00 from http://www.hifi.nl

Summary:
Bought this beautiful amp for only fl.700,-
That is just so few for an amp like this.

It's so great to listen to.
It's very beautiful.
Source Direct! (I think it's one of the most important options)
Class A!


My equipment:

Marantz CD-67SE (modified)
Marantz PM-78
Musical Fidelity X-10D
Mission 780
Technics SJM-D100
Monster interconnects
Monster speaker-cables

I gave tha amp 5 stars, just because it was very difficult to find a simmilar amp for the same money

Strengths:
Superb, smooth sound in Class A, incredible power in Class AB!

Weaknesses:
It tends to get very hot in Class A. Marantz should have done something about that. Speaker-connections are not really, really good...

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RB 790 BX in combination with
Rotel RC 790 BX

Summary:
First off all, don't mind my english. I'm (just) 16 yrs. old.

I've bought this amp beacause my PM-57 from marantz didn't had enough power to drive my tannoy M3's. MY dealer made a really good price at Fl 800.-. I'm using it with the Tannoy M3's and two Visaton 10" subwoofers to have some fun. The sound is truly beautiful hooked up on the M3's, and the amp switched in Class A. It's a realy improvement compared with the Pm-57. The sound is much clearer and the lower freq. are much more detailed and deeper.

but, when I hook up my 2 subwoofers (passive) the marantz just won't get the job done in class A. When I switch over to class AB (95 @ 8 ohms / 150 @ 4 ohms). It really blows out the dust off the walls. And the sound still keeps controlled and doesn't distor (exept when I turn the volume over 3 O' clock).

Summary:
Gear:
NAD C520
MF X-10D
TANNOY R2
QED Silver Spiral (interconnect)
QED Qudos Silver (speaker cable)

If you listen to Jazz, Classical, Pop, New Age, and any acoustic material. This amp is a must auditioned. Not that as exciting as any other expensive ones, but it'll really really gives you so much pleasure listening to your CDs collection. Definitely smooth, well extended midband and vocal, yet the bass slam in appropriate manner (Always use class a)
However, PM78 can not rock..sacrifice dynamics a bit..
....still...well worth it.
*****

Strengths:
Smooothhh, warm, & clear vocal

Weaknesses:
rock music