It is overally good amp, but my old CEMAC MS-800 is a lot better. Marantz is good sounding, clear highs, very good vocal, but a bit slow. Cemac is faster and more natural and clear sounding but it also costs more.

Poor man's PM 17

hates metallica

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!

Similar Products Used:

marantz pm17

Smooothhh, warm, & clear vocal

rock music

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.
*****

Great sound in class A, much power in class AB

None

The Marantz PM-78 replaced my Onkyo A-850 amp, what a difference! The Marantz sounds very smooth, deep bass and nice mid. I only paid fl. 699,- for this big 12.3 kg amp. Don't buy the PM-68 because it doesn't have the great class A mode.
My system: Heco Pure 500 speakers, Marantz cd-67-mkII

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo A-850

Having bought the speakers JBL TI1000, I was looking for a suitable amplifier. I first tried the PM68, relying on a test that I read in a German test magazine.This was a disappointment unfortunately - The PM68 sounds very harsh. It may be suitable for more "forgiving" speakers, but certainly not for the JBL1000s.
Frustrated by this experience I went to one of the best German Hifi Studios (Pawlak in Essen) and listened to several amplifiers. Surprisingly I went for the "elder brother" PM78, which has the same basic characteristics in that it sounds very differentiated and unspectacular. The decisive difference is a very smooth way of reproducing voices. I did not hear anything comparable in this price category. It may lack a little "body" in combination with the TI1000, but I´m not sure if this is not just the the soberness of truth.
There is an obvious difference between Class A and class AB. In class A mode the PM78 sounds smoother, "silkier", but there seems to be a slight lack of precision in "deeper regions". I personally do not mind - it may be a problem if you prefer loud music from loudspeakers needing high-output-amps.
The PM78 ist the wrong amplifier if you prefer energetic performance from difficult speakers.
It is a very good choice if you want to lay back and enjoy the air of good music - it´s smooth, detailed and without any exaggerations.

Marantz PM78 combines very well with Castle Howard s2, very smooth. Especially voices.

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).

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

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

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

Similar Products Used:

Rotel RB 790 BX in combination with
Rotel RC 790 BX

Heavy amp, well built, cheap

Poor sound quality

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.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Onkyo, NAD