blackraven
01-11-2015, 06:13 PM
Today I went over to a friends house to hear his new system and bring over a decent CD player and DAC for him to hear. He wanted a nice budget system under $800. I recommended the Marantz PM 5004 integrated which he picked up new for $349 and a pair of Boston CS 26 speakers that he picked up for $199pr and 12g speaker wire from BJC's.. Unfortunately he bought a cheap Sony DVD player for $20 on sale and he complained about the sound. I brought over a Yamaha DVD/SACD player S1700 and my Grant Fidelity DAC-11 along with some reference music and decent IC's.
First we hooked up the Yamaha and the sound was crazy good. It had good air and very wide sound stage with the typical liquid, slightly warm Marantz midrange and nice, non fatiguing treble with good bass. My friends jaw dropped when he heard the difference.
Then we introduced the Grant Fidelity and things got even better, more depth, tighter bass, better detail and resolution with even more air and front to back and left to right depth that extended beyond his walls.
I was very impressed with the little Marantz and the BA speakers. What a great combo. This system was musical, very easy on the ears and enjoyable. It performed well above its price point. It really responded well to some mid fi sources and high quality reference recordings.
Interestingly we connected the Sony DVD player to the Grant Fidelity and the Sony sounded terrible as a transport. There was less depth, musicality and detail. It was night and day compared the the Yamaha as a transport. So transports do make a difference even in Cheap and Cheerful systems.
After hearing the difference, my friend ordered a Marantz CD5004 CD player on my recommendation on closeout for $249.
His next purchase will be either a vintage Pioneer PL 12D TT (for $50 in excellent shape and refurbished byt the guy that sold me my Thorens) possibly the Orbit U-Turn, Denon 300F, Marantz TT42 or Pro-Ject Essential ii turntables. The Marantz PM5004 is supposed to have a very good on board phono preamp section.
First we hooked up the Yamaha and the sound was crazy good. It had good air and very wide sound stage with the typical liquid, slightly warm Marantz midrange and nice, non fatiguing treble with good bass. My friends jaw dropped when he heard the difference.
Then we introduced the Grant Fidelity and things got even better, more depth, tighter bass, better detail and resolution with even more air and front to back and left to right depth that extended beyond his walls.
I was very impressed with the little Marantz and the BA speakers. What a great combo. This system was musical, very easy on the ears and enjoyable. It performed well above its price point. It really responded well to some mid fi sources and high quality reference recordings.
Interestingly we connected the Sony DVD player to the Grant Fidelity and the Sony sounded terrible as a transport. There was less depth, musicality and detail. It was night and day compared the the Yamaha as a transport. So transports do make a difference even in Cheap and Cheerful systems.
After hearing the difference, my friend ordered a Marantz CD5004 CD player on my recommendation on closeout for $249.
His next purchase will be either a vintage Pioneer PL 12D TT (for $50 in excellent shape and refurbished byt the guy that sold me my Thorens) possibly the Orbit U-Turn, Denon 300F, Marantz TT42 or Pro-Ject Essential ii turntables. The Marantz PM5004 is supposed to have a very good on board phono preamp section.