Marantz PM-8003 Integrated Amp: $1000, 70 w/ch
Marantz has just introduced its new integrated amp,
the PM-8003.
PM-8003 is the latest in a heritage of great
integrated amps from Marantz. For a dozen or more years they’ve had the Reference
Series which has been wonderfully built.
Much of the reference series will be arriving May 1,
2009.
Of course, we have been saying, how about making
something very close to the Ref Series at a little more like Milwaukee
friendly pricing! For years those requests have gone unanswered. No longer!
But at $1k what does the market offer?
The answer is, a pile of stuff designed in the US or UK and built by generic job houses in Asia.
Even if the design is good, the build quality isn’t. The reliability isn’t. And
the serviceability isn’t.
Marantz designs and builds the PM-8003 themselves.
They do not vendor it out! That puts them a nice step ahead of the competition.
Marantz supports service in the US. Most
companies have an American importer who just hires a guy with a soldering iron. If
something needs service, how good is he? He wasn’t involved in the design or build.
He wasn’t trained by factory people. He’s sitting there with his soldering iron
today. Last month he was sitting with his soldering iron somewhere else.
Marantz offers a sophisticated facility with factory
trained technicians that has been in business since the 70s. There is NO QUESTION about
getting good support on Marantz. They are also responsive, so when we order parts
we’ll get them quickly. If we need to send a unit to them in Chicago
it is typically repaired within a couple days. You won’t even get that level of
service from most esoteric audio folks out there! On to PM-8003.
The PM-8003 starts with a large, custom wound, double
shielded toroidal transformer. The transformer harnesses the magnetic field typically
spread around an amp’s chassis. Marantz uses high quality, custom built for Marantz
power supply caps to give stiff bass response. Marantz uses HDAM technology, vintage S3.
That’s where various parts of the circuit are encapsulated in mu-metal chambers- to
prevent one portion of the design from affecting another.
PM-8003 has a SOURCE DIRECT circuit which bypasses
tone & balance controls. It is the shortest, cleanest path for your CDs to give you
the best quality, least impeded sound. The CD input has its own buffer circuit to isolate
it from other components. There is a separate buffer circuit for all other components.
You’ll find the CD sound to be remarkably immediate. There’s not much in the way
of the music!
PM-8003 has a sturdy aluminum resin front panel with
aluminum knobs- no plastic junk here. The bottom chassis is triple layered to minimize
vibration and RFI. A flimsy mechanical build will invite service problems in short order.
As the PCB vibrates, twists, turns and warps the traces are compromised if not broken.
The phono preamp (MM) is discrete- a nice cut above
the standard chips everyone else uses in a modestly priced integrated. Marantz takes phono
seriously in PM-8003.
PM-8003 has Pre Out and Main In connections for
flexibility- whether to add some processor or tag on to other separates.
Rear panel terminals are gold plated.
All told, Marantz’s new PM-8003 offers a lot of
quality for only a grand. The sound is very clean and solid. It doesn’t have that
“foggy, murky” sound that most moderately priced electronics have. With its
gutsy amplifier section, PM-8003 is comfortable with almost all speakers out there!
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