Marantz CD-60 Single Play CD Player, $1000 Just in is Marantz’s new CD-60. It is the best $1K ish player on the market. Its sound is warm as opposed to cool. While we’re impressed when a big buck product pushes the state of the art, we’re even more impressed when an affordable product sets new standards for its price point. Have a look. GoldenEar Towers There are a lot of “good” speakers on the market. In general your money buys you an array of cones and domes purchased from some vendor and screwed into a box. They come in all
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Archives for Marantz
08.2020
Wharfedale Elysian 4 Speakers $9995 Per Pair Luscious Walnut, Piano Black, Piano White (46.8h, 15.8w, 17d, 100 lbs ea, 92 dB SPL) Wharfedale is about to ship its stunningly gorgeous flagship speaker- Elysian 4. Elysian means blissful. It’s gotta be great- right?! E-4 is a beautiful BATTLESHIP that provides an enormously lifelike size & quality image. Built like a musical instrument instead of a speaker, E-4 is the whole package for your home. E-4’s veneer is comprised by a sandwich of different woods. The veneer is then finished by 6 layers of hand crafted piano lacquer. The front edges are
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01.2020
Solid Steel Audio Racks Solid Steel audio racks are solidly built in Italy. They have STEEL posts. They are conspicuously inexpensive for their SOLID heft and ability to resist acoustic feedback. Flimsy stands do NOT resist acoustic feedback. For that, your system sounds less precise and detailed than it could be. The S2 Series is black and utilitarian. The more massively built S3 series is available in black or walnut. S2-4 $400 Black 30.6h, 23w, 17d Vertical Spacing Between Shelves 8.25” Each Shelf .86” Thick Inner Shelf Width 19.7 S2-5 $500 Black 40.86 h, 23w, 17d Vertical Spacing Between Shelves
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09.2019
Marantz NR-1200 Stereo Receiver $600 (75×2) 4.1h, 17.3w, 14.9d Why should you be excited by a new STEREO receiver? You should consider NR-1200 because it’s MUCH more more than a garden variety receiver. Let’s start with, NR-1200 an honest 75×2 into 8 ohms. Yep, 75×2, 20-20k at .08% THD. We’re not saying this is state of the art. But most stereo receivers these days claim their power at 1K and at 1% distortion. That’s cheating- just like the surround guys. If you take 75×2 at THOSE standards, the actual honest power rating is only 70% of what is claimed, hence
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08.2019
JL Audio Subwoofers Now In! JL has become an ever larger player in the world of SERIOUS home audio subwoofers. I’ve decided to dive in! If you’re looking for an uber spectacular sub that’s built like a brick out house, get out of the way and let ‘er rip for JL. JL subs are all made in Miramar, Florida. When you read JL Audio specs, they’re real. They’re actually measured! Most sub specs are tossed out there by the ad department. We might remember, “trust but verify.” All drivers are cast and use discrete (as opposed to chip) power amps
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06.2019
Marantz AV-8805 Preamp Processor $4500 Every top flight surround system is “bottle necked” by the preamp/processor you choose. The task of a pre/pro is enormously complex. The truth is, you need a large Asian manufacturer that has the technology DOWN COLD to make a piece you want- both in terms of current features and high end sound quality. All of the N American specialty audio companies struggle mightily to create a pre/pro that’s remotely up to date. Further, they are glitchy. Fact is, for 3-4 times the money, they’re still a day late and a dollar short compared to AV-8805.
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09.2017
New Entry On Our Site: ABC’s It’s up near the top, called ABC’s. It is a short list of my recommendations on how to assemble a dynamite system. It approaches the task from the beginning, with the Milwaukee credo of getting a dollar’s worth of performance for each dollar spent. Print it out. Highlight. Visit to discuss/audition! Mobile Fidelity UltraDeck+ $2000 MoFi introduced its StudioDeck+ ($1150) a couple months ago. I’m glad they did the roll out in summer when business is slower- because the StudioDeck+ has been on back order since day one. Mofi has been busy trying to
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