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Re: CD players compared. What to do with Marantz SA11?

Not to dissappoint the Marantz SA11 owners and of course Marantz, I have to give you my honest opinions here. I am worried that with my previous comments I may turn people away from buying this machine, which won't be fair to Marantz because in many ways the Marantz SA11 is indeed a very good machine worth of its price.

I was previously pretty dissappointed with the Marantz SA11 when I bought it brand new. But after some weeks now, I have been shocked by the fact that run-in really does wonders on this machine. The sound is getting better and better.

Many of you would believe that the reason I think it is getting better being my ears getting tuned to it. I would believe so too. But I have my audiophile friends who come and visit me every now and then. They don't live with the machine like I do. They have the same conclusion: the machine sounded better every single time they visited me.

Now we can live with the Marantz sound, at least, i.e. I am happy to listen to this CD player.

I previously compared my own modified NAD to many other players at the range from $3000 to $6000. Now I have to add the Marantz SA11 to that list. The Marantz is better in some areas and worse in others.

The good thing about the Marantz is that it gives you the RIGHT sound. Distortions are low. Instruments sound more real than other players in the group. It definitely gives you the Hi-End sound. It is fast and uncoloured. It delivers the details. It is more dynamic than most which helps give a "live" feeling.

After the run-in, the harshness is reduced significantly. It is still not as smooth as any other players in the group but it is quite listenable unlike when it was new. It depends on the types of music, sometimes I choose the NAD over the Marantz and sometimes I prefer the Marantz over the NAD and more and more going for the later.

I bought the service manual last week. I spent some time studying the schematic and am now confident that I can turn this machine into reference level. I am very pleased. The new parts have been ordered and shall arrive soon.

I would also like to give some "consumer warnings" here, although I guess I may catch fires. When considering modifications to the Marantz SA11 I searched the internet for relevant information. Some mod sites give discreptions on the items they mod on the machine. I found many mods sound very attractive but might do only a little to the sound. They would add significant amounts to your bill for sure. You may find an overall big enhancement to the sound quality, but it might come from only a few of the mods of the big list of mods that add up the prices. There is also false information. For example, one site states that they would replace the 6 cheap opamps with the very expensive opa627, etc. That is a very big lie. After the digital processing section, the Marantz SA11 simply does not use opamps! The HDAMs are marantz' propriatary circuits that are supposed to sound better than the opamps they replace! after reading the schematic I do believe the HDAM in discret circuits, would sound better due to much simplified circuits! of course there is something needed to be done correctly to make HDAM sound better than opamps, for example, I do believe the power supply rejection ratio of the HDAM is poorer than that of opamps). There are only two opamps (one for each channel) used in the DAC board which are used to provide a voltage reference and that is not the most critical at all! The Marantz SA11 is constructed in a very high end way (I am totally impressed) and I have found only two major areas that need to be significantly improved to make this machine at a reference level and others can be left alone because they can hardly be bettered. I have ordered all the parts for my mods and they cost me about AUD$150. Please don't get me wrong. If a machine has weaknesses (I saw two major weaknesses on the Marantz SA11) then mods specifically designed to address the issues can effectively bring the machine to the next level. A perfect example is that I spent AUD$75 on parts to get my AUD$680 NAD542 to sound as good as players over $3,000. So mods can be very good, and the companies who offer the services deserve earning a good income. But be cautious, find a honest one, or even better, listen to it before you pay!

Regards,
Bill



Regards,
Bill

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