Newsgroup: it.hobby.hi-fi
Titolo: In Inglese PM7200

Well guys, I was just bored so thought id write a full review on this
amp. Older members would have already read my little reviews in
general discussion from a few months back but it seems to get asked
about alot in general discussion recently so doesn’t hurt writing
about it again. Plus it is now thoroughly "baked"  and reached its
peak performance  
Specs: Power output (class A/B operation) 
RMS 8ohms 20hz-20khz..................95wpc 
THD@8ohms..................................0.03% 
Damping factor..............................150 
IHF dynamic power@8ohms............120wpc 
power output (class A operation) 
RMS 8ohms 20hz-20khz..................25wpc 
THD@8ohms..................................0.03% 
Damping factor..............................150 
IHF dynamic power.........................35wpc 
Signal to noise ratio........................85dB 
Dimensions 
H x W x D......................................159mm x 440mm x 374.5mm
Weight...........................................12.3kg 
Partnering equipment: 
Cd player: Marantz cd6000Ki signature placed on Atacama Static stage
isolation platform 
Speakers: B&W 602 s3 on Atacama SE24 speaker stands filled ¾ with dry
sand 
Interconnects: Van den Hul The Thunderline Hybrid + Cabletalk
Proffesional 3 
Speaker cable: 4xQED silver anniversary single wire in biwire mode 
Rack: Atacama Equinox AV 
Ok, enough boring specs, lets get down to how it all looks, feels and
sounds! 
When the package arrived on the Thursday afternoon i was delighted by
the size of the box, it is definitely 1 of the biggest boxes I’ve seen
for a stereo amp  As i presumed, such a big box must have pretty heavy
contents and i wasn’t disappointed by that either  it was pleasingly
heavy though it wasn’t really a struggle to get up the stairs and into
my room. 
When it was out of the box i wasn’t really surprised, as I have seen
it in a shop before. 
The unit had a beautiful front fascia, it was finished in a richer
gold than my old pm6010 and cd6000ose's. All the inputs were gold
plated and there were some neat shortening plugs in the AV in-out
connectors. Input selector was nice and clunky and it had a nice touch
of being able to switch on/of via the remote (which isn’t that great
really as i leave my amp powered up 24/7!) apart from when i hover of
course  The unit itself was reassuringly solid but the remote was abit
tacky compared to the ones you get for Marantz premium series. Having
said that it had loads of functions and was able to operate most of
the functions on my cdp too. 
I wasn’t expecting much on 1st listen and i didn’t get much either.
The treble was very, very harsh and i had to crank the volume up to 12
o’ clock until i could hear the music at normal levels. I was out of
my room during most of the 1st day. By the next day things got a bit
better. For starters the volume knob became more sensitive and the
treble was alot calmer but it still didn’t sound as spectacular as
What HiFi made it out to be.  
It wasn’t until after a week that u could hear a hint of just how good
this amp is!  After a weeks time things sounded alot more promising,
there was already no hint of harshness which i previously experienced
with my Cambridge A5i/2xRotel RB03 combo. Instead the marantz makes
use of my B&Ws keen treble performance and transforms this into
detailed and crisp HF performance.  It didn’t roll off the top end but
just refined it and kept it under control. This was especially true
when the class A switch was pushed down. I was initially disappointed
by the insignificant difference in sound between class A and standard
class A/B modes. It was a case of pleasing myself psychologically
saying "yes it sounds abit better, hmmmm more fluid"  At this point,
it certainly didn’t sound like the £1000 amp that What HiFi made it
out to.  
But fear not, when i discovered how to activate the class A mode
properly the difference was night and day  All this time i had the
source direct mode pushed down which is used to bypass all circuitry
which meant it must of cancelled out class A operation too  but that
is only what i think as i am not a technical buff myself but what ever
the reason, class A sounded convincingly better without the source
direct button pushed in. 
After 8 weeks the amp was finally ran in IMHO and it sang.  
In class A: 
With mellow music from the Eva cassidy album:songbird i was able to
listen at much lower volumes and still hear fine details which were
previously only hinted at during high volumes. For once i didn’t have
to crank up the volume and whack a dance disc in with a meaty bassline
to impress mates .It also placed the singer firmly in position and
left to right separation was immaculate, it actually made my head move
along to the shifting beats  .Her great voice and singing talent was
finally made clear. Subtle vocal details like the quivering at the end
of a verse and every breath could be heard clearly which resulted in a
extremely realistic performance. I would go as far as describing it as
life like. I have never experienced such openess from my hifi! Tried
several cd's of different genres and results were mixed. With some
classic Michael Jackson greatest hits, Billy jean and black or white
was robbed of the bite that i was used to, the bass was sanded down
and rounded off. It was still foot tapingly pleasant and the HF was
still nice and tinkly but i preferred playing it in class B as the
bassline delved deeper and PRAT shifted up a notch. With a smooth
R.Kelly RnB album TP2 it sounded very nice in class A and just as god
in class A/B-it really depends on what kind of mood you’re in. If you
want to listen at low volume levels, class A makes things a lot
smoother and cohesive and can unravel lots more detail, turn up the
volume and there will be a hint of strain as the power output lowers
to 25wpc. 
In class B: 
I would say I listen to the amp 65% in class A/B as a lot of my music
sounds good with a bit of grunt behind it. The hefty 95wpc (115wpc in
lab test) is evident as soon as u experience the chest thumping bass
on offer. It has vice like grip when it comes to playing at super high
volumes. Lesser amps have the tendency to lose the plot when the
volume is cranked up but the marantz coped with ease. Such composure
is rarely available from an amp that costs so little (I paid £260
online) the balance was on the rich side of neutral which suits me
just fine. The entire frequency range was reproduced even handedly:
Bass was forceful but didn’t drown out the fluid and natural midrange
while the treble remained sweet at all levels. There was plenty of
detail on offer and it never leaves me asking for more. It does lack
the separation and air around the instruments, which you get in class
A mode but then you can get that at a push of a button . Bad
recordings were not as apparent as they would be on more clinical kit,
which meant the odd pop discs bearable. 
Overall: 
This has to be one of the best bargains this year. Elevated my musical
enjoyment to the next level. It will withstand many upgrades yet and
has the power to feed most modern speakers. I can sense that the bass
wants to dig deeper, with the only limiting factor being my speakers.
If they ever release a Ki signature version I would be one of the
first in the queue! It is easily the best sub £600 amp on the market
at the moment and can compete hard with the likes of Cyrus 8, which
costs £800! 
Pro’s: Price, Great build, vibrant and powerful performance in class
A/B mode, superb detail and smoothness in class A mode. Plenty of
features to boot too. 
Cons: Very quiet electrical hum when no music is playing and runs very
hot if used in class A mode for lengthy periods. 
It gets the Ultrasonic 5 stars ***** 
 
Ciao
    berry
http://www.soundberry.com
Sito e forum dedicato alla vera hifi low cost.

 wrote in message
news:4cbbvvgbfm2s700ue...@4ax.com...
[CUT]
ma le fonti riesci a citarle?
non penso che il solo fatto di essere inglese lo qualifichi in qualche modo.
un link?



E' il forum di hifi choice che ha trovato tutti daccordo
sull'argomento che si e' poi diffuso su alltri forum anglofoni.


"Berry" , tutto ciò che scrivi, se non citi le fonti è CARTA STRACCIA.
Ciao.
-- 
Enne & Effe (30 & 28, 75 & 75 & >260, N44 38 45.9 E10 55 33.1)
"If i have some emotions? Of course is the noise of the quattro. Nobody can
forget the noise of the quattro"
-Michelle Mouton-

Quanti ne avrà dentro?
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F  a  D
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Deligere oportet quem velis diligere
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Quanti ne avrà dentro?
Neanche uno ma la stupidita' divampa sempre.


Neanche uno ma la stupidita' divampa sempre.
"Divampa"...?
Come siamo poetici (*)... :-)
-- 
F  a  D
-------------------------------------------
Deligere oportet quem velis diligere
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(*) oltre che "spammatori"...