PROFESSIONALS DISCUSS MARANTZ COMPONENTS
"Marantz is just about the only component manufacturer around that's
devoted to system interfacing”.
Sound engineers and audiophiles were invited to evaluate Marantz professional components, including the 3800 Preamp, the 510M Power Amp and the 150 Tuner. The following comments were taken from that taped discussion.
The 3800 Preamp
"When you build a phono preamp, you never know what you're going to plug it into. But the Marantz 3800 can interface with the outside world. Whatever amplifier you hang on it won't affect the operation of the preamp one iota. The 3800 will drive any amp on the market even the super amps”.
"Let's say you use three Sony reel-to-reels with the nearest competitive preamp. You'd wipe out the bottom end. Not with the 3800. It'll actually drive a load as low as 1000 ohms at a reasonable level and maintain full frequency response”.
"Until now you had to shell out over $1000 to accomplish that with a preamp. This unit goes for what ... $599.95*?"
"Then there's the fact that the 3800 is virtually the quietest preamp going. Not only in specifications, but in perceived noise. Eight-tenths of a microvolt specified”.
"Another thing about systems planning the 3800 has variable frequency turnover tone controls.
Designed to complement both speakers and listeners. What that'll let you do is bring up a string bass and leave the viola alone”.
"Or if you use the mic feature, like in a live recording, and you're playing your string guitar and you want that nice ring you hear in recordings. You just put the tone controls in the four kiloHertz position and run the treble control up and you've got it”.
"It's just one of the most versatile preamps in the world. Not only does it include a full-process Dolby** Noise Reduction System, but also the tone controls can be used for tape equalizing".
"Maybe you want to listen to something else while you're making tape copies. You just let one tape recorder talk to the other one recorder is playing back and one is recording. And you can use the Dolby in that loop. Then you keep yourself entertained by listening to a regular FM or AM station at the same time. And the same preamp is available without Dolby for $100 less. That's the Marantz 3600”.
The 510M Power Amp
"This is a locomotive when it comes to power. Delivers 256 watts minimum continuous power per channel at 8 ohms with no more than 0.1% total harmonic distortion and a power band of 20 Hz to 20 kHz”.
"The whole package is smaller. Heat dissipation is one reason why. That's where this baby really moves ahead ...Marantz has implemented a new method of heat dissipation. It's based on turbulent air flow”.
"They call it a staggered finger heat dissipator. It was originally developed for the computer industry where they really have heat problems. What it does is break up the air flow. It's aero-dynamically designed to eliminate stratification and create vortices”.
"Efficiency can be up dramatically compared to a convection system. And you do it all in a smaller, lighter package”.
"There's one competitive unit that weighs over 140 pounds. The 510M weighs 43”.
"It's got gain controls two of them. Meter range switches with the advantage of not being part of the limiting circuit. And peak/overload indicators that are really sensitive to the fluctuations of line voltage”.
The 150 Tuner
"Biggest advantage to the Marantz 150 Tuner is the ease of tuning. You can go 60 to 80 kHz of detuning with little change in distortion or separation characteristics. Tuning's less critical because good performance is obtained over a wider segment of the pass band".
"The Model 150, in stereo, performs for almost all conditions with FM distortion under 0.2%. In mono it's around 0.1%. And this is right down to test equipment residuals. You'd have to spend a lot of money for a tuner to match that”.
"The 150's 18-pole linear phase I.F. filters give you this excellent performance and long-term stability of alignment. It'll be right-on five years from now without alignment”.
"I'd go so far as to say it exceeds the performance of the original Marantz 10B and the 10B was the ultimate tuner in my estimation”.
"Gives performance so high in quality that if there's a problem with the signal you tend to question the source, not the tuner”.
"Phase lock loop. Of course. Even with multipath and antenna problems shown on the oscilloscope, it sounds cleaner than virtually any tuner around”.
"All this is accomplished through the use of the linear phase I.F. filter system--a system composed of three filter blocks of four poles and one block of six poles. Eighteen poles in all”.
"Of course, we can't forget the five gang front end with dual gate MOSFET RF amplifier and mixer. Gives the best image and spurious rejection I know of, combined with the best available sensitivity”.
The Marantz 3800 Preamp, 510M Power Amp and 150 Tuner are just part of the exciting Marantz component line. Prices start as low as $199.95.* Each reflects the technical expertise and engineering excellence that has made Marantz the choice of professionals world-wide. Stop by your local dealer and see the exciting Marantz line. Or send for a free catalog.
Marantz. Ask an expert.
We sound better.
*Suggested list price. Actual selling price at dealer's discretion
**TM Dolby Labs, Inc. ©1976 Marantz Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Superscope, Inc., 20525 Nordhoff St., Chatsworth, CA 91311.
Prices and models subject to change without notice. Consult the Yellow Pages for your nearest Marantz dealer.
( Audio magazine, Nov. 1976)
Also see:
Marantz Model 2500 receiver (ad, Nov. 1977)
Marantz CRP loudspeakers (Nov. 1978)
Marantz vs. TIM (transient intermodulation distortion) (Apr. 1978)
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