Audiolab 6000a or Marantz PM8006

[raghupb]

Are these Pre-Outs are variable and that we can connect a subwoofer? If we connect a sub will the volume change?
Asking cause the NAD 165BEE has a separate sub output, with 2 pre outs. Marantz only as one preout and no sub out.



Can confirm this, infact I feel it has rely on all inputs. Cause I would hear the rely clicking when we changed inputs.

Yes. The volume controls level put out on preouts.
Just think of it as connecting another amp (in this case the plate amp of the sub).
You will have to experiment with crossover and level setting on the sub.
With PM7001, I found it a bit difficult to get the sub integrated.
But that was a while ago and with an ancient sub.

Some amps/preamps have dedicated sub preout/s in addition to L/R preout.
These will have some bass management built in.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Hiten]

Yes as raghu has said. the preout will give full range at preamp level and sub (Typical sub has frequency and level control) will control your desired low frequency output.
Regarding relays I came to know from company itself. Anyway it is good thing.
regards.

 

[Credoh]

Nad on other hand had bass all over, but still good. Mids were nice and precise and softer than marantz highs. The weaklink on the 320BEE is the pre amp section, pair it with a good pre amplifier or even a tube amp and it does make a huge difference the way it sounds. Everything starts falling in place and is controlled.

Marantz is a very good one unit no need of any modifications, nothing. Get a good DAC or phono and your done.

Hi, @amrutmhatre90 could you please elaborate what weakness you felt in the NAD preamp section. If you ever got a chance to try the BEE as IA was only PA in the same chain what were the differences.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Hi, @amrutmhatre90 could you please elaborate what weakness you felt in the NAD preamp section. If you ever got a chance to try the BEE as IA was only PA in the same chain what were the differences.

Bass was all over and not precise, mids were ok but highs are smooth not fatiguing but too smooth. I added a Tube and everything got perfect. There are many user reviews for the weak pre amp section on the 320BEE. Other NAD's could be better not heard them, other than one class D.
I did use it as a PA with my HT and other pre amps, it sounded really good. The 320BEE never showed lack of power and had dynamic power outputs, surges went upto 160watts (read someplace) But I did not ever take it to ear bleeding levels but did go loud enough. It is a very capable unit as a whole, NAD's from those era's are a gem specially with Pre out and Main in options.

NAD165BEE Pre amp I have is too good, maybe it has something to do with Class A architecture. Power Amps I tested with this, sounded so so good. If anyone has access to this pre amp do try it out.

I have not done side by side comparison with Marantz as I did not own the NAD when I had it. But as far as I remember it was not refined, it was lot warmer than the Marantz and highs where mellowed down very very smooth. Maybe the IA's from NAD around that era where built this way.
A fair comparison would be comparing a Marantz from the similar time.

Newer IA's I feel have more punch, clarity and dynamics than the older ones. As time has moved on, people wanted more of the clarity and stuff.
Some say PM8006 is on brighter side, maybe with the source direct button yes. But some are comparing it with older IAs which were a lot warmer in general. Few people I know did not even hear the new age IA's and straight jumped to conclusion.

Best is to audition the IA's to get a fair idea, how does it sound to you with the speakers you own or have in mind? Do you like it ?

 

[SiR]

I picked up this amp last year. It drives my Wharfedale 11.2 stand mounts. I have never noticed it to be treble-heavy with or without source direct engaged even at very high volume. It has warm mids and silky smooth highs with an airy soundstage.

As a PM8006 user, would like to get your inputs and Thanks for the same.

Do you use external DAC with a Source or a CD player with inbuilt DAC to drive your Wharfedale 11.2 ?

If you are using as External DAC, how is the sound output ?

For 2.1 setup, seriously considering PM8006

TIA

 

[Bloom@83]

As a PM8006 user, would like to get your inputs and Thanks for the same.

Do you use external DAC with a Source or a CD player with inbuilt DAC to drive your Wharfedale 11.2 ?

If you are using as External DAC, how is the sound output ?

For 2.1 setup, seriously considering PM8006

TIA

It has a balanced sound with silky , airy highs , controlled bass. I didn’t find it bright (that depends on your speakers too ).The midrange tone control is very effective to sweeten vocals and string instruments as per your taste. For the price it’s a very nice piece of integrated amplifier. The inbuilt DAC was also pretty good and comparable with external DACs in the 15k price bracket. You won’t be unhappy with it.

 

[ssf]

The inbuilt DAC was also pretty good and comparable with external DACs

Does it have a DAC ? I can't see any digital inputs.

 

[SiR]

Does it have a DAC ? I can't see any digital inputs.

PM8006 doesn't have a DAC.

It should be used with an External; DAC or source with in built DAC

Hope plasmoid or other FM's can share their experience with PM8006 and other components they use with it

 

[Bloom@83]

My bad. I mistook it for PM7000N.

 

[Credoh]

Bass was all over and not precise, mids were ok but highs are smooth not fatiguing but too smooth. I added a Tube and everything got perfect. There are many user reviews for the weak pre amp section on the 320BEE. Other NAD's could be better not heard them, other than one class D.
I did use it as a PA with my HT and other pre amps, it sounded really good. The 320BEE never showed lack of power and had dynamic power outputs, surges went upto 160watts (read someplace) But I did not ever take it to ear bleeding levels but did go loud enough. It is a very capable unit as a whole, NAD's from those era's are a gem specially with Pre out and Main in options.

NAD165BEE Pre amp I have is too good, maybe it has something to do with Class A architecture. Power Amps I tested with this, sounded so so good. If anyone has access to this pre amp do try it out.

I have not done side by side comparison with Marantz as I did not own the NAD when I had it. But as far as I remember it was not refined, it was lot warmer than the Marantz and highs where mellowed down very very smooth. Maybe the IA's from NAD around that era where built this way.
A fair comparison would be comparing a Marantz from the similar time.

Newer IA's I feel have more punch, clarity and dynamics than the older ones. As time has moved on, people wanted more of the clarity and stuff.
Some say PM8006 is on brighter side, maybe with the source direct button yes. But some are comparing it with older IAs which were a lot warmer in general. Few people I know did not even hear the new age IA's and straight jumped to conclusion.

Best is to audition the IA's to get a fair idea, how does it sound to you with the speakers you own or have in mind? Do you like it ?

Thank you for that detailed response. I guess there are trade offs to everything but nothing beats auditioning at the end of the day

 

[plasmoid]

As a PM8006 user, would like to get your inputs and Thanks for the same.

Do you use external DAC with a Source or a CD player with inbuilt DAC to drive your Wharfedale 11.2 ?

If you are using as External DAC, how is the sound output ?

For 2.1 setup, seriously considering PM8006

TIA

I dont have a dac. I use it with cd6006

 

[ssf]

My bad. I mistook it for PM7000N.

Looks to me like the PM7000N is a better choice between the two, especially considering the speakers @SiR is planning to use it with.

 

[SiR]

Looks to me like the PM7000N is a better choice between the two, especially considering the speakers @SiR is planning to use it with.

Thanks for the suggestions and me too thought the same first but later with pm8006 for the below reasons:

pm8006 has preout and poweramp direct in, which PM7000N misses

pm8006 is 70w/100w (8/4 ohms), pm7000n is 60w/80w (8/4 ohms)

When we can use an external DAC with pm8006 , we can have Bluetooth 5.0, which PM7000N misses
also better DAC like ESS ES9038 PRO

 

[plasmoid]

Thanks for the suggestions and me too thought the same first but later with pm8006 for the below reasons:

pm8006 has preout and poweramp direct in, which PM7000N misses

pm8006 is 70w/100w (8/4 ohms), pm7000n is 60w/80w (8/4 ohms)

When we can use an external DAC with pm8006 , we can have Bluetooth 5.0, which PM7000N misses
also better DAC like ESS ES9038 PRO

Also, PM7000N does not have midrange tone control if you are keen on that feature (which makes the PM8006 very versatile in terms of fine-tuning)

 

[SiR]

Also, PM7000N does not have midrange tone control if you are keen on that feature (which makes the PM8006 very versatile in terms of fine-tuning)

Thanks for highlighting it, as that was one of the main reason to go for this, as I found it missing in other IA except few

 

[plasmoid]

Thanks for highlighting it, as that was one of the main reason to go for this, as I found it missing in other IA except few

Yes... IMO...it's good to have features like this. Its also well implemented without degrading the sound.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Anyone looking for a IA with a good DAC Audiolab 6000A is very good,but it does miss out tone controls.

Both were available for same price.

 

[SiR]

Anyone looking for a IA with a good DAC Audiolab 6000A is very good,but it does miss out tone controls.

Both were available for same price.

Though both are of same price point, Marantz PM 8006 is 70w/100w (8/4 ohms), AI 6000A is 50w/75w (8/4 ohms)

It doesn't support Bluetooth 5.0, which is a great miss, having a DAC in

Whereas, Marantz PM 8006 need to be used with either an External DAC or an Source with DAC, where we have the possibility of getting good DAC and also Bluetooth 5, aptX® HD and few


The better one could be Cambridge Audio CXA81 and if it had the Tone Controls, would definitely be the great choice.

 

[Bloom@83]

Reviving old thread, so something like this happened:

Friend texts me-
Friend: I am buying Marantz PM8006
Me: Hahaha yeah, first use and listen to your DAC which you recently bought.
Friend: No, No I am serious. (Sends me Hifimart link)
Me: (Damn, he is serious), wait don't buy yet we can get some discount.

Now coming to this friend he has had active speakers Edifier S3000Pro to be precise, got himself a D50s DAC and enjoys music but only on weekends. After listening to some songs at my place he was sold on going passive speaker and IA combo, but I never knew it would be so soon.
To start off IA had to have pre outs which he can connect the active speakers till he gets some passive speakers down the line.

Coming to the purchase, I suggested him look at Audiolab 6000A which was selling as hotcakes, but as he already had a DAC did not want it that way and said in future he can change the DAC too. Plus 6000A did not have tone controls and He needed something warm. I spoke to Mr. Anil too, he too suggested go for Marantz if we have a DAC, or Audiolab 6000A is very good with the DAC combo.
Closed the deal and friend bought it, shipping was at my place as he wanted to test with passive speakers too. It arrived the next day!

View attachment 66767

We did test it thoroughly with all the gear I have, the pre amp sections or the power amp sections were tested too. I even removed my QA 3010i from surrounds to test them. Here are some views.

The built quality is superb, I specially liked the speaker terminals they have a tiny whole which will keep the wires intact and won't touch one other or chassis and cause short, nice thought. And yeah it is made in Japan.

View attachment 66766

View attachment 66765

View attachment 66764

View attachment 66762

(We did not open the unit, it is a photoshop done by me)

During all these tests the IA had zero noise and extremely silent. We tested with 3050i and 3010i bookshelves connected to A & B.
Used Topping D50s DAC with Volumio from RPI and streamed from Tidal or Spotify.
While listening we often had to check which speakers are playing, as the tone of both speakers is similar. Its just the bass and mids are different. It was a great dilution!

View attachment 66763

The PM8006 is warm, rich and nice rolled off highs. My friend was like, "I never heard songs so long ever, it was fatiguing always. This is superb", he specially liked the vocals out of QA both 3050i and 3010i.

Plus point if people who own a HT and want a power amplifier can add this, has a power amp mode only. Which also can be called as HT Bypass.
I did connect this with my FX Audio tube-03 and Denon x3700 AVR, unfortunately NAD 165BEE is gone for servicing.
It did sound different, more clarity was added by Tube buffer but the Marantz IA alone was a bit better.

As it has preouts, we connected my O&B Power amp to the Marantz as Pre. We got more clarity, neutral sound and slightly more details and dynamics. Bass was not like we saw on Marantz IA alone. After this it was more clear that how the Marantz house sound is warm and soothing, which is what my friend was looking for.

I liked it too, I could get this and just keep the AVR and Marantz sell all the pre amps and power amps I have. But that can happen after few years maybe.

Here is a short unboxing video I did with few sound tests:

This is your setup ? Very nice !

 

[DrBeatsB]

Off-topic.
Anyone knows what happened with the recent price hike of pm8006? I was planning to get it couple of weeks back. Today I noticed its price almost doubled on hifimart. Other amp n avrs also looked much costlier than few weeks back. Sigh. Have to keep my pma600ne for now it seems.