Marantz PM5004

[jls001]

A friend bought a Marantz PM 5004 integrated amp today. Price is 17K @ Viola Mumbai.

We actually went to buy the PM5003 but it has been discontinued. 5004 has same power rating as its predecessor the 5003. I could see only minor cosmetic changes (like redesigned tone control knobs).
Joshua

PS: incidentally, I sold off my very low hour PM5003 and even more low hour Canton LE170 FS today.

 

[The Wall]

Hi ,

I have a few queries on the same :

What speakers is he pairing the amp with ?
How is the performance ?

It would be very helpful if you could guide.

 

[yahoo0212]

Hi ,

I have a few queries on the same :

What speakers is he pairing the amp with ?
How is the performance ?

It would be very helpful if you could guide.

Hws the amp s performance...

 

[jls001]

He is using his 10+ year old Yamaha tower (NS9700, iirc). His earlier Yamaha amp AX 397 had given up almost for good.
The new combo sounds quite good and he is happy. Of course we had to resort to tone control to tame the bass in his smallish room.
Joshua

 

[Brajendu]

I own a PM5004 for last 1 yr and quite happy with it, though I paid much higher price (20.5k) in Pune, its costly here.

I can say its a great entry level Amp, very musical, open sounding. It sounds very nice in 'Source Direct' (no bass, treble and balance) mode if you play good quality music. It also got a phono stage input if U wish to go for an LP record player.

(I use it with a regular LG DVD player as a CD source and sometime my PC using a good sound card (ASUS Xonar ST) with an interconnect of 3 meter from Lyrita Audio. Sometime I use my iPod using a Denon dock.)

 

[jaudere]

May be i should call myself lucky. Got pm6002 at 16.5k will bill & warranty:new box packed. Bought it in May this year.

May be power output of 5004 is same as 6002:45watts for 8 ohm,60 watt for 4 ohm. 6004 is selling around 25k if I am not wrong.

I had a question. How can Loudness switch be active when amp is on source direct mode? Tone control and balance do become inactive but Loudness remains functional. I find it bit odd.

One good thing,the design is so minimalistic that my kids dont find it attractive. Even the single LED Indicating the source is very dim. I had a yamaha avr which always attracted my son and he always used to fiddle with the controls/pull out volume knob. This problem is a history now.

 

[sam_sarna]

Hi There,

Can you pls share the seller info, where did you bought it from??

Cheers'
Sam

May be i should call myself lucky. Got pm6002 at 16.5k will bill & warranty:new box packed. Bought it in May this year.

May be power output of 5004 is same as 6002:45watts for 8 ohm,60 watt for 4 ohm. 6004 is selling around 25k if I am not wrong.

I had a question. How can Loudness switch be active when amp is on source direct mode? Tone control and balance do become inactive but Loudness remains functional. I find it bit odd.

One good thing,the design is so minimalistic that my kids dont find it attractive. Even the single LED Indicating the source is very dim. I had a yamaha avr which always attracted my son and he always used to fiddle with the controls/pull out volume knob. This problem is a history now.

 

[malvai]

May be i should call myself lucky. Got pm6002 at 16.5k will bill & warranty:new box packed. Bought it in May this year.

May be power output of 5004 is same as 6002:45watts for 8 ohm,60 watt for 4 ohm. 6004 is selling around 25k if I am not wrong.

I had a question. How can Loudness switch be active when amp is on source direct mode? Tone control and balance do become inactive but Loudness remains functional. I find it bit odd.

One good thing,the design is so minimalistic that my kids dont find it attractive. Even the single LED Indicating the source is very dim. I had a yamaha avr which always attracted my son and he always used to fiddle with the controls/pull out volume knob. This problem is a history now.

Loudness will remain active... as its function is to boost certain frequencies when listening at very low levels. pretty handy, i'd say.

 

[jaudere]

@Malvai: Its a kind of tone control after all. Why should it remain active. If you activate it,it cannot be called 'source direct'. Anyway that was just a curiosity. I dont use it because I dont like the sound that i get on its activation.

@Sam-Sarna: I bought it from Ripples Audio,Margao,Goa.
0832-3245481
9326141848
I checked it with them today itself for 'The wall'on forum. They dont have anything in stock at present. Check after few days. You need to bargain. The cost came down from 25k to 18.5k to 16.5k. Part of it was because it is a discontinued model. I knowingly went for it. I just ensured that its a box packed piece and not a demo piece.

 

[The Wall]

Hey Bro,

Thanks for the same, I am trying to arrange for one from Singapore, it seems marantz has got "evaporated" from the country. Dealers admit , the interest the interest in Marantz was always low compared to say Denon, CA and Yamaha.

 

[jls001]

I dont use it because I dont like the sound that i get on its activation.
.

Same here. It doesn't sound good when its on. Just louder. So one can keep it reserved for party days:lol: or for visitors who must feel the loudness.
Joshua

 

[jaudere]

As it is Marantz plays highs well. If I put it on,the highs start pricking my ears. I feel the sound to be distorted rather than loud. Even in lower frequencies i think it boosts something around 100hz making things boomy. I prefer foobar equalizer at 55hz pushed up a bit keeping others flat.

 

[jls001]

As it is Marantz plays highs well. If I put it on,the highs start pricking my ears. I feel the sound to be distorted rather than loud. Even in lower frequencies i think it boosts something around 100hz making things boomy. I prefer foobar equalizer at 55hz pushed up a bit keeping others flat.

The boom could also be because of room acoustics. Is your speaker already bright that you should get treble fatigue?
Joshua

 

[jaudere]

The boom could also be because of room acoustics. Is your speaker already bright that you should get treble fatigue?
Joshua

No. I wont call them bright. I think they are well balanced. Very comfortable for prologed listening. It doesnt cause problem if i push the treble control knob a bit. Its mainly the "loudness" feature that causes problem.
As Malvai said, i think this feature should be used at very low volumes only. Using it even at 9 oclock volume position is not good.

Room acoustics do play big role. Same system, I hate in master bed room, quite ok in second bed room & excellent in the living room.

The boom is a problem if i use loudness or tone control for bass. The tone control also works at 100hz. If my speakers are already good at 100, pushing it up will definitely cause boom.

Room correction is very important. Thats what sound engineers do in a live concert. Only thing they use software to see the freq graph to see which freq is playing loud and then they tone it down with eq. At home, one has to trust ears unless you have an AVR With software & mic for room correction. 55hz equalization works perfectly for me.

In foobar there is a very good feature called 'auto level'. Pushing down the equalizer is always better than pushing it up in terms of distortion. If you feel that bass is not good,rather than pushing bass up, you should push other freq down keeping bass level at 0. Foobar does exactly that. I push up 55hz as much as i need & press auto level. It gets 55hz slider to zero position and all other frequencies below zero to maintain relative distance bet 55hz and other freq as you want. Again in foo, pushing 55hz up handles all frequ below 55 uniformly. This is unlike pushing 80hz which pushes mainly 80 only (frequencies on either side less affected with the range between 65 to 95). I am in love with this feature of foo and the 55hz slider.

Not only that amp synergy is also important. My open baffles in living room with Marantz are poor. Same speakers, with philips digital cum dvdp in bedroom are quite good, although not as good as the main combo. But i use them only for movies.

 

[a_chopra7]

Agree - who;s the authorized Marantz dealer in Mumbai? It seems they don;t have a good service network? Would appreciate comments

 

[jls001]

Agree - who;s the authorized Marantz dealer in Mumbai? It seems they don;t have a good service network? Would appreciate comments

There are lots of Marantz retailers but I find Viola most competitive (in price).

 

[The Wall]

Ya , there quotes are more often the best.

 

[tek]

just wanted to resurrect this, seems there's a good offer online for this amp plus the CD player for around 30k. I feel like I may want to get a new amp for my vinyl set up, and since i don't have a cd player this seems like a good option. I was also looking to upgrade my speakers, maybe Boston Acoustics. My total budget for amp and speakers should be around 50-60k. Currently using a Sansui AU 222 which is a pretty tiny amp, and while it's nice, i feel like i want to get some new components.. i have pretty bad luck with used equipment

 

[debzkool]

just wanted to resurrect this, seems there's a good offer online for this amp plus the CD player for around 30k. I feel like I may want to get a new amp for my vinyl set up, and since i don't have a cd player this seems like a good option. I was also looking to upgrade my speakers, maybe Boston Acoustics. My total budget for amp and speakers should be around 50-60k. Currently using a Sansui AU 222 which is a pretty tiny amp, and while it's nice, i feel like i want to get some new components.. i have pretty bad luck with used equipment

I would say its a pretty good offer considering the Combo. This combo has been on for quite some time now and to me it seems to be a super deal. You can check for individual prices at different dealers like hifimart or cinebels.

But I guess this would be the best bet. But before you plunge in just enquire on the separate prices. And as far as the speakers are concerned, I am also looking out for a good set of speakers within 20-25k. Will keep you posted on any info. You too can keep me posted on your speaker search.

Also are you looking for Floorstanders or Bookshelf ??

Being from Mumbai you could drop into Viola and check out the prices separately. They offer pretty good price for Marantz products(a lil bit of bargaining too)

 

[tek]

Thanks debzkool

I am looking at floorstanding speakers.. looking at some Boston Acoustics options right now. I am going to wait for maybe another month or so before deciding on speaker/amp, so hopefully the deal is still on. Alternatively, I will keep an eye on used markets for vintage amps, but wont hold my breath.
Is Viola in Andheri? I don't go that side much, but I can make a trip to check it out. Always good to get auditions Closest options to my side is Lakozy, which I can check out some NAD options I guess.