Thinking of Replacing PM6003 with?? Speaker is Quad 12L2

[Shyamtanu]

Dear friends,

I am using Marantz 6003 combo for a while now, while this pairs well with Quad for my test, I feel the amp is quite weak to be frank, and needs a fair amount of pre-amplification for any other source than the CD player, and some transient details definitely get lost in concert/orchestra. Tends to sound lacking in bass in some cases, though Quad are quite open yet have a warmer signature owing to their British pedigree. My question is, which one should I go with... PM7004? Will that justify the upgrade? Certainly not Roksan K2 as I have listened to the pair and I was quite startled by the lifeless sound and seemingly lack of power to drive these beauties. WHF rates this amp as one of the best!!! I love the sound signature of Marantz. Please suggest on the upgrade, and I also tried to put up an advert for PM6003 in the classifieds and my forum permissions don't seem to allow me that, can some kind souls suggest and guide me please?

Regards,
Shyamtanu

 

[R Narayanan]

Hi

I own the PM 7004 and indeed it is a nice amp. It should pair well with the quads (and I have heard them many times and they are indeed great spkrs). But the 12L2 are bookshelves and there should not be any problem in driving these with what you have. And you do not, in my humble non expert view, need an amp which has a lot of muscle for this purpose.Also, try an audition of the Cambridge Audio 550A with the quads and see how it sounds.

cheers

 

[Shyamtanu]

Hi

I own the PM 7004 and indeed it is a nice amp. It should pair well with the quads (and I have heard them many times and they are indeed great spkrs). But the 12L2 are bookshelves and there should not be any problem in driving these with what you have. And you do not, in my humble non expert view, need an amp which has a lot of muscle for this purpose.Also, try an audition of the Cambridge Audio 550A with the quads and see how it sounds.

cheers

The problem I have is, there are subtle nuances which I am able to hear in the CD6003 CDP with my Sennheiser HD435 headphones, I expect the same to be available in the 12L2, given that they are extremely revealing yet warm. whenever the music get busy, or overwhelmed with bass strings, I feel it cannot control the drivers and the mid bass driver is actually taking loads of power, the music becomes unbalanced with getting bass heavy, not sure if I could explain this. May be it is way I like it, and this may not be a problem to others. I have to crank the amp to 10.00 to 10.30 position usually, I use monster interconnect and DAC 14 AWG cables so those are not the problems.

CA550A - is that bright or warmer side of things? Kindly advise.

Cheers!

 

[R Narayanan]

My experience with the CA 550 A (in comparison with Marantz) is that it is not bright. Whether it is warm or anything else you will find out after an audition. But I turn to this amp when ever I play music that may not sound too good if it is bright. And for me this approach has worked.


I hope I have managed to convey the point.

 

[denom]

PM7004 will be good choice. Why don't you take your Quads along for demo with PM7004 @ dealers place & confirm whether the synergy works for you?

BTW: PM7004 can drive most of the FS with sensitivity of 89db & above, so them driving your 12L2's should not be a problem IMHO.

 

[apk]

You could try some British amplifiers such as Rega, Arcam, Creek, Musical Fidelity etc. Each has a different sound signature, but all are known to be very musical.

There are some interesting discussions on Audiokarma regarding the Quad 12L/11L Rega Brio-R pairing. You can get a Brio-R from HiFiVision store for < 50K.

I have not heard any of these brands, except the Arcam. You should be able to audition Arcam, Creek & MF in India. Do not know about whether you can audition Rega.

APK

 

[jaudere]

I hope that the Loudness switch on Pm 6003 is not on.

Secondly, I am not very sure that you will get all the details of a good headphone on a regular speaker. While speakers give excellent sound stage and imaging, they rarely give all the small nuances as good as a good headphone (at least in my experience).

I use PM 6002 and I am happy with the details it gives with my speakers but then I have used headphones/earphones extremely rarely.

 

[corElement]

CA550A for a QUAD 12 is a bad idea.

The only one I'd recommend is the one I use ca 840a but it's somewhat mellow.

What is your budget approx?

 

[Shyamtanu]

Thanks everyone for responding ...

Budget will be around 50k...
Sir Jaudere... which speakers are you running PM6002 with? Certainly loudness is of no use to me, artificial frequency extension helps only in poor quality recordings to hide harshness IMHO.

12L2 is supposed to be treated as Bookshelf, but I have slowly realized that they are more power hungry than their size suggests, and has much wider dynamic range. Should have understood from the continuous power rating of 100 watts, though I believe PM6003 does produce dynamically (AVMAX test bench showed 215 max) high power, but it runs hot even at 10.30 so I think it is doing its best already. I am not looking for loudness to bring out the details, so more power will be must.

@APK Sir... I wanted to try Arcam, have no options to demo these brands unfortunately. For Marantz I at least have some service options through one of my friends in Pune.

 

[musicbee]

Secondly, I am not very sure that you will get all the details of a good headphone on a regular speaker. While speakers give excellent sound stage and imaging, they rarely give all the small nuances as good as a good headphone (at least in my experience).

+1 to this. Having used Audio Technica, Grado & Sennheiser I can tell you the imaging and tiny details and nuances that I've heard with headphones... I've never come across so much imaging and detail with speakers and amps. Especially dynamics and imaging.

I've played around with Quad 22L2 and its a great speaker but can sound very ordinary with wrong placement... in fact very muddy and dull. It needs a lot of room before it can shine. Not sure if your Quad 12L2 suffers from the same but do move them around and give it a try to see if the imaging and detail improves.

 

[jaudere]

Shyamtanu, I use DIY open baffle speakers.

 

[apk]

@APK Sir... I wanted to try Arcam, have no options to demo these brands unfortunately. For Marantz I at least have some service options through one of my friends in Pune.

Shyamtanu,
I think there should be dealers in Mumbai who stock Arcam. I also know for sure that Decibel in Chennai is an official dealer for Arcam, Creek & Cyrus, amongst other brands.

Given that you are staying in Pune, Mumbai should be your best bet to try out various combinations.

Always listen (if possible with your own speakers; since these are bookshelves, you can still cart them around) before you buy.

Best,
APK