Which Marantz is best???

[RochaCullen]

Hi,

I've been toying with the idea of getting an older japanese player. The ranking of Sony CD players is pretty obvious; Marco and the boys making it pretty easy for any noob to understand which Sony is going to give you the best results.

However, I am interested in the Marantz players, and I have absolutely no idea which Marantz CD player is a great CD player and which is a bog standard player. :scratch: If anyone could give me the lowdown and perhaps a ranking of the best second hand marantz players you can get, I'd very much appreciate it.

Regards,

Nathan

[Spectral Morn]

Hi,

I've been toying with the idea of getting an older japanese player. The ranking of Sony CD players is pretty obvious; Marco and the boys making it pretty easy for any noob to understand which Sony is going to give you the best results.

However, I am interested in the Marantz players, and I have absolutely no idea which Marantz CD player is a great CD player and which is a bog standard player. :scratch: If anyone could give me the lowdown and perhaps a ranking of the best second hand marantz players you can get, I'd very much appreciate it.

Regards,

Nathan

Hi Nathan

I have a collection of Marantz CD players so in my very humble opinion I would say you should look for the following (all unmodified).....

Marantz CD94mk2, Marantz CD12 (expect to pay silly money), Marantz CD10, Marantz CD 85 (not as good as the 94mk2 but still very good), Marantz CD95 (rare in the UK) Marantz CD16, Marantz CD7

Rating them.....

1 Marantz CD7 (very good but does have a noisy transport)
2 Marantz CD95 (similar looking to the CD94mk2 and CD12)
3 Marantz CD94mk2 joint with CD12 (some will disagree with me on this)
4 Marantz CD10
5 Marantz CD85

I have never heard a CD16 so I am not sure where it should go.

Ones to avoid (imho): Marantz CD94 mk1 (great build quality but average sounding) CD11 and CD11LE, SA 1 (good on SACD but not so good on CD and yes I have compared it to the above), SA11 (very noisy transport) SA7 (excellent but very noisy transport/I have one, my second as the first was so noisy I could not have used it in my room)

Hope that is of help.


Regards D S D L

[RochaCullen]

Hi Nathan

In my very humble opinion I would say you should look for.....

Marantz CD94mk2, Marantz CD12 (expect to pay silly money), Marantz CD10, Marantz CD 85 (not as good as the 94mk2 but still very good), Marantz CD95 (rare in the UK) Marantz CD16, Marantz CD7

Hope that is of help.


Regards D S D L

Thanks Neil,

This info definitely helps when keeping an eye out for a potential bargain. Now I know what to look for :)

Regards,

Nathan

[Tweedle-Dee]

Having a few (too many) classic Marantz CD players, I'd agree with the earlier comments. Personally, I prefer the CD80 to the CD94II and the CD16 is quite special as well - different presentation completely to the TDA1541A-based machines. The CD12, in my view, is better than the others mentioned here (I have never heard a CD7 or CD95, however). The above is of course system-dependent.

Cheers,
TD.

[UV101]

Ah!! My speciality!!!

IMHO, any of those early TDA1541(a) players will sound fairy shut in and wooley out of the box. They will all be due a PSU cap refresh and will benefit massively from some PSU and regulation work. However, if you throw a handfull of regs and caps * and some output stage mods *at say a CD50, it absolutely will outperform a std CD80, CD94(I or II).

My philips CD960 is the same as a 94MKI (94MKI TDA1541A and 960 TDA1541). I like the more analogue sound which is why I looked to bring the most out of this chipset. I have a hatfull of low noise regs throughout the player and multiple PSU's. The player is quite something now. If you are looking at this chipset, the best std implimentation I have ever heard is the Meridian 207 (I have a couple 1 std and 1 modified) The output stage is discrete which I think helps somewhat.

The later Marantz models like the CD63 tend to sound much more details at a 1st listen and may well suit your taste if you want a more forward sound out of the box.

I've had to keep this fairly short as I'm at work but I'll keep and eye out and post some more detail later ;)

[Spectral Morn]

Having a few (too many) classic Marantz CD players, I'd agree with the earlier comments. Personally, I prefer the CD80 to the CD94II and the CD16 is quite special as well - different presentation completely to the TDA1541A-based machines. The CD12, in my view, is better than the others mentioned here (I have never heard a CD7 or CD95, however). The above is of course system-dependent.

Cheers,
TD.

As I said some will disagree. Personally I never rated the CD80 as being much of a step forward at the time it was new (sold them back in the day) and virtually all the reviews back in the day all said the CD 94mk2 was as good as the CD12, hence why I placed them side by side (quite happy to do a comparison some time if your game David)

Thing to remember about multi-bit Marantz players they need to be left on and it takes about a week for the sound to stabilize.


Regards D S D L

[Spectral Morn]

Ah!! My speciality!!!

IMHO, any of those early TDA1541(a) players will sound fairy shut in and wooley out of the box. They will all be due a PSU cap refresh and will benefit massively from some PSU and regulation work. However, if you throw a handfull of regs and caps * and some output stage mods *at say a CD50, it absolutely will outperform a std CD80, CD94(I or II).

My philips CD960 is the same as a 94MKI (94MKI TDA1541A and 960 TDA1541). I like the more analogue sound which is why I looked to bring the most out of this chipset. I have a hatfull of low noise regs throughout the player and multiple PSU's. The player is quite something now. If you are looking at this chipset, the best std implimentation I have ever heard is the Meridian 207 (I have a couple 1 std and 1 modified) The output stage is discrete which I think helps somewhat.

The later Marantz models like the CD63 tend to sound much more details at a 1st listen and may well suit your taste if you want a more forward sound out of the box.

I've had to keep this fairly short as I'm at work but I'll keep and eye out and post some more detail later ;)

ummmm certainly not the way I would describe the sound of an original player but I would concur that they make an excellent basis for modding. Audiocom would be my first choice for doing so but I personally prefer to keep the players I have as is thus not modding them (its the collector in me original condition is all to me). However if I obtained a spare machine I would not hesitate in getting Audiocom to do the mods.


Regards D S D L

[UV101]

ummmm certainly not the way I would describe the sound of an original player but I would concur that they make an excellent basis for modding. Audiocom would be my first choice for doing so but I personally prefer to keep the players I have as is thus not modding them (its the collector in me original condition is all to me). However if I obtained a spare machine I would not hesitate in getting Audiocom to do the mods.


Regards D S D L

Hi Neil, definately a bit of an overzealous generalisation. I've definately painted a worse picture than I intended to! :doh:

My problem is that I have taken my machine much further than I intended to and to that end, the original sound is indeed, wooley and shut in!

I find the TDA very analogue sounding and much less edgy than later dacs. It is an excellent base for modification and when done right, it will be right up there with pretty much anything. I've played with several chipsets and I've yet to better a fully sorted, discrete regged TDA chipset.

There are plenty of fairly cheap CDM4 transport based machines with the TDA1541A that respond very will to a handful of well placed mods. Although the CD50 is not the best example for modding (plastic chassis), they are very cheap and can respond very well (I've done a couple now, lots of space for off board goodies), but as you say, you wouldn't start to mess about with a CD94 just for a laugh unless you planned to do something quite spectacular with it!!!:cool:

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Neil, definately a bit of an overzealous generalisation. I've definately painted a worse picture than I intended to! :doh:

My problem is that I have taken my machine much further than I intended to and to that end, the original sound is indeed, wooley and shut in!

I find the TDA very analogue sounding and much less edgy than later dacs. It is an excellent base for modification and when done right, will be right up there with pretty much anything. I've played with several chipsets and I've yet to better and fully sorted discrete regged TDA chipset.

There are plenty of fairly cheap CDM4 transport based machines with the TDA1541A that respond very will to a handful of well placed mods. Although the CD50 is not the best example for modding (plastic chassis), they are very cheap and can respond very well (I've done a couple now, lots of space for off board goodies), but as you say, you wouldn't start to mess about with a CD94 just for a laugh unless you planned to do something quite spectacular with it!!!:cool:

No problem at all.

Sounds like you have created something quite special. I agree about the TDA 1541 very special indeed. If you get a chance have a listen to the AMR Cd77, it uses TDA 1541s and a valve output stage...its very special imho.

Regards D S D L

[Beobloke]

I bought a CD74 at a car boot sale last week and, after chiselling off all the hardened grease on the drawer loading mechanism, cleaning it all out, fitting a new belt and giving it a general once-over, not only does it work a treat, it sounds superb.

OK, so it falls short of my CD94II/CDA94 combo, but I've heard a lot worse and I reckon it was still damn good for £8! :)

[Spectral Morn]

I bought a CD74 at a car boot sale last week and, after chiselling off all the hardened grease on the drawer loading mechanism, cleaning it all out, fitting a new belt and giving it a general once-over, not only does it work a treat, it sounds superb.

OK, so it falls short of my CD94II/CDA94 combo, but I've heard a lot worse and I reckon it was still damn good for £8! :)

I just about recall those, they predate my getting into HiFi my first Marantz was a CD 273 Se I then went to a CD 65 the CD65mk2 SE then CD 85.

I never quite saw the sense in putting the 94 DAC with the 94mk 2 as it has a better DAC section being dual differential (should have had balanced outs. I think the Lampizator offers guidance on a Mod to do this) but I must confess to not having tried it, always wanting a CD 12 instead.


Regards D S D L

[UV101]

No problem at all.

Sounds like you have created something quite special. I agree about the TDA 1541 very special indeed. If you get a chance have a listen to the AMR Cd77, it uses TDA 1541s and a valve output stage...its very special imho.

Regards D S D L

Not seen one of those before but that looks mighty impressive!!!


I bought a CD74 at a car boot sale last week and, after chiselling off all the hardened grease on the drawer loading mechanism, cleaning it all out, fitting a new belt and giving it a general once-over, not only does it work a treat, it sounds superb.

OK, so it falls short of my CD94II/CDA94 combo, but I've heard a lot worse and I reckon it was still damn good for £8! :)

I really should pop to a few more car boot sales!!!! ;)

[Tweedle-Dee]

As I said some will disagree. Personally I never rated the CD80 as being much of a step forward at the time it was new (sold them back in the day) and virtually all the reviews back in the day all said the CD 94mk2 was as good as the CD12, hence why I placed them side by side (quite happy to do a comparison some time if your game David)

Thing to remember about multi-bit Marantz players they need to be left on and it takes about a week for the sound to stabilize.


Regards D S D L

Hi Neil,

I'd look forward to that. I have to add that my absolute favourate player is a Geoff Bull modified CD80 (player only used as a transport) with 2 external power supplies and an external DAC (featuring an S2 chip and discrete output stage with offset nulling).

These players as addictive....

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Neil,

I'd look forward to that. I have to add that my absolute favourate player is a Geoff Bull modified CD80 (player only used as a transport) with 2 external power supplies and an external DAC (featuring an S2 chip and discrete output stage with offset nulling).

These players as addictive....

Yes it would be very interesting indeed. Next time your up this neck of the woods we can arrange it.


Regards D S DL

[UV101]

Rather than hijack this thread, I've stuck a few details of my player in this thread HERE (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?p=213128#post213128). I must admit, I'm very impressed with the AMR and would love to hear one!!!

[Rare Bird]

I really should pop to a few more car boot sales!!!! ;)

All great but the vultures are there at dawn, things usally get picked over.

[UV101]

All great but the vultures are there at dawn, things usally get picked over.

mmmmm this might not work for me! Not really a morning person at all at the weekends! :lolsign:

[prcinka]

I agree on the Marantz cd7 to be the best machine ever.....just a bit of that Philips CD spinner noises, but the sound is very natural and unique for digital audio player......You can use it as a DAC only so it is also future proof....

[Rare Bird]

O i lurves the oldies
'CD-34', 'CD-63' (Original) , 'CD-73'

:sofa:

[The Grand Wazoo]

I agree on the Marantz cd7 to be the best machine ever.....just a bit of that Philips CD spinner noises, but the sound is very natural and unique for digital audio player......You can use it as a DAC only so it is also future proof....

Hi there,
Welcome to the Art of Sound!
Perhaps you wouldn't mind finding your way over to the Welcome section where you can start a new thread to tell us all a little bit about yourself and your hi-fi & music tastes?
It's a good way to be sure of a warm welcome from the community.

Cheers

[Marco]

O i lurves the oldies
'CD-34', 'CD-63' (Original) , 'CD-73'

:sofa:

Me too. And what DAC chips did most (if not all) of those use? ;)

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

Me too. And what DAC chips did most (if not all) of those use? ;)

Marco.

TDA-1540 :eyebrows:

[Marco]

Yup, a classic, just like the 1541 :)

Modern DAC chips sound clinical and soulless in comparison!

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

'TDA1540' is 14-bit DAC chip, sounds great, your right, i dislike modern DAC's aswell..

I'm gonna be playing about with a late 80's Techy 'SL-P770' 18 Bit/4x CDP this weekend see how it compares to the old '1540' machines. I wanted a 'SL-P1000' but this came up minto & cheap, i hope it don't sound sound too ace cos i'd hate to be in the Techy club :eek:

[icehockeyboy]

I bought a CD74 at a car boot sale last week and, after chiselling off all the hardened grease on the drawer loading mechanism, cleaning it all out, fitting a new belt and giving it a general once-over, not only does it work a treat, it sounds superb.

OK, so it falls short of my CD94II/CDA94 combo, but I've heard a lot worse and I reckon it was still damn good for £8! :)

Bargaintastic mate! :)

[DSJR]

You guys have such incredible rose tinted specs it amazes me :)

Those early Philips/Marantz machines gave me a headache and a Nakamichi cassette recording of discs played on these always sounded better I recall. The better ones (I liked the Mission DAD7000, B&O CDX and Meridian MCD Pro, which I owned) have balls, but no subtlety at all, no "space" and little "air" I found.

The nicest of the earliest players was actually the Sony CDP-101 for me. This player of all of them seems to have stood the tests of time sonically, although it's still rather flat in perspectives. The CDP-502 and 505 which followed very soon after were rather superior I remember.

So there! :ner:

[Rare Bird]

You guys have such incredible rose tinted specs it amazes me :)

Those early Philips/Marantz machines gave me a headache and a Nakamichi cassette recording of discs played on these always sounded better I recall. The better ones (I liked the Mission DAD7000, B&O CDX and Meridian MCD Pro, which I owned) have balls, but no subtlety at all, no "space" and little "air" I found.

The nicest of the earliest players was actually the Sony CDP-101 for me. This player of all of them seems to have stood the tests of time sonically, although it's still rather flat in perspectives. The CDP-502 and 505 which followed very soon after were rather superior I remember.

So there! :ner:



Your right with the 'DAD7000' & 'CDP-101'.. Classics.. I bid on at least four 'CDP-101' this year, geez they fetch quite a bit of cutter mi bruvver..Thing is it doesnt stop there you need to be changing out the obsolete servo amps which will knock you back another £100.00. :(

'CDP-302ES', 'CDP-502ES', CDP-552ESD' are all nice machines..as is the 'DAS-703ES' DAC..Even the 'CDP-102' was a good un.

:eyebrows:

however the Marantz 'CD73' don't give me headache!

[prcinka]

thank you for the invite....I was just passing by and the Marantz cd7 was in my search criteria....I have been in the hobby for some time and the TDA 1541 was always my favorite to go back to, even after all the Krell,Accuphase,Wadia,Theta etc experimentations...

[oldson]

where does the cd-17 ki, fit in the scheme of things?

[prcinka]

these guys have all the Marantz info :

http://www.dutchaudioclassics.nl/marantz_cd17mk2_cdplayer/

[oldson]

which is higher up the range
cd17 or63 (both KI) ????
quick reply needed as will effect my bidding

[Alex_UK]

CD17 is higher.

[nat8808]

Hi Neil,

I'd look forward to that. I have to add that my absolute favourate player is a Geoff Bull modified CD80 (player only used as a transport) with 2 external power supplies and an external DAC (featuring an S2 chip and discrete output stage with offset nulling).

These players as addictive....

I missed out on a Geoff Bull modded player (think it was a CD85) on ebay, forgetting to line up my snipe! Was well gutted.. went for about £150!

Serperate power to the DAC chip which is also in a separate box external to the player, IIRC..

[nat8808]

Micro Seiki CD M2 / Luxman D500:

Has anyone ever had the chance to compare top 1541A Marantz CD95 or CD12s to other top 1541A machines like the Micro Seiki CD-M2 or Luxman D500?

DSJR perhaps?

[prcinka]

the Micro is better then the Luxman.....it is also balanced out so you can get advantage of XLR being even more quiet and better soundstage...it is build with wood and cast iron, so it is like a tank.....the sound is very natural and soft....there is even better version one Micro M100 and the total Micro cdm 2000X, but I never heard these....I still think that Marantz cd7 is the best....

[s70rmp]

I still love my CD72 from way back when

[oldson]

would the cd17ki stack up against todays offerings?

[oldson]

does anyone know which model replaced the cd17ki?

[worthingpagan]

does anyone know which model replaced the cd17ki?

I believe it was the cd17 mk2 ki, then the mk3 ki. I had the mk3 ki but found it to be a little too smooth for my liking. I had also owned the CD6000 KI, which was brilliant considering it cost less than half what the mk3 cost. Still using an old CD6000 OSE LE I bought 10 years ago, doesn't uncover as much detail as any of the higher priced models but is very entertaining and I prefer the sound it makes to players costing 3 times its osp :cool:

[oldson]

i dont suppose anyone knows what is a fair price for a 17ki mk2 nowadays?

[Tweedle-Dee]

I missed out on a Geoff Bull modded player (think it was a CD85) on ebay, forgetting to line up my snipe! Was well gutted.. went for about £150!

Serperate power to the DAC chip which is also in a separate box external to the player, IIRC..

Mea culpa, I think - the CD85 transport was faulty?