On a whim

[Jac Hawk]

On a whim i’ve gone and bought a Marantz PM66SE KI Signature, are they any good, I bought it cos it was shiny :eek:

[walpurgis]

Bound to be good if it was shiny! :D

[CageyH]

I was never a fan of the KI stuff.

[STD305M]

On a whim i’ve gone and bought a Marantz PM66SE KI Signature, are they any good, I bought it cos it was shiny :eek:

Cant be hawk
must be magpie ha ha ha!!!!
PM66 was great in its day and still gives a good performance!!!

[Macca]

'Like previous models the amplifier showed very powerful and balanced sounding, which was especially brightly emphasized during the work with "native" (i.e. from the same firm) CD player. Well, the history of the soft and mighty bass Marantz goes on...'

http://www.hifi-review.com/150158-marantz-pm66se.html

Not really sure if they are damning with faint praise there or what but it's a pretty cool looking amp. Never heard one myself.

[Smoking Joe]

I never heard the KI Signature version, but I had the SE version for about 4 years. Nice amp and very well built. Good looking too. But I found it to have a very clean sound but a bit light in the lower end of the presentation. But that may have been down to my Marantz CD player at the time. And the KI Sig is a step beyond again so can only better.

[alphaGT]

I’m waiting to hear what you think of it! That is all that counts! It is their deluxe model, they put all their thought into making this one their best effort, I don’t see how it could be bad?

Russell

[Jac Hawk]

Well i pick it up on Friday, so i'll let you know.

Isn't it shiny though :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PN8AAOSwWDBbIi42/s-l1600.jpg

[alphaGT]

Well i pick it up on Friday, so i'll let you know.

Isn't it shiny though :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PN8AAOSwWDBbIi42/s-l1600.jpg

Love the copper chassis!

Russ

[pjdowns]

My Uncle had one and it was a pretty good starter amp :)

[Floyddroid]

The bottom looks better than the top.

[Jac Hawk]

Well i picked it up from Grays yesterday, i was in London so killed two birds so to speak, anyway like i always do with second hand gear before plugging in and switching on i took the top off to see if everything was ok and to give it a clean, turns out the 2 big caps are blown :doh::doh: i contacted the seller on ebay but his response was that sound comes out of it so he can't be held responsible.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb371/jachawk9000/lV1MoTYSQUa1cufUDhnRiQ.jpg?t=1529682129

As you can see from the photo the tops of the caps are domed, and you can't see it but they have leaked as well. So what do i do, scrap it or replace the caps?

[walpurgis]

I'd do the caps.

[Jac Hawk]

if i'm going to do that Geoff, do you think it would be worth upgrading other components? i presume the 2 big ones that have blown are the smoothing caps so will have some affect on sound quality, but i'd like to know if there is anything else in the signal path worth upgrading, i don't want to go daft and spend a small fortune, maybe someone could make some suggestions?

[walpurgis]

As the board has to be lifted, it may be an idea to replace all electrolytics and run a meter across other components. Give the controls a squirt of cleaner too.

[struth]

Initially if there are no other looking odd I'd just do the big 2. Give the board a clean too Clean the pots. Then see how it is. I take it it's working

[Jac Hawk]

We are on the same wavelength Geoff, have you seen a parts list or upgrade list for this amp anywhere, i'd like to replace with at least the same but if possible better sounding components, which i know is very subjective

[Jac Hawk]

It powers up Grant, but as i've never heard a fresh one so to speak i have no gauge as to how it should sound

[walpurgis]

have you seen a parts list or upgrade list for this amp anywhere

No, I haven't. A bit of Googling may come up with something.

[fatmarley]

If you like I could pop the lid off my Quad 306 and see what Main smoothing caps Dada electronics supplied with their service kit. I remember looking up the specs and they had a very high ripple current rating, so ideal for amplifiers.

For smaller caps it would be best to look at a circuit diagram and see what they do. I've tried all sorts of audio grade caps over the years and they all seem to colour the sound in some way. The most neutral I've used for coupling are Nichicon fw - they are dirt cheap too :)

[alphaGT]

Well i picked it up from Grays yesterday, i was in London so killed two birds so to speak, anyway like i always do with second hand gear before plugging in and switching on i took the top off to see if everything was ok and to give it a clean, turns out the 2 big caps are blown :doh::doh: i contacted the seller on ebay but his response was that sound comes out of it so he can't be held responsible.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb371/jachawk9000/lV1MoTYSQUa1cufUDhnRiQ.jpg?t=1529682129

As you can see from the photo the tops of the caps are domed, and you can't see it but they have leaked as well. So what do i do, scrap it or replace the caps?

A few of those small, brown electrolytic caps look a bit domed in the photo? It may be easy to replace them while you’re at it? If they are indeed domed, or measure funny. A nice little project, shouldn’t be too expensive.

Russell

[Jac Hawk]

My thinking is that if I have to take the PCB out then I may as well replace all the electrolytic as a matter of course, my problem is what make model caps do I replace them with

[alphaGT]

Perhaps find an amp you really like the sound of, and use whatever brand they are using? It’s really a win-win, I don’t see how you could mess it up.

Russell

[Jac Hawk]

Nichicon seem to be a safe be, as they add little colouration to the sound but extend bass and bass is probably the only thing this amp has been criticised for, which is understandable as it's been tweaked by Ken Ishiwata and the Japanese ear tends to favour less bass.

[fatmarley]

Even though Nichicon Muse Is supposed to be their top audio grade cap, I found It had a bright and thin upper midrange. Elna Silmics are too soft and cuddly for my taste but YMMV.

For the feedback loop Im my Onix OA21 the best I've tried were the Vishay Sprague Tantalex 150D and coupling Nichicon FW.

Not sure If you missed my previous post but the offer still stands (It's only two screws to remove the case).

[Jac Hawk]

Thanks for the offer Matt, but 1st I’d like to get a circuit diagram for it, once I’ve got that I’ll give you a shout

[fatmarley]

No problem.

[Jac Hawk]

Ok, so i've found a service manual online, i've checked the input boards, phono stage etc. and they seem fine, tbh i really don't want to screw about with the caps on the phono stage as it's meant to be pretty good, so i want to change the electrolytic caps on the output stage and could do with some help and advice, any offers?

[Floyddroid]

I was never a fan of the KI stuff.

The ki cd players I thought were excellent.

[GrahamS]

It's a very good amp provided the caps haven't aged, it's shiny because all of the sheet metal is copper plated to reduce RF interference.

[Jac Hawk]

Ok so the 1st PM66SE KI i bought was not quite firing on all cylinders, however not to be deterred i've bought another one, this time it's absolutely mint with not a mark on it anywhere, under the bonnet it's as clean as a whistle too and a real credit to it's former owner. i bought the 1st one on a whim (i liked all that shiny copper) and bought this one as a reference point so that i can gauge the improvements i'll be carrying out to the 1st one. So far though i'm very impressed i can see it being hard to improve without spending significant money.

[Jac Hawk]

A couple of photos, it's raining and i'm at a loose end

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/uJYAAOSw1zpbRylE/s-l1600.jpg

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2fkAAOSwmHdbRyl1/s-l1600.jpg


As you can see, it's very clean.


https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-5sAAOSw2DdbPjtm/s-l1600.jpg

[walpurgis]

It looks virtually new.

[GrahamS]

Well done, Mike. Looks superb - it should sound superb as well.

[Jac Hawk]

It looks virtually new.

Geoff if i didn't know better i would have thought it was new, i've even got the original manual and KI certificate, both in their original plastic bag

[Yomanze]

Looks pretty clean and simple for a Japanese amp. Less is more. :)

[Jac Hawk]

Looks pretty clean and simple for a Japanese amp. Less is more. :)

I think so Neil there’s none of the usual filter and tone control switches and knobs, just volume, input selection and balance and you can bypass that if you want, it sounds great too

[Mike Reed]

Looks pretty clean and simple for a Japanese amp. Less is more. :)

Which is odd because it's American, or at least, was.. Saul Marantz was born in N.Y. and was responsible for some really class kit from the fifties onward. His 8B (?) valved tuner was and still is world class, and his seventies receivers were unparalleled. I had the top quadraphonic receiver with oscilloscope in around '76 (what an expensive fiasco that format was !)

[Yomanze]

Which is odd because it's American, or at least, was.. Saul Marantz was born in N.Y. and was responsible for some really class kit from the fifties onward. His 8B (?) valved tuner was and still is world class, and his seventies receivers were unparalleled. I had the top quadraphonic receiver with oscilloscope in around '76 (what an expensive fiasco that format was !)

They have been based in Japan now for many years. :)

[Jac Hawk]

Must admit i'm really loving this amp, the MM phone stage is particularly good.