Playback designs followup?


There was a flurry of impressions when this player first came out, all of which was very favourable. I would really like to hear from the original users and others who are very familiar with this player about their impressions about its sound.
For the lucky owners, is it still as spectacular as initial impressions suggested or maybe even better with ongoing use??
Thanks
ecka
Arthurp, there's a market in modding Marantz because they need it.

Ric Shultz and others would probably love to get their hands on a PD and see what he could do, but there's likely very little that they could do, given the programming and design done by Andreas. None of the owners that I know I yearning for anything more. OTOH, a big hunk of the Marantz guys immediately think of modding.

Still, it's refreshing to see you reveal the axe that you have to grind. Previously I merely thought that you had difficulty hearing, but now we know the truth. Enjoy your Marantz.

Dave
Dave - Before you jump to any conclusions reread my post from 2/13/09. I sold the Marantz in favor of the Modwright Transporter. I have no axe to grind. I simply have a different opinion than you. I'm also not at all defensive about any of my equipment. We all have different tastes. After owning some of the Chambers Audio products, I just found things I liked better and moved on. My hearing tests perfect. As I've stated to you in the past, if you don't limit your comments to non personal ones, your opinion looses all credibility.
Arthurp,
I'm curious to know what your system & room consists of. I have already heard the Modwright T. transporter, so I have a feel for that. Just wondering what you have found to be more involving for your tastes.
What a boring world it would be if we all had to buy & like the same equipment or anything else. It's good to see & hear different systems & how each of us reach that certain quality we pursue.
Grr6001,

I couldn't agree with you more. My room is 15 X 21. I have a carpeted floor and a few sound panels situated to reduce first reflection points. I sold my darTZeel amp and preamp in favor of a BAT VK52SE preamp and VK 250SE power amp. Speaking strictly in terms of sound the darTZeel's were a slight bit more transparent . The BAT's have a better bottom end. They only give up a very slight bit to the darTs in overall absolute performance and cost a fraction of what the darTs cost. The darTs are much nicer to look at. I had maintenance issues with both my darTZeel preamp and amp. I am basically a plug and play kind of audiophile. I replaced my Evolution Acoustics MM2s with a pair of Hansen Prince speakers. I use Stealth Metacarbon balanced interconnects and Kubala-Sosna Emotion speaker cables. I only owned the EV MM2s for about seven months. I did break them in. They didn't work well for me in my room at all. I found that if I tried to adjust them to anything other than a flat setting they just didn't sound "right". I've looked at your system and I see you have a lot of the components that I've moved on from. I certainly respect your pursuit of great sound. I am finally very pleased with the overall sound, ergonomics, build quality, and convenience of my system at this time. I'm not going to state that it's better than anybody else's system, just that it's the best overall system I've owned since getting involved in this hobby. If I had to choose a favorite component, I truly love the Hansen speakers. I don't plan on ever parting with them. They work in my room and they are small enough that if I sell my home and eventually down size (not for 10 years) I can take them with me.

The Modwright Truth Transporter can only sound its best if you upgrade the tubes. I'm running a Mullard GZ345AR4 rectifier and RCA 6CG7 tubes I bought from Andy at Vintage Tube Services. They made a huge difference. I've been listening to Pandora music service a lot. I know it's not true hi resolution, but I love all the variety and new music I've been listening to. I always wanted a tuner, but never was able to get the reception I wanted. The Pandora service is great!

Happy listening.
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