Hi Fi or Not?

I don't recall seeing any Yamaha (or Marantz) gear on this forum, but they both have some pretty expensive gear that I would expect to sound excellent. Does Yamaha (or Marantz) show up to the audio shows? Who is their target audience since it seems like most audiophiles lean towards more boutique brands? Here's some of the current top end gear:

Yamaha

C-5000 Preamplifier ($10,000)

M-5000 Power Amplifier ($10,000)

CD-S3000 SACD/DAC($6,000)

GT-5000 Turntable ($8,000)

Marantz

PM-10 Integrated Amplifier ($8,000)

SA-10 SACD/DAC ($7,000)

TT-15S1 Turntable ($1,500)

mceljo05-10-2021 3:14am

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deadhead1000 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 719 posts 05-10-2021 at 05:14am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete These are brands (and there are many others) that go up and down in quality depending on their who their management/owner is and which series you are referring too. Marantz is a great example of an original American brand that was top of the line, got brought out by a Japanese firm in the 70's and was garbage in the 80's (I sold their stuff back then so I know it well). They got their mojo back in the last few years a bit and now have a high-end series. A high price however does not mean good sound, or a sound you will like.
mijostyn Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 8,570 posts 05-10-2021 at 11:05am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Yamaha has always been a step or two beyond Marantz since it sold out to the Japanese. Yamaha makes some excellent equipment.
hilde45 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 5,113 posts 05-10-2021 at 11:57am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Possibly of interest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePhnQzOLLps&ab_channel=Thomas%26Stereo https://youtu.be/NlBDj3Bw2sU
jjss49 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 6,612 posts 05-10-2021 at 03:23pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete top marantz pieces like the ki/ruby series are excellent, make no apologies to upper tier of ’affordable’ brands like primare, belles, naim, rogue, parasound, ps audio - of course their run of mill line is just that... only caveat with marantz is their cd players, even top line ones, have a problem with premature failing lasers... so be careful with those (or buy a spare laser assembly when the piece is current...) yamahas to me are good not great, their voicing can vary considerably piece to piece - better than mid-fi, but not as good sounding as the one mentioned above... imho and experience
stereo5 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 6,486 posts 05-10-2021 at 05:50pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete I had a full Yamaha system in the early 80’s with Infinity tower speakers. It was very unmusical and hard sounding. However, a good friend of mine loved it and I sold it to him at 1/2 of what I paid. He still uses it to this day and it still sounds very unmusical to me. Marantz in the 70’s was bought by Superscope and was decent, but I always thought the Kenwood that we sold was much better.