High End Intergraded comparisons, Marantz, McIntosh, Levinson, Luxman....

Good question @szore and does the Marantz sound more like a McIntosh than the others? 

The Luxman's and others aren't powerful enough. I lived in a 2 - 16 wpc class-a SETs for almost 20 years! Been there. Moving onto something different. 

And some are Great but way too expensive! Twice the price of the PM-10. 

The Hegel is an option to ty but its softer and smoother, much less punch and not likely the best match for my system. Im using a large pair of KEF Reference 4's and they are very revealing and can serve up plenty of bass if thats what it sounds like. Id rather control more of the warmth or detail through the source. But I dont like dead neutral amps like the Yamaha's and others. I find them too dull. 

I do have almost 300 hours on the PM-10 now and its bloomed. Its really rather fantastic. I do have about 30 or so days to decide if im keeping it. 

@jbhiller I loved the Ruby. The PM-10 was much more of a difference and upgrade than I bargained for. But its Very revealing and will be brutally honest about what it thinks of your sources and speakers. For good or bad! 

Lots of good feedback. Thank you all. 

Have you ever heard a dealer recommend a product they didn’t carry?

The marantz sound is nothing like the McIntosh sound. The marantz can’t compare to the better McIntosh integrateds, from today or from 20 years ago, nor can the marantz compare to the hegel’s, rogue, and I’m sure others. 
If you like the marantz then keep it, but there are much better amps but you will have to pay a little more for used amps.

The marantz is low powered and any of the amps i mentioned above will have more real power/reserved power to drive your speakers. I had the flagship Hegel at the time, the H300 and it had 250 watts, the H360/390 have even more power. Besides the power, Hegel is a more neutral sounding amp. The dacs in any of these integrateds are a compromise compared to the vendors stand-alone dacs.

The rogue Cronus magnum is a powerful integrated amp with the kt120 tubes and it has a decent phono stage in it. Much warmer sound and more power than the marantz.

The McIntosh amps are warm sounding but have much more power and much better sound than your marantz. The new integrateds are 350 watts with many features inside, but is much more expensive. Look at a older MA6500 or MA6900

One amp, EXPOSURE 3010S D2 

no frills, no glamor, not paying for fancy outer shell or fancy marketing.

Just pure, clean power and clarity.

Like straight wire and gain.

it doesn’t add or subtract anything.

Prat, pace, rhythm, etc.

Just listen to the music.

Other integrateds to consider are Bryston and Moon Audio. The former with a 20 year warranty and the latter with 10 years.

I would look at Technics or Yamaha.