How good is the Marantz SA-7S1?

Baranyi,
So, what is your verdict on the Marantz? Did the Stibbert ultimately win out?

Waltersalas,
this is a very interesting question that you posed. I have the Marantz for sale here but I may be pulling the ad tomorrow. I felt that my system was good with refurbished Apogee Scintillas and a pair of Conrad Johnson Evolution 2000's with the ASL Flora preamp (alternating with the Supratek Chenin) and the weak link was the speaker cables. Anyway, as I said in an earlier post the Marantz sounded flat compared to the Stibbert even though it was more resolving. My friend Teajay (from Audiogon and author of the reference Dac thread who has a wonderful system) today allowed me to audition his Acoustic Zen speaker cables while he was auditioning some even higher resolving Stealth cables. It is a good thing that he likes the Stealth cables because he isn't getting these back! Anyway, with the new speaker cables the Marantz is a completely different player. While the Bluenote still sounds more front row and a bit more live, the flatness of image that I wrote about before in the Marantz disappeared! The Marantz does not sound distant or remote like I experienced just yesterday. The higher resolution of the Marantz can be stunning. As of tonight, the Marantz seems tranformed as hard as it is to believe. I will listen more over the weekend but if forced to make a decision right now I think that I would keep the Marantz. Tonight the Marantz just made music for the first time.
I think that the reason that one sees a number of these players available on audiogon may be that the systems they were heard in were just not resolving enough for the Marantz's qualities to be heard. It could also be that the players didn't synergize well in those individual's systems. This points out how difficult it is take a components measure without fully exploring all avenues of your own system. I feel quite stunned and hope I didn't lead anyone astray. Bob

Bob,

Thanks for your thorough--and very insightful--response. I completely agree with you about keeping components until, a) you are sure they are fully broken in, and b) you have done your best to find the right cables, meaning ALL cables, including speaker cables, interconnects, and power cords. Of course, this is problematic for many of us, particularly if we are auditioning a component under a fairly brief time limit. However, I think you are spot on in your observation that many people may give up on a component before they have heard what it can really do, under the right circumstances, when that elusive "synergy" is finally realized.

I'm glad the Marantz is working for you now. I hope to hear one someday.