Audiolab 6000a or Marantz PM8006

Integration with Hometheatre


  • Total voters
    39
Don't know how it is implemented in PM8006.

I have an ancient IA from Marantz (PM7001).
It has "source direct" button and "Bass/Treble" knobs.
"Source direct" on, always sounded flat and boring to my ears.
Turning off "source direct" sounded more fun, even with "Bass/Treble" at mid or zero position.
My guess is the tone control circuit has some coloration to the sound.

Cheers,
Raghu
They do add some color.
 
Yamaha receivers have an equivalent button known as pure direct. When my receiver SMPS had gone bad I had opened it and was measuring voltages on all boards. What I found is that the power supply (5.1v and 3.3 volts to the HDMI board which has AV processing and DSP chips) is totally cut off. Also a relay switch kicks in when you press the pure direct button (you can hear the clicking sound of the relay). On Yamaha at least, I believe that the tone control is actually done using DSP rather than some analog tone control circuits. This diagram in Yamaha literature kind of confirms that the output of some analog stage gets directly passed on to the AMP circuit, rather than passing through DSP.

1643695491895.png
This is what they quote
Pure Direct mode is a feature offered by many Yamaha receivers. When engaged, it feeds sound directly to the amplifier and bypasses any DSP processing that might otherwise color the signal, ensuring the best possible high-fidelity sound from all audio sources – even USB and HDMI inputs. The end result is a more realistic sound and a deepening of the listening experience, making it more enjoyable than ever.
 
I picked up this amp last year. It drives my Wharfedale 11.2 stand mounts. I have never noticed it to be treble-heavy with or without source direct engaged even at very high volume. It has warm mids and silky smooth highs with an airy soundstage.
Can the PM8006 drive 4 ohm speakers effortlessly at moderate volumes ? Thank you.
 
With specs of 5 Hz – 100 kHz at ±3 dB, I doubt the highs will be "rolled off" at levels of human hearing.

Source direct just bypasses the tone controls circuits. Why would just doing this bypass sound warm and not otherwise? This implies that the warmth comes from the tone control circuitry. o_O
The 8006 is not as warm as the old Marantz models...more on the warm side of neutral, but the treble has a nice airiness to it and never gets harsh or fatiguing.
 
Are these constant impedance speakers ? As far as I’m aware impedance varies ….
Totally agree with you that impedance is not constant. But suppose you have a Dynaudio bookshelf or another 4 ohm speaker with an average of 86 db sensitivity, wanted to know if this amp can make a speaker play to its fullest potential and open it up.
According to Flux, in the thread above it feels as if it fell a little short on the lows on the Emit 20, hence my question. Cannot expect the lows of a floorstanders though from a bookshelf.
 
Totally agree with you that impedance is not constant. But suppose you have a Dynaudio bookshelf or another 4 ohm speaker with an average of 86 db sensitivity, wanted to know if this amp can make a speaker play to its fullest potential and open it up.
According to Flux, in the thread above it feels as if it fell a little short on the lows on the Emit 20, hence my question.
The 8006 was able to play my Elac B6 with adequate punch .. those are 87dB and 6ohms nominal impedance. It had attack , and good dynamics. It was foot tapping musical.

However , interesting bit is , only when I moved to separates , with a 120 wpc power amp by Discrete Dynamics , I understood what was missing. With more power and higher current the Elacs transformed into a different beast altogether.

I don’t know how to summarise this effectively for you. I’m sure you will be happy with the 8006 and will not feel lack of anything until you move to dedicated separates.

And I agree with flux. Lower sensitivity speakers do need higher power to go deep without bass bloat/bloom.
 
Forgot to mention 8006 has preouts too , so you can use it as a preamp while getting a power amp , if you wish , in future. That will be a substantial upgrade.
 
Forgot to mention 8006 has preouts too , so you can use it as a preamp while getting a power amp , if you wish , in future. That will be a substantial upgrade.
Thanks a lot Bloom@83 for your insightful reply. Amrut's reviews on PM8006 makes it a very tempting proposition :)
 
Maybe, it's just me - I found the Marantz 8006 to be a bit bright. Auditioned this with Monitor Audio Silver towers (sorry, don't recollect the model number) and also Tannoy Eclipse. The bass and midrange were good, but still can't get to terms with the slightly brighter presentation as I thought this will be neutral sounding. Was seriously considering the 8006, and I finally settled for a used NAD 356BEE.
 
Congratulations ! PM8006 is nice good performing amplifier. One almost always gets more wattage than specified as countrywise AC voltages vary so companies implement safe margins. In this case 80w in 8ohms and 120w in 4 ohms is measured, so should be more than enough for average levels and rooms. However not everything depends on 4 ohms. Some speakers dip below 4 ohms even if speaker manual says so. Good output power transistors and large proper transformer should handle low ohms. But nothing to worry about as these are average broad requirements.
About source direct. Few years back there was some old model which had good performace when Eq. were set to zero (Neutral) position and little tiny bit degradation when source direct is used. Forgot the model.
Pre outs are important (Two subs etc.) but most budget amplifier avoid that and give rec. out. Dont know how much companies save from this as in old days it was default provision. Another good thing is this amp uses relays for source selection in CD and Phono input section, rest is by IC.
Enjoy the amp.
Regards
 
Pre outs are important (Two subs etc.) but most budget amplifier avoid that and give rec. out. Dont know how much companies save from this as in old days it was default provision.
Are these Pre-Outs are variable and that we can connect a subwoofer? If we connect a sub will the volume change?
Asking cause the NAD 165BEE has a separate sub output, with 2 pre outs. Marantz only as one preout and no sub out.

Another good thing is this amp uses relays for source selection in CD and Phono input section, rest is by IC.
Enjoy the amp.
Regards

Can confirm this, infact I feel it has rely on all inputs. Cause I would hear the rely clicking when we changed inputs.
 
Buy from India's official online dealer!
Back
Top