Source for my vintage amplifier Marantz PM 7001

[General_sound]

I entirely endorse Bhaskar’s post dt 04 Feb 2025. I also agree with COOL DUDE’s post on Tuesday 01 July, specifically para 2 and 3. My son is running a Wiim pro thru Marantz PM 5005. Am very sure it will sound good thru your PM 7001. I would recommend you borrow a Wiim pro and do an audition.

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Yes, that's the cheapest way . If one doesn't want to buy a streamer with a premium price tag then wiim pro is the best bet. The OP's present amp is enough at present. In future however a good DAC , as saurav suggested may be added.
Regards

 

[COOLDUDE7808]

You are not satisfied with the sound of Marantz PM7001 , not able to figure out whether its the amp or something else and also on budget . You are anyway going to buy WIIM and also spend on DAC to try and improve SQ . If you see my signature , some of the equipment is essentially me trying to improve SQ by spending less and I have never succeeded in doing so . Ended up spending more cumulatively over a period of time . Hence I would suggest the following -


Check out WIIM Amp Ultra . This is the latest streamer + amp in one box and available for 529 USD . This is essentially WIIM Ultra + Vibelink Amp in one box . It does not support Apple Airplay . But maybe you can stream apple from laptop and connect laptop to ethernet of WIIM ? . One advantage of WIIM is that you will get a new amp and it also has equalizer unlike PM7001 , so you can use that to change the sound as per your preference . Check out the links below .

WiiM Amp Ultra

www.wiimhome.com

Amazon.com

Other option is to just buy a new analogue amp like Norge 1000 which will come under 20K and connect WIIM to RCA of this amp . If you are from 80's , 90's and listen to bollywood tracks and looking for that SQ , then you will like the SQ of Norge for sure .

Norge Concerto Gold 1000

Output 100w + 100w rms @ 4 ohms / 92w + 92w rms @ 8 ohms Freq. Response 30Hz-20kHz +/- 0.5db THD @ rated output < 0.075% Input Sensitivity 92 db Inputs TAPE / DVD / AUX Dimension (L x W x H) 420mm x 280mm x 110mm Weight 7.50 kg Remote Control No

norgeaudio.com

Just came across this - https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/...-20-on-wiim-starting-july-8.7563/#post-134810

Point here is that your main issue seems to be lack of good SQ in Marantz and you are retaining that spending money on equipment's which will be connected to that . Its very unlikely that you will get good results - Just like what I have done in the past .

 

[ronthedon]

I saw your first post on this thread and my initial questions were:
1)Does the PM7001 sound better with a tiny mp3 player or walkman or mobible phone plugged into it? -Which port on the PM7001 are you connecting the laptop to? -Are you using a cheap 3.5mm<->RCA cable which can very well be a mono rather than a stereo cable(test continuity)?
2)Does the laptop sound good with headphones plugged in or when connected to other amp/active speakers? -Have you tried multiple audio players in the laptop with EQ off and good sampling rate? -Have you tried Audiophile Music on Youtube (I know many would disagree here)?
If the above all is positive then you can go about your hunt for a DAC. Otherwise you will first have to narrow down your problem to remove the culprit from the arrangement.
2005 Marantz gear wont generally require any recapping as they use quality capacitors, even I own a 2005 PM4001 and it sounds fine but not great.
Finally everyone has different perceptions and interpretations of sound - Sound Stage to one can be MW broadcast sounds to another.