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.

 

[sand64]

Hi friends!

Thanks for your suggestions. Sorry for late reply, but I have an update and few observations and questions.

I have added a fx audio x03 dac in the chain and sound has improved. It has ess chip and only usb input and rca output. I found this dac more suitable for my system in comparison to smsl su1, which I found a bit brighter side. Now my Marantz pm7001 is sounding BETTER if not GREAT. So I am enjoying my music library these days. I am still not sure if the dac has improved the sound or my speakers have opened up a bit more or may be I had made peace and got accustomed to the sound. Any way I will still look forward to get it improved further.
I have also placed one blind order for another dac, smsl d4s. It has got a display and more connectivity options and I hope my search for dac will end here.
Besides above, I have few observations and questions.

1. I am using a window laptop and foobar2000. There are some ASIO plug in or Wasapi exclusive mode etc. which are required for higher bit rate or bit depth play back. Right now my music library consist of 44.1 khz (cd quality) flac, wav and mp3 files. Do I require them? Any other settings required?

2. I am yet to decide on my purchase of streamer. Before this I want to have an idea of high res music if these sound any better than some of my collection. I mostly listen to Bollywood and rock of 1970-90. My wife has a iphone, so can I stream apple music through it by connecting phone's usb to dac usb? Apple music has free one month trial. Apple music through laptop sounds bad. Or suggest any other music service. How can I use my laptop as streamer?

3. Some mp3 files sound much better than flac file. For example I have two files of Jethro Tull's album 'Minstrel in the Gallary'. One is 192kbs mp3 (file size 60mb) and another is flac (file size 1.7 gb). There is noticable difference between the two. Treble is subduced and sound stage restrictive in flac file. I don't know what data is there in 1.7 gb?

4. In 2009, when I purchased marantz, I had auditioned Norge 1000. It is a good amplifier but marantz was better. I didn't auditioned any higher class amplifier at that time due to budget limitation and time/effort required.

Cheers!

 

[sand64]

Looking for suggestions guys..