Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Axiom + Marantz

I am thinking of trying a M22+VP150 for about 40/40/20% music/movies/gaming. My room is 10x15 with 8' ceilings. I have a Marantz 5003 receiver with some Mirage OS3 fronts right now. I am thinking of moving the Mirage speakers to surround duty and going with Axiom on the front.

How are Axiom and Marantz for a pairing? Anyone out there who does use Marantz that could shed light on how they interact?

I've never owned a Marantz, but have had friends that have, for the most part it they are very happy with the brand. It's a good quality manufacturer. The 5003's 90 wpc should be ample power for the room you have.

Who else here remembers the Marantz Gold style in the early and mid eighties.

paul

The Marantz puts out power. The Axioms take that power and reproduce it as sound.

That's about the size of it.

The general feeling around here (there are several exceptions) is that a well made receiver/amp will not (and should not!) alter the sound.

Welcome to the forum mione,

The Marantz 5003 that you own will work fine powering the M22 and the VP150.

I don't think a good amp will alter the sound, but I think the attached from Stereophile is a good example of the opinion often offered by "experts" that leads me to wonder if there may be more to the analysis than just applying any competently made amp to a good speaker:

And we also know they write these articles to help sell product for those that give them the items for review. If a reviewer were to start saying this or that amp sounds the same as the others for a given volume level, they would be out of business.

Jakewash, It's hard to argue with that logic.

paul

Easy to say, and the obvious point, I fully agree. But consider that he mentions two amps by name as not offering the best sound for that speaker. And he effectively says you won't get all of this speaker if you don't have a high end amp. Most buyers without a great amp would look elsewhere at that point. Now, assuming for the sake of argument, that this guy is making an honest comment, I'd have to say he has much better access to information than I do - or, with all due respect, many of those here. He has the opportunity to compare this speaker on three amps, and this speaker to other speakers. That is not a luxury many of us have, and yet, it is the only way to really compare.

I'm not saying they don't push products - I'm sure they must - I just don't think the world is that black and white. I think there is some value to their comparisons. Hence my curiosity on this amp issue.

Having been ticketed by the hi-jack police, I did want to say that I compared Marantz to Denon when I was buying my AVR (almost 10yr ago!) and was very surprised that Marantz (a company I did not know) had a very solid product. The shop I bought my speakers from carried B&K, Marantz, and Pioneer Elite. They always pushed the Marantz as a tank of an amp that would satisfy everyone below the B&K market. Take the sales guy pitch with a truckload of salt, but there it is for whatever it is worth. (Yes, I bought the Denon based on (here we come full circle now) the magazine articles on it. And I love the amp, and am glad it was highly rated so I could find it.)

Did you know Marantz is made by D&M Holdings, the same company that makes Denon.

Damn! They got me. Bastards. That's why I liked the sound. Thanks for not PM'ing me. Would not want to keep my ignorance private.