Marantz MM-7055 Power Amp $1500

5×140 Power Amp, (7 3/16h, 17 3/8w, 15/18d, 36lbs)

Marantz’s MM-7055 is a beautiful sounding 5 channel amplifier! Marantz looked at the topic of home theater and decided not to cut corners. 7055 is a full blown, class AB design with linear power supply and bipolar transistors. Think Black Velvet- a black background with smooth overtones.

Most competitors employ an SMPS supply or D module technology. There are reasons to do both, but they invariably trade off smoothness and subtlety. Marantz insists on maintaining warmth and musicality- just as you would on a killer two channel amp. A home theater system with a harsh “bite” is irritating.

On first look you might think 140w isn’t enough to do the job. That isn’t so. When you run your home theater system- the front three speakers are typically config’d in the small mode. They don’t see anything under 80Hz. Hence you don’t need 250w to drive them. You’re better off with 140w of SMOOTHER power than more power that has the proclivity to sound edgy or harsh.

MM-7055 supports XLR and single ended inputs. You can use it in a home theater system or a multi-amped stereo system. The channels don’t care if they’re playing music or movies. If you need
4 or 5 channels, you can’t get a more burnished sound until you spend dramatically more money. How about the Bryston 9BCubed, $13k for 200×5?

MM-7025 runs $1000, 140×2 if you need a couple more channels!