Marantz AV-8805 Preamp Processor $4500

Every top flight surround system is “bottle necked” by the preamp/processor you choose. The task of a pre/pro is enormously complex. The truth is, you need a large Asian manufacturer that has the technology DOWN COLD to make a piece you want- both in terms of current features and high end sound quality.

All of the N American specialty audio companies struggle mightily to create a pre/pro that’s remotely up to date. Further, they are glitchy. Fact is, for 3-4 times the money, they’re still a day late and a dollar short compared to AV-8805.

There are a number of boxes your pre/pro needs to check. Let’s start with 4K video and cutting edge features like Dolby Vision, HDR & Dolby Atmos. OK, who’s left standing? And we’ve barely begun.

As you’re reading this, you might be wondering… are you really saying this $4500 pre/pro is
as good or better than a N American pre/pro for $15k? YES.

I have to tell you, there are many companies who are over their heads trying to make all this work- much less with the audio quality we hi-fi guys demand. Marantz does it better than anybody.

Marantz has made fine pre/pros for years. They had much of this nailed with the AV-8802, and later AV-8802A- YEARS ago. Today Marantz’s top dog is AV-8805 and it takes a back seat to NOBODY and lands at a less than a stratospheric price range.

AV-8805 is made in Marantz’s top factory in Japan. I won’t recite its features because they’re easily available on the Marantz site. But it has what you want. Of course this is very tough to do because technology changes quickly. What I want to brag up here is that AV-8805’s sonic prowess is indeed right up there with the $15k pre/pros that come from specialty vendors- which are short a myriad of important features.

AV-8805 even includes BALANCED ins/outs for those of us who insist running on at that level.
You CAN buy some very fine, affordable power amps from Emotiva. You can get a fanny kicking
5×260 amp for only $1700 with balanced inputs. I will happily tell you AV-8805 won’t bottle neck your audio performance, while it further provides all the video interfacing you need!

AV-8805 will provide the best AV preamp experience you can buy today. It will rival all but the top stereo only preamps- for music only.

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Marantz AV-7705 Preamp Processor $2200

AV-7705 can’t provide the TOP ECHELON audio quality of AV-8805. However, AV-7705 is about half the price and a very good value. It offers the “stuff” we need including 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR & Atmos. It even has balanced outs- not ins.

When you consider it runs under $4000 with the Emo XPA5G3 power amp ($1700, 260×5) – it’s a killer combo in a price range where most companies are making big fat RECEIVERS.

Above about $2500 we recommend going to AV separates as opposed to a receiver. We all know technology is going to change. Some day you’ll want to update your pre/pro. The power amp is a brontosaurus and will run “forever.” Technology won’t replace it soon. You can always buy more channels of power. The pre/pro is the moving target and NOBODY does it better than Marantz. We have two terrific, affordable options.

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Even The Greatest Have Nerves

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) was unmatched as a composer for the piano. He was also a magnificent performing pianist.
Sir Charles Halle, a professional pianist and teacher, commented on first hearing Chopin. “The marvelous charm, the poetry and originality, the perfect freedom and absolute lucidity of Chopin’s playing cannot be described. I could have dropped on my knees to worship him!”
Chopin told the ever confident Franz Liszt, “I am not fitted to give concerts, the public frightens me. I feel suffocated by its panting breath, paralyzed by its curious glance, mute before those unknown faces.”
The next time your kid expresses fear about giving a recital…let them know they’re in good company.

Obstacles!

You readers don’t know how hard it is to sort through all the great hi-fi gear these days. There are numerous obstacles in my way.

Glenn just came into my office and proclaimed- “You won’t believe what I just found!” I’m thinking, he found a Mac MR78 in mint condition, or a pair of Maggie Tympani 1-Ds that don’t need to be rebuilt. Nope. Glenn went on. “My house was built in 1977. One of the toilets is beige. I’ve never been able to find a matching seat. I went to Ace to buy the lights for the elevator that you told me you needed, and there it was- at the end of the aisle- a single beige toilet seat!”

Alchemy Electronics Are In!

Elac has made quite a splash in the performance per dollar speaker market. In just a few short
years, they’ve tipped over the apple cart for old line brands. Well, are ya ready?!

Elac has just decided to dive into the ELECTRONICS market. Their brand is called ALCHEMY. On top of great performance, these sleek guys are under 2” tall and don’t run hot. The price points are north of NAD and south of McIntosh.

Rave reviews are sure to follow. Initial response from the magazine guys/gals who’ve heard Alchemy is audio ecstasy!

 

Alchemy DPA-2 Power Amp (210×2 or 625 monoblock! 2H, 17.5w, 15d, 15 lbs) $1500

Holy acceleration! If you’re after a battleship of a power amp at an affordable price, with the option to add even more by bridging- look no further than DPA-2! While DPA-2 sounds good by any audiophile standard, its Ferrari like dynamic range is its calling card.

DPA-2 is a stellar power amp with some unique technology to pull it away from the field. As you’ve read above, it offers huge power. The power supply is non switching analog. The output section is Class D employing the highly regarded Hypex design. Designer Peter Madnick of Alchemy has his own secret sauce for this design. He doesn’t use the Hypex as it lays. He bypasses the op amp filtering feature of the Hypex and employs his own discrete filtering network.

DPA-2 offers power LEDs, which are not only fun to watch dance (or they can be turned off), but they give you potentially valuable feedback on how hard you’re driving. It has a switch for high or low gain so it can interface with any preamp.

DPA-2 has RCA and BALANCED inputs. Holy smokes! That puts DPA-2 in the big time- especially because it hand shakes with the DDP-2 preamp, BALANCED. At only two inches tall, why not buy two and run 625 per channel?!

Here’s another consideration for this amplifier. Suppose you have an elderly Threshold, Levinson, ARC, Hafler, B&K type power amp that you paid a bundle for many years ago. To buy an apples to apples power amp today, would be $6-7k! The beauty of DPA-2 is, for just $1500 you can replace the old man with a brand new, smaller, lighter, cutting edge amp, with balanced or single ended inputs. And… you’re actually improving your sound!

 

Alchemy DDP-2 DAC/Preamp/Streamer $2500 (2h, 17.5w, 15d, 14 lbs)

This slick new piece checks most of the boxes that need checking! First of all, it’s a fine stereo preamp/DAC with a nice array of inputs spec’d below. I will BRAG UP here that it has BALANCED inputs and outputs, as well as RCAs. THAT … puts it in a different league from anything that doesn’t support balanced operation!

The DAC is 32/384. It upsamples 16 bit to 24, and 24 to 32.

DDP-2 has built in streaming en point that shakes hands with Roon. It has a home theater bypass loop if you’re THAT guy.

*Analog inputs: 2 RCA, 1 Balanced
*Digital inputs: USB-B, 2 OPT, 2 Coax, XLR
*Outputs: 1 Balanced, RCA Variable, RCA Fixed
*Ethernet with MQA decoding
*Bluetooth Wi-fi

 

Alchemy PPA-2 Phono Preamp $1000 (2h, 17.5w, 15d)

Alchemy puts a unique spin on the phono preamp as we know it. In addition to traditional loading features, it supports BALANCED operation! It has:
*Toroidal transformer
*Discrete circuity
*MM/MC
*Has adjustments for cartridge loading: 5-999 ohms
*Stereo/Mono
*Rumble filter- selectable settings
*Has two RCA inputs and ONE BALANCED input!
Repeat:
*Has RCA outs and BALANCED outs!
*Liquid Crystal Display for clear user info
*Gain: 42dB Single Ended, 48dB Balanced

 

 

Super Woman! Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

So you think YOU’RE busy? Clara puts us all to shame!

Clara worked like a dog from early childhood to be a world class pianist. By age 13 her piano teaching father was showing her off around Europe with enormous fanfare. Think, an older Mozart family dynamic.

Clara was tough as nails. By age 18 she wanted to marry composer Robert Schumann. Her father wasn’t on board. She would have to wait until she was 21 to marry without dad’s consent. She sued her father and won. She married Robert a day before her twenty first birthday. TAKE THAT pops!

Life with Robert was no walk in the park. Undeniably a musical genius, Robert was bi-polar and died by age 46 after three years in a mental asylum. Clara had 8 children within a span of 13 years.

Somebody had to make a living! So she hired child care when she performed in the UK, Paris, Vienna and other stops along the way. Yep, she cared for 8 kids and an insane husband … while practicing arduously to be the best pianist in the world.

The Manchester Guardian wrote, “Comparing Madame Schumann with the leading pianists of the day, we would say at once that she surpasses them all in the great quality which we sum up expressively by the word ‘soul.’ She is all music, and as she bends over the instrument, it is very easy to see from her expressive gestures, that the wooden instrument… has become a golden gate through which her spirit passes into the purest regions of harmony.”

Clara was a composer, highly esteemed by no less than Brahms and Joachim. She was Robert’s musical muse, critic and editor. Every masterpiece we know from Robert, and it’s a mountain of the highest romantic quality, passed through Clara’s eyes & ears.

Clara Schumann probably didn’t have an easy day in her life. Her accomplishments are nothing short of amazing!