Marantz MA-500/700 monoblocks

[bluseminole]

Hello everyone, I need your help!!

I am looking to upgrade in the next couple of months to a pair of Revel Concerta F12s. My problem is that my cheapo Onkyo HTiB amp will simply not do these speakers justice, so I have begun looking at other options.

My end-game goal is to purchase a Sunfire or Bryston amp, but those are out of budget for now. So my question is about the Marantz MA-500 monoblocks.
I can get them for about 120 each on audiogon. At 125 wpc into 8 ohms (the f12s are 6 ohms nominal), would these have ample power?

What is your opinion on these amps and how does the marantz name stand up in this price category (I know their higher stuff is well-respected)? Also, would it be advisable to look at the more powerful 200 wpc MA-700? Thanks in advance!!

[musicman1999]

Does your receiver have pre-outs? If not then you cannot add external amps. Better to put your money into a good quality receiver, that would be a more realistic match for the revels. You need good processing power, hooking a Bryston amp to a HTIB receiver would be like putting a Ferrari engine in a Kia. If you like Onkyo go with a least an 805.

bill

[sandman6662]

Originally Posted by bluseminole

Hello everyone, I need your help!!

I am looking to upgrade in the next couple of months to a pair of Revel Concerta F12s. My problem is that my cheapo Onkyo HTiB amp will simply not do these speakers justice, so I have begun looking at other options.

My end-game goal is to purchase a Sunfire or Bryston amp, but those are out of budget for now. So my question is about the Marantz MA-500 monoblocks.
I can get them for about 120 each on audiogon. At 125 wpc into 8 ohms (the f12s are 6 ohms nominal), would these have ample power?

What is your opinion on these amps and how does the marantz name stand up in this price category (I know their higher stuff is well-respected)? Also, would it be advisable to look at the more powerful 200 wpc MA-700? Thanks in advance!!

Hi 1st you better get a nice Recv. for the pre outs or if you'r going to use a stand alone player that can decode the new codecs then you could go with a Pre amp for the mono Blocks,

As for the Marantz Mono blocks MA-500 , They were my 1st marantz sysytem I had and I had them paired with the AV-600 THX Pre Amp . These things were awesome. five channel's and every speaker had its own Amp. I used (5) Klipsch KG2.5 for HomeTheater with a Klipsch KSW-15 in SUB. it was amazing. I could drive these to levels beyond hearing , for Music I switched to the Klipsch KG5.5 Towers with the 15 in sub. and Rock & Roll was real...LOL I had this system for about 4 years . And I sold the Mono blocks to a guy at work , he added them to his system and still use's them today , He also put a Marantz system together when I did , a few of us did at work , i work for Philips Elect. and we owned Marantz , so when they offered them in the employee store it was heaven, My one buddy has the MA-700 mono blocks too, actually the other day I askked if he was using the Ma -500 or if hed like to sell them , he said he still had two brand new Ma-700 in the box never used ,, LOL man I'd like to have them ,,I feel you wont be dissapointed with either of them , and Again I just finsished my 3rd Marantz system and Klipsch speakers, and again I'm in heaven its like old time all over again

[bluseminole]

Originally Posted by musicman1999

Does your receiver have pre-outs? If not then you cannot add external amps. Better to put your money into a good quality receiver, that would be a more realistic match for the revels. You need good processing power, hooking a Bryston amp to a HTIB receiver would be like putting a Ferrari engine in a Kia. If you like Onkyo go with a least an 805.

bill

It has the pre-outs I need.
What I am going for is one long, slow upgrade to a decent system, rather than a quickie hop to a marginally better system that I'll get sick of in year and feel the need to replace. That approach ends up costing more. I have no intention of keeping my Onkyo any longer than necessary, but it simply has to do for now. The idea is that I need to get amps to go with my speakers first because the speakers are 6 ohms, and my receiver isn't supposed to go below 8. Being the quality it is, I don't want to test that spec. After my LR speakers and amps, then I will look into getting a separate Pre/pro and use my old onkyo receiver's 7.1 inputs and use it as an amp for my other speakers until I can afford something better. Right now, I have no plans to ever purchase another receiver again--I want to go into separates.

It's kind of a screwy way of doing this, but I think it's the best way overall. Thanks for the advice!

[bluseminole]

Originally Posted by sandman6662

Hi 1st you better get a nice Recv. for the pre outs or if you'r going to use a stand alone player that can decode the new codecs then you could go with a Pre amp for the mono Blocks,

As for the Marantz Mono blocks MA-500 , They were my 1st marantz sysytem I had and I had them paired with the AV-600 THX Pre Amp . These things were awesome. five channel's and every speaker had its own Amp. I used (5) Klipsch KG2.5 for HomeTheater with a Klipsch KSW-15 in SUB. it was amazing. I could drive these to levels beyond hearing , for Music I switched to the Klipsch KG5.5 Towers with the 15 in sub. and Rock & Roll was real...LOL I had this system for about 4 years . And I sold the Mono blocks to a guy at work , he added them to his system and still use's them today , He also put a Marantz system together when I did , a few of us did at work , i work for Philips Elect. and we owned Marantz , so when they offered them in the employee store it was heaven, My one buddy has the MA-700 mono blocks too, actually the other day I askked if he was using the Ma -500 or if hed like to sell them , he said he still had two brand new Ma-700 in the box never used ,, LOL man I'd like to have them ,,I feel you wont be dissapointed with either of them , and Again I just finsished my 3rd Marantz system and Klipsch speakers, and again I'm in heaven its like old time all over again

Thanks! Sounds like the 125 wpc is as conservatively rated as they say....

[mdabb]

I am a fan of the F12s myself and have suggested them to others here as well. More people should look into these speakers. Great choice!!! I was surprised how well I liked the sound of the concerta's!!!


Are you open to amp suggestions and what is the max budget allowed???

I think you could be very happy with some Carver amps. Can be found on the usual places like Ebay and Audiogon. There are other amps as well and will add a few other suggestions sometime soon. The carver amps are solid performers and can be had at decent prices as well. They also can be resold easily as there are a lot of Carver fans out there too.

[bluseminole]

Originally Posted by mdabb

I am a fan of the F12s myself and have suggested them to others here as well. More people should look into these speakers. Great choice!!! I was surprised how well I liked the sound of the concerta's!!!


Are you open to amp suggestions and what is the max budget allowed???

I think you could be very happy with some Carver amps. Can be found on the usual places like Ebay and Audiogon. There are other amps as well and will add a few other suggestions sometime soon. The carver amps are solid performers and can be had at decent prices as well. They also can be resold easily as there are a lot of Carver fans out there too.

This is perhaps my biggest problem...I don't exactly know what my budget is. I do know for sure that the more I spend now, the longer it will take for me to get the money for a "real" amp and more importantly, a decent processor. I can get the F12s on audiogon for $700+shipping, so let's say a budget of about $400 for stereo amplification to start.

[mdabb]

Originally Posted by bluseminole

This is perhaps my biggest problem...I don't exactly know what my budget is. I do know for sure that the more I spend now, the longer it will take for me to get the money for a "real" amp and more importantly, a decent processor. I can get the F12s on audiogon for $700+shipping, so let's say a budget of about $400 for stereo amplification to start.

$400 will do. When I get a chance to browse I'll send a few links your way.

Personally I Think you should be able to score a great amp. I'm sure others here will lend a hand also in the coming days.

[bluseminole]

Originally Posted by mdabb

$400 will do. When I get a chance to browse I'll send a few links your way.

Personally I Think you should be able to score a great amp. I'm sure others here will lend a hand also in the coming days.

I really appreciate it. I know when my limits of knowledge have been reached, and the line is drawn when it comes into the world of separates...too many amps to choose from, and I simply don't know what to look for. Let the fun begin!

[bluseminole]

Ok, so I've been doing a lot of looking with some significant help from mdabb (thanks again).

I now have another question:

I can get the Anthem MCA-20 for $500. Or the Rotel RB-1080 for $600. Given the choice, which amp would you pick and why? (if you planned to drive a pair of Revel F12s)

I ask because I have no way of auditioning these things. AT ALL. So: your thoughts??

EDIT: note how the $400 budget just flew out the window. damn.

[Bobpaule]

Originally Posted by bluseminole

Hello everyone, I need your help!!

I am looking to upgrade in the next couple of months to a pair of Revel Concerta F12s. My problem is that my cheapo Onkyo HTiB amp will simply not do these speakers justice, so I have begun looking at other options.

My end-game goal is to purchase a Sunfire or Bryston amp, but those are out of budget for now. So my question is about the Marantz MA-500 monoblocks.
I can get them for about 120 each on audiogon. At 125 wpc into 8 ohms (the f12s are 6 ohms nominal), would these have ample power?

What is your opinion on these amps and how does the marantz name stand up in this price category (I know their higher stuff is well-respected)? Also, would it be advisable to look at the more powerful 200 wpc MA-700? Thanks in advance!!

4.7 of 5 from 24 reviewers, that pretty darn good IMHO. Pay attention that some of the superlative reviewers also happened to have good reference amps to compare to:

http://www.audioreview.com/mfr/maran...2_1583crx.aspx

I got them for these babies:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330370867963

Will power an office setup off a Xonar DX PCI card with X-meridian drivers (same Oxygen HD chip).

[MrFattBill]

Originally Posted by Bobpaule

4.7 of 5 from 24 reviewers, that pretty darn good IMHO. Pay attention that some of the superlative reviewers also happened to have good reference amps to compare to:

http://www.audioreview.com/mfr/maran...2_1583crx.aspx

I got them for these babies:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330370867963

Will power an office setup off a Xonar DX PCI card with X-meridian drivers (same Oxygen HD chip).

What was the point of digging up a post that was over a year old?

Bill

[bluseminole]

This takes me back...never did get those Revels, went instead for the Monitor RS6 pair. I did get the Anthem...and all sorts of other things. Oh the difference a year can make!