Marantz SA-11S2 in the house

[Glen B]

Finally, after an impatient wait of about six weeks, the Marantz SA-11S2 I ordered arrived yesterday. At 36 lbs, it is more like an amp than a CD player. Rapping on any point of the casework produces a dull "thunk," suggesting that it is well damped. The sculpted front panel at its thickest point is about 1 inch. The rap test seems to suggest that it is solid metal. First impressions after a 20-minute listening session last night are WOW! Loads of detail without being etched; sweet and transparent, bass is well defined, deep and extended. I have yet to play around with the three filters in the unit that are slectable from the remote. The display and digital out can both be turned off, the latter for improved sonics.

Pics:http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1929767

[DelRay]

What a sweet player. The upper end Marantz stuff is awesome. :T

[Briz vegas]

Its got blue bits either side of the display. I had a 1980s Sansui amp that had that. It was my first bit of hifi that I purchased myself with a huge 30w. The "display" was just a lit diagram with a little red light to identify the source.

[John Holmes]

That's a beautiful piece! Congrats! ;x(

[nyny]

Congrats! Being a long time SA-11S1 owner, I am thinking about upgrading to either the SA-7S1 or the SA-11S2. Can you please PM me regarding where you got your SA-11S2 and what kind of discount can be expected. Thanks!

[Glen B]

Congrats! Being a long time SA-11S1 owner, I am thinking about upgrading to either the SA-7S1 or the SA-11S2. Can you please PM me regarding where you got your SA-11S2 and what kind of discount can be expected. Thanks!

PM sent.

[Chas_T]

Glen,

Could you please describe the color of the SA-11S2's faceplate. Photos I've seen of the piece would lead me to believe it's silver, but dependent upon lighting conditions, it also appears there are flecks of gold or champagne too.

What are your thoughts on the Marantz after listening to it for a few weeks?

Thank you,
Charles

[Glen B]

Glen,

Could you please describe the color of the SA-11S2's faceplate. Photos I've seen of the piece would lead me to believe it's silver, but dependent upon lighting conditions, it also appears there are flecks of gold or champagne too.

What are your thoughts on the Marantz after listening to it for a few weeks?

Thank you,
Charles

The SA-11S2 is a light gold color and there are no flecks. The color is close to how it looks in the photos I linked to above.

After 200+ hours of break-in, I find the Marantz to throw a nice deep, wide soundstage, a bit deeper than wide. Redbook performance is excellent. SACD and redbook are quite close, with SACD providing a bit more analog-like quality and naturalness to sounds.

Talking of naturalness, there is an amazing naturalness of timbre and lifelike quality to acoustic instruments. The same goes for female and male vocals. The sound is very dynamic and detailed without being etched or forward. Bass is well-defined, deep and extended, adding a solid underpinning to all types of music.

The S2 offers a choice of 3 filters, noise shaping, phase inversion, and the ability to turn off the digital output. I am running the player in balanced mode, filter #1, noise shaping off, digital output off.

Glen

Following is a partial list of the music used for evaluation, drawn from memory. The associated equipment is in my profile.

• Patricia Barber – Companion
• Isaac Hayes – Shaft
• Pieces of A Dream – Love’s Silhouette
• Martha Argerich – Chopin, 26 Preludes
• Stravinksy, LA Philharmonic – Firebird Suite (Sheffield Lab)
• Marie-Claire Alain – Bach, famous Music for Organ (Erato)
• Daniel Barenboim – Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Moonlight/Pathetiqué/Appassionata (Deutsch Grammophon)
• Jean Guillou – Mussorgsky, Pictures At An Exhibition (Dorian Records)
• A Christmas Festival – E. Power Biggs, organ and choir (Sony Classical)
• Basia – London, Warsaw, New York
• Mary J. Blige – Mary
• David Benoit – Every Step of The Way
• B-Tribe – 5
• Eric Clapton – 24 Nights
• Commodores – Live!
• Robert Cray Band – Live From Across The Pond
• Brian Culbertson – Secrets
• Dead Can Dance – Into The Labyrinth
• Carol Duboc – Duboc
• Richard Elliott – Crush
• Enya – Best of Enya
• Euge Groove – Just Feels Right
• James Hurt – Dark Grooves Mystical Rhythms
• Phyllis Hyman – The Legacy of Phyllis Hyman
• Incognito – Beneath The Surface
• Etta James – Burnin’ Down The House (Live)
• David Lanz – Finding Paradise
• Lesiëm – Auracle
• Bob Mamet – Signs of Life
• Michel Petrucciani – Trio In Tokyo
• Doc Powell – 97th & Columbus
• Rent – Original Broadway Cast Recordng
• Sade – Lover’s Rock
• Marilyn Scott – Avenues of Love
• Cassandra Wilson – New Moon Daughter

[Chas_T]

Glen,

Thank you very much for the information. I thought the Marantz was a light gold color and anticipated such. When I viewed the U.S web site, it looked light gold, but the European site gave me the impression it was silver. I ordered one of these sight unseen and not auditioned and it should be here shortly. I don't generally do this, but I am relying on past comments and reviews on the S1. I am looking forward to connecting as I've been stuck in modded Sony 555 ES land for quite some time and the Redbook output could be better now that I've upgraded my system completely and it's time to make another change.

Again, thank you for the information. It's much appreciated.

Charles

[avrtRick]

Hi Glen,

what a great peice!!
Cant wait to get me one.
I wish you many a good hours listerning.
And thanks very much for the info you have given(it is good for those who have eyed this peice for there,our, racks and for those who just want to know)

[fattner]

how much????

[Ovation]

The SA-11S2 is a light gold color and there are no flecks. The color is close to how it looks in the photos I linked to above.

After 200+ hours of break-in, I find the Marantz to throw a nice deep, wide soundstage, a bit deeper than wide.

While my Marantz universal player is not in the same league as this model, it does present a soundstage that I would describe in terms like yours (as noted in the bolded text). Perhaps this is a Marantz design philosophy (if such a thing can be designed as such)?

[Glen B]

how much????

MSRP is $3,699 but can be had at discount.

[Chas_T]

Glen,

Received the Marantz today, did a quick connect and am still putting some hours on it. As this is my first Marantz, you guys are correct about the sound stage where it's very deep. I have the piece connected to a Halcro 80 and a Gemstone Blue Diamond driving Dali Helicon MKII's 300's on Sound Anchors. The ribbon tweeters on the Dali's have always dispersed a wide sound stage in my room, but with this player it's much deeper in nature which increases the sound stage so it's more enveloping. There was never an imaging hole in the center of my room, but it is now fuller for lack of a better term. Audio jargon description of sound sometimes seems lacking.

One thing that really surprised me was the weight of the piece even though I knew the number beforehand. Really heavy build and well constructed. Aesthetically the gold/champagne coloration blends well with the silver and black components I have in the rack which was a concern of mine. More later.

Charles

[Glen B]

Glen,

Received the Marantz today, did a quick connect and am still putting some hours on it. As this is my first Marantz, you guys are correct about the sound stage where it's very deep. I have the piece connected to a Halcro 80 and a Gemstone Blue Diamond driving Dali Helicon MKII's 300's on Sound Anchors. The ribbon tweeters on the Dali's have always dispersed a wide sound stage in my room, but with this player it's much deeper in nature which increases the sound stage so it's more enveloping. There was never an imaging hole in the center of my room, but it is now fuller for lack of a better term. Audio jargon description of sound sometimes seems lacking.

One thing that really surprised me was the weight of the piece even though I knew the number beforehand. Really heavy build and well constructed. Aesthetically the gold/champagne coloration blends well with the silver and black components I have in the rack which was a concern of mine. More later.

Charles

Congratulations and welcome to the club. If you have not done so yet, I recommend letting the player cook for about 10 days with a CD on repeat. You will hear improvements as break-in progresses.

[Chas_T]

Congratulations and welcome to the club. If you have not done so yet, I recommend letting the player cook for about 10 days with a CD on repeat. You will hear improvements as break-in progresses.

Thanks Glen... I am following your thought process as we speak on the repeat play and cooking it for 10 days at 350.

Also, from an ergonomic and usage perspective, the piece is well thought out by the engineers. It's very simplistic in nature the remote and the controls on the machine itself. One of the items that I really like is being able to turn of those blue lights on the side and still have the display lit. I know that something like this is more cosmetic in nature and has nothing to do with sound output. However for me, those blue lights are acceptable, but I prefer not to have them on when the display is lit. I was concerned they were either on with the display or everything was off. Being able to turn them off and leave the display lit was a really nice thought out process by the guys at Marantz. Anyway, back to more goosebumps...

[eljr]

Finally, after an impatient wait of about six weeks, the Marantz SA-11S2 I ordered arrived yesterday. At 36 lbs, it is more like an amp than a CD player. Rapping on any point of the casework produces a dull "thunk," suggesting that it is well damped. The sculpted front panel at its thickest point is about 1 inch. The rap test seems to suggest that it is solid metal. First impressions after a 20-minute listening session last night are WOW! Loads of detail without being etched; sweet and transparent, bass is well defined, deep and extended. I have yet to play around with the three filters in the unit that are slectable from the remote. The display and digital out can both be turned off, the latter for improved sonics.

Pics:http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1929767

Great choice! I had decided on this same source, then at the last minute switched to the MCD201 by McIntosh. My bad.

[eljr]

What a sweet player. The upper end Marantz stuff is awesome. :T

So is the mid tier. :W

[twitch54]

Congrats on the new toy ! I got a kick out of your weight discriptio of 36 lbs being more like an amp......at 36 lbs that would be a "light wt" amp to say the least !

[nyny]

Replaced my SA-11S1 with the SA-11S2 a few weeks ago, it's a decent improvement. The S2 has more detail and the sound stage is a bit better than the S1. However, I still ran into the "No Disc" issue that I had with the S1, there are a couple of CDs that I have just cannot be read by the S2. I plan to contact my dealer to see if there is a fix for it.

Here is a picture of the S2:

[Glen B]

Replaced my SA-11S1 with the SA-11S2 a few weeks ago, it's a decent improvement. The S2 has more detail and the sound stage is a bit better than the S1. However, I still ran into the "No Disc" issue that I had with the S1, there are a couple of CDs that I have just cannot be read by the S2. I plan to contact my dealer to see if there is a fix for it.

A number of S2 owners have reported disc reading issues. Mine has been operating flawlessly thus far with SACD, redbook CD and CD-R, knock on wood. I hope the problem gets resolved to your satisfaction. Please keep us posted.

Glen

[eljr]

Replaced my SA-11S1 with the SA-11S2 a few weeks ago, it's a decent improvement. The S2 has more detail and the sound stage is a bit better than the S1. However, I still ran into the "No Disc" issue that I had with the S1, there are a couple of CDs that I have just cannot be read by the S2. I plan to contact my dealer to see if there is a fix for it.

Here is a picture of the S2:

LOOKS GREAT! :T