[Pangaea]

I am running my new KAB modified Technics thru my Marantz PM7001 which has its own Phono Preamp. I have never used a dedicated Phono Preamp. How much am I missing by using the Marantz? I will say the Marantz as an integrated amp is great. Very good sound from my CD player and computer to my speakers but is the Phono Preamp on integrated amps treated as an afterthought?

 

[bigshot]

Marantz has a fine built in phono pre. No need to separate that out.

See ya
Steve

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pangaea /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am running my new KAB modified Technics thru my Marantz PM7001 which has its own Phono Preamp. I have never used a dedicated Phono Preamp. How much am I missing by using the Marantz?

Marantz are usually pretty solid in this regard but that is quite a modern amp so it's unlikely to be quite as good as on their vintage amps when it was the most important input.

But it would be the last thing to worry about. More important to spend money on upgrading the turntable before you worry about the pre-amp. What level of KAB mods have you got and what cart are you running?

I'd say the Marantz would be more than adequate to handle anything but a mid to high end moving coil and the Technics arm can't really handle these anyway so....

 

[DigiPete]

In constrast my Denon AVR-3808Ci has a horrible phono pre....

You never know until you hear another phono, if there is something better out there for you.

 

[DigiPete]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif and the Technics arm can't really handle these anyway so....

How so? Is there a mismatch of some sort?

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigiPete /img/forum/go_quote.gif How so? Is there a mismatch of some sort?

Not so much a mechnical one on paper insofar as the mass of the Technics stock arm will match pretty much any cart on the market with the appropriate headshell, but certainly it's not the kind of arm which you would mount something like a Koetsu on. It's structural resonances and lack of rigidity would add a lot of unwanted colouration to such a fine transducer.

The point was anyway that you would need a better tonearm to run a cart of this quality, not to mention price ! long before the Marantz phonostage would be out of it's deapth.