Bought a Marantz 1060

[Stephen Murphy]

After reading some knowledgeable material here from mkmelt on vintage Marantz equipment as a headphone amp, I went ahead and bought a model 1060 off eBay. I paid a little in the upper range, but the unit was listed in super condition and also had the wooden case with it, also in "gorgeous" condition. It arrived the other day and was really well packed in double boxes. When I got it out of its bubble wrap, I was totally knocked out by its looks. I had seen lots of pictures of them, but these amps look really sharp in person, especially with the wooden surround. Even my girlfriend, who could care less about these things, said "That is one cool retro-looking thing".

My present headphones are my old Stax SR40/SRD4 combo which I bought new in the 70s. These hook up directly to the speaker terminals. Up to this point I have been using my Krell 300i integrated as my amp, but swapping out the Stax phones for speakers was just too much hassle, so I needed a headphone amp. (The Krell has no headphone jack) As soon as I hooked up the 1060, I was in love. Everything I had read about this amp was true. Tons of detail, sweet sound, glorious midrange, somewhat shy in the bass but with so many tone controls to play with, the sound can be fine tuned any way you like. The sound just has a wonderful bell-like clarity that makes listening an absolute joy. Really! The sound that comes out of this thing is always musical. My unit has no noise in the controls and runs very quiet.

I am going to be getting some Sennheiser 600 phones as my next item when my budget allows. I am sure those will be a big step up from these old Stax, although the Stax can still put out some nice sound at times. I don't have any experience with the new headphone amps, but I can't imagine too many of them coming near the 1060's sound at this price point. Thanks again to mkmelt for his knowledgeable posts on vintage Marantz gear.

Sources:

CD Copeland 266, NBS Interconnects
Vinyl VPI HW19 MKIV, Glider, RB300, Sonic Frontiers Signature Phono

 

[hottyson]

I too have gotten my first Marantz in the mail. It is a Marantz 2010 receiver. It is stunningly gorgeous! I didn't expect it too look this good. It was love at first site.

I have listened to it with five headphones and compared it to my Emmeline XP-7. The $495 XP-7 beat it in every instance. This was to be expected. But the sound I got out of this with my Beyerdynamic DT-880 was marvelous considering the price I paid for it. It is a bargain headphone amplifier and has these freebies that my headphone amp does not: phono preamp, tuner, source switching, speakers, loudness and tone controls, mono switch, and an ultra-cool blue glow. These vintage Marantz' are complete frickin bargains!!!
Quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Murphy Thanks again to mkmelt for his knowledgeable posts on vintage Marantz gear.

Yes, thank you mkmelt and all of your help. You're the best!