My setup is simple. A Fiio X3II functioning as USB DAC, line out to a Marantz PM6004, which is hooked up to a modified version of the SEAS Idunn (which has the
fantastic DXT tweeter, similar to what the Kii Three uses). No subs because we live in an apartment. Great thing with the apartment is that the living room, where the speakers are, is extremely open. No significant modal resonances, only some early reflections from a very small stub of sidewall.
I commissioned the Idunn build from the local SEAS distributor. Interesting story behind it. Had to insist the crossover was not extensively-revised because he was a design-by-ear proponent. By that I mean he runs the magnesium SEAS Excel with a huge metal breakup peak with a 6dB/octave first-order low-pass (and without a notch filter even!) He did take the liberty to make some changes to box tuning (22L from 20 originally) and baffle size (wider and more squat), which irked me. The crossover parts were all Mundorf - mainly because those were the cheapest he had on hand (huge Dueland fan he was). I did however specify slightly more padding resistance on the tweeter (-1dB at most), which was within the original crossover circuit parameters.
Think it was a decent price all-in though. I paid $1200, which was much lesser than the overly-bright KEF LS50 I had considered. Simmed his changes to the box on VituixCAD. Got lucky there (could have been a disaster given the propensity to design-by-ear, though he did have measuring equipment), baffle diffraction and baffle step were largely similar, with the sole significant difference being a dip at 2kHz that evened out the mild 2kHz peak with the original baffle. Box tuning wasn't crippled either. So I left things as they were.
My amp history is more colourful. Previously owned a
Dayens Ampino for 2 years. Ticks a lot of the audiophile buzzwords (contrary to my inclination towards evidence-based audio). 25wpc/8ohms, 40wpc/4ohms integrated amp handbuilt-to-order by a small family firm in Serbia. Mundorf power supply and output caps. ALPS potentiometer. Oversized custom-wound toroid by an artisanal manufacturer of audio transformers in Serbia (Trafomatic), known for their tube amp transformers. Nice steel casing with acrylic faceplate. Sturdy flip switches that would flip with a satisfying click (which I had an irrational love for). Simple class AB circuit - a German mag
measured the power amp version of the circuit and it hit specs exactly so I figured it wasn't going to be a disaster. There was more than adequate heatsinking and venting too (see the German mag link; the integrated amp has the exact same heatsinking scheme), which meant the amp never ran more than pleasantly warm to the touch even after 6-7 hours of continuous use, while located on a shelf next to a side wall (the back of the shelf was open to the air).
Thought it affordable (like around $450; US pricing from the distributor is currently
$672) given the parts used and boutique assembly in a European country - think of the street cred in subjective audio circles! - when I bought it as the euro hit rock bottom with Greece. Service was exemplary and congenial as one might expect. Much to my embarassment, wire transfer and forex fees (transfers from South-East Asia to Serbia aren't exactly common) ballooned beyond what I had added onto the price of the amp. So they lost like $60, which they very very graciously and kindly waived. They didn't have to. It was a significant amount relative to the amp price.
As for why I chose what is arguably a highly-esoteric amp especially given my views on audio reproduction... I had a very specific application in mind. I had intended to build a very sensitive yet accurate passive speaker from a kit using the SEOS waveguide (Jeff Bagby's Tempest) for its controlled directivity. There wasn't space to place a full-sized amp anywhere, but the affordable half-width class D amps back then seemed to have rather marginal measured performance (eg. Virtue Audio, Nuforce). And I knew I needed something that wouldn't hiss with speakers of high sensitivity. I would never need that much power either given the 95dB+ actual measured sensitivity of the speaker and my living circumstances. This meant any option had to be fairly affordable, half-width, class AB, proven 4ohm performance, reliable, cool-running, just enough clean power to hit 105dB peaks for extreme high-sensitivity speakers, low gain to minimise hiss. You'd be surprised how short the list is.
Would I recommend it on pure utility? No, unless you require a very specific gain structure, want pain-free cilass AB, have placement limitations, or if the story behind the amp simply intrigues you. As March Audio's DAC pricing discussion on ASR suggests, some of us (even on ASR) would pay a reasonable premium for close, direct personal support instead of faceless call centres. I will also say (only half-jokingly) that it is a
stunning amount of subjective audiophilia street cred/social capital per dollar for the reasons I've laid out above. And I did get an amp that was a pleasure to use, which didn't use cottage industry manufacturing as an excuse to price gouge for mediocre equipment, as often seen in "hifi". I sold it on and only lost 25% of the price I bought it for. Which meant I was essentially less than $150 out-of-pocket for two years' use.
The amp before that was a
Marantz PM-17 (the original one, before the Mkii and KI revisions) from 1997. I also loved that. I have a soft spot for amps made by Japanese conglomerates during the bubble economy (though technically this amp was released well after the bubble burst, but much of the groundwork was laid nonetheless in the bubble era). It meant a specific confluence of factors that might scarcely be repeated: high consumer demand from an increasingly-affluent population, it was pre-home theatre (and stereo was still a popular aspirational good), extremely high engineering capability, extremely high economies of scale, great manufacturing capabilities, low cost structure. Put all that together and you get stunning build quality even for mid-range pieces, amazing industrial design (I still dream about those rounded corners, tapered knobs and even anodisation on the PM-17;
the entire modern series is nowhere close to as well-built or finished - I detest my PM6004's mushy source selection rotary encoder), fantastic ergonomics, lots of features.
My favourite example is the Marantz PM-15. The PM-15 of 1994 and the PM-15 of the 2010s were a world apart.
Bought it off its second owner, a nice upper-middle class civil servant who put it in an air-conditioned audio room, for $270. Power supply caps gave out (as one might expect given 15 years in a humid and hot equatorial climate, despite the care of the second owner) a couple of months in. Sent it to the official Marantz master tech in my country. An old guy that trained at the Japanese HQ back during Marantz's heyday. Billed me $60 for cap replacement before he even started the repairs. But a cascade of niggling electrical gremlins (I think mostly the toroid) apparently appeared after he replaced the caps. He somehow managed to ship in Marantz official replacement parts from Japan to do an overhaul. Best part was he honoured the $60 bill we had already paid for just the cap replacement, refusing any further payment from my dad, who collected it for me.
I used it for a happy 2.5 years until I couldn't take what the first owner had done to the PM-17 before selling it to the guy I bought it from. Idiot had drilled 4 more holes on the back to install a
second set of binding posts
to the right of the beautiful knurled brass binding posts, right where the Marantz label and model number are. Won't be surprised if he used it for bi-wiring. Worst thing was he used those crappy nickel ones with plastic caps you
find at Radioshack. The amp was working fine, but it was an horrendous eyesore (remember I said I had shelving exposed at the back?) that grinded my gears. At this point, I'd spent $270 + $60 = $330 on the amp. Made an easy profit of $100 selling it on. The current PM6004 was given by my uncle, who didn't have space for it. Not like it'd be massively different in sound, but the user experience is somewhat less special.