Marantz SA7S1 owners - stock or modded

hi jgwilson:

i will be getting a marantz 11s2. i am looking to smooth out the treble. i would consider adding a tube analog stage or having caps replaced.

i suspect that the underwood mods render a component more transparent and "faster". i want to go in the opposite direction.

hi dgarretson:

i am looking to darken the sound of the marantz, by attenuating the high frequencies and defocusing the sound, creating more body and less detail, heading towards the cclassic tube sound.

i have heard reference audio mods modifications. i don't like what they do. i would never use them to modify any equipment i own.

i'm surprised that no one has tried to add a tube buffer stage to the marantz.

i am breaking in the 11s2. it sounds very good with nmy fisher 400. i suspect the player needs a very euphonic preamp/amp combination to avoaid an over-focused presentation.

i think the marantz is too focused and resolving, definitely not relaxed in its presentation. there is no absence of detail. it is ironic that two people have such diametrically opposed views of the same component.

hi phillyb:

i own a marantz 11s2. it has about 500 hours of signal fed through it, including 3 hours of the purist audio design break-in disk.

i find the sound of the marantz very precise, focused, somewhat mechanical and definitely unnatural. perhaps, it needs a tube analog stage or a replacement of some of the caps. it deininitely has a "hard" sound to it, rather than a nautural sound. i concur with masilu, re his observations. it is currently up for sale.

hi john:

it's not the turntable, it's the cartridge. i have a cd player, the naim cdx, circa 1994, sound better than any turntable/arm/cartridge combination i have ever heard.

many cartridges are frequency unbalanced. some of the older players, e.g., cal tempest and aria, and a few others, are worthy of ownership and can provide satisfaction to anyone, including digiphobes.