Amplifier for Sonus Faber Cremona M

I heard the Cremona Ms a few months ago powered by a Marantz PM8004. It's the lowest-price Marantz integrated that uses their HDAM gain circuit. Even with this 70 wpc $999 amp the Cremona Ms sounded fabulous. The Marantzes with the HDAM circuit are from their Reference Series made in Japan. The HDAM circuits are proprietary gain modules that provide as much as 75 dB gain each, with very wide bandwidth and very low noise. Even the PM8004's amp section has an S/N ratio of 125 dB. The 15S2 is a few notches above the PM8004, and should be a very good match. If you Google around, you'll find that these Marantz Reference Series amps are extraordinarily neutral and linear, yet smooth and musical without of hint of edginess or sterility.

I played the opening Diana Krall's "All or Nothing At All," which starts with a rapid upright bass intro by Christian McBride. The humble PM8004 had total control, speed, extension, and fullness of that passage (and the rest of the song), something I would not have expected from a $999 integrated amp. The 15S2 would be that much better. There are several reasons this combo impressed you and I think the Marantz is one of them. The Cremona M is easily my favorite speaker anywhere near that price too.

Mezzanine: the thing is, regardless of your matchup of the PM8004 and Proacs, the HDAM-featured Marantz integrated amps are an excellent match with the Cremona Ms. Three separate people on this thread have heard the Cremona Ms powered by either a Marantz PM8004 or a PM-15S2 and *all* of us preferred the synergy of that amp/speaker combination to anything else we'd heard near that price range.

I can take the PM8004 further: I have an Internet audiobuddy who's been using a restored vintage Dynaco stack of separates to drive his stereo. He was finally getting to where he wanted something better. I had recommended he save up for a Rogue Cronus Magnum. In the meantime, at the musicians' forum where we met, I posted a glowing review of my experience hearing the PM8004 driving the Cremona Ms. He was so taken by my recommendation that--even though he's sort of a dyed-in-the-wool tube guy--he interrupted his Cronus savings program and bought a B-stock PM8004. He's running his turntable directly into the PM8004's phono stage, and he's ecstatic with the results. He let me know that he'd been spinning vinyl almost nonstop since it arrived.

A Marantz HDAM amp is not going to have the tonal balance of most tube amps, but it is so honest, so quiet, so tight, so dynamic, and so resolving that it conveys the same sorts of essence of the music--transparency, inner and low level detail, imaging, soundstage--that tube electronics do so effortlessly. Tube lovers may find that the HDAM Marantz amps give them what they value most in tubes without the cost, the looser bass, and the rolled off highs (not that every tube component does that).

After my PM8004/Cremona M experience, if I *ever* have the good fortune to acquire a pair of Cremona Ms, they will be powered by an HDAM Marantz amp. And if I had the budget you have, then I'd go upscale to the 11S3 with 100/200 wpc at 8/4 ohms for $4995 or SC-7S2 preamp for $3995 and 11S1 power amp at $2995 down from $4500.

Really, though at your budget I'd do the PM-11S3 and be done with it. WIth the way that PM8004 energized a fairly large listening room with the Cremona Ms, the 11S3 with 100/200 watts (i.e., very high current capability) should be *plenty.*

BTW, in addition to possible unfinished break-in period, your PM8004 may have needed something as simple as Vibrapod footers to get a better match with your Proacs. I have a sackful of Vibrapods and when I sense midrange glare I try those first and they usually fix it.