2. home-theater
  3. 1399502481

best-ish integrated amp for movie and tv watching.

greetings to you as i am new to audiogon.

with a recent bonus at work i am looking to upgrade my home theater. right now i am running a pair of omen defs off of a marantz 5005. the thing is i don't have any interest in having a surround sound set up, so i was realizing that the extra channels in the avr are unneeded. i'd rather spend money on a QUALITY 2 channel rig. my budget is between 1 and 2 thousand dollars.

as of now i'm mostly watching movies and tv but i've also just inherited my fathers' collection of vinyl. so i'm also trying to find an amp with a decent phono section.

and finally this amp will be fed by an oppo bdp-105. i will be auditioning the units i can but i posted this so i could start heading in the right direction with any opinions or suggestions.

my list of potentials is this:

marantz pm-8004
marantz pm-15S2
rogue sphinx
harmon kardon 990
anthem 225
yamaha as2000
yamaha as1000

while i'm mostly watching movies i plan on putting more music in my life. so eventually it'll be a 75/25 split with movies still in the majority. i'd like an amp with a wide soundstage so i can enjoy big sounding movies like star trek and dredd.

i hope this rambling makes sense to some.
bokkus

Showing 3 responses by paraneer

paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
Like Nonoise, I own a Marantz PM15S2 also and cannot say enough good things about it. In fact, it replaced Parasound seperates and has taken my 4 Ohm Vienna Acoustics speakers to new heights.

To also quote you Bokkus..."build quality is my main concern". I think you would be hard pressed to find an integrated amp on your list, or any other for that matter, as well built as the Marantz PM15S2. Well maybe its big brother, the PM11S3. Both are built at the Marantz reference factory in Japan and they just exude quality. Seriously, check one out and audition it if you can. Ask the dealer to use it with his best, most expensive speakers too. The Marantz will be up to the challenge.
paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
WRT your question about the lack of a
midrange control on the PM15S2 Bokkus, I
have no idea. I never use the treble and
bass controls either electing to feed the
purest signal possible into my speakers.
Never touched the tone controls once;
don't need to if you pay attention to
speaker placement and room acoustics.

The PM8004 is a fine amp too built at the
same reference factory in Japan. Yes it
is half the cost and close to half the
weight too. If you don't need the extra
power of the PM15S2 or the MC phono
capability, the 8004 may be right for you.
paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
Well Bokkus, I wasn't really trying to convince you to go with the PM15S2 as much as I was simply answering your questions about it's extreme quality, lack of midrange control, and how compares to a PM8004. I still think you made a wise choice.

This is the amp that finally got me off the upgrade path and I plan on keeping it a long, long time. At nearly 41 lbs, I wouldn't want to move it anyway. Best of luck to you as you move forward.
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