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Marantz SA11S3

I just bought the SA11S3 and I am very pleased with the sound. It replaced a Sony ES 5400 which is no slouch. As good as the Sony is, the Marantz just sounds better. No buyers remorse here. I have a couple of questions.              
1. I'm currently running single ended cable. Is there any advantage going balanced line? It's being used with the Marantz PM11S3 amp.
2. When not in use should I leave it on all time or should I put it in standby and let it warm up for a half hour or so before I listen? 
I know the standard answer is "Try it both ways and see which sounds better" and I can't argue with that. I'm just curious as to what other owners are doing. Thanks.
rsfphil

Showing 3 responses by rsfphil

rsfphil OP
139 posts
 
Thanks to everyone who responded. It looks like balanced is the way to go. I ran the Sony single ended for two reasons.
1. It seems like the Sony's balanced output is BINO( balanced in name only) and most people seemed to prefer the single ended output.
2. While most balanced connections have pin 2+ and pin 3-, the Marantz amp has the opposite, pin2- and pin 3+. I know there are ways to work around the polarity issue, but the Sony sounded so good single ended I just didn't want to mess with it. 
You can reverse the polarity of the Marantz SACD so that is no longer an issue. As far as replacing the power fuse I've only heard positive things. That is something I may do somewhere down the road. For now I want to get used to the sound with the balanced cable. Thanks again for your help.

Bob 

rsfphil OP
139 posts
 
This thread is about balanced vs unbalanced and standby vs leave it on. I DON'T RECALL ASKING ANYTHING ABOUT FUSES!
rsfphil OP
139 posts
 
Thank you for staying on topic. I appreciate it. I think you may be on to something. I tried balanced cables (same cable as my unbalanced) and the unbalanced did sound slightly better. The way I understand it there should be a 6db difference in output between a truly balanced system as opposed to an unbalanced system. The output with the XLR's was the same as with the rca's which leads me to believe the Marantz isn't truly balanced. The manual gives the output as 2.4 v unbalanced, but it doesn't show any spec for balanced. I think it's possible that the XLR's are on the amp and cd player just for convenience.
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