When you love a piece of Marantz gear, the bond is tight. And it’s hard to let go.
Call me a Philistine, but for many, many years after digital “tape” recorders became de rigeur across newsrooms, your correspondent remained true to his boxy Marantz tape recorder.
Sturdy and reliable, it had the magical VU meter, which meant that with every flutter of the needle you could see that the voice of the person you were interviewing – face to face or by phone – was being recorded to tape.
Rewinding slightly backwards, or fast forwarding, was easy – lean halfway down on the button, listen to the chipmunks, and let it play again by lifting your finger off. The machine probably didn’t enjoy this sort of treatment, but it handled it, time and time again.
Once, after being dispatched to Sydney Airport to seek quotes from Eddie McGuire for some AFL story, the light entertainment personality looked down at my boxy hardware and said: “Got a big enough tape recorder? Jeez.” McGuire may mock, but the Marantz will always have the last laugh.
So when Marantz launches what it describes as its “most powerful, highest performing Marantz amplifier ever”, it’s worth taking note.
The Model 10 has “a newly designed dual-mono symmetrical amplifier topology” and comes with two channels (250W per channel), new Marantz SMPS, fully balanced dual mono amplifiers, phono MM/MC and a copper-plated chassis.
Model 10 retains the sonic Marantz signatures of warmth, spaciousness and resolution,” says the Japanese manufacturer. “However, advances in design and precise tuning by the Sound Master result in the purest expression of the Marantz sound ever. As a result, the listener experiences more detail, lower distortion, and higher dynamic range than ever before.”
The Marantz Sound Master is Yoshinori Ogata, who started at the company in 1995. He is responsible for the sound tuning of all Marantz products, “ensuring that the famed Marantz ‘most musical sound’ is consistently delivered by Marantz”. Every Marantz product passes through Ogata’s sound quality check.
With a brushed aluminum front, Model 10 is encased in a copper-plated, triple-layered chassis with illuminated mesh cover grille, Marantz says. “Lighting inside the amplifier showcases the circuit boards, high-quality components, and specially designed transformer case.”
And – joy – in a “nod to the Marantz design DNA”, Model 10’s porthole has a hi-res full colour OLED display for volume and input selection, and a digital VU meter “that behaves like vintage analog meters”.
The Model 10 is A$25,000 and comes in black and champagne. It will be available in Australia in October.
As for the Marantz tape recorder, it eventually ran out of goodwill, and it’s been sitting with local old-school tinkerer Baz for nearly two years, as he tries to source the parts to fix it. He says it’ll come good.
