Thread: Anyone had a chance to listen to the SA11s1 yet?

Posts: 97
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Post by mknappe October 15, 2005 (61 of 97)
Peter said:

Oh dear. Please stop writing how good this player is; I'm suffering from envy, greed, poverty and avarice, and am in danger of coveting my neighbour's ass (UK version only).

Seriously, though, I'm going to have to hear this one!

It was worth every single penny spent on it. On one thread someone was seriously considering buying a second SA-11S1 as a backup. It's really that good.

Post by Qualifi October 20, 2005 (62 of 97)
Hi,

I'm new here... that is to say: I've been reading the posts for some time.
But as I did not have an SACD-player I did not find myself qualified to participate.

Today my Marantz SA-14 ver.2 arrived from Hong Kong. It is an ex-demo that I got through SaleHifi.com, with 'low mileage'.

So it still needs breaking in. But wow... it makes my speakers completely disappear. Musicians are in the room: Ivo Janssen is my guest right now, and quite happily playing 'the Goldberg Variations' (CD).
What immediately struck me was the ease with what the Marantz played. So effortless!! Great.

Oh, sorry.. this is the SA-11 thread.

A question for you all: I am breaking in using CD. Do I need to break in with SACD as well?

Post by raffells October 20, 2005 (63 of 97)
A question for you all: I am breaking in using CD. Do I need to break in with SACD as well?
yes......Use as many different sacds as you can but I would expect that it should be partly broken in already.I use Mahler on repeat with the amplifiers switched off for approx 30 hours.There is a theory that you never really break in compononts for a few hundred hours.I am a believer as Ive tested some components and cables for that period but Ive never liked Marantz gear...Dave

Post by Qualifi October 21, 2005 (64 of 97)
Raffells,

thank you: I understand.
Right now I am breaking in my SA-14 using my entire set of SACD's: 'DSOTM' by Pink Floyd.

I also understand your point that breaking in (and: not listening, I assume) for more than 100 hours is nonsense.
Although I have read AudiogoN threads claiming that a (modded) SA-14 should be left alone some 500 (!) hours.

When I first listened to it -- right out of the box: with the cold of 10 kms above Siberia still in its bones -- I found that the low highs put quite some pressure on my ears.
After 24h in the cozyness of my home, and Zappa on repeat, that is almost gone: everything is more in balance now.

Now the changes are more subtle: more depth in the stage, a wider stage, a better placement of voice and instruments.
Hmmmm.. I love this machine! Even my wife can hear the difference with my old Tjoeb CD-player.

Yes people: no need take out a second mortgage on your house. According to my supplier in HK: more good 2Ch players (eg. SA-14's) are coming to the market -- demo or used -- because people are switching to mCh.
So check the 'for sale' ads in your local newspaper (or supermarket) for 2Ch Marantz SACD-players.
Sometimes they are also offered on that large auction-site.

Oh... anyone interested in a Tjoeb '98 CD-player?

Post by simonrrb March 2, 2007 (65 of 97)
I notice there hasn’t been a post on this topic for a while....

I had my SA11s1 installed this week and it isn’t burnt in yet, neither are my speakers or my amp but they all sound sensational!

Post by Johnno March 7, 2007 (66 of 97)
simonrrb said:

I notice there hasn’t been a post on this topic for a while....

I had my SA11s1 installed this week and it isn’t burnt in yet, neither are my speakers or my amp but they all sound sensational!

It's a truly wonderful player. I'm still thrilled with mine. I've been playing the Haitink/Beethoven symphonies and today a friend from the UK brought the Ivan Fischer/Mahler 2, bought for me before he left London. Sensational! The dynamic range is HUGE!

Post by ramesh September 8, 2007 (67 of 97)
I'm reactivating this thread as Marantz are unveiling their series 2 SA11 in Japan in October. Apparently it has the transport AND analogue output sections of the new SA 7s1. I read a review in one of the UK hi fi mags on the Marantz SA7. The review was written by Alvin Gold, who has previously reviewed the top Wadia 2 box 270/27 CD combo and the LInn CD 12. In the article, he specifically states that CD replay sounded the best of any CD player he'd heard, and SACD was even better!

According to some chatter on Audio asylum, Marantz claim that the upcoming SA11S2 sounds the same as the SA7!
http://www.phileweb.com/news/audio/200708/22/7405.html is the only article I've found on the new player, but it's in Japanese. If flyingdutchman reads this, could he translate the interesting bits for us?

Post by threerandot September 9, 2007 (68 of 97)
Qualifi said:

According to my supplier in HK: more good 2Ch players (eg. SA-14's) are coming to the market -- demo or used -- because people are switching to mCh.

Can we expect to see more MCH players in Canada anytime soon? It is really frustrating to walk into stores year after year and see no changes at all. There is so little interest here. Very sad :(

Post by jlaurson October 20, 2007 (69 of 97)
I don't know what is wrong with me or the SA11S1 I just got today - but it scarcely sounds better in SACD mode than an old Philips (RB)CD604.

I've gone through Buxtehude (Dacapo), Fischer's Josephs Legende (Channel), Fischer's Brahms VC (PentaTone), Thunemann's Vivaldi (PentaTone), Nielsen String Quartets (Dacapo), Hauer Violin Concertos (cpo), both Mahler 1 & 2 w/Zinman (RCA) - and if anything, it sounds minimally better on the SA11 - at the cost of a ever so slight haze. Not that it sounds bad... but the low-end CD player sounds shockingly good, compared to it. And it does not matter whether I am listening via Headphone Amp (Estro Armonico SN001 and HD580) or my secondary speakers (16 year old MB Quarts).

I'm downright disturbed.

I know about (alleged) "break-in" time -- but even straight out of the box this thing *should* be impressing my pants of, not make my CD player look good.

For all the detail and the spaceousness and the dynamic gradation that is great, it's simply too subtle a difference for me to make any bold statements whatsoever. The longterm enjoyment of listening to this thing on headphones is great - but again that's a subtle (if not unimportant) point. And the slightly veiled feel goes well beyond "warm" or "comfortable".

Post by dvda-sacd October 20, 2007 (70 of 97)
jlaurson said:

I don't know what is wrong with me or the SA11S1 I just got today - but it scarcely sounds better in SACD mode than an old Philips (RB)CD604.

... and nearly indistinguishable in CD mode. I think that nothing is wrong with your SA11S1.

http://www.matrixhifi.com/ENG_index.htm

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