The Marantz Model 30 is a music lover's dream
Designed, assembled, and packaged entirely in Japan
Marantz's Sound Master spent hours testing and tuning the Model 30's output to ensure that it reveals exquisite detail and musicality. And the company's designers gave it a unique and attractive look. It's a perfect visual and sonic match for the Marantz SACD 30 CD player.
Sophisticated phono stage
It's not unusual for an integrated amp to have a phono input that can accommodate a turntable with a moving magnet cartridge. It's less common to see one that can handle a moving coil cartridge, which many audiophiles favor. Marantz equipped the Model 30 with a premium phono EQ that features a built-in MC head amplifier and added a front-panel knob that allows you to adjust impedance to match a low-, medium-, or high-output cartridge.
Tuned by a Master
"Making sound the Marantz way is a seamless fusion of art and science, practiced by artisanal creators who balance and select components individually for their sonic qualities – they are the Sound Masters, the magicians"
The Model 30 was tuned by Yoshinori Ogata who follows in the footsteps of Saul Marantz, Ken Ishiwata, and Ryuichi Sawada. It speaks to the notion that hi-fi products are voiced by ear as opposed to rigidly following some measured ideal.
Reviews
"This elegant-looking amplifier's output stage uses Hypex NC500 class-D modules and is specified at 100Wpc into 8 ohms or 200Wpc into 4 ohms. JA's measurements indicated the Model 30 significantly exceeded those powers, clipping at 165Wpc into 8 ohms and 240Wpc into 4 ohms. HR wrote that "the Marantz version of class-D clarity brought greater transparency to the upper five octaves, in a way I have not previously experienced with any class-D module." Compared with the more expensive Yamaha A-S3200, HR felt that while the Yamaha represented "bright-n-ready, old-school, class-AB Vivo," the Marantz sounded darker, less extraverted, with "more silence in the silences and more space in the sound spaces." He also found that the Marantz partnered well with Magnepan .7 speakers, pulling out "shovelsful of previously hidden subtleties." The Model 30's headphone output will work better with high-impedance 'phones. No digital inputs, but the Marantz has a versatile, low-noise, low-distortion phono stage that offers a moving magnet mode and three moving coil modes, labeled MC Low, MC Mid, and MC High, and different combinations of gain and resistive loading. (Marantz also offers a matching SACD player/streaming DAC, the SACD 30n.) HR summed up his auditioning, "The Marantz Model 30 integrated suits my taste for simple sophistication. Its phono stage is … versatile and musically effective. … Best of all, this stylish new Marantz is a well-tuned, super-transparent, super-detailed amplifier that powered diverse loudspeakers with a captivating élan worthy of its 'Model 30' heritage."
read the review in Stereophile
Stereophile's "Class A" list of recommended components
Specifications
- 100 watts x 2 channels into 8 ohms (1 kHz) at 0.005% THD
- 200 watts x 2 channels into 4 ohms (1 kHz)
- 4-ohm capability allows use with a wide range of speakers
- high-current double-shielded toroidal power transformer for clean playback and smooth handling of demanding speaker loads
- Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module (HDAM® SA3) and current feedback amplification for accuracy and control under high-drive conditions
- front-panel tone control knobs (treble, bass)
- Sound Master tuning reveals exquisite detail and musicality
- Source Direct mode bypasses tone control circuits for cleaner sound
- frequency response 5-50,000 Hz (±3dB)
- signal-to-noise ratio: 107 dB (CD), 88 dB (MM), 75 dB (MC)
- remote control included
- detachable power cord
Connections:
- 4 standard stereo RCA audio inputs
- dedicated CD input with high-grade RCA terminals
- separate phono input with high-grade RCA terminals for turntables with moving magnet and moving coil cartridges
- adjustable impedance for low-, medium-, and high-output MC cartridges
- stereo Power Amp Direct inputs for use as a power amp with a home theater receiver
- stereo preamp outputs for connection to a separate power amplifier
- stereo RCA audio outputs for recording
- front-panel full-size 1/4" headphone jack
- binding posts for a single pair of speakers
Dimensions and warranty:
- 17-1/2"W x 5-1/8"H x 17-1/8"D
- weight: 32.6 lbs.
- warranty: 3 years
