MARANTZ PM7000N

SMART STEREO AMPLIFIER

It seems a thoroughly traditional amp in appearance, the Marantz PM7000N, with tone controls and everything — just the kind of product Marantz has delivered as the powerhouse for hi-fi stereo separates systems if not since Saul Marantz began soldering his first Consolette back in 1952, then at least since Marantz’s subsequent rebirth under Philips in the 1980s.

But this would be to make the schoolboy error of judging a book by its cover. Within its purposeful shell the PM7000N is not only a solid 60W-per-channel stereo amplifier, but also a network and internet streamer courtesy of HEOS, the streaming and multiroom platform belonging to Sound United, shared between Denon and Marantz, and at least partially developed here in Australia.

So the PM7000N is just as much the modern smart amplifier as those boxes which might advertise the fact of their modernity via large colour LCD screens of artwork, or by snazzy ‘all-in-one’ styling. While this Marantz looks like a trad two-channel amp, with just a three-line OLED display to share its information, this is nevertheless also a potential ‘just-add-speakers’ solution. And the PM7000N has the advantage of delivering these modern merits within the type of amplifier design that Marantz has been perfecting for decades.

Equipment

In essence, then, this is an amplifier which combines 60W per channel of amplification with a DAC for digital inputs, and