Help re first amp marantz pm6005

Mark cutler

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I have an old denon micro system CD player, fm tuner. Wanting to move up the ladder a rung or two.

At moment i am considering Marantz PM6005 as first budget amp. I have a lot of cd's but am not wanting a CD player as yet as wanting to dip into world of flac and decent quality digital files. I have my old denon in kitchen with a pair of Boston acoustic a26 speakers and wish to keep those at moment. My Mac mini sits in the lounge and i intend to get a NAS storage at some point.

I appreciate that this may be area that would require advice on different forum but i do have a question in relation to the amp. I am at moment playing music via ipad connected via headphone jack to twin RCA leads into the denon. Can i do the same with a stand alone amplifier or will the built in DAC on my preferred amp at moment, the PM6005, only work through the digital inputs. I am a novice so apologies.
 
A DAC is only used in conjunction with digital sources. It converts digital signals to analogue prior to amplification. If using an analogue connection from your iPad then you'd be using the iPad's own inbuilt DAC prior to the analogue output via the headphone jack. There are ways to get a digital audio signal from an iPad, but they all involve intermediate devices, cables etc. Which iof these would be applicable would depend upon the type of iPad you have and the type of dock connector it utilises.
 
Thanks, I have the ipad 4 with lightning connector. I am wondering whether I should wait for the next in the marantz budget amp range hoping it would include a USB that allowed the use of the amplifiers DAC. If anyone would like to offer amp suggestions based on their own experiences of the same sort of quality as the Marantz PM 6005 i would be grateful.

As i set out in my first post, I would like at some point to stream music from a NAS and my computer is in a separate room from my speakers and this is not going to change re positioning. I cannot hard wire from the living room to the amplifier. I have seen suggestions of using an airport express to port straight into the amplifier for a wireless connection and would be assisted by any views. If this post requires moving to a separate forum then apologies to the MOD and I have no objection if it should appear elsewhere.
 
The AirPort Express or possibly better the Apple TV would be a good place to start. Take the digital output into the optical input of the PM6005.

Eloise
 
The one critical thing that I did not see is this - ££££$$$$¥¥¥¥€€€€ - How much money are you willing to dedicate to this project?

Since you are looking at the Marantz PM6005 as your primary amp, it seems not much.

As an alternative, consider the Yamaha RN500 with 80w/ch, DAC-2xOptical, 2xCoaxial, 1xUSB-media; Computer Network Streaming and Internet Radio, etc.... Price about £450.

Yamaha RN500 - Google Search

£450 might be more than you planned to spend, but if you want to Stream from NAS then you need some type of streaming device. Yes, Apply Airplay or perhaps Apple TV might work. Sonos Network Player would work. There are plenty of streaming options. But, the Yamaha has Streaming built in as well as an externally accessible DAC.

Though the Apple products are reasonably cheap, you need transmitters and receivers, still cheap, but there are probably better more reliable choice.

Streaming Hi-Fi And Network Audio Players from Richer Sounds

Again, you need to establish a working budget, and what you expect that budget to buy you. From there we can make recommendations.

I'm not against the Marantz PM6005, fine amp, but it doesn't do everything you need done. By the time you add the additional features, you are really spending roughly the price of the Yamaha.

Note there is also an Onkyo that is similar. The Onkyo TX-8050 with built-in DAC, Computer Network Streaming, and reasonable power on par with the Yamaha.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Thanks all. I have also been advised to look at the NAD D3020, does anyone have any views on this. Regards.
 
I would also look at the Marantz M-CR510.

I've not compared it to the other options but it powers my older B&W 601 speakers well.
 
I have purchased the NAD D3020 thanks stitch123, but am going to get in trouble with mods re where this post should now live :) as i have a connection / streaming question.

At the moment I am doing the following.

MacMini in lounge has iTunes library on it.
NAD D3020 in kitchen connected to Boston Acoustics A26 bookshelf speakers.
PLEX media server being used via iPad which is connected via 3.5 mm jack to the analogue inputs on back of the D3020 amp. I believe this is "bypassing the built in DAC" in the amp due to connection.
If i want to use the amps built in DAC my understanding is that I either:-

connect via Asynchronous USB hardwired from lounge into kitchen where the amp is, means drilling through two walls, cabling under the stairs!!!
or
obtain an Airport Express or an Apple TV to connect to a digital port on the back of the amp.

My question now is whether the Airport Express is enough or whether i should just plump for the Apple TV, i know i am not going to use the ATV to its full use at present re youtube etc but wondered whether there are any advantages or disadvantages to the ATV over the Airport Express. I have read stuff online regarding jitter with the Airport Express. I don't really understand. at present they are only £10 difference in price.

I am assuming if i do either of these things then my Plex media server (free version) would then be redundant, however, i don't know what i would need to use the iPad as a remote to control what the Mac mini is playing through the ATV or Airport Express.

Once again, and thank you so far as I am trying not to be the ultimate newbie, any assistance would be appreciated.
 
With the Apple TV (or AirPort Express) you can use Apple's "Remote" application on you iPad to control what is playing.

An alternative device would be to use something like the LIV Wave (install LMS on your MacMini) or use a RaspberryPi with RasPlex.
 
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You'll find that you only get access to content via iTunes on another device on a local network if you take the Apple route (Apple TV). Look at using a dedicated media player as opposed to Apple branded products to resolve this issue. All Apple products are very Apple-centric.
 

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