Marantz SA-15S1 Vs Arcam CD FMJ36&37

marcd5123

Prominent Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2016
Messages
1,195
Reaction score
384
Points
338
Age
44
Location
Uxbridge,West London
Hi Folks Iv owned my trusty beloved Marantz scene 2007 brand new and it still sounds as good as the day I purchased it. Never going to sell it only for an exceptional reason.

Anyone out their had any experience with these units. Is their real any difference or sonic gains with either the FMJ 36 or 37 Vs SA-15S1. 🧐😊
 
If it were me I would stick with the Marantz brand. I think the build quality is far superior and stylish compared to the Arcam models.
 
Upvote 0
If you can borrow a CD37 working to original specification, you can compare. Otherwise I'd suggest there are better things to do with your time than to worry about whether you can improve on your existing player. :)
 
Upvote 0
@Mark.Yudkin & @wine man ...

Hi Folks, Thanks for the replys it's very much appreciated.

Btw for the folks that did not know or confused SA-15S1 is an CD/SACD Reference leval player. Yes Marantz also did the matching AMP as well. However iv got it matched up with an first rate Denon 4803 AV AMP with Atlas Titan All CU Interconnects cables. They are a dream team sonic wise.

Oddly enough back in 2007 my local then Hi-fi independent dealer as I lived in Harrow NW London Harrow Audio at the time I now reside in Uxbridge West London. I acutally came very close to owning an Arcam CD36 Player. In fact my heart was set on that unit. I had at that time my Arcam CD93T which now is my back up player in the tucked away in the cupboard in perfect condition. I wanted to go the next step which obviously would naturally be FMJ36. Budget was not to much of an issue I had around £1.5k to spend.

Anyhow the gentleman at the time Richard said Marc instead of the CD36 how about I show you this Marantz SA-15S1.. So I said yeah sure I new of Marantz. So he grabed hold of it and I the minute I saw it I my mouth opened and to be Frank was stunned. I remember the moment very well. I then said to him yeah Wright come on that looks like it worth £2k or so... He said nope it for around the same money. I said your joking. At that time I had already been a long time customer and spent a fsir few £££ with them.

Anyhow I had a Demo as I had already brought a stack of CDs with me to demo the CD36 he did not have that in stock he said he could just get on the phone and order it.

I had the Demo and to be honest I fell in love with it. The looks are to die for a start. It weighed a ton built like a tank and the sound was dreamy.

All these years later I'm still curious how a CD36 or 37 would acutally stack up out of interest. How much difference their acutally would be between the two units.

Yeah the Marantz does absolutely slam Arcams down even just on build quality alone.

I'm never going to sell it.. Its far to important to me personally. However it's great to see these units are still selling for aorund £600-700 or so on ebay in reasonable /modest condition. So if I did have to sell it would go towards a cost of a newer model of today. That would prove interesting and something I would entertain for sure. Denon /Marantz combo are a must have combo in my view for this period of products. 😊👍

I manged to grab a nice tidy deal was selling for around £1.4K + I think I paid around £1.2K.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210420_121532.jpg
    IMG_20210420_121532.jpg
    210.6 KB · Views: 150
Last edited:
Upvote 0
If you are going to sell the Marantz then perhaps you should look at newer players. DACs have moved on considerably although this may not be an issue if you are using the Denon's DAC. If you don't have a collection of SACDs then you can concentrate on a pure CD player. Marantz still produce players that have excellent build quality, I have the sa8005 and that is a very good disc spinner.

I also have a Denon DCD 2500 NE and that, to me, is a better performing player than the Marantz. It's built like a tank weighing in a 13.7kg, so a tad heavier than the 15s1. With a bit of searching you can pick one up for around £1500.

So many good players available right now and unless you get a transport only you will have the ability to play one DAC off against the other. Currently I have my Marantz in the main system connected to a Rega stereo amp and the Denon running into a Lehmann headphone amp. I change them round quite often. If I had to sell one it would be the Marantz.

I don't think I would go down the Arcam route for a player and then it would have to be a new one to give the comfort of a warranty.
 
Upvote 0
Hi @gibbsy thanks for your information and advice much appreciated buddy. Iv taken some notes down.

To be honest Iv owned my Denon 4308 for around 6 months now and it still surprises me and leaves me with a huge grin on my face even 6 months on . In fact I'm doing something iv never done before I'm acutally keeping and eye out either Avforums or ebay for a 4308 that someone sells for spare parts I'm that impressed with the sheer audio sonics of this thing I willing to spend a little money and buy a 2nd unit for spare parts. I work in the IT and Electronics industry for years so I'm kinda good with my hands like that I absolutely love Electronics and technology as you probably guessed lol.

With regards the SA-15S1, Im an pretty big fan of SACD as a format. I own a pretty fair few SACD'S and DVD-A the later is a different matter anyhow.
I own the entire Genesis Box sets which are by far the finest sounding SACD'S I own. Amongst Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, Jeff Beck, Moody Blues, ELP, The Who and some more.

Its taken me years to try and get a system that acutally sounds like they are all working together rather a AV amp doing its thing and a CD doing it's things ext. So for the first time in aorund 20+ years I own a system where the AV AMP and CD player along with Atlas Titan All CU cable all seem to be working together and dam blood well!. I must as Atlas Cables are an incredible brand and definitely worthy spending money on them..

You have given some realy useful advice.. If I upgrade the AMP to the next stage it will be Denon AVR-A1HD which would be the logical route. I don't realy intend to upgrade the AMP any time soon theirs no reason two. I'm hoping it will give me at least 5-6 Stright use before starting to fail.

I don't intend to realy sell my current Marantz SA-15S1 because the 4308 is doing such an incredible job compared to my previous 2015 X4100W I may now hold out on the CD/SACD player upgrade. However it's definitely given me something to chew on for a while now.

Iv been a Denon /Marantz fan boy for years now ever scene owning my very first 3803 AV AMP. Iv had them all Yamaha, Sony when Sony was Sony QS & ES ranges.

My to go brands which I dought will ever realy change will be Denon /Marantz & Arcam. I'm not saying in anyway their arn't other brands out their that will do equally an awesome job but when your happy with a brand you know them you know their history you get to learn and understand their eothos and electronics over the years you feel very happy and very contempt with staying with those brands.

Your Denon DCD 2500 NE any chance you could upload some pictures to have a look at please. If you don't want to then that's cool anyway. Iv made a note on that model number. Maybe at some point I can try and find a independent hifi dealer like mine Harrow Audio NW London or some others to have a Demo booked take a stack of CDs with me and sit down for a few hours. 😊👍
 
Upvote 0
Not a great photo but here's the 2500 in it's current connection. Get's placed almost every day with the Marantz being in use in the main system. Wonderful player which get's a lot of detail out of redbooks and it really shines on SACD.

You could sell your Genises Box set and that would bring in enough for a Denon. They are expensive on the secondary market. I have the full set of Moody Blues SACD which are somewhat disappointing on the stereo layer and sound much better in 5.1 (that's a joke as they are actually 4.1) but I play that on my Pioneer LX500.

171574809.YgKKCriW.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Hi @gibbsy Na photo is perfectly fine. Sell my Genesis Box sets on my death bed!!! 🤣😂😝. No realy I'm a pretty big fan of Genesis & YES TO. I'm acutally after the Yes – SACD HIGH VIBRATION Box Set oddly enough that would cost me a fair few ££££ . Well thank god I got to see Yes 3 times in the last 20 years or so. However I never got to see Genesis live and unfortunately never will know. No disrespect to Phill Collins but his best days are behind him anyway.

Iv only ever played The Moody Blues SACD's in 2-Channal. I do have my Denon 3313UD so I could play them on that in 5.1, I acutally find they sound marvellous. 1969 "To Our Children's Children's Children" is my personal favourite and sounds fantastic!. Also the huge and deep soundstage on the very first album "Days of Future Passed" sounds amazing with the Orchestra. The sound of the Mike Pinder Mellotron sounds like it was made to herd via SACD. The Who's 1969 Tommy SACD is another that's was mastered brilliantly on the format.

Yes Those Moody Blues are 4.1 as I believe Tony Clarke their original producer originally mastered them onto the Quadraphonic Stereo in 1972. If memory serves me well with reading up on the history some years ago. Im 40 years old my self but my Dad is a huge Moody Blues fan he's seen them loads of times at the Royal Albert Hall. He saw them a few years back for his 62 birthday I think. 😊👍
 
Upvote 0
Your dad must be the same age as me. I saw the Moody Blues live good few years ago now when they were on their Lovely To See You tour. I've got almost all of their albums, including the seven SACDs. Tommy is another SACD in my collection. If you've not got it then the Moody Blues Live blu ray has a stunning DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack.

As for the differences between players earlier this evening I played Jethro Tulls' Aqualung the Steven Wilson remix CD. It's one of those redbooks that you notice the Denon can pull more detail from it than the Marantz is capable of.

Amazon product ASIN B002DTTP8Y
 
Upvote 0

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom