Marantz PM-KI PEARL Spécifications télécharger pdf (Page 2)

avhub.com.au

O N T E S T

Marantz PM-KI-Pearl Integrated Ampliﬁer

depends on using internal relays: the ones

inside the PM-KI-Pearl click rather loudly!

The ‘ATT’ button you can see on the

front panel would normally be known as a

‘Mute’ button, except that on this ampliﬁer,

Marantz allows you to choose lesser degrees

of attenuation than a total Mute. The factory

default is –20dB, but you can increase this to

either –40dB or all the way to ‘Inﬁnity’ (aka

‘Mute’). At most normal listening levels, the

–40dB setting is just as effective as the ‘Inﬁn-

ity’ setting, so arguably you don’t have quite

as much choice as it seems you have. As for

the ‘Display’ button, its operation is a little

unusual. In normal operation, the fascia of

the PM-KI-Pearl is illuminated by blue LEDs

concealed behind the ‘scallops’ in the front

panel. It’s so attractive that I can’t imagine

why you’d want to turn it off, but you can,

using the ‘Display’ button, upon which the

central circular Display also switches off. This

seems very sensible, but this switch works

differently on the matching PM-SACD-Pearl

SACD player, where the central display al-

ways stays on, and the ‘Display’ button only

turns the blue fascia lighting on and off. If

you do run the ampliﬁer ‘blacked-out’, all the

display lights will illuminate brieﬂy whenever

you change volume level or switch sources.

Volume display is also a little unusual. As

you turn the rotary volume control (which

has a smooth action), an LCD display in the

central panel shows relative output level in

dB, stepping down from an initial ‘MAX’

ﬁrst to ‘0.0’ and then in 0.5dB steps down

to –100, after which it displays the ‘Inﬁnity’

symbol, and after that ‘MIN.’ I’m not sure if

this is a programming error, or if Marantz is

catering for those people who don’t know

that ‘0dB’ and ‘Max’ are the same thing, and

that ‘Inﬁnity’ and ‘Min’ are also the same.

You may have noticed that there’s no

balance control on the front panel. You won’t

ﬁnd one on the remote either. Instead, on

the remote, you’ll ﬁnd a ‘Trim’ control that

does the same thing. The reason it’s called

‘Trim’ rather than ‘Balance’ is because when

using multiple PM-KI-Pearls (or PM-15S2s) in

F.C.B.S. mode, you may need to trim volume

levels of each ampliﬁer, as well as adjust

channel balance. Because of this, the trim

control has a wider-than-usual 9dB range.

Using the Trim circuit to adjust balance on

the one ampliﬁer is easy, but the process

for adjusting trim and balance for multiple

ampliﬁers is more difﬁcult to get your head

around.

The rear panel has standard RCA inputs

for line level inputs and outputs and for the

phono inputs, and multi-way binding posts

for speaker outputs. Small phone jacks are

required for the F.C.B.S. inputs and outputs.

To facilitate bi-ampliﬁed operation using a

pair of PM-KI-Pearls, there’s a ‘Bi-Amp’ switch

with positions for ‘Bi-Amp’ and ‘Stereo’.

in use and LisTening sessions

Installing the PM-KI-Pearl was straight-for-

ward until I tried to remove the ‘plugs’ in the

speaker terminals so I could insert my speaker

wires, which are terminated with gold-plated

banana plugs. Do you think I could get the

plastic inserts out? I did, eventually,

but Marantz is obviously hell-bent

on making it as difﬁcult as possible,

to ensure conformity with EU regu-

lations that require them to be blocked off.

The ampliﬁer warmed up very quickly,

indeed so quickly that I wondered if continu-

ous operation might result in the chassis be-

coming too hot and triggering the protection

the process

for adjusting

trim and balance

for multiple

ampliﬁers is

more difﬁcult

to get your

head around.

BRAND: Marantz

MODEL: PM-KI-Pearl

CATEGORY: Integrated Ampliﬁer

RRP: $4,990

WARRANTY: Three Years

DISTRIBUTOR: QualiFi Pty Ltd

ADDRESS: 24 Lionel Road

Mt Waverley, VIC 3149

1800 242 426 (03) 8542 1111

(03) 9543 3677 info@qualiﬁ.com.au

www.qualiﬁ.com.au

Readers interested in a full technical

appraisal of the performance of the

Marantz PM-KI-Pearl should continue

on and read the LABORATORY REPORT

published on page 60 Readers should

note that the results mentioned in

the report, tabulated in performance

charts and/or displayed using

graphs and/or photographs

should be construed as

applying only to the speciﬁc

sample tested.

Bi-ampable/

F.C.B.S.-able

Full-featured

Very powerful

No standby mode

‘A’ speakers only

•

LAB REPORT

MARANTZ PM-KI-PEARL

Integrated Ampliﬁer

Lab Report on page 60

1 2 3 4 5

Commentaires sur ces manuels

Pas de commentaire

Marantz PM-KI PEARL Spécifications Page 2

Commentaires sur ces manuels

Produits connexes et manuels pour Amplificateurs audio Marantz PM-KI PEARL