Model 30 Specifications and Details
- 100 watts X 2 @ 8 ohms and 200 watts X 2 @ 4 ohms
- BEEFY toroidal transformer
- Premium MM/MC phono stage
- Analog ONLY
- HDAM modules in driver stage
- Damping factor of 500 (for the uninitiated...that's good!)
- 32.6 pounds
- Retails for $2999
Model 30 Sound Quality
We tested this integrated amplifier with a number of speakers including the Martin Logan ESL-X electrostatic tower pair, the Martin Logan XTF100 tower speaker, the KEF Q950 tower speaker and the Martin Logan XTB100 marvelous bookshelf speaker. We'll get to that in a second. However, we were really looking forward to experiencing what would happen once we listened to the KEF R3 Meta. Long story short, we were blown away. The lifeless, soft sound characteristic that we previously heard out of the KEFs completely changed. We now heard a neutral tone out of the KEFs BUT with detail and imaging that was previously absent. These speakers now sounded amazing whereas beforehand, we thought we were in the fable "The Emperor's New Clothes" as everyone touted how great the KEF speakers were and we didn't hear it. The pairing of the Marantz Model 30, KEF R3 Meta speaker pair and the Marantz CD 50n network player is a fantastic match!
I then had to put everything I had planned for the weekend on the back burner as I listened to music all Saturday and Sunday through the Model 30 and our other speakers vs. being productive. Audio Nirvana!
We can't recommend this piece highly enough. NOTE: This is an analog-only integrated amplifier so if you want to hook up many of today's digital-only components such as Apple TVs, Roku units, Blu-Ray players, etc. you will need to hook up digital-to-analog or HDMI extractor kits to enjoy these sources.
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