Marants Imperial 6 Surprise

[Arekusu881]

So some back story, I've been trying to set up a budget hifi system - my pieces ended up being a b&k st2140 power amp, an audiohile grade passive pre amp from Hong Kong and an Oppo 980h I believe, or maybe it was the 981h (can't remember right now). Which ever one didn't have the faroujda chip. And my speakers are the new Large Advents with updated crossover. This was my set up until recently I scored some Marants Imperial 6s.
I switched them out just to test them and see how they sounded, but I wasn't prepared to find that they sounded to me significantly better than my New Large Advents. Has anyone else had experience with the Marants Imperial 6s? Am I missing something? It can't be that they sound better than my New Large Advents can it? I wanted my Advents to be the better sounding speakers because they look better, better condition and are the bullnose type. Plus it does have deeper, tighter bass. Well, I can't complain because I am loving the sound of my imperial 6s.

 

[Arekusu881]

 

[Gregg 73]

So, I thought I'd share my recent experiences with my ongoing speaker quest.

I know I'm a relative newbie but I've been furiously experimenting with my equipment (ok that sounded weird) including speakers. For reference, this is what I've had/have so far:

Klipsch KG 4 with Crites upgrade
Infinity Qb
Infinity Qa
Boston Acoustics a100
Boston Acoustics a200
KLH Model 5
Marantz Imperial 6

I won't bore you with every detail but I found that I really enjoyed the a100s and will be keeping them. I was searching for a200 and got a pair. Now, I know they likely need a recap AND their placement wasn't ideal but I got a very good taste of what they sound like...and they do sound great.

So, I then picked up a beautiful pair of Marantz Imperial 6 from the original owner. I spent an afternoon A/Bing them with the BA a200s using my Sansui AU555a.

Every single time I switched over to the Imp 6 I said "wow, these sound so GOOD". I really wanted to like the a200 more but, to me, it was undeniable...the Marantz just impressed. I know I have a limited frame of reference but the Marantz, to me, sound far and away better than any of my other speakers. The a100s were a somewhat distant second (I do love those).

I've read similar comments from other people who say, in effect, that these speakers surprised the hell out of them. Not, "well, these are not bad for 2 ways" but more like "holy CRAP where did these come from??"

I really feel like these are incredibly underrated speakers and am going to go out on a limb and say that their value is going to go up as more and more folks hear them.

I (over) paid $150 for them but love them so much I really don't care.

There are other factors that play into what makes speakers sound good or bad, I get that. But I really encourage you guys to pick up a pair if the price is right. It's definitely worth taking the chance.

So, now I'm gonna try out some BA a150s as originally planned. But the Imperial 6, for now, are my main, here to stay, speakers.

Thanks for letting me gush!

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[Lavane]

Welcome to the club! I had a pair of OLA's also and preferred the Imperial 6's to the OLA's as well. They acaull6 sounded pretty similar to me except for one thing. The Imperials have better bass at lower listening levels. I found the OLA's lacking at low volumes. I've had a lot of speakers come and go, and have better speakers than the 6's, but I won't be getting rid of the 6's though. You will find you don't blneed much power to drive them either. I have some small flea watt tube amps that work very well with them. The 6's are very easy to listen to for hours without ear fatigue. The value of that old wax electrolytic capacitor is 7uf if I remember right. Those are unabtainium. A 6.8uf 5% tolerance polypropylene film capacitor will work just fine. It's well within the specs of the old cap.
The Imperial 6's were designed to take on the Large Advents. Personally I think they nailed it along with having them sound better than the Advents at low volumes. I don't have tone controls in my main system and rarely feel the need for them when using the 6's.

 

[Arekusu881]

Welcome to the club! I had a pair of OLA's also and preferred the Imperial 6's to the OLA's as well. They acaull6 sounded pretty similar to me except for one thing. The Imperials have better bass at lower listening levels. I found the OLA's lacking at low volumes. I've had a lot of speakers come and go, and have better speakers than the 6's, but I won't be getting rid of the 6's though. You will find you don't blneed much power to drive them either. I have some small flea watt tube amps that work very well with them. The 6's are very easy to listen to for hours without ear fatigue. The value of that old wax electrolytic capacitor is 7uf if I remember right. Those are unabtainium. A 6.8uf 5% tolerance polypropylene film capacitor will work just fine. It's well within the specs of the old cap.
The Imperial 6's were designed to take on the Large Advents. Personally I think they nailed it along with having them sound better than the Advents at low volumes. I don't have tone controls in my main system and rarely feel the need for them when using the 6's.

I have found the imperial 6's to sound amazing even with the old caps etc. Do you think cap upgrades would improve the sound quite a bit? I feel like I would have to find a perfect match as well as a quality cap

 

[Lavane]

I have found the imperial 6's to sound amazing even with the old caps etc. Do you think cap upgrades would improve the sound quite a bit? I feel like I would have to find a perfect match as well as a quality cap

I didn't think it made much of a difference, but I've seen pictures of the old wax caps where the wax was running out of the paper tube. I intended on keeping these long term. I alway replace electrolytic caps on older speakers I'm going to keep. Those caps are getting old.