Model 1060 Advice

[Wongo1]

Hi

I wanted to ask about purchasing a Marantz Model 1060 and wanted to ask a few questions in the hope someone could help me.

1. I currently have a Marantz Mcr-603 all-in- receiver and wondered how the Model 1060 would compare with this sound quality wise ? Would I be an improvement or is the modern better ?

2. I had thought to buy a Marantz PM 8006 before this and would the Model 1060 compare favourably with it ?

3. Is there anything I need to look out for/ be aware of in purchasing a 1060 and what is a reasonable price I should pay in U.K. for a pristine, extremely good example with wood cabinet ?

4. I plan to pair 1060 with an SACD likely also Marantz. Any issues with this ?

5. My current speaker cable is fitted with QED Airloc banana plugs. Is there any way to adapt the 1060 to accept these ?

Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[ChrisbC]

Hi

I wanted to ask about purchasing a Marantz Model 1060 and wanted to ask a few questions in the hope someone could help me.

1. I currently have a Marantz Mcr-603 all-in- receiver and wondered how the Model 1060 would compare with this sound quality wise ? Would I be an improvement or is the modern better ?

2. I had thought to buy a Marantz PM 8006 before this and would the Model 1060 compare favourably with it ?

3. Is there anything I need to look out for/ be aware of in purchasing a 1060 and what is a reasonable price I should pay in U.K. for a pristine, extremely good example with wood cabinet ?

4. I plan to pair 1060 with an SACD likely also Marantz. Any issues with this ?

5. My current speaker cable is fitted with QED Airloc banana plugs. Is there any way to adapt the 1060 to accept these ?

Any advice greatly appreciated

Hello, I'll answer the questions, but keep in mind most of my answers are opinion and subjective.

1. Which model sounds better depends of a number of factors: personal taste, the condition of the 1060, and quality of speakers or headphones you are using.

2. I recently purchased a Marantz PM8006 and I absolutely love it. It wasn't cheap compared to descent vintage pieces, but if you can afford it I'd say go for it. It retains that classic Marantz fat sound with a wonderful mids and highs. It is also an all analog stereo so it is basically just like a vintage Marantz with modern internals. No digital processing here. That being said, it doesn't blow away my Marantz 2238b, but skilled technicians who can repair this stuff are getting harder to find and I wanted something new to be my daily driver so to speak, but it is nice to have the vintage Marantz handy for special occasions.

3. Look for a model that is relatively free of scuffs. That shouldn't be difficult as these were very expensive in their day and typically they were purchased by an older and more mature crowd who took care of them. If there are numerous scuffs, the unit was abused. Stay away. It may have internal damage.

4. No issues at all. In fact I find CDs sound better when paired with Marantz amps. They tend to smooth out the harshness CDs can have on brighter sound systems. You need to connect the CD player RCA cables to the Aux or Tape-in inputs. Both are line level. Do not connect them to the phono stage as that much power may damage the pre-amp.

5. You can do that if you are skilled working with electronic equipment. So long as you don't mind altering the originality of the unit. However, I would lose the banana plugs and connect wire directly to the unit. You'll get better sound quality that way as there is one less thing in the signal path.

 

[catrafter]

I agree with most of what ChrisbC says.
I think the 1060 (and its receiver counterpart, the 2230) sound very good, but with the limited power output, you are going to need efficient speakers unless your room is quite small.
But then, I might be biased using a 2230 for over 40 years and a pair of 1060s for over 15 years.
YMMV
Tom

 

[AndreasR14]

This is my personal experience, I owned 3 Marantz 1060 all with different modification to it.

It all have its own characteristic due to the different mods, but all comes down to beautiful harmonic sound and beautiful looks to it.

1. the natural character of 1060 is warm, everyone said that, but from my experience, I can feel how wet is the vocals in female singers.
If you manage to get one, I recommended to replace the 2 elna 3,300uf to Nichicon gold series (whatever) with 4,700 uf or 5,600uf.
also ensure that the volume pots are not dirty, you can clean this with contact cleaner, or replacing this with Blue Alps would do just fine, I recommend using 50k.

2. versus the newer marantz, it sounded about at the same quality especially on 8 series, however, the mods that you can do for the vintage amp is at another level.

3. something to look out for: whether the chassis has rust on it? and the bias diode (2 of them sitting in the heatsink, like a black rectangle box, with 2 black tiny cables) ensure those in good condition, no damage to cable whatsoever and no rust)
wood cabinet would be a bonus.

4. no issue whatsoever with whatever CD players you're using, I recently pair mine with marantz cd player with TDA1541A DAC which sounded pretty good.

5. There is an adapter for a banana plug to some kind of needle ended speaker adaptor, so it would fit the 1060. My 1060 had the binding posts replaced so can accept banana plugs.
Also some tips - buy a Canare 4s11 speaker cables, (4 stars cable - white goes with transparent, red goes with pink), with banana or spade. put some cable cover if you want
for interconnect, buy some Mogami 2549
Those cables is all you need that is cheap and give you a good sound.

For speakers, I paired my 1060 with MA Bronze B2, B4 and B6, all good.
also have a custom speaker with KEF T27, KEF B110 and Heco 10 inch bass, with 30w pc the 1060 can drive them too without issue.
I personally recommend MA Bronze B4 (or BX4) - with K73-16 same value caps.

For the MA, I recommend to replace the x-over caps (same value is okay) with either Jantzen superior Zcap, Mundorf Oil evo, or cheap K73-16.

If everyone is buying expensive stuff, I'm buying cheaper stuff with good sound quality. I'm seeing my friend doing 90% upgrading and 10% listening to music.

Good luck