Marantz PM-11S3 Integrated Amplifier Review

Marantz has been an audiophile favorite for more than half a century.  Though they’ve had some ups and downs over the years, they’ve been focused in delivering high quality audio components that look as good as they sound since we started reviewing their gear almost a decade ago.  As a fellow user of their PM-11S2 Integrated Amplifier, I wanted to see firsthand what improvements were made with their latest iteration; the PM-11S3.  At the 2012 CEDIA show, the Marantz rep told me the 11S3 model had an improved phono stage and “other” refinements.  Let’s take a look.

Design Overview

The Marantz PM-11S3, like its predecessors, is as much of a work of art as it is a high-end component.  It features a good ole fashion Class AB amplifier design with a linear power supply.  It features an honestly rated amplifier section capable of doubling power into a halving load impedance as you will see in my test results.

 

Marantz PM-11S3 Top View with cover removed

 Only top shelf parts are used throughout the design including an oversized 950 VA toroidal transformer wound with OFC (Oxygen Free Copper), thick extruded aluminum heatsinks to cool the output devices, huge power supply capacitors hand wired with thick twisted pair cabling rather than soldered into a PCB board and trace routed, 5mm thick solid aluminum top panel for increased rigidity.  The chassis also features a dual layer bottom panel for additional strengthening, while all internal chassis surfaces are copper plated for maximum resistance to RF and electrically induced interference.

Marantz makes a big deal out of the redesigned phono stage.  They claim the MM/MC phono section incorporates their latest Constant Current Feedback gain stage which features DC Servo equalization that eliminates the discontinuities in tonal balance caused by conventional RIAA equalization using ordinary dual band negative feedback topology.  I measured the phono stage of the PM-11S3 using SMPTE distortion tests and found it was a bit higher than its predecessor but the shape of the EQ curve seemed very similar.  I did extensive listening with the phono stage which is discussed in detail in the listening tests.

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 Backview

The PM11-S3 sports six selectable analog RCA inputs and one balanced input.  I was mildly disappointed that the preamp outs are only RCA level but even if they were balanced, the design topology from input to output is only single ended like most integrated amps and preamps on the market these days.   The PM-11S3 comes with a detachable two-prong power cord.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the PM-11S3 is the newly revamped reference grade multi-way speaker binding posts which feature pure copper contoured knobs.  Marantz claims these are designed for optimum connectivity with a wide variety of speaker cable terminations but I think the real reason they use them is they look so cool.  This product just screams high end from its build quality to its aesthetics.  If I were an evil transforming robot that consumed electronics as food, I’d want to ingest this product.  You can connect two pairs of speakers in parallel and run them independently or simultaneously.  This is selectable on the front panel.

Key Features

The Marantz PM-11S3 is a pretty straightforward integrated analog amplifier.  Very few bells and whistles, but the key features it has makes it stand apart from some competitor products on the market. There is a preamp out feature which activates the analog pre-outs of the PM-11S3 in case you decide to hook up a more powerful dedicated amplifier to use the 11S3 as a dedicated preamp only.

Bottom View of Marantz PM-11S3

Marantz provisions the ability to chain multiple PM-11S3’s together to bi-amp or run a complete multi-channel system through the F.C.B.S system that allows up to 4 PM-11S3’s to be ganged together under single control.

A feature new to the PM-11S3 that wasn’t on its predecessors is the “Power Amp In” mode that allows you to connect this unit to an AV Receiver to use the PM-11S3 as a dedicated power amp.  You can switch the feature on/off on the front panel.  This is a great way to improve the sound of an anemic multi-channel AV receiver by giving your front main speakers some clean honest amplification while at the same time having the ability to switch the PM-11S3 back to integrated amp mode for dedicated two-channel listening.  Now you can have your audiophile two-channel and multi-channel cake and eat it too!

Another new feature of the PM-11S3 is the ability to turn the power on/off via the remote control.  This was lacking on prior models which was a bit of a nuisance in this day and age.

Set-Up

Setting up the Marantz PM-11S3 was a breeze.  No need to configure an OSD, bass management, etc.  This is just a plain two-channel analog integrated amp meant to do one thing, deliver pristine analog audio.  As such, I connected up my Marantz TT-15S1 turntable and Oppo BDP-105 Blu-ray player via the balanced analog connections.  Oddly, Marantz still uses the old balanced connection scheme that reverses the hot/cold polarity so I simply flipped the configuration in the Oppo OSD setup to accommodate this to avoid a polarity shift.  I didn’t have any full range speakers on hand to evaluate the PM-11S3 other than my $50k/pair of Status Acoustics 8T reference set.  I was a bit apprehensive about making this connection since the 8T’s dip down to high 2 ohm region and are quite a difficult load to drive.  The PM-11S2 had a very sensitive overload protection circuit that would trip at high listening levels on virtually all 4 ohm speakers I’ve tested in my reference room.  I was interested to see how the 11S3 behaved in this regard.  I wired up the speakers with Kimber 8TC cables and Bluejeans interconnects were used for the balanced cables fed to my Oppo BDP-105.

Marantz PM-11S3 Integrated Amplifier Listening Tests

I started out my listening tests with some ole’ fashion vinyl records followed my high resolution 24 bit FLAC recorded on a HDD and streamed through my Oppo BDP-105.

LP: Phil Collins – Hello, I Must Be Going

An oldie but a goodie.  Phil Collins remains one of the major musical influences in my life, from his provocative lyrics to his incredible drumming skills.  Hello, I Must Be Going was his second solo effort that still carried elements of his Genesis progressive rock influence while also bringing a more commercial appeal.  Talk about a rough love life, Collins divorced three times and set the divorce pay-out record. You can feel his relationship pains in Track #1 “I Don’t Care Anymore”.  With the Marantz PM-11S3 at the helm powering my Status 8T reference speakers, bass was authoritative and tight.  I was pleasantly surprised by the low noise floor of this recording which allowed for great stereo separation and to really feel the anger in his voice.  Track #2 “I Cannot Believe It’s True” is a more upbeat, feel good relationship song that’s great to dance to with your significant other.  The trumpets had a nice bite to them and it just sounded great.  The PM-11S3 showed off its might in Track #7 “Thru These Walls” with the explosive drumming giving up little or no dynamics from what I recall hearing on my reference 1kwatt mono-bloc amplifiers.  Phil’s vocals were dead center and crystal clear even during the loud transients.

24-Bit FLAC: Michael Jackson - Thriller

Still one of the best selling records of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller doesn’t disappoint. I have this record on Vinyl and 24 Bit FLAC and it sounds fabulous on both formats.  The FLAC file does have the advantage of a lower noise floor however while the Vinyl sounds a bit warmer.  The PM-11S3 displayed excellent stereo separation on Track #8: P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).  Bass was tight and snappy while the vocals well anchored.  Track #9 “Lady in My Life”, probably my all time favorite MJ song, just sounded spectacular. The vibrato of Michael Jackson’s voice was beautiful.  The sound was very spacious and airy.

24-Bit FLAC: Norah Jones – Come Away with Me

I honestly cannot listen to Norah Jones without thinking of the movie Ted.  He permanently distorted my image of her, but I digress.  The holographic projection of the brushes was mesmerizing in track #5 “Come Away with Me.”  Norah’s poetic voice sounded like it was coming right through the center of my skull as she tickled the ivories and seduced me to do just that.  The vocals came through with great articulation in Track #10 “Painter Song.”  The bass was very deep as it should be and the PM-11S3 reproduced all of the intimacy of the song.  Track #12 “Nightingale” showed off the low noise floor of the PM-11S3.  The acoustical guitar popped out with excellent detail, while the piano had lots of depth sounding like it was emanating from behind the main speakers.  I was really enjoying the purity of Norah’s voice and the tightness of the upright bass.

            

24-Bit FLAC: Muse – 2nd Law

I was first introduced to this band on American Idol a few years back where they performed “Uprising” live.  I just had to hear more so I picked up their 2^nd Law album and have been pleasantly surprised.  Track #1 “Supremacy” sounds like it could be the lead song in the next James Bond film.  This song is epic and the PM-11S3 reproduced the grand scale nature of this song with thunderous bass and screeching guitars.  I was expecting the PM-11S3 to falter on Track #2 “Madness” which has gobs of sustained watt-robbing bass.  Driving my reference speakers that dip into the high 2 ohm territory at bass frequencies is just torture on an amplifier for a song like this.  Instead, the Marantz amp delivered in spades.  Bass was deep, tactile and clean.  Vocals remained unadulterated even under such heavy strain.  The PM-11S2 would have shut down almost instantly if I ran this track with my reference speakers.  Marantz heard my complaints about the PM-11S2 with this issue and made quite a substantial improvement in this regard by tweaking the sensitivity of the protection circuit and beefing up the power supply. 

Marantz PM-11S3 Integrated Amplifier Measurements and Analysis

All measurements were conducted using our Audio Precision APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer following our rigid Amplifier Measurement Test Protocol.  I also had this model’s predecessor (PM-11S2) on hand to do some comparisons.  I started the test suites with some basic preamp measurements.

Preamp Output

 

Marantz PM-11S3 Preamp Voltage Output vs Distortion (1kHz)

 I did some quick spot-checking on the Marantz PM-11S3 preamplifier gain structure to ensure it had enough output voltage to feed external amplification should the end user’s system power requirements increases with a more demanding speaker system or listening preference.  I measured 17.7dB voltage gain from the preamp outputs of the PM-11S3.  It was able to output 3.5Vrms unclipped which should be enough to drive virtually any modern amplifier into clipping.  Interesting, however, was that the PM-11S2 was able to muster a bit more output voltage than the 11S3 and at a lower distortion (.005% IMD  on the 11S2 vs .01% IMD on the 11S2) but this is mostly academic.

Crosstalk

 

Marantz PM-11S3 Channel to Channel Crosstalk

The PM-11S3 exhibited excellent crosstalk performance as can be seen in the above graph.  Channel-to-channel isolation was about -80dB out to 20kHz.

FFT Distortion Analysis

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 FFT Distortion Analysis 1.5Vrms

I ran FFT distortion plot on the PMS-11S3 at 1.5Vrms output.  The 2^nd order harmonic was dominant at -88dB below the fundamental.  At 3Vrms, more harmonic byproducts were produced but the dominant 2^nd order harmonic was still -82dB below the fundamental.  Surprisingly however, the PM-11S2 FFT distortion analysis was a great deal lower.  On similar tests the PM-11S2 measured a whopping -20dB lower in distortion.  It seems apparent to me that the 11S2 employed higher quality op-amps for the pre-outs.

Phono Output (MM) Frequency Response and Distortion (THD + N)

 

Marantz PM-11S3 Phono Pre-out Frequency Response

Using the original 3-time constant RIAA curve, I EQ’ed the AP to get the expected flat response of the phono preamp.  As you can see the PM-11S3 produced very linear results here.  I measured the same type of response from the older PM-11S2 as well.  I drove the input with 10mVrms and cranked the volume up to -20dB.  This resulted in an unclipped output about 675mVrms from the analog outputs.

Marantz PM-11S3 Phono Pre-out THD + N Distortion Test

 Marantz PM-11S2 Phono Pre-out THD + N Distortion Test

Despite the fact that both the PM-11S3 and PM-11S2 were driven with the same signal levels, the 11S2 clearly exhibited lower distortion.  Regardless, the 11S3 still produced solid results and I believe that the more robust analog preamp section not the phono preamp alone contributed to the lower distortion in the 11S2. 

Power Amp Tests

It was time to move on to the power amplifier tests as the majority of folks purchasing a PM-11S3 will be using it as an integrated amplifier, not as a preamp only.  Thus the remaining tests pass through the entire analog path from line level input to speaker level output.

Signal to Noise Ratio

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 SNR (A-wt) @ 1 watt

With 265mV input and 2Vrms from the preamp outputs, I measured an SNR of 88db (no filters, no weighing) and 96dB A-wt.  From the entire preamp to power amp stage, I measured 81dB unweighted and 89dB at 1 watt A-wt.  These are very good (thought not the best I’ve measured) numbers indicating a solidly low noise floor whether used as a dedicated preamp or integrated amp function. 

Frequency Response

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 Frequency Response

The ruler flat frequency response (-0.8dB at 60kHz and -1.5dB at 10Hz) of the PM-11S3 indicated excellent bandwidth linearity.  Interestingly the PM-11S2 didn’t exhibit the slight low frequency rolloff below 20Hz that the 11S3 did.

Power Measurements
Using our Audio Precision APx585 8-channel HDMI analyzer, I conducted a full barrage of power tests on the Marantz PM-11S3 amplifier. The PM-11S3 was tested on a dedicated 120V / 20A line. 

We tested power using three methods all of which were taken at < 0.1% THD + N:

• Continuous Full Power Bandwidth (CFP-BW) from 20Hz to 20Khz into 8 and 4-ohm loads  
  
• 1kHz Power Sweep vs. Distortion (1kHz PSweep) - popularized by the print magazines, this is an instantaneous power vs. distortion test at 1kHz. The problem with this test is it often masks the slew-related and/or frequency response problems that some amplifiers exhibit at the frequency extremes, and thus inflates the measured power results. It does provide an instant gratification number for consumers to argue over on the forums, so we are now incorporating this test to please the masses.     
  
• Dynamic PWR - 1kHz CEA-2006 Burst Method testing. This is a dynamic power measurement adopted from the car industry similar to IHF method, only a bit more difficult for an amplifier and more representative of real musical content.

Keep in mind most review publications don't do continuous power measurements and they usually publish power measurements into clipping at 1% THD + N. Our measurements are very conservative as we use a dedicated 20A line with no Variac to regulate line voltage.  We constantly monitor the line to ensure it never drops more than 2Vrms from nominal which in our case was 120Vrms. 

For more info on amplifier measurements, see:  The All Channels Driven (ACD) Test

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 Full Power Bandwidth Continuous Sweep (200 watts, 4 ohms)

The Marantz PM-11S3 exhibited excellent bandwidth linearity even at high output levels; in this case 113 watts/ch into 8 ohms and 200 watts/ch into 4 ohms continuously with both channels driven.. 

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 1kHz Power Test
Top Pic: 8 ohm load;  Bottom Pic:  4 ohm load

The PM-11S3 produced excellent results with our 1kHz power sweep test.  Into 8 ohms, I measured 137 watts (1% THD + N) and 128 watts (0.1% THD + N) with both channels driven.  At 4 ohms, I measured 208 watts (1% THD+N) and 196.3 watts (0.1% THD+N) with both channels driven.  Notice the baseline distortion is slightly higher when driving a lower impedance load, but it’s still darn respectable. 

The PM-11S3 slightly outshined its PM11S2 predecessor as it consistently produced between 6-7% more power for all of these sweep tests under the same load and distortion conditions.

 

 Marantz PM-11S3 Dynamic Power Test (1kHz); 4 ohm load

The CEA-2006 burst tests simulate musical program material.  The PM-11S3 produced some fine results for which is no surprise for a product of this caliber.  At 8 ohms, it was able to deliver 169 watts/ch and 285 watts/ch into 4 ohms; both channels driven at 1% THD + N.  

# of CH	Test Type	Power	Load	THD + N
2	CFP-BW	113 watts	8 ohms	0.1%
2	CFP-BW	200 watts	4 ohm	0.1%
2	1kHz Psweep	137 watts	8 ohms	1%
2	1kHz Psweep	128 watts	8 ohms	%
2	1kHz Psweep	208 watts	4 ohms	1%
2	1kHz Psweep	196 watts	4 ohms	0.1%
2	Dynamic PWR	169 watts	8 ohms	1%
2	Dynamic PWR	285 watts	4 ohms	1%

  Marantz PM-11S3 Power Measurement Table

 

Marantz rates the PM-11S3 as follows:

• 100 watts < 0.01% ; 8 ohm load, 20Hz to 20kHz
• 200 watts < 0.02% ; 4 ohm load, 20Hz to 20kHz

Based on my measurements, I’d have to say the PM-11S3 amplifier is capable of over-delivering its stated power under ideal test conditions.  They certainly didn’t fudge any power claims with this product.

Marantz PM-11S3 Integrated Amplifier Conclusion

The Marantz PM-11S3 integrated amplifier isn’t for the budget minded audio enthusiast.  It is designed for the audiophile that values performance, and aesthetics equally without worrying about if he/she is getting the most watts per dollar they can afford.  If you’re looking to assemble a great performing two-channel system with the possibility of expanding it to multi-channel someday, then this may just be your ticket. 

With this Marantz piece, you’ve got the three big things audiophiles look for in a product: performance, aesthetics, and pride of ownership.  Trust me, when your friends come over and see the PM-11S3 all gussied up on your rack flaunting the seductive blue blacklit front panel display, they’re gonna go Pavlov’s dog on you.  Just be prepared with wine and spirits to host long listening sessions as the PM-11S3 will bring out all of the fidelity of the source material you throw at it and it will drive your speaker system with the quality power they yearn for.

Marantz Audio Corporation

PM-11S3 Review
MSRP: $4,999

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Frequency Response Linearity
SNR
Measured Power (8-ohms)
Measured Power (4-ohms)
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Audio Performance
Performance
Value