On the first day of Audio Video Show 2024, Doug Schneider, Matt Bonaccio, and I walked into the main entrance of Warsaw’s PGE stadium, and the first room we saw was the Marantz suite, which featured the new Model 10 integrated amplifier (zł63,999, all prices in Polish złotys), SACD 10 player (zł34,999), and Link 10n streamer (zł39,498). This was oddly coincidental, as just that morning, we had reached out to Marantz to request review samples of these tasty, sexy components.
Cables were from QED, and output was via Canton’s Reference GS speakers (zł109,999 each)—also fortuitous, as I’m currently in discussion with Bluebird Music, Canton’s North American distributor, about reviewing a pair of speakers from Canton’s Reference series. So here was an opportunity for me to hear how this gear works as a team.
Oh my, does this gear work well together.
The Canton Reference GS is physically quite large, but the matte-gray finish contrasted nicely with the wrap-around gloss-walnut cheeks to provide an elegant, slightly menacing appearance that made it so the pair didn’t visually dominate the room. I mean this in the best way. I could live with these speakers based on appearance only.
The four 8″ woofers loaded the room up with authority. Bass was tight and deep, with excellent representation of the leading edges of kick drums. Mids and highs were crisp, with a slightly prominent edge to the upper ranges of male voices. Then again, they were playing it loud in here, so some loading-up was likely happening.
We got a nice, deep soundstage going on. Instruments were spread wide, with vocals tight in the center, right where they should be. This was high-quality, world-class sound delivered by a minimalist front end and large but not overwhelming speakers.
We’ve covered many Marantz products on the SoundStage! Network, and right in front of me as I sat listening to Thomas Dolby’s “Dissidents” was what is likely the top product of the company’s line, like, ever. The Model 10 integrated amplifier exudes a muscular, seductive, come-to-me appeal, the interior lighting showcasing what appears to be extreme pride in construction quality. It’s a chunky, absolute unit of an amplifier, its dual-mono topology chugging out up to 250Wpc into 8 ohms. This single integrated amp seemingly had no problem driving these large, complicated speakers.
I can’t wait to try this amplifier. And these speakers. Perhaps if I time it right, I can recreate this actual system in my listening room.
Jason Thorpe
Senior Editor, SoundStage!
