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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: aaronji on September 29, 2016, 07:02:40 PM

Title: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on September 29, 2016, 07:02:40 PM
Marantz is teasing a six XLR input recorder on their homepage (http://marantzpro.com/home). The image shifts, but a static view is  here (https://www.behance.net/gallery/41536339/Marantz-Professional-PMD-706-Banner). Interesting...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on September 29, 2016, 07:05:20 PM
Leaves a lot to the imagination!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on September 30, 2016, 12:16:27 PM


The more options available to us the better!  I hope that this turns out to be as reliable as the 661...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on September 30, 2016, 01:25:52 PM
Marantz microphones.  Check it out.

http://marantzpro.com/assets/product-guides/Marantz_2016InfoCommProductGuide_RevA.pdf
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: rocksuitcase on September 30, 2016, 03:10:41 PM
Marantz microphones.  Check it out.

http://marantzpro.com/assets/product-guides/Marantz_2016InfoCommProductGuide_RevA.pdf
Damn- Lots of stuff there. Who did Marantz buy and or who bought them that they have expanded so much into the DSLR gear-mics and recorders.? or have I just not noticed these products before because I don't do video?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: yug du nord on October 01, 2016, 01:27:48 AM
^Denon
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on October 01, 2016, 08:07:19 AM
I'm interested to see more on this. I don't really need it (XLR) but it could be great and compete with the 70d.

On a crazy side note, it will be interesting to me to see the XLR setup. If in pictures it seems like the layout is "backward"

You see 3,2,1    4,5,6
If 3,2,1 is one side, I would think the other side would go 6,5,4 and if it is the back then you would assume they would go in order.
It just seems that the way the image is set up that 3 and 4 are not "together" the way you would think
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: drewloo on October 01, 2016, 12:05:18 PM
To me it looks like the inputs are on the sides.  The picture on the right is actually the left side and the picture on the left is actually the right side.  The face of the unit is cut off on each picture.

So attached to a tripod it would go (looking strait down):

    face
4           1
5           2
6           3
   back
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on October 01, 2016, 01:57:54 PM
Inputs 1-3 are marked L
Inputs 4-6 are marked R

So stereo pairs would be 1&4, 2&5 and 3&6. Weird.

I've had 2 Marantz recorders - a PMD670 and a PMD620. I liked them both. Great metering and rock solid. Never let me down.

I'm real interested in this deck. I'm seriously considering a Zoom F8 since the pres sound good and it had the wireless control surface but if the pres on this deck sound good and it's not crazy expensive I may give it a go once we get a look at the rest of it.

The pres on the 670 were total junk but once I got it modded by Busman it sounded incredible. The stock pres on this thing may be just fine - surface mount technology has come a long way. Someone will have to be the guinea pig though.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: nolamule on October 01, 2016, 02:14:53 PM
Any release info?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on October 01, 2016, 04:28:56 PM
I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this deck!!  I've thought about the F4 and F8, but I'd rather not buy a Zoom product.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jagraham on October 02, 2016, 05:19:00 PM
Very interesting, looks like they caught on to the popularity of the DR-70D design.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: nolamule on October 03, 2016, 05:31:40 PM
I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this deck!!  I've thought about the F4 and F8, but I'd rather not buy a Zoom product.

I feel the same way!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: caymanreview on October 08, 2016, 03:24:16 PM
i was hesitant to buy a zoom product, until the moment i got the F8 in my hands. It just feels way more solidly built then i ever imagined

that being said, its overkill for me. Also my Marantz 671 was the most solid deck ive ever owned. the level meters appear to be better on the f8 from afar, but imho they were far superior to the f8. i could dial my levels in spot on with my 671 and barely need to adjust in post sometimes not even have to do that

I would buy another Marantz deck in a heartbeat! If there was an Oade mod, absolutely sold!

has anyone spoke to Doug to inquire to the possibility of a mod?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on October 22, 2016, 02:12:39 PM
Any release info?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on October 22, 2016, 03:38:32 PM
I'd really like to hear more about this deck too!!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: caymanreview on November 24, 2016, 06:48:19 PM
i spoke to oade about it a few weeks ago. he said a new pricing list had been released and it was not on there.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 10, 2016, 10:24:07 AM


Any updates on this product?

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Hypnocracy on January 24, 2017, 06:48:05 AM
Holding out hope this isn't  vapourware...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on January 24, 2017, 07:09:58 AM
Holding out hope this isn't  vapourware...

^
Same here!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Colin Liston on January 24, 2017, 12:02:58 PM
It looks lime it's gone from the website
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on January 25, 2017, 08:11:04 AM
It looks lime it's gone from the website

Damn!  I hope that it comes back.

Does anyone have a customer service / tech support number where you can actually speak to someone "in the know"?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on February 11, 2017, 01:24:02 PM

https://www.behance.net/gallery/41536339/Marantz-Professional-PMD-706-Banner


Is it back?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on February 11, 2017, 01:59:29 PM
They sure are dragging their feet with this one!! 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on February 12, 2017, 06:59:04 PM

https://www.behance.net/gallery/41536339/Marantz-Professional-PMD-706-Banner


Is it back?

That's the same URL I linked in the original post. Also the same pic that Marantz was showing on their site at the time. I think, from my clicking around, that Marantz got a designer to draw up a banner, but, obviously, the product hasn't shown up yet, so who knows what may have happened...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 03, 2017, 07:24:18 AM
It looks lime it's gone from the website

Damn!  I hope that it comes back.

Does anyone have a customer service / tech support number where you can actually speak to someone "in the know"?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Hypnocracy on March 03, 2017, 02:54:53 PM
(http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/28/28751002bbf9a88063bf5fed6f1efa36e4a69fa36ba5077b46a3fcdb3ea18495.jpg)

Come on Marantz...bring it!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 25, 2017, 03:02:40 PM

^
Updates?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Hypnocracy on March 26, 2017, 03:02:18 PM
This will go like AKG Actives...in defiance I bought ADK TL's (the anti-active) and within a month Naiant brought out his version for sale...so about the time I breakdown and buy a Zoom F8 Marantz will release the PMD-706...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: caymanreview on April 12, 2017, 11:18:55 PM
I asked doug oade a few days ago and he hasnt heard anything new on this 6ch beast.

Its a shame, the ACM 671 i had for years  is still my fav piece of gear ive ever owned. A 4 or 6 ch version of that would be fantastic!

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on April 16, 2017, 11:31:26 AM

I tried calling Marantz customer service about the 706 and they had no fucking idea what I was talking about...

 :shrug:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Life In Rewind on April 16, 2017, 05:22:06 PM
(http://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/16/07/dead_horse.jpg)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder? (No longer a mythical prophesy)
Post by: datbrad on June 07, 2017, 09:08:26 AM
Well, well.......Finally the ice has been broken......

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html

can't wait to see what this unit is all about. I'm going to email Doug right now to see what he knows about this unit.

Could be a dud though, guess we'll have to wait and find out.


Edit to add: Release date estimate given is August 2017
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on June 07, 2017, 11:12:11 AM
^ Well, I'll be damned!  Only ~ 8 months after the original post...

I am very curious to hear if Doug has any information about this.  Still nothing popping up in a web search (except this thread).
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: pohaku on June 07, 2017, 11:28:28 AM
$299 street.  If that is real, it is pretty inexpensive in the context of multichannel recorders.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on June 07, 2017, 01:06:10 PM
$299 street.  If that is real, it is pretty inexpensive in the context of multichannel recorders.

Yeah, $299 street seems to be too inexpensive when the two channel, PMD661 series is selling for around $500 street...  I do like having multiple options though.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on June 07, 2017, 01:56:11 PM
Not going to hang my hat on that price B&H lists being final, but the price point sits squarely in the R26, DR70, and Zoom H6 camp. DSLR users that are  mostly hobbyists are more likely to go that way than the Mixpre 6.I agree it's odd that the PMD661 sells for $600, but that's the direction the whole line seems to be heading in,  the 561 and new 661mkIII being lower priced than the decks being replaced by them. I'll be keeping in touch with Doug as the summer goes along and find out what this 6 channel unit is about. Cool to have options besides the ones I listed at that same price point. The Mixpre, like everything else SD makes, is in a league of it's own.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder? (No longer a mythical prophesy)
Post by: dactylus on June 09, 2017, 06:03:38 AM
Well, well.......Finally the ice has been broken......

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html

can't wait to see what this unit is all about. I'm going to email Doug right now to see what he knows about this unit.

Could be a dud though, guess we'll have to wait and find out.


Edit to add: Release date estimate given is August 2017

Have you heard anything from Doug in regards to the PMD-706?

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on June 09, 2017, 06:19:08 AM
Yes, Doug is going to let me know his thoughts soon as he gets one from Marantz to test out. Expecting this will happen in August but as soon as I hear from him, I'll pass along whatever update info he gives.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on June 09, 2017, 06:21:50 AM
Yes, Doug is going to let me know his thoughts soon as he gets one from Marantz to test out. Expecting this will happen in August but as soon as I hear from him, I'll pass along whatever update info he gives.

^
Thanks!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on June 15, 2017, 07:04:35 AM
Here it is.....

http://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaNXvJd9p3Xc&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjEitv62L_UAhXKeT4KHXHjBPYQtwIIGDAC&usg=AFQjCNEbtB404zge1Z1TOMJtU6v-lNiYnw
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on June 15, 2017, 07:39:12 AM
^ Interesting.  Thanks for posting that.  It looks completely different than the initial teaser photos, which showed six XLR inputs, three per side, on a considerably thinner chassis.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Colin Liston on June 15, 2017, 11:35:26 AM
I really hope that thing is $300
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: T-90 on June 16, 2017, 07:55:34 AM
^^^ it won't matter....trump just signed an executive order effectively banning free trade of the marantz 706 across the Mexican border only.  Language was vague but it clearly seemed to be aimed at preventing ex-pats from obtaining quality gear at low American prices.  You can always come stay with me, buy one and then smuggle it back.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on June 16, 2017, 12:15:49 PM
Here it is.....

http://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaNXvJd9p3Xc&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjEitv62L_UAhXKeT4KHXHjBPYQtwIIGDAC&usg=AFQjCNEbtB404zge1Z1TOMJtU6v-lNiYnw

Thanks for the link.  It will be very interesting to hear what Doug has to say about this device.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Colin Liston on June 17, 2017, 01:28:20 PM
^^^ it won't matter....trump just signed an executive order effectively banning free trade of the marantz 706 across the Mexican border only.  Language was vague but it clearly seemed to be aimed at preventing ex-pats from obtaining quality gear at low American prices.  You can always come stay with me, buy one and then smuggle it back.

I'm pretty sure he misspelled Marantz so I should be okay.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: agfenton on August 23, 2017, 02:44:33 PM
I Facebook-messaged Marantz today (8/23/2017) and they said the PMD-706 should be available within 45 days or so.  We'll see...I think I can hold out that long. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Colin Liston on August 23, 2017, 07:31:59 PM
I Facebook-messaged Marantz today (8/23/2017) and they said the PMD-706 should be available within 45 days or so.  We'll see...I think I can hold out that long.

Ask them if the price is still going to be $300
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on August 24, 2017, 07:45:24 AM
Just speculation, but possible reason they are dragging their feet releasing it is to allow retailers to move the remaining pmd661mkII decks, with the mkIII already absorbing some of the demand. When the 706 hits the streets, any left over 661mkIIs will be dead weight. Just a guess based on marketing decisions like Honda stalling the 2017 CRV for 3 months to allow dealers to move the remaining 4th Gen body styles first.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: lsd2525 on August 24, 2017, 08:31:24 AM
Damn that thing looks an awful lot like a DR70
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on August 26, 2017, 03:13:35 PM
Just speculation, but possible reason they are dragging their feet releasing it is to allow retailers to move the remaining pmd661mkII decks, with the mkIII already absorbing some of the demand. When the 706 hits the streets, any left over 661mkIIs will be dead weight. Just a guess based on marketing decisions like Honda stalling the 2017 CRV for 3 months to allow dealers to move the remaining 4th Gen body styles first.

^
DATBRAD has Doug weighed in on the 706 yet?

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Hypnocracy on August 26, 2017, 04:21:43 PM
One thing missing on all the photos...external power? Found it... (http://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd-706#tab-specs)

Quote
Via (4) AA batteries (Alkaline or NI-MH), USB bus power, or a USB adapter
Consumption: 2 W (with phantom power off), 4 W (with 6 channels and phantom power on)

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on August 28, 2017, 07:15:26 AM
Just speculation, but possible reason they are dragging their feet releasing it is to allow retailers to move the remaining pmd661mkII decks, with the mkIII already absorbing some of the demand. When the 706 hits the streets, any left over 661mkIIs will be dead weight. Just a guess based on marketing decisions like Honda stalling the 2017 CRV for 3 months to allow dealers to move the remaining 4th Gen body styles first.

^
DATBRAD has Doug weighed in on the 706 yet?
He said he'd received some dealer info on it, but hasn't gotten one in his hands yet. As soon as he does, he's going to determine if the preamps are in need of upgrades. He's going to email me when he's got them in stock.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on August 28, 2017, 06:03:12 PM
^
Thanks Brad.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on August 28, 2017, 08:12:19 PM
I'll post any updates I get on this thread. I know this deck is not in the same class as the Mixpre 6, but if it's made as well as the 661 I've been running for 8 years now issue free,it will fit my needs perfectly. I just hope it doesn't have that feature the Tascam 70D / 701D where the gain knobs can't function with hold switch on. To me the most likely time for a slip up with the transport controls is while setting levels in the dark.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: bestfly on August 30, 2017, 09:09:38 AM
That's really interesting
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on August 31, 2017, 07:56:44 AM
http://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd-706

$299 preorder at BH.

Has slate button.  No mention tc or HDMI control.  6 channels of which 2 are trs.  Sloped case design.  Horizontal meters.

Looks like a 70d competitor at $299 but with 6 channels. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heathen on August 31, 2017, 10:29:57 AM
6 channels of which 2 are trs.   
The XLR inputs are numbered 1-4, but the mini input is numbered 1/2, so I wonder if that means you can't use all four XLR inputs if you're using the mini input for channels 1 and 2.  Basically, when the mini input is active it might "replace" the 1 and 2 XLR inputs?

Also interesting:

Quote
Recording Channels: 6-channels (stereo x 3, mono x 6), 4-channels in Dual Stereo mode, 4-channels max with 96 kHz sampling rate

I know not everyone records at 96 kHz, but for those who do this may be a relevant bit of information.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on August 31, 2017, 12:45:16 PM
Maximum mic input level of -8 dBu.  +12 dBu for the line input.  That pretty much sucks if you have decently sensitive mics, or a fixed gain pre, and it gets loud...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dallman on August 31, 2017, 06:17:17 PM

The XLR inputs are numbered 1-4, but the mini input is numbered 1/2, so I wonder if that means you can't use all four XLR inputs if you're using the mini input for channels 1 and 2.  Basically, when the mini input is active it might "replace" the 1 and 2 XLR inputs?

Also interesting:

Quote
Recording Channels: 6-channels (stereo x 3, mono x 6), 4-channels in Dual Stereo mode, 4-channels max with 96 kHz sampling rate

I know not everyone records at 96 kHz, but for those who do this may be a relevant bit of information.

This video will make the features more clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXvJd9p3Xc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXvJd9p3Xc)
Your information is not exactly correct. This is a 6 channel deck. There are 4 XLR inputs and 2 TRS 1/4 inch inputs which Marantz says is to save real estate. As a result they supply two (2) 1/4 inch TRS to XLR cables with the deck.  I do not know if there is a mixtrack. (EDIT: There is a mix track)

It looks nice, especially for the price, but time will tell.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on August 31, 2017, 06:34:44 PM
I'd have liked to see them offer start/stop control over HDMI like the 701D, but I guess they figured they'd sell more of these if they priced them at the 70d level and offered 6 channels instead of 4. 

But....6 channels in a small format for $299 that I assume can be easily powered with an external cell phone battery. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on September 13, 2017, 01:10:36 AM
Maximum mic input level of -8 dBu.  +12 dBu for the line input.  That pretty much sucks if you have decently sensitive mics, or a fixed gain pre, and it gets loud...

Is this so much diiferent than the MixPre 3 with it's specs at:

Maximum Input Level
Aux In (Mic): -10dBu
Aux In (Line): +10dBu

I'm running AKG481's.  Would I even hear a difference between the two units based on the specs at a rock concert environment? 

This is serious question.  I really am curious since I am not that familiar when it comes to those type of stats.

Thx

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on September 13, 2017, 12:57:47 PM
That's for the MixPre-6 1/8" input.  The XLR inputs can handle much stronger signals (+14 dBu mic-in and +40 dBu line-in)...

As for the 706, your AKGs (20 mV/Pa) will put out -8 dBu at 118 dBSPL.  That's pretty loud, but definitely not out of the question for a rock concert.  You would need to use attenuators to prevent overloading the inputs at that sort of volume level.  You'd get an extra 20 dB using line-in, but if you're using a pre with fixed gain, or minimum gain, you would lose some or all of that again.  Maybe you can use phantom in line mode, though (it is not clear to me from what I have read), which would help.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on September 23, 2017, 10:06:31 AM

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html

New Item - Coming Soon - Expected availability: End of Oct 2017
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on September 28, 2017, 10:05:26 PM
Talked to a guy at marantz professional today he said you could run line in with phantom on all inputs and that their preamps are a proprietary chipset.  Had a brief conversation about preamps and all he could tell me were these are quieter and all around a better improvement to those of they previous handheld recorder line (661, 561, 671, etc)...it doesn't appear that they are running Ti chips or anything like that.  Still projected end of Oct.

Anyone else have any further info on this unit?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on October 10, 2017, 09:17:58 AM
Absolutely no chance this will get TC?! :-/ :-(
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: fanofjam on October 11, 2017, 04:52:11 PM
Similar price, form factor and overall layout as the Tascam DR70D.  I wonder if it will also come with SD card issues and endless firmware problems.  LOL.  :tomato: :lol: :yack:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on October 12, 2017, 05:10:24 AM
Wonder why we have heard nothing more about the Marantz PMD-706?? As at that sub $300 price it could replace the Tascam DR70D as the default choice in this price bracket. (and at the moment either the DR70D or F4 is my default recommendation for anyone starting out! Both pack in a tonne of value)
 
Although without TC it can never compete with the next step up (Zoom F series or Sound Devices MixPre series).

Still listed as "pre-order" on B&H:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html

Says "End of October", but you always take those dates from B&H with a side order of a massive grain of salt! ha

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on October 12, 2017, 05:12:45 AM
Not sure if this has been shared yet, but here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXvJd9p3Xc

Inputs 1-3 are marked L
Inputs 4-6 are marked R

So stereo pairs would be 1&4, 2&5 and 3&6. Weird.

Strange. Unfortunately it can not seem to do poly files, but I really hope this gets added before shipping! As is a pain to deal with multiple files per take, instead of just one poly file.

Also hope it can have some type of metadata used as well? After all they're recording to BWF
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on October 12, 2017, 09:07:13 AM
Wonder why we have heard nothing more about the Marantz PMD-706?? As at that sub $300 price it could replace the Tascam DR70D as the default choice in this price bracket. (and at the moment either the DR70D or F4 is my default recommendation for anyone starting out! Both pack in a tonne of value)
 
Although without TC it can never compete with the next step up (Zoom F series or Sound Devices MixPre series).

Still listed as "pre-order" on B&H:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html

Says "End of October", but you always take those dates from B&H with a side order of a massive grain of salt! ha
there are two things I like with this over the 70d
1 the xlr are matched, having 3 and 4 on different sides just bugs me
2 line out and camera out, the 70d has a combo out and if you are doing video having both can be a plus
I still like the 60d over both of these though for the reason that the outs have level adjustment knobs, these only have level adjustment knobs on the headphones out
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on October 13, 2017, 10:36:34 AM
^I think a bunch of people would like the 60d  if the 60d was in a more compact case, but certainly a very functional recorder. 

Marantz may have had bad market timing releasing this after the 70d, the 701d, the Zoom F4/F8, Mixpre 3, 6 and 10T came to market.   That's a lot of competition in the DSLR audio recording market.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: waltmon on October 14, 2017, 08:31:35 AM
Crazy these cost less than the 661's...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on October 20, 2017, 09:29:48 AM
^I think a bunch of people would like the 60d  if the 60d was in a more compact case, but certainly a very functional recorder. 

DR60Dmk2 is still the king of the sub $200 category in my eyes for an aspiring PSM.

But yeah, hopefully if a DR60Dmk3 comes out then they'll slim it down to MixPre3 size instead.


Marantz may have had bad market timing releasing this after the 70d, the 701d, the Zoom F4/F8, Mixpre 3, 6 and 10T came to market.   That's a lot of competition in the DSLR audio recording market.

PMD-706 can still carve out a solid niche for itself as the best sub $300 recorder, as currently DR70D holds that crown, but the PMD-706 would have 50% more XLR inputs than the DR70D.

Although yeah, the PMD-706 certainly would not sell as well as if the F4/MixPre6/etc didn't exist. But there are many people who even $300 would be stretching their budget, so a PMD-706 could be perfect for them!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Chromenose on October 28, 2017, 06:31:50 AM
Manual is now availeble at gear4music.com
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on October 30, 2017, 11:29:41 AM
Release date pushed to Mid-Nov on B&H site
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on November 02, 2017, 01:20:03 PM
I'm intrigued by this one.  Love the layout of the XLR/TRs connectors and their usage.  Price is crazy cheap ($299) for a 6 channel, when compared to the Sound Devices Mixpre-6 ($899), and Tascam 701D ($499).  A shootout should in order once the 706 circulates.  Sound and power consumption is everything to me these days.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on November 03, 2017, 09:23:32 AM
I'm intrigued by this one.  Love the layout of the XLR/TRs connectors and their usage.  Price is crazy cheap ($299) for a 6 channel, when compared to the Sound Devices Mixpre-6 ($899), and Tascam 701D ($499).  A shootout should in order once the 706 circulates.  Sound and power consumption is everything to me these days.

I think that Oade is going to evaluate this model for upgrade mods too...  Not sure if that is still a possibility.  I guess that we'll see on that.


Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on November 04, 2017, 01:52:07 PM
I'm intrigued by this one.  Love the layout of the XLR/TRs connectors and their usage.  Price is crazy cheap ($299) for a 6 channel, when compared to the Sound Devices Mixpre-6 ($899), and Tascam 701D ($499).  A shootout should in order once the 706 circulates.  Sound and power consumption is everything to me these days.

I think that Oade is going to evaluate this model for upgrade mods too...  Not sure if that is still a possibility.  I guess that we'll see on that.

If Doug is willing to do that, count me in.  I've owned the 660, 661, and 671 that he had modded.  The results has always been stellar.  If there was a way to insert transformers in the path, I would be very happy.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 10, 2017, 06:38:22 AM
Release date pushed to Mid-Nov on B&H site

B&H pre order page now says December :-/ Sucks, half wondering now if it might never ship.


Manual is now availeble at gear4music.com

Ah! Now that instead is good, indicates it is "close".

https://d1aeri3ty3izns.cloudfront.net/media/29/291208/download_291208.pdf

I'm intrigued by this one.  Love the layout of the XLR/TRs connectors and their usage.  Price is crazy cheap ($299) for a 6 channel, when compared to the Sound Devices Mixpre-6 ($899), and Tascam 701D ($499).  A shootout should in order once the 706 circulates.  Sound and power consumption is everything to me these days.

Zoom F4 is six inputs too. (and I'd take it over a MixPre6 for most uses)

However if a person doesn't need TC, then it seems likely the Marantz PMD-706 might be the  better choice for them.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 12, 2017, 01:52:35 AM
Interesting, I was reading the manual and I see it has an option for encryption:

Quote
. Encryption on/off: See Menu 7 – Rec Set for
details on how to enter an encryption key.
Note: If you try to play an encrypted file, you
must enter the encryption key first.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on November 12, 2017, 10:30:04 AM
Interesting, I was reading the manual and I see it has an option for encryption:

Quote
. Encryption on/off: See Menu 7 – Rec Set for
details on how to enter an encryption key.
Note: If you try to play an encrypted file, you
must enter the encryption key first.

They introduced encryption with the recent 661 mkiii
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dallman on November 13, 2017, 02:20:08 AM
Interesting, I was reading the manual and I see it has an option for encryption:

Quote
. Encryption on/off: See Menu 7 – Rec Set for
details on how to enter an encryption key.
Note: If you try to play an encrypted file, you
must enter the encryption key first.

They introduced encryption with the recent 661 mkiii
Actually it was introduced with the PMD 661 MKII along with password protection

From the Marantz website:
http://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd661mkii

New security features have also been added into the MKII with Password Protection and File encryption ability that work hand in hand to keep recordings safe form unauthorized access. MP3 files can be encrypted to .MPS  files and WAV files encrypted to .WAS files. Both MPS and WAS files utilize a 4 digit password protection feature so that only those with the 4 digit key can open and play the files either on the player, or in the new updated PMD Marker Editor software, included in the box.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on November 13, 2017, 06:17:54 PM
Zoom F4 is six inputs too. (and I'd take it over a MixPre6 for most uses)

(Sorry to veer off-topic, but) Different strokes and all.  Each has advantages and disadvantages compared to the other.  For me, at least, the MixPre-6 ticks a number of boxes that the F4 doesn't (although the dual SD card option would be nice)...

Actually it was introduced with the PMD 661 MKII along with password protection


If I recall correctly, the PMD620MKII as well.  Very useful for the really stealthy tapers!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: mhlsr on November 19, 2017, 05:26:31 PM
In stock at B&H Photo

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1340332-REG/marantz_professional_pmd_706_6_channel_dslr_recorder_recording.html
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 19, 2017, 09:58:06 PM


This might *maybe* just perhaps replace the Tascam DR70D as the best recorder at this price point for film shoots, as they are both priced the same at a teeny bit under US$300.

Who is going to be brave an order one first? :-D
(not me, I already have an F4! But I might start recommending this to people starting out, once I've seen some reviews)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 19, 2017, 10:04:04 PM
Zoom F4 is six inputs too. (and I'd take it over a MixPre6 for most uses)

(Sorry to veer off-topic, but) Different strokes and all.  Each has advantages and disadvantages compared to the other.  For me, at least, the MixPre-6 ticks a number of boxes that the F4 doesn't (although the dual SD card option would be nice)...


Fair enough, I think the MixPre6 is a fine machine. And can respect others who might see the world differently than I do (we're not all identical after all!), and go for a MixPre6.

Is just at its price point (which is very low! But needs to now be seen in the context of the F4/F8 as well) it seems a tad bit overpriced when you consider its limitations. (such as only four channels for me :-/ & no TC )
If it was priced the same as a MixPre3 then I'd see it as a no brainer!
But the MixPre6 is same price as F8, and significantly higher than a F4.
And once you add in a time code box, you're then a *lot* more expensive than an F4!
And you're starting to close down the gap on just getting a MixPre10T instead from the start.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on November 20, 2017, 09:51:00 AM
^ I record live music events.  I have zero need for timecode.  I think that is probably true for most taperssection members.  Balanced outputs aren't really useful for me either.  The MixPre-6 has a much better user interface, XLR line inputs, and better metering.  It is also considerably smaller (80.85 vs. 42.51 cu in) and lighter (1030 vs. 564 g), which is an important factor for my use.  Additionally, I like knowing that I have Sound Devices' customer service behind me; that is worth a bit of extra cash, in my opinion.

Like I said, "Different strokes and all.  Each has advantages and disadvantages compared to the other."  If you don't need timecode, the superior interface alone might be enough to tip the balance...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on November 20, 2017, 10:22:33 AM
I pulled the trigger. B&H says it should be here Wednesday.

I have live music at my second job Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Too bad it sounds like ass in there.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 20, 2017, 09:27:59 PM
^ I record live music events.  I have zero need for timecode.  I think that is probably true for most taperssection members.  Balanced outputs aren't really useful for me either.  The MixPre-6 has a much better user interface, XLR line inputs, and better metering.  It is also considerably smaller (80.85 vs. 42.51 cu in) and lighter (1030 vs. 564 g), which is an important factor for my use.  Additionally, I like knowing that I have Sound Devices' customer service behind me; that is worth a bit of extra cash, in my opinion.

Like I said, "Different strokes and all.  Each has advantages and disadvantages compared to the other."  If you don't need timecode, the superior interface alone might be enough to tip the balance...

Fair enough, I come from the film world though (hence the username!).

I need to get more of a hands on experience with the MixPre6 to see how much better the user interface is, or not.

Only had a teeny short play with it once at a tradeshow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEFY6xM3Vh4

I pulled the trigger. B&H says it should be here Wednesday.

Good man! Looking forward to your impressions of it :-)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on November 21, 2017, 06:53:54 AM
Anyone else think it odd that there don't seem to be any "user" reviews or heavy PR releases telling us how wonderful it is at early release of the product?  At least Marantz got it in stock before Black Friday.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on November 21, 2017, 10:03:42 AM

I'm interested. This has a lot of the same features I like about my DR60d (camera out for feeding my vid cam, all the inputs I could need, small, 5V USB power) but the form factor seems better and it has two more input tracks. I've used the DR60 quite a bit but it just never seems to find a happy home in any bag I've used it in. The "pound of butter" size makes it just kind of awkward.

 I used a couple of different Marantz decks over the years and really liked them. My first "real" deck was a PMD670 but it was only 16 bit. Ran it digital in from a V3. It was rock solid. After a while I got it modded by Busman and it sounded fantastic but I moved to a Busman R4 since I liked having a hard drive instead of cards.

Later I used a PMD620 for quite some time. Also rock solid.

My only concern is the quality of the onboard preamps. The preamps in the PMD670-671 were useless until modification but after modding were spectacular! Preamps in cheap decks have gotten a lot better in the last few years. I'm optimistic.

This thing lurched along getting to market. The initial photos that were released ending up not being like the end product. I guess a redesign stalled it. Hope they did their testing before getting it actually released.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on November 21, 2017, 10:12:15 AM
Just speculation, but possible reason they are dragging their feet releasing it is to allow retailers to move the remaining pmd661mkII decks, with the mkIII already absorbing some of the demand. When the 706 hits the streets, any left over 661mkIIs will be dead weight. Just a guess based on marketing decisions like Honda stalling the 2017 CRV for 3 months to allow dealers to move the remaining 4th Gen body styles first.

^
DATBRAD has Doug weighed in on the 706 yet?
He said he'd received some dealer info on it, but hasn't gotten one in his hands yet. As soon as he does, he's going to determine if the preamps are in need of upgrades. He's going to email me when he's got them in stock.

Hi DATBRAD,

Do you know if Doug Oade still plans on evaluating the preamps on the 706?  Although the last thing in the world that I need now is another deck I have been delighted with the performance of my Oade modded 661's for many, many years now.

David
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 22, 2017, 12:34:41 AM

This thing lurched along getting to market. The initial photos that were released ending up not being like the end product. I guess a redesign stalled it. Hope they did their testing before getting it actually released.

One can optimistically hope that all the extra time they took to get this to market made it even better! Fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on November 22, 2017, 07:31:34 AM
I just heard back from Doug. He's supposed to get with his Marantz rep next week. He's not sure if he will stock the PMD-706 until he opens one up. I asked about the low max input levels and what he thought and he replied "The overload point for the line in is too low. If it uses the same XLR front end as the 561, that will be easy to fix. As it is most soundboard feeds would be severely distorted. I'll let you know what I think when I get one to check out."
I'll pass along any updates he gives me.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on November 22, 2017, 10:03:32 AM
Excuse my ignorance, but could you just run an attenuater cable between sbd and input of the deck such as Naiant MPD or something similar to drop the dB and avoid distortion?

Would the low input levels be an issue for distorting if you are just running mics into the unit or does this just apply to the soundboard feeds?

On another note, I would like to know if the gain pots are a smooth transition when adjusting gain gradually or if it is digital steps.

Really interested in this unit too.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on November 22, 2017, 12:44:26 PM
Excuse my ignorance, but could you just run an attenuater cable between sbd and input of the deck such as Naiant MPD or something similar to drop the dB and avoid distortion?

Would the low input levels be an issue for distorting if you are just running mics into the unit or does this just apply to the soundboard feeds?

On another note, I would like to know if the gain pots are a smooth transition when adjusting gain gradually or if it is digital steps.

Really interested in this unit too.

Just attenuating the signal would fix the overload, but would also decrease the effective dynamic range, since the noise floor would be increased proportionally.

None of Doug's mods to my knowledge involve adding any resistors to cheat the overload point (same thing attenuators do). Instead, his first step is upgrading the input capacitors.

Input capacitors are used to filter things like DC offset, and to buffer any sudden changes in a circuit's voltage, smoothing out the signal. The input capacitors prevent the sound from deteriorating due to under-voltage, but upgraded input capacitors alone won't actually improve the sound. They support the operational amplifier stage by feeding whatever power is needed for short bursts (transients). It is this first step that contributes to increased headroom that informs the final dynamic range the unit can capture.

Next to be swapped out are the operational amplifiers. These are either Bipolar or FET chips, and are what takes the signal from the input capacitors and steps it up to either line or mic level. The quality of this stage is what determines both the headroom, and noise floor, which produces the resulting dynamic range improvements. Overall a cleaner signal will be the end result.

Bottom line, there is a world of difference between sticking an attenuator in front of a recorder compared to actually rebuilding the XLR inputs and operational amplifier circuits to allow for hotter input signal without overloading the signal before hitting the A/D chip. Just like with the old PMD-660, I think this is going to be one of those recorders that is almost useless to concert tapers unmodified.

Hope this helps!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hi and lo on November 22, 2017, 01:35:53 PM

Input capacitors are used to filter things like DC offset, and to buffer any sudden changes in a circuit's voltage, smoothing out the signal. The input capacitors prevent the sound from deteriorating due to under-voltage, but upgraded input capacitors alone won't actually improve the sound. They support the operational amplifier stage by feeding whatever power is needed for short bursts (transients). It is this first step that contributes to increased headroom that informs the final dynamic range the unit can capture.


Aside from filtering DC Offset, input capacitors do none of these things. These are all functions of the power supply filtering caps, which the audio signal does not pass through.

And generally speaking, using input capacitors is not ideal and there are far better circuit topologies that cheaper, more reliable, and more effective to address the needs of input capacitors. Capacitorless inputs are the preferred input design and although I haven't seen the circuits in question, I would be pretty surprised if they're using input capacitors.

I've said it before here and it's an unpopular opinion, but these modifications are always a bit of snake oil. They might offer some improvements, but rarely, if ever, are measurements provided to quantify them.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on November 22, 2017, 08:29:42 PM
So say Oade gets ahold of a unit and decides it needs to be modded to acceptable standard for another $250. $250 + 300 msrp for $550.  Wouldn’t most just spring the extra $150 to get an SD unit in the mix pre3 at that price point?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on November 22, 2017, 11:19:02 PM
I think that's the practical question.  Once you reach SD price territory, why not buy SD? 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heathen on November 22, 2017, 11:32:12 PM
Well to be fair you'd have to compare with the price of the MP6, right?  If someone is looking at a 6-channel recorder, the MP3 probably won't be in the running.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on November 23, 2017, 09:40:17 AM
I would think most people only need 4 channels if they want mics and a board feed or if mixing two sets of mics. At least that is my situation. Personally anything more than 4 channels becomes work for me and that’s not why I do this.  I just like the form factor better than the Tascam dr70 with Xlrs on both sides and was hoping the marantz unit would sound better without modding them.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dallman on November 23, 2017, 11:43:09 AM
I would think most people only need 4 channels if they want mics and a board feed or if mixing two sets of mics. At least that is my situation. Personally anything more than 4 channels becomes work for me and that’s not why I do this.  I just like the form factor better than the Tascam dr70 with Xlrs on both sides and was hoping the marantz unit would sound better without modding them.
I think everyone is a bit different. I always like to record with 6 mics, for me that's a breeze, but more becomes cumbersome. I like to use a cardioid pair, hypercardioid pair and an omni pair, and then see which I like best. I feel shortchanged with 4 mics but when traveling I often do opt for 4 mics, just because that's less gear and less mics to pack and deal with. I'd use a dr680mkii but travel with a dr701d which is much smaller. Switching to a MIxPre6 recently could change all of that though  :bigsmile:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: waltmon on November 23, 2017, 12:15:28 PM
Just got a new Oade cm mod 661 mk2...anxious to hear it in action...sorry off topic. I love the sound of my MP6...but no digital in etc
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: pohaku on November 23, 2017, 12:41:36 PM
I would think most people only need 4 channels if they want mics and a board feed or if mixing two sets of mics. At least that is my situation. Personally anything more than 4 channels becomes work for me and that’s not why I do this.  I just like the form factor better than the Tascam dr70 with Xlrs on both sides and was hoping the marantz unit would sound better without modding them.
I think everyone is a bit different. I always like to record with 6 mics, for me that's a breeze, but more becomes cumbersome. I like to use a cardioid pair, hypercardioid pair and an omni pair, and then see which I like best. I feel shortchanged with 4 mics but when traveling I often do opt for 4 mics, just because that's less gear and less mics to pack and deal with. I'd use a dr680mkii but travel with a dr701d which is much smaller. Switching to a MIxPre6 recently could change all of that though  :bigsmile:

Six would generally work for me as well.  Board feed if I can get it, and then usually a pair of hypers and a pair of cards (sometimes short guns).  Then pick and choose.  If you use individual cases for your gear (Pelican, etc.), the load does begin to add up though.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on November 23, 2017, 01:43:09 PM
If Doug ends up offering mods for the XLR inputs on the PMD-706, my hope is that his pricing will be in line with his mod for the R44, $175. Even if it ends up costing roughly the same as a Tascam DR701, then it will still be worth it to me if the lock switch doesn't affect the gain controls, that will be enough to tip the scale to the 706 to me. Since time code isn't a feature I care about as much as having to disengage the transport lock to adjust levels. I'm hopeful this unit will allow gain adjustment while lock is on, because that would be a deal breaker for me, mod or no mod.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on November 23, 2017, 01:56:50 PM
Regarding the use of input capacitors, I'm not aware of any portable recorders where phantom power and DC offset are blocked in the mic pre without coupling capacitors. To my knowledge transformers are the only other way to do it, and you have to go to outboard preamps for that design simply due to their size. Maybe there have been some innovations in portable recorders I'm not up on, but I remember John Hardy put out a studio rack mount preamp 30 years ago touting the absence of coupling capacitors, but he used big fat Jensen transformers to do it. I don't stay on top of every new development in audio, so things may be different today but I'm all ears and would love to be brought up to speed if there are new options.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on November 23, 2017, 02:47:44 PM
I think that's the practical question.  Once you reach SD price territory, why not buy SD?

I'm seriously reconsidering my plan to buy an SD Mixpre6 in favor of this deck. The Mixpre6 doesn't seem very user friendly for a hobbyist IMO (overly complicated menus and polywave files) and the powering options leave something to be desired. I could use the large number of USB batteries I already have to power this thing and I like the form factor. The OLED screen on my PMD620 was the easiest to read in the dark screen I've ever used so I'm glad they kept that in this deck.

The Oade modded Marantz decks of the past were some of the best sounding recorders I've ever heard. Who knows? Maybe this thing sounds good straight out of the box. Looking forward to hearing a trial run.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on November 23, 2017, 03:45:15 PM
^ IMO the Mixpre-6 is really easy to use!  It has very intuitive menu structure if you used recorders before. Only issue I've had was the current firmware causing recording issues. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on November 24, 2017, 09:41:50 PM
So if a pro line level XLR out is +4 dBu and the Marantz unit line level in can handle +12 dBu...why are people saying it will distort and not handle a sbd feed?

Also, are AKG481's considered "sensitive mics".  They are -34 dBu sensitivity.  Are they too senstive to use with the mic input naximum of -8 dBu on the low setting (+28 dBu) on the unit.  If so, would a -12 dB inline pad resolve that issue?

Also, for those that have received one already, any first impressions?

Thanks for answering all my questions about this unit!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: noahbickart on November 26, 2017, 11:20:14 PM
Anyone have one of these in hand yet? I'm curious about sound, obviously, but also about ergonomics, battery power, etc.

I suspect we'll see a bunch in the flesh at Phish NYE run....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on November 27, 2017, 10:07:35 AM

I ordered one this morning. It should be here by Friday and I can do a little write up and snap a few comparison pics over the weekend. Not sure when I'll have a chance to run it beyond a home test...not a lot of taping opportunities coming up for me right now.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on November 27, 2017, 11:36:17 AM
I have one. I took it out of the box and fired it up to check out the menu. I can take some pics of it side by side with the 70-D and post them  tomorrow. At first glance the screen seems small and the white on black will take some getting used to. I won't be recording anything until December 8th, AFAIK.

I'll hook it up and let it run with phantom on tomorrow to get an idea on battery life with a USB battery.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: OOK on November 27, 2017, 05:00:19 PM
Looks like the mic gain stage starts at +28db.. that's pretty high for what we do...especially up close... you would need to run some inline pads to knock the signal going in down.... I am curious to see how this plays with our recording environments..

OOK
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on November 29, 2017, 04:24:10 PM

Got mine today and just unpacked it and had a quick look and a test.

First impressions - it's small - pretty much the same size as a Tascam DR70d - the screen is really small but is white on black OLED and easy to read.

It includes a bracket for DSLR mounting, a USB A-micro B cable and a set of 1/4 inch to XLR cables (nice build too).

I plugged it into a cheapo 5V USB battery and it fired right up. Takes 4 AAs as well. I'll have some in there as a backup. Scrolled through the menus to find the phantom power and gain controls.

Found another menu setting for ganging channels in three different groups so it looks like any of the 6 inputs can be assigned to any of the 3 groups.

Gave it a quick run with my Schoeps MK41 > nBob > PFA setup and it did what I expected. It saves a separate 2 channel file for each stereo input and the mix- so 4 wav files total. I hope there is a way to change it so that only files that are actually recorded are saved but probably not.

I'll read the manual, go through all the settings in the menu and report back with battery tests, some comparison pictures and whatnot later this week.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on November 29, 2017, 07:04:20 PM
How is the noise floor and pre amps?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on November 30, 2017, 03:11:09 PM

Got mine today and just unpacked it and had a quick look and a test.


Thanks for the report. I got knocked down by the crud going around here and haven't had much desire to do anything. I did figure out that the gain appears to be smooth and not stepped and you can record just one stereo file and turn off the separate mix channels. I put a blank 32gb card in and it showed a little over 10 hours record time. I turned off the other channels and it jumped back up to 32 hours and change.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on November 30, 2017, 09:28:54 PM
I just hope the delays in releasing this deck were to avoid making beta testers out of the first batch of owners. The frequency and pace of firmware updates in the next few months will reveal how well Marantz managed their quality control.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 03, 2017, 11:14:06 AM
Anymore updates from those that received one already?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 03, 2017, 07:42:05 PM

I'm taking mine out for a show on Friday night so I'll have some info about how it performs in the field this weekend.

Set it up and let it run for several hours recording the TV - two channels with P48, backlight on full, all other channels disabled for more than 5 hours and didn't even use half of a 6000mAh USB battery so it doesn't seem very power hungry. The menus are pretty simple so finding the typical preshow stuff like enabling record channels and setting up the mixdown channel is pretty straightforward, The channel ganging feature is pretty nice. You can assign any channel to a group and control it with the lowest number gain knob from the assigned channels.

The test recordings were nice and clean so I'm optimistic about the preamps. No way to tell how it will perform in a high SPL environment until I get it out at a show. I tried out the low and medium settings. Medium seemed really sensitive even just recording the TV soundbar while watching Netflix.

Been pretty busy but I'll try to post some pictures of it next to the gear I have - an Aerco, a DR60d and a DR2d to get an idea of the size. One thing that's nice about the design is that the back surface is angled like the front so it sort of leans toward you when sitting on the back panel making it easier to see the angled screen. The screen is really small - I have really bad eyesight so I wouldn't be able to read it at all if it were in my bag on the floor and I was standing.


Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: buck99 on December 04, 2017, 02:46:32 PM
I have some questions about the Marantz 706, to help me with comparison to my Tascam DR-60D and DR-70D.

Does the 706 allow pause during recording? (the DR-60D does but the DR-70D doesn't, grrrr)

Does the 706 have a remote control option?  I don't see a port for one or any mention of one.  Both Tascams have a wired remote which I love.

How clean are the 706 preamps?  Please reply with specs and/or head to head comparison.  I can't find EIN data anywhere for the 706.  A head to head against the DR-60D or DR-70D would be very helpful, or even the Olympus LS-100.  The Tascam preamps are OK, the Olympus has a better EIN spec.

Thanks!

Follow up: I called Marantz with these questions, info below: 

Pause while recording: they tested it and said it paused without creating a new file.  Good news to me, can someone confirm this is true?
Remote control: nope, no immediate plans, argh, deal breaker.  Bad news to me.
Preamps: did not know EIN values.  Argh.  I hope someone can report some head to head tests.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 05, 2017, 08:04:31 AM
If you can gang pairs of channels, that is great.  I don't think the 70d does that to my knowledge.

Other than the SD 7 series, I don't think there are any recorders with huge recording displays you can see at your feet.  Marantz probably just put a large enough display on it to satisfy dslr video shooters who are going to put it on a camera tripod at eye level. 

What's your opinion of the black on white display?

Does the marantz have an external gain wheel to control the level out to camera like the 60d or is it like the 70d where you don't have the external gain wheel?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 05, 2017, 10:16:58 PM
Alright here is my first somewhat limited review of this deck

Box includes the deck, a Kingston 8 Gb SD card, a USB cable and a pair of shorty 1/4 inch to XLR female breakout cables - plus a printed copy of the Quick Start guide in several languages.

Booting the deck from a USB battery brings up a screen to select Bus power or storage - clicking the "wheel" to select bus power brings -

The "Home" screen with icons for
Bus power
Playback or record icon
Time of day
Remaining record time on the card
Meter Display - Six channels and the stereo mixdown channel
- each channel shows highlighted if armed and displays the input settings

On the front panel there is a gain knob for each of the 6 inputs plus the transport controls - the transport controls are numbered 1-6 and do double duty when using the menu to shortcut to each channels options. There is also a Menu button and a Slate button. Also the typical flimsy bars on each side to protect the front face controls I guess doing double duty as a place to put a strap.

The left side has XLR/combo inputs for 1/2, a 1/8th inch mini stereo input for 1/2, 1/4 inch TRS inputs for 5/6, the slot for the SD card with a rubber protector and the Camera input and output.

The right side has the power switch - slide down for power on/off, engage up to hold (not a fan of the hold function being part of the power switch but that seems to be the trend), the USB port, XLR/combo inputs for 3/4, the 1/8th inch mini TRS line out and headphone output with a recessed wheel for headphone volume.

The back of the unit has a pretty sturdy flip down door with a locking tab on it for loading the 4 AA batteries.

Lets say you are running six channels - 2 stereo sets of mics and a SBD feed - you could accomplish it a couple of ways but for the sake of discussion you are putting 2 XLRs in the left side of the deck for 1/2 and 2 XLR in the right side for 3/4 and taking a 1/4 stereo pair out of the sbd into the left side of the deck. Four inputs on the left and 2 on the right - if you use stubby XLRs as many of us do you want to make sure the exit angle doesn't impede the use of the controls or jacks located above the inputs.

ALSO NOTE - The TRS inputs 5/6 pass phantom power so be sure to turn off phantom in the menu on these channels if connecting to a soundboard or any other external device!

The Menus -

Clicking the menu button brings up the first of 14 numbered menu pages - I'll just hit the highlights - it's all in the quick start guide.

1 Input -
Gain range - L,M,H,H+
Sel - Line, Mic, External (have to dig in to find out what this is)
Delay - selectable from 1 - 300 ms
Phase - flips 180

2 Mic Power -
Select Phantom power per channel - 48 or 24 V - and plug in power for the 1/2 mini input - didn't test it to see what it provides.

3 Rec Assign -
choose the mode for each channel - assign stereo to groups or mono to each - assign channels to the mix or dual level record settings

4 Level control -
Limiter, auto and Low cut settings - I won't ever use any of these - never have and never will so I can't comment - film guys that are the target of this recorder will probably want to know about the limiter - it seems to have a couple of settings that may be useful to those who want it - you can link it to stereo pairs for example

5 Mixer -
Assign M/S to the mix, level and Pan controls

6 Output
Assign source for the Camera out, Monitor out (you can choose from any individual channel, stereo group, a M/S channel or the Mix)
Line out level
Camera out level

7 Record Setting
Format - BWF 24/16, WAV 24/16,
Sample Rate - 44.1, 48, 96kHz
Encryption

8 Slate settings

9 File
Folder, Name type, reset count

10 Gang control
Three groups to which you can assign any input and control the group with the lowest number input knob in the group. I like this A LOT!
Not just pairs although it could be. You could assign 1,4 and 6 to group One controlled by the gain knob for channel 1 and 2,3 and 5 to group Two controlled by the gain knob for channel 2. Or any combination of the 6 channels split between 3 groups controlled by the lowest number gain knob in the group. To my knowledge this feature is unprecedented in a deck in this price range.

11 Meter setting
Peak hold - hold (keeps the peak indicator on the highest input for the entire recording session, hold, 10 sec, 2 sec, 1 sec or OFF.
Trim Min - if I get this right it sets the minimum of the meters to -40 dB for the MIN setting - the other setting is OFF. Not super useful on the tiny meter display.

12 Media
Browse
Format - gives you a "are you sure" message so that helps those of us who drink when we tape...

13 Power Controls
Battery type
Auto power save
Backlight dimmer
Contrast

14 System
Initialize - restores to out of box settings
Date and time
Date format
Information - takes you to a set of 3 screens displaying all the project and unit info - Project info like format and title - card info like files, size and available space - system info like firmware version and battery capacity

All told I'm pretty impressed with what they packed in this box for the price.

Taking it out for a spin on Friday night to record Dustbowl Revival at a small club down the street from me. Probably run the 706 mic in for the first set and the Aerco line in for the second to get a comparison of the preamps.

To answer the last couple of questions that I can -

Pause - yes you can hit the pause button while recording and it just pauses - hitting the record button again resumes the recording where it left off.
Specs - I don't read too much into specs. What's a few dB of noise when you are talking in the -120 range?

Display - the display is white on black not the other way around. I like it. I had a Marantz 620 with a similar scheme and it was really easy to read in the dark. I have bad eyesight and it really helps. The size of some of the info on the screen is so small as to be almost useless. The record time remaining number would be a similar size as a 6 point font in a .doc. Luckily the running record time is twice as big.

Camera output gain - it is controlled in the menu settings on page 6 under Output controls. One of my favorite features of the DR60d is the separate wheels to control line out, camera out and headphone out but to be honest once I found the sweet spot I never adjusted it again. The trend seems to be software controls to save space instead of physical switches.


EDIT - potentially inflammatory language removed
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: buck99 on December 06, 2017, 11:10:29 AM
Goodcooker, thanks for all the info!

Thanks also for confirming the pause while recording works.  I've requested this function for the Tascam DR-70D and they refuse to add it in a firmware update.  So silly bc the DR-60D does allow for pause while recording.  Marantz beats Tascam on this little function.

I'll try to say this as kindly as I can, but you should rethink this statement,
"What's a few dB of noise when you are talking in the -120 range? You can't hear it and neither can I. I have a DR60d and I find the preamps to be perfectly adequate" 

Why project your preferences and uses onto me?  You don't know what I can hear and you don't know my audio needs.  I don't want "adequate."  I do very specialized recordings at high gain with low self-noise mics in a noise-buffered room, I can easily hear the difference between my DR-60D (-120) and my Olympus LS-100 (-124), and I can hear it in my recordings. 

Can you agree that telling someone else what gear/specs will work for them when you don't know what they are doing may not be received well?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 06, 2017, 11:14:44 AM
Ooh ooh this thread is gettin’ good  :banging head:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on December 06, 2017, 11:24:34 AM

Why project your preferences and uses onto me?  You don't know what I can hear and you don't know my audio needs.  I don't want "adequate."  I do very specialized recordings at high gain with low self-noise mics in a noise-buffered room, I can easily hear the difference between my DR-60D (-120) and my Olympus LS-100 (-124), and I can hear it in my recordings. 

Can you agree that telling someone else what gear/specs will work for them when you don't know what they are doing may not be received well?

I'll try to say this as kindly as I can. If you are doing specialized recordings at high gain in a noise-buffered room, you should maybe drop more than $300 on a recording device.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heathen on December 06, 2017, 11:58:00 AM
Why project your preferences and uses onto me?  You don't know what I can hear and you don't know my audio needs.  I don't want "adequate."  I do very specialized recordings at high gain with low self-noise mics in a noise-buffered room, I can easily hear the difference between my DR-60D (-120) and my Olympus LS-100 (-124), and I can hear it in my recordings. 
I think some people on here (myself included) are looking at gear from the perspective of someone recording a loud concert, often through a PA system, in the audience.  Speaking for myself, at least, most of the time that I comment about something on here I'll only be looking at it from that perspective, though I usually don't say so.  I don't want to put words in his mouth, but that may be what's going on here.

I wouldn't take it too personally.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 06, 2017, 12:20:33 PM
If you are recording mosquito farts in an anechoic chamber I recommend that you buy a Sound Devices MixPre or 788. This Marantz recorder is aimed at and marketed towards amateur DSLR film recordists...not specialists.

Don't take it so personal. This is an internet message board geared towards live music recording. For the majority of people here a few dB of self noise is not going to matter.

The good news is that it's cheap enough that if you buy one and it doesn't work out for you it would be easy to resell it and only take a bit of a loss to recoup your minimal initial investment.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 06, 2017, 05:07:48 PM
So Marantz finally did away with the famous "Presets" in the Menu options?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: yug du nord on December 06, 2017, 07:23:09 PM
^If so, that's too bad.....  I really dig the "presets" menu on the 661.  Makes it really easy to change input sources..
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 07, 2017, 06:19:16 AM
So Marantz finally did away with the famous "Presets" in the Menu options?

^If so, that's too bad.....  I really dig the "presets" menu on the 661. Makes it really easy to change input sources..
^
Agreed!!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 07, 2017, 12:03:47 PM
^If so, that's too bad.....  I really dig the "presets" menu on the 661.  Makes it really easy to change input sources..

I'm old and decrepit.  I can never remember which Preset I had it set to.  LOL
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 07, 2017, 02:35:31 PM
I like the presets in the 661 because if you roll into a show and planned to run analog line in, and have to switch to digital in, you just have to select the preset. Easy.

Even easier changing between XLR MIC in and XLR LINE in. Just move the switch on the back and you're set.

Only downside I see to either of these situations, if I'm switching to digital and setup for 24/48 and find the source is 24/96, I have to go back into the preset and fix it. Also, when going from LINE in to MIC in, I almost always dial back the sensitivity of the deck to -18 before I will start to roll.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 07, 2017, 04:02:10 PM
I like the presets in the 661 because if you roll into a show and planned to run analog line in, and have to switch to digital in, you just have to select the preset. Easy.

Even easier changing between XLR MIC in and XLR LINE in. Just move the switch on the back and you're set.

Only downside I see to either of these situations, if I'm switching to digital and setup for 24/48 and find the source is 24/96, I have to go back into the preset and fix it. Also, when going from LINE in to MIC in, I almost always dial back the sensitivity of the deck to -18 before I will start to roll.

I have a 661.  Can the Presets on the 661 be renamed to "Line In", "Mic In", instead of "Preset1", "Preset2"?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 07, 2017, 06:18:49 PM
Sound source >mics >mic position>

Having said that, I'd be interested in a comparison of the 706 to the 60d or 70d recording quality.  If it's on the same level, the ganged controls, display and extra channels may tip things towards the 706.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: audBall on December 07, 2017, 06:29:51 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: caymanreview on December 07, 2017, 07:01:18 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?

i think everyone is waiting on Doug to get one and tear it apart and see if he can rectify it correctly without attenuators in the signal path
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 07, 2017, 09:24:40 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
where do you see "minimum"?
I read it as that's how much gain you can get out of it on "low"


Maybe I missed it, but did anyone test if you can change setting WHILE recording?
For example, if I am recording and the gain is set to low/high, can you continue to record while going into the menu and changing it?
Same applies to camera out.
On the d60 you can go into the menu and change while recording and it has the wheel for camera out, which I like
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 07, 2017, 09:50:43 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
where do you see "minimum"?
I read it as that's how much gain you can get out of it on "low"


Maybe I missed it, but did anyone test if you can change setting WHILE recording?
For example, if I am recording and the gain is set to low/high, can you continue to record while going into the menu and changing it?
Same applies to camera out.
On the d60 you can go into the menu and change while recording and it has the wheel for camera out, which I like

If it is setup anything like the tascam dr70d then the +28db is the lowest gain starting point in the "low" setting and can be ramped up from there.  so yes, I'm assuming attenuators would be needed for rock shows.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 07, 2017, 10:02:36 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
where do you see "minimum"?
I read it as that's how much gain you can get out of it on "low"


Maybe I missed it, but did anyone test if you can change setting WHILE recording?
For example, if I am recording and the gain is set to low/high, can you continue to record while going into the menu and changing it?
Same applies to camera out.
On the d60 you can go into the menu and change while recording and it has the wheel for camera out, which I like

If it is setup anything like the tascam dr70d then the +28db is the lowest gain starting point in the "low" setting and can be ramped up from there.  so yes, I'm assuming attenuators would be needed for rock shows.
hmm the 60 is the highest at each
Do you need attenuation with the 70?? The spec for low on the 70 say 21db, that seems high too
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 07, 2017, 10:10:54 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
where do you see "minimum"?
I read it as that's how much gain you can get out of it on "low"


Maybe I missed it, but did anyone test if you can change setting WHILE recording?
For example, if I am recording and the gain is set to low/high, can you continue to record while going into the menu and changing it?
Same applies to camera out.
On the d60 you can go into the menu and change while recording and it has the wheel for camera out, which I like

If it is setup anything like the tascam dr70d then the +28db is the lowest gain starting point in the "low" setting and can be ramped up from there.  so yes, I'm assuming attenuators would be needed for rock shows.
hmm the 60 is the highest at each
Do you need attenuation with the 70?? The spec for low on the 70 say 21db, that seems high too

The low setting on the dr70d is +11dB and ramps up from there.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 07, 2017, 10:18:02 PM
So, are people just planning on carrying around attenuators with the minimum 28dB gain setting? Or did I read the specs too quickly?
where do you see "minimum"?
I read it as that's how much gain you can get out of it on "low"


Maybe I missed it, but did anyone test if you can change setting WHILE recording?
For example, if I am recording and the gain is set to low/high, can you continue to record while going into the menu and changing it?
Same applies to camera out.
On the d60 you can go into the menu and change while recording and it has the wheel for camera out, which I like

If it is setup anything like the tascam dr70d then the +28db is the lowest gain starting point in the "low" setting and can be ramped up from there.  so yes, I'm assuming attenuators would be needed for rock shows.
hmm the 60 is the highest at each
Do you need attenuation with the 70?? The spec for low on the 70 say 21db, that seems high too

The low setting on the dr70d is +11dB and ramps up from there.
ok, the 60 "low" goes up to +11db
Bottom line, I guess we need one in hand to see if the number listed is min or max at each level
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 07, 2017, 11:25:41 PM
Ah crap I believe I am mistaken. Not sure what I was thinking after looking at dr70d faq.

The thing holding me back is the line input max on the marantz unit and everyone keeps saying the screen is so small.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 08, 2017, 07:35:27 AM
Doug told me based on the specs that the stock line-in max level is too low and will overload with hot SBD feeds. Maybe if you take RCA outs you'll be ok, but +4 balanced line outs are what I usually go for from SBDs. Still waiting for his assessment on upgrade potential and I'll pass along any updates he sends me.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 08, 2017, 09:04:59 AM
Doug told me based on the specs that the stock line-in max level is too low and will overload with hot SBD feeds. Maybe if you take RCA outs you'll be ok, but +4 balanced line outs are what I usually go for from SBDs. Still waiting for his assessment on upgrade potential and I'll pass along any updates he sends me.
this seems to be an issue over and over with Marantz, no?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 08, 2017, 09:47:17 AM
Doug told me based on the specs that the stock line-in max level is too low and will overload with hot SBD feeds. Maybe if you take RCA outs you'll be ok, but +4 balanced line outs are what I usually go for from SBDs. Still waiting for his assessment on upgrade potential and I'll pass along any updates he sends me.

^
Thanks DATBRAD!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 08, 2017, 09:54:22 AM
Just curious, if you run line in from external pres does that bypass the marantz unit pres? Someone told me that is what they thought and I thought I should ask here to clarify.

Thx
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 08, 2017, 02:21:09 PM
I'm thinking line in is not a separate circuit, just different gain structure. I'm deducing this because of the lack of a physical switch like the 661.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on December 08, 2017, 03:41:07 PM
I'll be taping a solo acoustic (no PA) artist tonight with mics directly in front of him. I'm may run the first set at low gain and adjust as necessary for the second set. Should be a  good test for how quiet the 706 is w/o an external pre.

I'll probably run a pair of split CA-14 omnis to the DR-22WL for a backup.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 08, 2017, 07:40:18 PM
I'll be taping a solo acoustic (no PA) artist tonight with mics directly in front of him. I'm may run the first set at low gain and adjust as necessary for the second set. Should be a  good test for how quiet the 706 is w/o an external pre.

I'll probably run a pair of split CA-14 omnis to the DR-22WL for a backup.

I'm heading out in few hours to tape Dustbowl Revival. Will run the first set with MK41 PFA straight in to the 706 then the second set with the Aerco line in. If they only play one set then I'm not sure what I'll do.

EDIT - They played one set and I ran the mk41s PFA into 1/2 Low gain, Mic in. The knob was a bout 12 oclock and I was peaking at -18 dB. Small club with a good PA that the FOH mixes from a tablet in the crowd and doesn't run things way loud. First listen - sounds great. I'll post some samples to my Soundcloud today. The band was great!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 09, 2017, 01:12:57 PM

Here's a couple of tracks from last night's show. MK41PFA mic in low gain clamped at about 7 feet high around 20 feet from the stage. Only added gain to the files and balanced channels to fix 1 dB difference.

https://soundcloud.com/roger-cox-7/sets/dustbowl-revival-2017-12-08 (https://soundcloud.com/roger-cox-7/sets/dustbowl-revival-2017-12-08)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 09, 2017, 06:19:16 PM
Enjoyed listening.  I could listen to them more.  http://www.dustbowlrevival.com
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on December 14, 2017, 03:18:04 AM
Not familiar with venue and/or style, but the recording seems to be good.
What is your own opinion about the pmd706 wrt. preamps and AD compared to a previous recorder?
Interesting little machine.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Jamos on December 14, 2017, 01:55:20 PM
Could anyone who owns one of these post up some photos?
Many thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 15, 2017, 03:11:06 PM

Here is a the encore from first outing with the 706. The band started playing "Down by the Riverside" and all marched down off the stage and into the small crowd to circle up and perform the encore unamplified.

You can hear a bit of a low end clunk when I lowered my mics down to just over six feet to get just over the heads of the band members who settled in a circle right in front of me and my clamp setup.

I had been running MIC IN on 1/2 at LOW gain and decided not to risk changing anything on the fly my first time out with the deck so in Wavelab6 I added considerable gain to both tracks.

Track one the trombone, trumpet and fiddle were within a few feet of the mics so I added around 20 dB to peak at -.1 dB. It sounds kind of unbalanced since the singers were 10 feet or more away from the mics than the horns and fiddle.

The second tune was a VERY quiet gospel tune so I added 40 dB to get it up to listenable levels - but this created some nasty peaks so I ran Waves L3 on it to hard limit the peaks at -.1dB. L3 is pretty transparent when you aren't using it to add any compression or make up gain so I don't think it changed the tone of the original recording much, if at all. The mandolin player and female singer were 12- 15 feet away from the mics.

https://soundcloud.com/roger-cox-7/sets/dustboel-revival-encore (https://soundcloud.com/roger-cox-7/sets/dustboel-revival-encore)

I have some free time today so I can snap a few comparison pics as promised.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 15, 2017, 09:47:36 PM
Quick and dirty but here are some pics with the PMD706 compared to an Aerco MP2, Tascam DR60d and a Tascam DR2d.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 15, 2017, 10:32:27 PM
Quick and dirty but here are some pics with the PMD706 compared to an Aerco MP2, Tascam DR60d and a Tascam DR2d.
thanks

How do you feel the screen compares to the 60d, both in size and readability?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 15, 2017, 11:49:05 PM
Quick and dirty but here are some pics with the PMD706 compared to an Aerco MP2, Tascam DR60d and a Tascam DR2d.
thanks

How do you feel the screen compares to the 60d, both in size and readability?

Similar in size but has vertical meters for 8 channels so it's crowded. It's white on black so I think it's a lot easier to see in the dark than the black on yellow Tascam screen.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 21, 2017, 11:21:52 AM
UPDATE:
I just heard back from Doug with very positive news about this deck and it's upgrade potential. I'm planning to post a quote with the relevant details from the email he sent me last night, but I asked his permission to do that as a courtesy and I'm just waiting for him to reply back. I'll just say for now based on his assessment that I'm signing up for the first one off the line.

More to come.....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: audBall on December 21, 2017, 11:26:46 AM
I'm interested to know what the dynamic range of the unit is. It's posted for the 561/661s.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 21, 2017, 11:55:40 AM
It’s a shame that Marantz wasn’t able to provide a recorder that works well out of the box. With so many similar boxes on the market you think they would have done their research about such things before releasing. I’m sticking with the Tascam I guess????.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 21, 2017, 01:38:39 PM
Brad,
The stock unit uses chips that don't measure or sound as good as the 661 & MKII preamp chips. They do this to extend runtime. The good news is they did not use the mic preamp design of the 561 & 661MKIII. The 706 has a very good analog power supply section and mic preamp circuit design, better than the 661 & MKII. The 706, like most new 24 bit recorders, uses a 32 bit ADC so the upgrade will be impressive. It seems well made, especially at that price point.  I'll be able to raise the line level input overload point so it can take a hot feed from a soundboard. I'll also raise the input overload point in the mic preamps. I'll hope to be offering both a Concert MOD and Warm MOD for the XLR mic and XLR line level inputs. I also plan to offer a Warm on 1&2 and a Concert on 3&4. The new chips I'm auditioning sound impressive.  At this point I'm not sure the analog power supply has enough current capacity to allow for the upgrade of 6 channels so I'm currently planing on only doing the XLR inputs but that will improve both mic and line levels. The 1/4" TRS inputs will have their input overload point raised. If  you plug a TS 1/4" plug into a 1/4" TRS jack, it becomes unbalanced and the sensitivity drops by 6 db which allows for an even hotter input signal. For those interested, I'll also be offering a Super MOD and FET MOD for videographers and researchers.  I anticipate this will sell for 399.00 plus shipping.

http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/PMD-706.html

thanks...Doug
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 21, 2017, 06:10:48 PM
  ^  That's fantastic news, Brad!  Put me down for one.  Thanks for reaching out to Doug.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on December 21, 2017, 09:57:55 PM
I'm not big on buying things that need upgrades to work but for $100 you can't beat it
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on December 22, 2017, 03:21:18 AM
Would be interesting to learn which ADC chip is in the 706.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 22, 2017, 11:42:35 AM
I'm not big on buying things that need upgrades to work but for $100 you can't beat it

^
I'm pretty sure that the ~$399 price quote from Doug is for the 4 channel mods and does not include the purchase of the recorder.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 22, 2017, 12:15:43 PM
Update to my update:

Got this message from Doug last night:

"If the 706 proves capable, I'll use a neutral sounding op amp for the TRS as it's most likely to be used for a board feed. The stock chip, SGM8272, has a dynamic range of only 80dB. That sucks !"

If this additional option proves workable, I've asked Doug to go Warm Mod using FETs for channels 1 & 2, Concert Mod for 3 &4, and whatever neutral op amp chips he ends up selecting for the TRS inputs on 5 & 6. That way I can still run 2 pairs of mics into the XLRs with a SBD feed going into the 1/4" inputs that can accept either a balanced or unbalanced feed.

I guess my unit will end up being a Guinee pig for these upgrades, but I'm certain the final result will be well worth it. This is probably going to be the last portable recorder I'll ever buy and after almost 34 years of taping and gear purchases along the way, I can't think of any other deck I'd rather have in this position.

Merry Christmas!!!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 22, 2017, 12:31:03 PM
I'm not big on buying things that need upgrades to work but for $100 you can't beat it

^
I'm pretty sure that the ~$399 price quote from Doug is for the 4 channel mods and does not include the purchase of the recorder.

I don't think so. I think Doug means $399 total, plus shipping, for a unit with upgrades on the 4 XLR channels. Doug has always told me that a large chunk of the labor involved with upgrades is to disassemble and reassemble the deck properly. I think it's similar to the additional service work that is always recommended to be done to a car when the timing belt has to be replaced, because of the labor involved to strip down the engine to get to it makes it economically a no-brainer to go ahead and take care of anything else in that deep at the same time. It probably only takes a little bit longer to modify 4 channels compared to only modifying 2 channels, but the same labor is required to get access to do it.

I expect it could be a little more expensive for a unit with all 6 channels upgraded if the options for the TRS he told me about last night prove doable, but I definiately don't think Doug means $399 on top of a $299 stock price. That just doesn't make good business sense to me, but I may be wrong. I'll ask him during our next exchange to clarify this.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 22, 2017, 07:32:31 PM
Hey Brad,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only difference between a "Warm mod" and a "Concert mod" is the warmth?  Therefore, a "Warm mod" is a "Concert mod" also.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: yug du nord on December 23, 2017, 02:31:25 AM
^At least with all of the other Oade modded units, a Concert MOD is transparent..  and a Warm MOD is warm colored (tube-ishly fatter).
Both are suited for concert recording if that is what you are asking.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on December 23, 2017, 05:15:55 AM
^At least with all of the other Oade modded units, a Concert MOD is transparent..  and a Warm MOD is warm colored (tube-ishly fatter).
Both are suited for concert recording if that is what you are asking.

Yes, exactly.  Thank you for confirming.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 23, 2017, 09:32:28 AM
I'm not big on buying things that need upgrades to work but for $100 you can't beat it

^
I'm pretty sure that the ~$399 price quote from Doug is for the 4 channel mods and does not include the purchase of the recorder.

I don't think so. I think Doug means $399 total, plus shipping, for a unit with upgrades on the 4 XLR channels. Doug has always told me that a large chunk of the labor involved with upgrades is to disassemble and reassemble the deck properly. I think it's similar to the additional service work that is always recommended to be done to a car when the timing belt has to be replaced, because of the labor involved to strip down the engine to get to it makes it economically a no-brainer to go ahead and take care of anything else in that deep at the same time. It probably only takes a little bit longer to modify 4 channels compared to only modifying 2 channels, but the same labor is required to get access to do it.

I expect it could be a little more expensive for a unit with all 6 channels upgraded if the options for the TRS he told me about last night prove doable, but I definiately don't think Doug means $399 on top of a $299 stock price. That just doesn't make good business sense to me, but I may be wrong. I'll ask him during our next exchange to clarify this.

^
Thanks for checking on the pricing!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 23, 2017, 10:30:20 AM
$399 on top of $299 wouldn't be attractive, IMO. 

The warm vs. concert aspect doesn't make that much sense to me because you can always add flavor to taste in processing.

I'd be more interested in whether the modifications help tame digital harshness that you sometimes hear in situations like when you record a piano with nothing else.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 23, 2017, 10:42:13 AM
I think  I'll run my stock deck a few more times before I would consider getting it modded. I think the comment about getting it modified to "work" is inaccurate. This deck works just fine so far right out of the box and sounds good in my first few tests. Of course there is always room for improvement I haven't tried taking a hot sbd feed yet so only time will tell. Using the dual function may avoid a total failure and that's how I'll probably run it on NYE.

Sometimes Doug's mods disable some functions. Can someone who is talking to him about this deck ask him if all stock features and functions remain intact after modifying it?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 23, 2017, 04:05:10 PM
$399 on top of $299 wouldn't be attractive, IMO. 

The warm vs. concert aspect doesn't make that much sense to me because you can always add flavor to taste in processing.

I'd be more interested in whether the modifications help tame digital harshness that you sometimes hear in situations like when you record a piano with nothing else.

Here is answer to the $399 4 XLR channel upgrade question:

"Hi Brad, no, that's for the deck with the upgrade installed.
thanks....Doug"

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 23, 2017, 05:38:05 PM
^
Wow.  That sounds like a bargain!!

 :coolguy:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on December 24, 2017, 05:26:12 AM
Though intrigued by these mods, how about the soundquality for (classical) concert recording?
How are the micpres? How is the ADC?
Compared to? ie. Tascams, FostexFR2le, etc.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 24, 2017, 08:15:06 AM
^exactly.  Voltronic's assessment of his 70d mod, for example, was it made his piano recording sound more pleasant.  http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=174046.msg2154688#msg2154688. When I listed to his test recording, his mod seemed to have improved smoothness and a more natural piano sound.




Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on December 24, 2017, 10:54:43 PM
Hey Brad,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only difference between a "Warm mod" and a "Concert mod" is the warmth?  Therefore, a "Warm mod" is a "Concert mod" also.

Yes, both the concert and warm mods optimize recorders for the kind of high sound pressure recording concert tapers primary do. The headroom provided by the stock analog inputs is too low for taping very loud sources, but they are just fine for the type of recording the target customers, dslr users, would encounter 99% of the time.

In the Concert Mod, the opamps are upgraded and are still using bipolar transistors, but are better chips with lower noise and higher overload points. The Warm Mod produces the same headroom extension, but use FETs which are warmer in tone. The preamps in recorders and mixing desks during the 1980's and earlier used transformers and the first transistors considered viable replacements for tubes were FETs. Because of this, many tapers using older microphone models from that period find that FET driven preamps are a better match with these older designs.

The Concert Mod uses bipolar transistors with more headroom and lower noise, but are transparent like the stock chips, which makes them a better match with certain mics than the Warm Mod.

Doug also does a FET and Super Mod for ambient sound recording that does not increase the headroom as much, but are even lower in noise and THD.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on December 28, 2017, 03:33:07 AM
Gave it a quick run with my Schoeps MK41 > nBob > PFA setup and it did what I expected. It saves a separate 2 channel file for each stereo input and the mix- so 4 wav files total. I hope there is a way to change it so that only files that are actually recorded are saved but probably not.

No option to do a single BWF file per recording (no matter how many tracks)?

Seems like the Zoom F4 is the only low end recorder that can do this.

If you are recording mosquito farts in an anechoic chamber I recommend that you buy a Sound Devices MixPre or 788. This Marantz recorder is aimed at and marketed towards amateur DSLR film recordists...not specialists.

Even amateur film recordists need quiet pre amps so they can capture whispered dialogue with a boom at a sub optimal position (as amateur boom ops, and even semi pros, are not the greatest at riding the edge of the frame with their boom).
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on December 28, 2017, 09:20:02 AM
^  The majority of people here aren't using their recorders for working on films, but for concert taping!!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Jamos on December 28, 2017, 05:14:57 PM
I think their point was (and correct me if I'm wrong) that even the Marantz recorder, that's aimed at amateur film/DSLR type applications, could really benefit from quiet preamps.  Almost moreso for these folks than people recording concerts, where it is usually far less quiet (not always, but often).

It's too bad Marantz didn't include high-end components right out of the box, but very cool that Doug Oade will do the proper upgrades.  For an extra $100, that seems like a great deal. 
We've still got an Oade Super Mod Marantz 661 that makes great recordings.



^  The majority of people here aren't using their recorders for working on films, but for concert taping!!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 29, 2017, 11:54:42 AM
Everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of this deck not being good enough to use as is. I don't get it. I've made the only recording that I've seen surface with this deck and it seems totally adequate to me. Pure speculation about modification being necessary to use it for most of our intended purposes.

It may be time to split this thread into two different ones like was done in the early Tascam DR70 threads where the modification discussion (and whether or not it was even necessary) was broken out from discussion about how to use the recorder and it's functions.

Don't get me wrong - if Oade can put much better preamps in it for a decent price I may get it modified - but I think it's unfair to people who may come looking here for info about this recorder that people who haven't had one in hand are claiming that it's unusable as is. That's just not true.

I respect Doug and his contributions to our little corner of the world- but let's be honest - he doesn't back up his claims with any real data and he never has - and in field anecdotal experience is still very scarce. Unfortunately info from Marantz themselves is a little lacking as well.

All that being said I get a chance to run the deck on NYE so I may try to mix it up and switch from internal preamps to Aerco mid set on one of the openers to get an unscientific comparison.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Cheesecadet on December 29, 2017, 12:49:31 PM
I would like someone to just take a board feed and see how it fares. Running mics into it shouldn’t be an issue.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Jamos on December 29, 2017, 02:14:57 PM
I didn't mean to make it seem like the deck is not adequate as-is.  I have no real world experience with it.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on December 29, 2017, 03:39:14 PM
@goodcooker: I agree, hence my question about the micpres and AD.
Let's (first) find out how it is 'stock/as-is'. Details, specs, internals, comparisons.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 31, 2017, 12:42:51 PM

Taking out the deck for Split Lip Rayfield show tonight. May be able to get a patch to see how this thing acts with an XLR pro level SBD output. I'll try to figure out how to set up the SBD tracks with the dual safety track feature.

Last time I was at this club (many years ago) my taping partner at the time Steve Propp RIP just walked up to the board before the show when no one was around and plugged in. I was like "Steve you can't just patch the board without asking someone first!". He shrugged it off. Then he couldn't figure out how to get the patch through his outputs to get it to me so we had to plug it into my R4 and then send the digital out to him. It was like the blind leading the naked...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on December 31, 2017, 02:14:00 PM
My experience has been that making a piano recording and careful listening will expose whether a deck is good or not.  There is so much going on in a band recording that it can be harder to hear how a deck is performing.  But ....record what you have the opportunity to record and then listen to the results. 

Not too long ago, people would have jumped at the opportunity to get 6 channels from marantz at this price point in this form factor, IMO. 



Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 01, 2018, 09:25:44 PM

So good news and bad news from last nights outing.

3 bands on the bill. I took an XLR matrix out from the Digidesign Venue console. Ran MK41>nBobs>PFA into 1/2 (mic in low gain) with phantom on. SBD feed via XLR into 3/4 (line in low gain) ganged both stereo pairs and ran the knobs at 12 o'clock. Bluegrass first and got very conservative levels. Much louder blues band second and got more aggressive levels and the peak light one time. Routed the 3/4 SBD channels to the camera output and fed the signal to my video camera.

For the headliner Split Lip Rayfield the club got extremely crowded, even though it was already a zoo, and everyone was hammered. We were situated so we were kind of out of the way but had to run block all night and be on point about it. A kind neighbor helped keep the bogeys coming from the front steered the right direction. Everything was humming along just fine and towards the end of the show I look down and the deck was dark - nothing.

I was running the deck from an Anker hi capacity battery and had fresh AAs in as well. We were getting knocked around pretty hard so I guess at some point the battery cable got knocked loose and I was running on the AAs until they died. Didn't sweat it all that much - I was having a great time seeing one of my favorite bands and enjoying my first NYE with my girl.

So the bad news - there are no files whatsoever from when the deck lost power. I was about 1.5 hours into a smoking, hometown headliner NYE show and I walked with nada. The files are not on the card. Before I go jumping to conclusions and ripping into Marantz I'm going to do some tests at home and see if the same thing happens when I pull the plug or let it run out on the AAs. Also will contact Marantz support to find out if there is a way to recover the files - I'm positive that it had to write that data to the card and just didn't close the file header with a proper shutdown and save. I expected to see a file with 0 bytes like when other decks I had ran out of juice.

Bummer since the other two sets sound pretty damn good.

I'm relieved to know that the line in can handle a pro level line out.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: rocksuitcase on January 02, 2018, 09:43:46 AM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ contact Marantz, they might have an idea. I had my PM-661 shut down improperly at Greyfox 2016 for Mark O'Connor duo and could not recover and have never recovered the file, although there was a file on the card showing zero bytes as you mention.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 02, 2018, 10:30:25 AM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ contact Marantz, they might have an idea. I had my PM-661 shut down improperly at Greyfox 2016 for Mark O'Connor duo and could not recover and have never recovered the file, although there was a file on the card showing zero bytes as you mention.

Talked to someone at Marantz Pro on the phone today. They were as surprised as I was that there were no files on the card. He took down all my info and said he would try to recreate the problem.

The good news I guess is that I ran an hour of subpar video (the 100 year old wooden floor was bouncing pretty good making the stand sway and I had my cam up on the stand trying to get over peoples heads)  and routed the SBD feed to the camera from the deck so at least there is something. :banging head:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on January 04, 2018, 08:50:04 AM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ contact Marantz, they might have an idea. I had my PM-661 shut down improperly at Greyfox 2016 for Mark O'Connor duo and could not recover and have never recovered the file, although there was a file on the card showing zero bytes as you mention.

Talked to someone at Marantz Pro on the phone today. They were as surprised as I was that there were no files on the card. He took down all my info and said he would try to recreate the problem.

The good news I guess is that I ran an hour of subpar video (the 100 year old wooden floor was bouncing pretty good making the stand sway and I had my cam up on the stand trying to get over peoples heads)  and routed the SBD feed to the camera from the deck so at least there is something. :banging head:
thanks for the effort and report, something is better than nothing for sure.

If you ever have a chance they try again, can you also try and do a sbd into the 5/6 TRS?
Personally that's what I would like to hear since Doug mentioned it's not very good at like 80db or something

I'm prob not the typically set up user though.
I would often times run my tb > 1/2 mini as well as use the 5/6 TRS where I think most would use the XLRs more for sure.
I would use the camera out a lotttttt compared to most as well.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on January 04, 2018, 02:30:43 PM
I'd be interested in whether the 706 is actually supposed to save the files as it records or if the files are just lost if power is lost before normal shutdown. 

From a video standpoint, you might look at a gimbal stabilizer for situations where the wookies are making your video jump all over.  The prices have been dropping and the performance has been going up.  The Zhiyun Smooth Q was selling for $99 recently and works with smartphones and gopro size cameras.  It also has a decent size battery built into the handle that could be used to power either a camera or recorder that uses cell phone voltage.    They also make a Crane V2 for DSLR size cameras that has been about $450 on sale recently.  I think the prices will continue to come down or watch for them to go on sale if this is something of interest to anyone shooting video.  You can also use a smartphone app to make your camera tilt and pan.  There are lots of positive youtube reviews.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 16, 2018, 12:56:49 PM
Waited for a week and hadn't heard back from Marantz Pro so I gave them another call. Talked to a different rep and he informed me that a file had been started on my issue and they were going to try and recreate the problem to see if it's my individual deck or the ones they have as well.

Next day I get a call from the first rep I spoke to and he told me their decks did the same thing and " that's how this deck works - if it loses power it will not save the file in progress ".

???

There are a couple of things that don't add up - I was 80+ minutes into a 4 channel recording when the deck lost power so where did the info - the 2 ~1.5Gb stereo wavs that had been written to the card go?
Other decks have a file with an incomplete header if this happens (including other Marantz decks) and you can recover the file by writing a new header - I've done it just by opening the file in CD Wave Editor and saving as direct wav which affixes a fresh header to the file and off you go.

The rep claimed that nothing had been written to the card since the file wasn't saved properly - that doesn't jive - when you stop a recording on the 706 a window appears that says "SAVING" for maybe 2 seconds then the deck returns to the record screen and is ready to start a new file. It's physically impossible for the deck to write the whole file to the card in a 2 second burst when you stop recording. That info is on that card! Support just can't explain where or how to recover it.

I got an email from the support department after my ticket had been opened so I will pursue the idea that this is a big problem for end users who operate in the field and face power disruptions regularly. I left a review on the B and H site where I bought the thing letting prospective buyers know about the bug.

Hopefully they will actually do something about it.

I plan to continue to use it because to be honest I like everything about it - except that my NYE headliner show went up in smoke - I'll just find a more robust probably right angle USB plug and will keep a better eye on the battery indicator from now on...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: larrysellers on January 16, 2018, 12:59:23 PM
Did you run chkdsk on the card (if you're on Windows)? It may be able to find your lost files.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 16, 2018, 01:04:59 PM
Did you run chkdsk on the card (if you're on Windows)? It may be able to find your lost files.

Not yet - I wanted to give Marantz a chance to figure it out and if they needed me to send them the card I didn't want to have done anything with it.

Now that they have said their piece I will start digging into the card to see if I can find the files. I know they are there - no way does a recorder run for an hour and a half recording 2 stereo 24 bit files and not write anything to the media...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on January 16, 2018, 04:09:20 PM
Curious if the CGSecurity 'testdisk' tool would find anything?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 23, 2018, 10:06:48 AM

No luck recovering my lost files but at least this is encouraging - got an email from B and H related to the following review that I left on the Marantz 706 product page.

Here's the review -

Lots of features for the price - and a big glitch  4 stars out of 5

I use this machine for recording music in the field. First impressions - nice feature set, good in/out options, adequate build quality, easy to power, preamps sound good.

Now for the bad news - if you lose power (in my case the USB connection for the external battery came loose and it drained the AAs I had in for a backup) the file in progress will vanish. No recoverable data on the card. No file with a 0byte incomplete header like just about every other recorder on the market. Nothing.

I contacted Marantz Professional support after my incident in hopes to recover the 1h:20m of the concert I had been recording and was told quote - "that's the way it works - lose power lose files". Tested at home under same conditions and same results. No files.

Hopefully this can be fixed with a firmware update.

Otherwise make sure you have a good fit for the USB cable for your external battery (I was using the supplied cable but not anymore) and fresh AAs in addition to checking the battery icon (it will show which power source - USB disconnect automatically defaults to internal batteries) to ensure you have plenty of power.



And the email from the B and H Product Review Team -

The B&H Product Review Team took notice of your recent review describing the issues you experienced with the Marantz Professional 6-Channel DSLR Recorder with up to 96 kHz/24-Bit Resolution (Review # 99253217) and brought it to the attention of Marantz. Like B&H Photo, the overwhelming majority of our suppliers truly care about customer satisfaction with their products. To this end, Marantz has asked me to reach out to you, as they would like to let you know that they will have a firmware update soon to correct the auto-save feature.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: larrysellers on January 23, 2018, 10:46:36 AM
If you want to send me the card, I can try to recover them.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on January 23, 2018, 01:43:56 PM
If you want to send me the card, I can try to recover them.

Thanks but I already formatted it. It was an incomplete recording anyway. I still have the 80 minutes of video with the SBD audio on it so I'll start working on that instead.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: adrianf74 on January 25, 2018, 07:55:41 PM
To this end, Marantz has asked me to reach out to you, as they would like to let you know that they will have a firmware update soon to correct the auto-save feature.

Thanks for all your early efforts with this recorder.  I'm curious to see if this firmware resolves the issue when they finally get it to you.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 01, 2018, 12:58:14 PM
To this end, Marantz has asked me to reach out to you, as they would like to let you know that they will have a firmware update soon to correct the auto-save feature.

Thanks for all your early efforts with this recorder.  I'm curious to see if this firmware resolves the issue when they finally get it to you.

We will see. Haven't heard anything yet but companies typically wait to hear about more than one bug before releasing a firmware update and this recorder hasn't been out all that long. I need to take a look at some of the film/videographer forums and see if anyone else is using it.

Had a successful run with it last week for some friends from St Louis who came through town - the Mighty Pines - recorded stage lip and while the band wasn't super loud the recorder held up just fine input level wise running about half way on the gain knob mic in on LOW about 6 or 8 feet from the drum kit and bass amp. Was going to take a 1/4 out of the SBD and realized that the included shorty cables are 1/4 to XLR female (for converting XLR to balanced TRS for the 5/6 inputs) so that wasn't going to work without a set of turnarounds - which I always carried when I ran FOH but not nowadays.

Found a USB cable that fits really well so I'm not nearly as apprehensive about power dropout as I was. Still pretty rubbed about the NYE show - Split Lip Rayfield in their hometown Lawrence KS - getting scrubbed but oh well.

Taking it out again on Saturday for Jeff Austin Band. Never been to the venue so I don't know about a board patch but if I do I'll try to get an XLR out and run it to the 5/6 channels which I haven't used yet...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: adrianf74 on February 01, 2018, 03:20:39 PM
To this end, Marantz has asked me to reach out to you, as they would like to let you know that they will have a firmware update soon to correct the auto-save feature.

Thanks for all your early efforts with this recorder.  I'm curious to see if this firmware resolves the issue when they finally get it to you.

We will see. Haven't heard anything yet but companies typically wait to hear about more than one bug before releasing a firmware update and this recorder hasn't been out all that long. I need to take a look at some of the film/videographer forums and see if anyone else is using it.

Had a successful run with it last week for some friends from St Louis who came through town - the Mighty Pines - recorded stage lip and while the band wasn't super loud the recorder held up just fine input level wise running about half way on the gain knob mic in on LOW about 6 or 8 feet from the drum kit and bass amp. Was going to take a 1/4 out of the SBD and realized that the included shorty cables are 1/4 to XLR female (for converting XLR to balanced TRS for the 5/6 inputs) so that wasn't going to work without a set of turnarounds - which I always carried when I ran FOH but not nowadays.

Found a USB cable that fits really well so I'm not nearly as apprehensive about power dropout as I was. Still pretty rubbed about the NYE show - Split Lip Rayfield in their hometown Lawrence KS - getting scrubbed but oh well.

Taking it out again on Saturday for Jeff Austin Band. Never been to the venue so I don't know about a board patch but if I do I'll try to get an XLR out and run it to the 5/6 channels which I haven't used yet...

Interested in how the 5/6 input handles a board feed because, in my mind anyway, that's where I'd plan to put the board feed as 1/2 and 3/4 would be external mics options).   I realize it'll probably be another 2-4 weeks before a firmware upgrade gets released but that's my one hold out for _not_ getting the deck.  Right now, and this is OT, I'm kinda stuck with two options - I can get a DR70-D locally with a Stingray bag for about $80 less than buying the deck new and paying import duties/taxes from B&H.  If I "workaround that", the prices are close but I think the Marantz seems to be quieter and a better deck than the Tascam so...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 05, 2018, 09:10:25 AM
Had a good run with the 706 for Jeff Austin Band on Saturday and used some features I hadn't previously. Ran mics in 1/2 line in from my Aerco MP2 - SBD XLR in to 3/4 - sent a line out to another taper - sent the camera out to my video camera.

Set a 30 ms delay on the SBD feed to match up to the mics. When I got home both stereo files were spot on lined up even though I was guessing - walked off the distance in yards.

Sent a mix to the line out for the other taper - thus the delay on the SBD feed. You can adjust the line out level while recording. It was really easy to set up the mix and adjust the levels on the fly.

Ran the deck from a 6000mAh USB battery. Didn't even use half of the battery recording 4 channels - no P48 - and powering two outputs for almost 4 hours of record time. This thing is very efficient. Still had juice left after listening to the recording in the car on the way home next day...

I was going to run the SBD feed into the 5/6 channels but I had a group of total dbags right in front of me yacking it up all night. I knew I was going to rely heavily on the SBD feed in the final mix and didn't want to risk adding a potential point of failure (ie untested 1/4 to XLR adapter cables). Turns out I was right - the jagoffs right in front of me were some of the worst I've ever encountered.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: yug du nord on February 05, 2018, 01:11:55 PM
^How was the show...  I might see em this week.  Not sure though.
Glad the 706 is working well...  looks like a sweet deck!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 05, 2018, 02:00:56 PM
^How was the show...  I might see em this week.  Not sure though.
Glad the 706 is working well...  looks like a sweet deck!

Really really good. Jeff has really found his place after leaving Yonder. The band was on fire. Had an opener and still played two sets - 1 hr first set - 1 hr 20 min second. According to some friends the show the night before in St Louis was jamming too.

After my initial letdown about power loss and file saving I have gotten over it and really like this deck. I've gotten spoiled not having to change AAs and wondering if I have enough media to cover the show....things are a lot easier than when I first started.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: malow on February 09, 2018, 09:43:51 PM
"lose power, lose files", you mean, if the AA's inside got empty, the files that were being recorded get lost? it does not stop before they get empty?

how exactly this "lose power" is happening?

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on February 10, 2018, 10:55:59 AM
Had a good run with the 706 for Jeff Austin Band on Saturday and used some features I hadn't previously. Ran mics in 1/2 line in from my Aerco MP2 - SBD XLR in to 3/4 - sent a line out to another taper - sent the camera out to my video camera.


I'm guessing you have to set the gain out to your camera in the menu?  How easy is this to do on the 706 vs the 70d?  I have a friend that needs a better audio setup for his video stream...was going to suggest 60d, but the extra channels on the 706 could be helpful to his situation. 

And...can you gang pairs of channels?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 11, 2018, 09:19:35 AM
Had a good run with the 706 for Jeff Austin Band on Saturday and used some features I hadn't previously. Ran mics in 1/2 line in from my Aerco MP2 - SBD XLR in to 3/4 - sent a line out to another taper - sent the camera out to my video camera.


I'm guessing you have to set the gain out to your camera in the menu?  How easy is this to do on the 706 vs the 70d?  I have a friend that needs a better audio setup for his video stream...was going to suggest 60d, but the extra channels on the 706 could be helpful to his situation. 

And...can you gang pairs of channels?

Yes - the camera output gain is controlled in the menu - on the DR60 it's controlled on a recessed wheel on the side of the deck. Don't think the DR70 has a camera out - you would have to use the line out which is also menu controlled.

You can gang channels in any configuration. You can pick any of the 6 inputs and assign them to a group. I have mine setup for stereo pairs - so the knob for 1 controls 1/2 - the knob for 3 controls 3/4 and the knob for 5 controls 5/6. You can gang any channel into any group and use the lowest number channel knob to control the group.

"lose power, lose files", you mean, if the AA's inside got empty, the files that were being recorded get lost? it does not stop before they get empty?
how exactly this "lose power" is happening?

The cable for the external battery came loose and the internal AAs ran out - shuts down with file in progress not saved. They are working on a firmware fix. We shall see.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: malow on February 11, 2018, 09:49:24 AM
The cable for the external battery came loose and the internal AAs ran out - shuts down with file in progress not saved. They are working on a firmware fix. We shall see.

WHAT?? so if you don't stop recording before batteries run out, you lose the files? that's insane.

you have to worry about running out of juice, and besides that, stop recording before empty or you may lose you recordings??? jesus...

I'm gonna test my DR-70D to see what happens when running out of power.. and if files on the card are recoverable if power cut out abruptly.  :o
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: 2manyrocks on February 11, 2018, 02:34:07 PM
It's not the first recorder to lose files if the power goes off before shut down.  I think this has happened with some other recorders and been later fixed in firmware.

I think it's pretty cool that you can gang 3 pairs of channels in a deck this small. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on February 14, 2018, 12:26:10 AM
The cable for the external battery came loose and the internal AAs ran out - shuts down with file in progress not saved. They are working on a firmware fix. We shall see.

WHAT?? so if you don't stop recording before batteries run out, you lose the files? that's insane.

you have to worry about running out of juice, and besides that, stop recording before empty or you may lose you recordings??? jesus...

Not *ALL* your files, just the one you're currently doing.

Doesn't seem like an unusual flaw in an ultra low budget recorder.

DR70D has the same flaw:

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=181015.msg2244080#msg2244080
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: malow on February 14, 2018, 01:41:13 AM
Doesn't seem like an unusual flaw in an ultra low budget recorder.

DR70D has the same flaw:

yeap, feels like a absurd thing. the device already monitors the voltage of the batteries, already have a setting to set battery type (important to detect empty battery) and what it does with that information? nothing. pretty ridiculous.

the 70D at least can swap between battery <> usb with no problem while working (assume this marantz can do the same). but again, this is no excuse.

this makes my 70D battery mod more a "need" than a "extra". but of course, they use AA to make cheap and "you can buy batteries anywhere", but with a horrible caveat (low recording time).

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on February 14, 2018, 07:15:46 AM
I've been playing with one of these for a couple weeks now.   
- love the size and layout
- menu is "eh"
- sound of the mic preamps is south of "eh".   They sound dull and mushy to me...and I'm only recording my own bands (stage lip...which usually pulls great recordings).  Like they
   have no dynamic range to speak of.   No "sparkle" at all.   DEF. will be getting an Oade upgrade.   Then it will be a dream.

last time out...., after recording a set of music I stopped it.   Then I fired it up again for another set....red light on, recording...., but there were no files, and I never lost power or even turned it off.  Not sure
what happened there.   Probably need to spend some more time with the manual.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on February 14, 2018, 10:30:36 AM
I've been playing with one of these for a couple weeks now.   
- love the size and layout
- menu is "eh"
- sound of the mic preamps is south of "eh".   They sound dull and mushy to me...and I'm only recording my own bands (stage lip...which usually pulls great recordings).  Like they
   have no dynamic range to speak of.   No "sparkle" at all.   DEF. will be getting an Oade upgrade.   Then it will be a dream.

last time out...., after recording a set of music I stopped it.   Then I fired it up again for another set....red light on, recording...., but there were no files, and I never lost power or even turned it off.  Not sure
what happened there.   Probably need to spend some more time with the manual.

I'd like to hear your impressions of the recorder after you get the Oade mod.    Thanks!

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 14, 2018, 01:51:13 PM
....red light on, recording...., but there were no files, and I never lost power or even turned it off.  Not sure what happened there.   

Initially when I lost my NYE headliner set I had myself convinced that I had it on REC pause or something since it was after midnight NYE and I was drinking and having fun. But my girlfriend verified that I had checked the elapsed recording time and mentioned to her it was at 1hr20min when my video camera battery died.

I have to admit that the preamps aren't the best I've heard but for most of what I do they are adequate - and I have two good quality outboard preamps to run if I feel the need. The two bands that I did get recordings for NYE I was pleasantly surprised at how good the MK41>PFA source turned out. I did a stagelip recording of a bluegrass band a couple weeks ago straight in the deck and it turned out great. It was too crowded in a small brewery to get back far enough to get the PA on a stick so I angled over the monitor to get vocals and mandolin.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: aaronji on February 14, 2018, 02:17:48 PM
I've been playing with one of these for a couple weeks now.   
- love the size and layout
- menu is "eh"
- sound of the mic preamps is south of "eh".   They sound dull and mushy to me...and I'm only recording my own bands (stage lip...which usually pulls great recordings).  Like they
   have no dynamic range to speak of.   No "sparkle" at all.   DEF. will be getting an Oade upgrade.   Then it will be a dream.

last time out...., after recording a set of music I stopped it.   Then I fired it up again for another set....red light on, recording...., but there were no files, and I never lost power or even turned it off.  Not sure
what happened there.   Probably need to spend some more time with the manual.

I'd like to hear your impressions of the recorder after you get the Oade mod.    Thanks!

Doug's website says, "Coming soon!" on the upgrades page for the 706, so apparently he is still working on some.  I am also curious to hear how they compare to stock...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on February 14, 2018, 02:26:41 PM

Doug's website says, "Coming soon!" on the upgrades page for the 706, so apparently he is still working on some.  I am also curious to hear how they compare to stock...

^ :coolguy:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on February 15, 2018, 08:02:40 AM
my initial impression is that most of us would not like the preamps, and find them not adequate at all.   Yes, they are in terms of supplying power, handling the signal and not distorting...
but anyone with a decent set of headphones, and coming off from another deck that does sound good...wont be impressed.   Doug mentioned the dynamic range of the stock chips was somewhere in the mid 80db
range.   His upgrade chip is about 40db more.
his upgrades are subjective... "its a warm mod"...is warm to his ears.   However, having run many previous Oade mod'd decks....he's been consistent in producing a MUCH better product
than stock.  So i'm IN.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 16, 2018, 10:09:57 AM
Any battery tests yet? Wondering how long Lithium AA’s will run this set on 2 channel 48 volt.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on February 16, 2018, 10:34:10 AM
not yet.  I've been running outboard USB power
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 16, 2018, 10:36:23 AM
not yet.  I've been running outboard USB power

What external are you using? I guess any decent 5 Volt will work.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 16, 2018, 03:52:17 PM
Any battery tests yet? Wondering how long Lithium AA’s will run this set on 2 channel 48 volt.

I've been keeping Lithium AAs in as a backup but running an external USB to power it.

The one time that my external came loose and it switched to the AAs I ran the deck for a total of 6 hours - 2 channels P48 + 2 channels line in and the camera output - the AAs died but I don't know at what point the USB cable jiggled loose.

The deck doesn't seem too power hungry - I ran 4 channels + line out and camera out for 3 hours and it didn't even use half of a 6000mAh USB battery.

Make sure you have a USB connection that fits well. The supplied cable was flaky from the get go.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 17, 2018, 09:50:18 AM
Any battery tests yet? Wondering how long Lithium AA’s will run this set on 2 channel 48 volt.

I've been keeping Lithium AAs in as a backup but running an external USB to power it.

The one time that my external came loose and it switched to the AAs I ran the deck for a total of 6 hours - 2 channels P48 + 2 channels line in and the camera output - the AAs died but I don't know at what point the USB cable jiggled loose.

The deck doesn't seem too power hungry - I ran 4 channels + line out and camera out for 3 hours and it didn't even use half of a 6000mAh USB battery.

Make sure you have a USB connection that fits well. The supplied cable was flaky from the get go.

My lithium test failed. I guess you have be around when the batteries are getting ready to die. I knew that.  :facepalm: I had freshly formatted 32 GB card and no file in the folder, however the card shows a little over 2 gigs being used at 24/48. Phantom on with two mics.

Just looking for 3-4 hours out of a fresh set of either Lithium or Eneloops. I’ll use an external for anything over that.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Walstib62 on February 17, 2018, 05:16:59 PM
Any battery tests yet? Wondering how long Lithium AA’s will run this set on 2 channel 48 volt.

I've been keeping Lithium AAs in as a backup but running an external USB to power it.

The one time that my external came loose and it switched to the AAs I ran the deck for a total of 6 hours - 2 channels P48 + 2 channels line in and the camera output - the AAs died but I don't know at what point the USB cable jiggled loose.

The deck doesn't seem too power hungry - I ran 4 channels + line out and camera out for 3 hours and it didn't even use half of a 6000mAh USB battery.

Make sure you have a USB connection that fits well. The supplied cable was flaky from the get go.

My lithium test failed. I guess you have be around when the batteries are getting ready to die. I knew that.  :facepalm: I had freshly formatted 32 GB card and no file in the folder, however the card shows a little over 2 gigs being used at 24/48. Phantom on with two mics.

Just looking for 3-4 hours out of a fresh set of either Lithium or Eneloops. I’ll use an external for anything over that.

OR....Just use external battery and internal batteries, no worries, no failures, no errors.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 18, 2018, 07:46:26 PM
So I’m getting around 4 1/2 hours on Eneloop Pro. I checked at 5 hours and it was shutdown. Been using the same 32 GB card for all these tests and there is 15 Gigs of something on the card. Don’t know what. Nothing there to open. One thing I don’t like is the more shit on the card the longer it takes to get the deck past the home screen or whatever it’s called. It must be going thru a card check or something. After a fresh format it fires up in seconds. With 15 Gigs on a 32 gig card it took about 4 minutes to open up. They definitely need a firmware update.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 18, 2018, 11:04:17 PM
So I’m getting around 4 1/2 hours on Eneloop Pro. I checked at 5 hours and it was shutdown. Been using the same 32 GB card for all these tests and there is 15 Gigs of something on the card. Don’t know what. Nothing there to open. One thing I don’t like is the more shit on the card the longer it takes to get the deck past the home screen or whatever it’s called. It must be going thru a card check or something. After a fresh format it fires up in seconds. With 15 Gigs on a 32 gig card it took about 4 minutes to open up. They definitely need a firmware update.

Interesting. Mine has never taken more than a few seconds to boot up no matter how much info is on the card. I use 16 GB Sandisk Ultra Plus class 10 and I have booted it up in seconds with 10 GB on the card.


Still waiting on them to get back on a firmware update about the power loss files lost deal. Shoot them an email at Marantz Professional support letting them know about the boot up lag and see if there is something they can do about it.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 19, 2018, 07:38:33 AM
So I’m getting around 4 1/2 hours on Eneloop Pro. I checked at 5 hours and it was shutdown. Been using the same 32 GB card for all these tests and there is 15 Gigs of something on the card. Don’t know what. Nothing there to open. One thing I don’t like is the more shit on the card the longer it takes to get the deck past the home screen or whatever it’s called. It must be going thru a card check or something. After a fresh format it fires up in seconds. With 15 Gigs on a 32 gig card it took about 4 minutes to open up. They definitely need a firmware update.

Interesting. Mine has never taken more than a few seconds to boot up no matter how much info is on the card. I use 16 GB Sandisk Ultra Plus class 10 and I have booted it up in seconds with 10 GB on the card.


Still waiting on them to get back on a firmware update about the power loss files lost deal. Shoot them an email at Marantz Professional support letting them know about the boot up lag and see if there is something they can do about it.

Don’t forget, I have 15 Gigs of crap. Unsaved files or whatever. All of my battery tests had shut down occur at power loss. So nothing was saved properly. I figure the unit is scanning those “unsaved files” and that’s why it’s taking so long to boot up. I’m assuming yours has properly saved files, scans them quick and boots up. Of course I’m just guessing at this being the problem.  :help:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 20, 2018, 04:41:37 PM
Just thought I would post this pic before I pop open the battery door. I was running another battery test with Eneloops and 2 channels at 24/48 phantom on with everything else disarmed. I was hopeful for a good test. I checked the recorder 4:15 minutes into the test only to find the recorder frozen. According to the timer it happened at 3:37 minutes so this thing has been in this state over 25 minutes. Check out the battery level. It shouldn't have even started a save. Spooky is all I can say.

Edit to add:

for this test I changed some of the settings. In rec assign I changed channels 1 and 2 to stereo from mono. I also made sure everything else was disarmed including mix channels. The prior tests were I was getting over 4 hours on Eneloops the deck was pretty much still on factory default settings and was not locking up at 3:37 as shown in the pic.

Goodcooker I would love to know how you have yours setup for 2 channels phantom on especially the settings in rec assign mode. Thanks.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 21, 2018, 07:26:45 AM
So three of us have one of these things?

Goodcooker, hoppedup and me. Hoping for a firmware update soon? I’ll be watching my return policy carefully with this deck.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: hoppedup on February 21, 2018, 11:05:02 AM
So three of us have one of these things?

Goodcooker, hoppedup and me. Hoping for a firmware update soon? I’ll be watching my return policy carefully with this deck.

Yup. Haven't taped anything this year and there is nothing on my radar for the foreseeable future.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 21, 2018, 03:48:54 PM
So three of us have one of these things?

Goodcooker, hoppedup and me. Hoping for a firmware update soon? I’ll be watching my return policy carefully with this deck.

Yup. Haven't taped anything this year and there is nothing on my radar for the foreseeable future.

Better run some home tests. This thing is spooky.

Except for my one power loss and files disappearing (which happens with other decks as well) mine has been pretty solid. Knocks wood.

Have you sent in anything to Marantz support about your slow boot up and freeze up problems? Would like for them to get as much accomplished with the first firmware update as possible.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on February 21, 2018, 05:48:15 PM
4 of us
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on February 23, 2018, 02:36:31 PM
Update from Doug:

I heard from Doug this week on status of the input circuit upgrades for the 706.

He said he has the parts for both music MODs but not for the Super MOD
for researchers & videographers yet. All the chips he's using are brand new designs. The dynamic range of the stock chips tested around 80dB, in line with the published specs. The preamp chips he'll be using for 1-4 are spec'd with a dynamic range of 125dB. Due to current limitations in the power supply, channels 5 & 6 will use a chip with a 98dB dynamic range, which will be fine for SBD feeds. He's going to offer a Concert MOD and a mixed MOD with Concert on 1 & 2, Warm on 3 & 4, or visa versa. Not able to offer warm for 1-4 unless leaving 5 & 6 stock, again due current limitations. He said the FET warm chips love the juice !

He said to watch the website, he hopes to have a menu of options ready so you can configure them yourself when ordering.

I'm thinking warm 1&2,concert 3&4, since I'd use warm more often with my AKGs. Then all the cables can run from the left side if I'm only running one pair of mics with a SBD feed.

Have a great weekend!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on February 23, 2018, 04:40:03 PM
^Thanks for the update Brad!

 :cheers:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on February 24, 2018, 05:53:55 AM
Silly question probably, but WHAT chips are discussed here, micpres or adc?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 24, 2018, 10:20:50 AM
Silly question probably, but WHAT chips are discussed here, micpres or adc?

I think Oade only does upgrades in the analog signal path up to the AD stage in his recorder mods. He did an ADC mod for the Grace V3 but I think that was the only one.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on February 24, 2018, 12:03:52 PM
Silly question probably, but WHAT chips are discussed here, micpres or adc?

On the PMD-661 he replaced the entire analog input circuit path up to the last stage that's integrated with the A/D chipset. XLR input caps, and the opamps for MIC level as well as line level are all upgraded on that deck. For people unfamiliar with these types of modifications and wonder why the mfgs don't just use higher end chips for the stock units, I think the simplest explanation is the "one size fits all" aspect of design choices and cost. Chips with a gain structure that can provide optimal performance for recording loud signals without overload distortion, and also extremely quiet sounds without audible noise are too expensive for a deck at this price point. Sonosax, Nagra, and Sound Devices all use the best chips available, which contribute to the price points their decks command.

But it's not enough to just buy chips with better specs on paper. When Doug is initially experimenting on upgrades for the first time with a recorder,  he orders samples of several different models of better performance chips from the factories and auditions them by ear and picks what sounds best to him for the application. Humans have sound palates just like they have taste palates. So just like with prepared food, similarities in palates is what a chef and his most ardent fans share. Best analogy for those of us that swear by Doug's mods I can think of, to paraphrase what Jerry Garcia once said in an interview about Deadheads, "not everyone likes licorice, but those who do like licorice really like it alot"
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 25, 2018, 02:59:54 PM
Fooling around with my 706 again this weekend. Mostly just to test these 2450 mah IKEA branded Eneloop AA rechargeables. So rather than watch it lock up in “saving” mode at 3:37:30 like it has been consistently I stopped recording before that and started a new file. Had to leave and forgot about it.

Checked it this morning and of course it was shutdown due to dead batteries. Popped the card in my laptop to check it and to my surprise I have two files. I had formatted the card prior to this latest test. One huge one with 3.22 GB/3:20 minutes and another file 1.73 GB/1:48 minutes. I was not expecting the second file to be saved. Like I said I had to leave, forgot about it and the batteries died. Isn’t this recorder not saving files on power loss? Why do I have a second file saved?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on February 26, 2018, 08:30:46 AM
because the firmware (current version) sucks
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 26, 2018, 11:16:37 AM
I’m wondering if one of my issues is due to the settings I have selected. Hoping goodcooker and Nick can post there settings. For now I’m just doing 2 channel. Phantom on. Skipped some of the screens since they should have no effect on recording, but that’s why I’m posting these settings. Maybe they all matter.

1. Input:

Gain - low across the board.
Sel - 1 & 2 on mic. 3 thru 6 on line
Delay - 0
Phas - 0

2. mic power

Phan - 1 & 2 on. 3 thru 6 off
Voltage - 48 V
Plug in - off

3. Rec assign

Mode - 1 & 2 Stereo, 3 thru 6 off
Mix - off across the board
DLVL - no access to these settings

4. Level control

Lim - all off
Auto - all off
LCF - all off

5. Mixer (didn’t really touch this screen. Everything seems to be in default mode?)

6. Output Control (same here. Default settings?)

7. Rec Set

Format - WAV 24B
Sample rate - 48k
Encryption- No

8. Slate setting. (Didn’t change anything)

9. File (pretty simple)

10. Gang control (haven’t played with this yet)

13. Power controls

Auto power save - Off



I also sent two emails to Marantz Pro reporting two separate issues and never heard back.

Thanks. Feel free to comment.




Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 28, 2018, 09:38:29 AM
Finally heard back from Marantz. Because of the two issues I reported they are suggesting I send it in for service. I reported the file not saving at power loss and the freeze up I get every time at 3:37:29. I’m sure both of these issues could be corrected with new firmware. Or not?

So I have two options here. Send it in for service or return to B&H for full refund. I have an RA number. I’m thinking send it back for a refund, see how this drama plays out and maybe grab an Oade mod unit down the road. Really don’t need this till mid summer anyway.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 28, 2018, 12:16:10 PM
Finally heard back from Marantz. Because of the two issues I reported they are suggesting I send it in for service. I reported the file not saving at power loss and the freeze up I get every time at 3:37:29. I’m sure both of these issues could be corrected with new firmware. Or not?

So I have two options here. Send it in for service or return to B&H for full refund. I have an RA number. I’m thinking send it back for a refund, see how this drama plays out and maybe grab an Oade mod unit down the road. Really don’t need this till mid summer anyway.

If I was you I would send it back and get a refund. Then later after the first couple of bugs get fixed you can get a modded one and ride off into the sunset.

Edit - one of the reasons I wouldn't get a modified unit early on is that the mods void the warranty. If you do need service Doug has to take care of it.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on February 28, 2018, 02:15:21 PM
2nd what Goodcooker said. I got one of the first warm mod 661s Doug made, but it was after the 661 had been out 3 months for the same reason. At that point, hearing nothing but positive things about the deck itself, I felt it was safe to order from Doug. (worth pointing out that dealers who are also authorized to repair can fix gear they sold that's covered by a warranty and get reimbursed. Only warranty issue would be attempting to get service from another dealer or Marantz service itself).
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 28, 2018, 02:29:56 PM
Sent it back already. I’ll definitely be ordering one from Doug after all the bugs are worked out. I love the size and layout of this deck. Menu is fairly easy. I posted all my settings. Maybe some of you guys will check that out and see if I was on or off on some. Who knows, maybe I was what was wrong with this thing. :yack:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on February 28, 2018, 02:43:41 PM
I've been trading emails with Doug the last couple of days.  He's in the process of updating the Store Web pages, so we can begin ordering.  Stay tuned....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 05, 2018, 12:50:42 PM

Had a good run with the 706 on Friday night for Matisyahu and the opener Eminence Ensemble. Ran my Schoeps MK41 > PFA and my spanking new MBHO KA300 > PFA straight into the deck.

Both sources sound really nice. Good bass extension without being sloppy and nice relaxed midrange on the wide card source. Now that I have a better fit for my USB cable I'm less paranoid.

Going out for Split Lip Rayfield on Friday in a similar sized room and Andy Frasco next Thursday in a very small club. Like the flexibility this deck has with the input options. I can do just about anything that I need.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 05, 2018, 12:52:14 PM
^Sounds great!  Looking forward to checking out the Matisyahu show.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 05, 2018, 03:58:54 PM
^Sounds great!  Looking forward to checking out the Matisyahu show.

https://archive.org/details/matis2018-03-02.mbho.ka300.flac (https://archive.org/details/matis2018-03-02.mbho.ka300.flac)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on March 07, 2018, 08:31:45 AM
Doug’s website is updated. He’s now shipping two different mods at 399 each. Concert mod and Concert plus warm mod. Which one :hmmm:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: GDfan on March 07, 2018, 10:01:20 AM
Doug’s website is updated. He’s now shipping two different mods at 399 each. Concert mod and Concert plus warm mod. Which one :hmmm:
AKG's?!? then go Warm :P
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on March 07, 2018, 10:23:30 AM
Doug’s website is updated. He’s now shipping two different mods at 399 each. Concert mod and Concert plus warm mod. Which one :hmmm:

Why not do both?  Doug said he can do one Mod on channels 1+2 and the other Mod on 3+4
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 07, 2018, 10:38:36 AM
Is the $399 price for the modded 706 recorders only for the recorders purchased directly from Doug?   A price of $225 is listed for modding the 706 units in the general upgrades pricing section.

The following Upgrades are available for any Digital Recorders in good working order.
Please note, our upgrade voids the factory warranty.
If we did not sell the machine with an upgrade installed, we warranty only the parts we put in, not the entire machine.
Please contact Doug Oade via E-mail to obtain an RMA number as well as shipping and payment instructions.


http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/upgrades.html

Marantz PMD 706 Super MOD - $225

Marantz PMD 706 Concert/Concert+Warm MOD - $225



The PMD-706 upgrades in stock and on sale @ $399.99, features a camera mounting system and audio I/O connection that allows it to be easily connected to your DSLR. XLR Line & Phantom Powered microphone inputs, Line input and an easy to use menu system that allows you to concentrate on the job, not the recorder.

http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/PMD-706MODS.html


Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 07, 2018, 12:29:23 PM
^Sounds great!  Looking forward to checking out the Matisyahu show.

https://archive.org/details/matis2018-03-02.mbho.ka300.flac (https://archive.org/details/matis2018-03-02.mbho.ka300.flac)

Your Matisyahu, MBHO active wide card pull sounds great!  Thanks.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on March 07, 2018, 01:20:29 PM
Is the $399 price for the modded 706 recorders only for the recorders purchased directly from Doug?   A price of $225 is listed for modding the 706 units in the general upgrades pricing section.




Correct.  $399.99 w/ mod(s) if you buy direct.  Its an all inclusive price.  If you didn't buy the unit directly from Oade Bros, then the Mod alone is $225.00.  Got it?

Here's the link to the 706 w/ Warm & Concert mods.  $399.99

http://www.oade.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=33&zenid=j15m8fghu438m8dib8h753i392
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on March 07, 2018, 04:56:47 PM
Is the $399 price for the modded 706 recorders only for the recorders purchased directly from Doug?   A price of $225 is listed for modding the 706 units in the general upgrades pricing section.

Correct.  $399.99 w/ mod(s) if you buy direct.  Its an all inclusive price.  If you didn't buy the unit directly from Oade Bros, then the Mod alone is $225.00.  Got it?

Here's the link to the 706 w/ Warm & Concert mods.  $399.99

http://www.oade.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=33&zenid=j15m8fghu438m8dib8h753i392

^I thought that was the case.  I just wanted to clarify that for anyone considering purchasing a 706 and having it modded by Doug.  Save yourself ~$125 and buy the modded recorder directly from Doug!

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 10, 2018, 01:40:27 PM
Ran the deck last night for Split Lip Rayfield in an interesting venue. I had both sets of mics I use - KA300 and MK41 both PFA - running into 1-4. Everything was humming right along - got the opener which was nice since the bass player runs sound at my neighborhood venue. Stopped the deck, switched to a fresh 5V battery and ran for the headliner SLR. At the end of their just over 1.5 hour show I hit the stop button and the screen locked on the SAVING notice. Stayed that way until the batteries ran out. My laptop won't even recognize the card. Used the Kingston 8Gb card supplied with the machine.

I am seriously annoyed. They better get a firmware fix for these issues with a quickness.

After my last run with it on Friday turned out so nice I was not worried at all - now my confidence in this machine is pretty low. Guess I'll use my preamp and PMD620 on Thursday....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on March 11, 2018, 03:09:43 PM
Ran the deck last night for Split Lip Rayfield in an interesting venue. I had both sets of mics I use - KA300 and MK41 both PFA - running into 1-4. Everything was humming right along - got the opener which was nice since the bass player runs sound at my neighborhood venue. Stopped the deck, switched to a fresh 5V battery and ran for the headliner SLR. At the end of their just over 1.5 hour show I hit the stop button and the screen locked on the SAVING notice. Stayed that way until the batteries ran out. My laptop won't even recognize the card. Used the Kingston 8Gb card supplied with the machine.

I am seriously annoyed. They better get a firmware fix for these issues with a quickness.

After my last run with it on Friday turned out so nice I was not worried at all - now my confidence in this machine is pretty low. Guess I'll use my preamp and PMD620 on Thursday....

So glad I sent mine back. Does Doug know about these issues? Seems to me he should, especially since he’s proceeding with mods.

FWIW, my 620 is doing the same thing. Shutting down for no reason and not saving the file. It’s a $49 one with firmware 2.33 and I can’t find firmware updates available anywhere. I think my Marantz days are done.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dallman on March 12, 2018, 10:47:25 AM

FWIW, my 620 is doing the same thing. Shutting down for no reason and not saving the file. It’s a $49 one with firmware 2.33 and I can’t find firmware updates available anywhere. I think my Marantz days are done.

I am dismayed and sorry to hear about the issues for the new PMD 706, but I wouldn't lump in the PMD 620 with a newly released deck. In fairness, the PMD 620 was designed by Marantz under different ownership as this division has been bought and sold a few times. I have a PMD620MKII, and it has performed flawlessly for dozens of recordings, not a single issue ever. It is a great deck as is my PMD 661. 

Added: I see in comments that the PMD620 offered for 49.00 has the original apparently buggy firmware. So maybe it was appropriate to lump it in with a newly released deck.Hopefully for those that ordered one on eBay, upgrading will help as apparently this original model was released before it was ready for prime time (sounds familiar  :P). FWIW, they had it figured out by the time they released the PMD620MKII.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on March 13, 2018, 09:19:37 AM

FWIW, my 620 is doing the same thing. Shutting down for no reason and not saving the file. It’s a $49 one with firmware 2.33 and I can’t find firmware updates available anywhere. I think my Marantz days are done.

I am dismayed and sorry to hear about the issues for the new PMD 706, but I wouldn't lump in the PMD 620 with a newly released deck. In fairness, the PMD 620 was designed by Marantz under different ownership as this division has been bought and sold a few times. I have a PMD620MKII, and it has performed flawlessly for dozens of recordings, not a single issue ever. It is a great deck as is my PMD 661. 

Added: I see in comments that the PMD620 offered for 49.00 has the original apparently buggy firmware. So maybe it was appropriate to lump it in with a newly released deck.Hopefully for those that ordered one on eBay, upgrading will help as apparently this original model was released before it was ready for prime time (sounds familiar  :P). FWIW, they had it figured out by the time they released the PMD620MKII.

Thanks to JB63 I now have what is probably the last firmware release for the 620. Going to test today. :) I was also able to run one more test before updating. This time I used a 16 gig card instead of 32. I also used rechargeables instead of lithiums. The lithiums may have caused some of the issues I was having since there is no setting for lithium on this unit and I had it set to alkaline.

So, this test was much better. It made it to the 4GB file split and saved that file, however the next file which I shutdown manually didn’t save. Good news for me was the rechargeables lasted around 5 1/2 hours. I’ll report back after my next test with newer firmware. Probably should move this to the other thread to.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on March 18, 2018, 12:33:21 PM
https://archive.org/details/jrad2018-03-17.nickspicks

JRAD from Portland last night.   Deck made it all the way...no issues.
Ran it a bit too hot...but I milked as much as I could out of those shitty preamps.  a Warm mod is def. in the future.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 18, 2018, 04:32:26 PM
https://archive.org/details/jrad2018-03-17.nickspicks

JRAD from Portland last night.   Deck made it all the way...no issues.
Ran it a bit too hot...but I milked as much as I could out of those shitty preamps.  a Warm mod is def. in the future.

You tried any other mics with it yet? Seems like you were a Neumann guy back in the day. Maybe that Superlux isn't giving you what you are looking for.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on March 19, 2018, 07:41:56 AM
no, I haven't tried any other mics yet.   I dont get out much.  :)    and I like the stuperlux.   
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 20, 2018, 02:08:05 PM
I like the stuperlux.

Always thought about getting one of those to hack it so I could get the capsules to swivel. I don't use ORTF unless I'm really close to or on the source - stagelip or onstage.

The capsules look exactly like MBHO caps - from the outside at least.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on March 21, 2018, 08:46:14 AM
my rule of proximity...the closer I am to the source, the more I lean towards coincident stereo methods.  On stage, XY, MS or Blumlein.    but 20 to 100' out from the PA, I like ORTF a lot.
the s502 is a great mic, IMO.   I think it will really sing w/a warm mod preamp behind it.   :)
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on April 11, 2018, 03:50:59 PM
now, THAT's more like it
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on April 11, 2018, 04:37:39 PM
Nice! Did it come with a firmware update? >:D

Just kidding.  ;D
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on April 11, 2018, 05:03:08 PM

Sweet! can't wait to hear how it sounds. Different mods on 1/2 and 3/4?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on April 12, 2018, 07:54:32 AM
yea, warm on 1&2, ...not sure what he's calling the 3&4 mod, but I believe all the inputs have benefited.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on April 12, 2018, 11:01:03 AM
yea, warm on 1&2, ...not sure what he's calling the 3&4 mod, but I believe all the inputs have benefited.

3&4 -  he calls "concert mod"
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: lsd2525 on April 12, 2018, 02:33:12 PM
yea, warm on 1&2, ...not sure what he's calling the 3&4 mod, but I believe all the inputs have benefited.

3&4 -  he calls "concert mod"

So, he won't do a deck with all 4 inputs as a "warm mod" or all 4 inputs as a "concert mod"?

Or was this unit ordered with two channels of each?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on April 13, 2018, 07:40:56 AM
Doug said the voltage rails can't support 4 channels of power hungry FET preamp chips. The Concert Mod chips are bipolar and draw less power, so its either all 4 channels Concert, or 2 Concert and 2 Warm
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: lsd2525 on April 13, 2018, 09:24:46 AM
Doug said the voltage rails can't support 4 channels of power hungry FET preamp chips. The Concert Mod chips are bipolar and draw less power, so its either all 4 channels Concert, or 2 Concert and 2 Warm

Man I bet that warm mod would work well with my S502 Superlux.....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on April 13, 2018, 09:31:57 AM
Doug said the voltage rails can't support 4 channels of power hungry FET preamp chips. The Concert Mod chips are bipolar and draw less power, so its either all 4 channels Concert, or 2 Concert and 2 Warm

On Doug’s order page it has concert mod on 1&2 and warm on 3&4. The deck in this thread says warm on 1&2. I guess you can request what mods go where?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: spyder9 on April 13, 2018, 11:08:06 AM
yea, warm on 1&2, ...not sure what he's calling the 3&4 mod, but I believe all the inputs have benefited.

3&4 -  he calls "concert mod"

So, he won't do a deck with all 4 inputs as a "warm mod" or all 4 inputs as a "concert mod"?

Or was this unit ordered with two channels of each?

shoot him an email.  He'll reply.....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on April 15, 2018, 12:35:00 PM
I guess, as aforementioned...that you can get 4x concert or 2x warm / 2x concert (which is what I have).
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on April 15, 2018, 02:28:55 PM
Hmmm...the last time I spoke to support they recommended that I RMA my unit and they send me a new one. I wonder if Doug would take an unopened brand new one straight from Marantz, put it in his stock and sell me the modified unit as the purchased from him price.

If I understand correctly he is selling the mod on a unit he sells for around $400 all in. But he's charging $225 for the mod on a unit purchased elsewhere...

Also, used mine stagelip with the MBHO subcards Friday night no problems and it came out sounding really nice. Gave a line out to the video guys for their Zoom recorder and everything worked as it should. Weird how a couple of failures can make you so paranoid. Things have gotten real easy nowadays - not having to sweat SLA and AA batteries and watch my stuff like a hawk wondering if I'm going to make it through the show.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on April 15, 2018, 04:25:01 PM
my first recording with the MOD'd deck sounds super nice.   Really tamed the harshness of the superlux s502 I used.
pardon the mp3, but it's the highest rate VBR I can make, and they sound fine, imo.   
http://nickspicks.com/music/s3t08-nicks_jam.mp3
this is one of the bands I play in.   recorded in a dingy bar...about 5' off stage.  Just a little improv.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dallman on April 15, 2018, 09:34:06 PM
Hmmm...the last time I spoke to support they recommended that I RMA my unit and they send me a new one. I wonder if Doug would take an unopened brand new one straight from Marantz, put it in his stock and sell me the modified unit as the purchased from him price.

If I understand correctly he is selling the mod on a unit he sells for around $400 all in. But he's charging $225 for the mod on a unit purchased elsewhere...

Doug gives a lesser price to anyone who buys the deck from him as he makes a profit selling the deck as well as the mod, so if he puts a new deck from another store in his stock, and pulls one out he for you is not making that profit. Plus he is then re-selling a warrantied item from another outfit. It does not make sense. It makes more sense to explain that you were an early adopter and ask for mercy and a possible deal. If you have purchased from him before, you never know.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: willndmb on April 16, 2018, 09:13:07 AM
Hmmm...the last time I spoke to support they recommended that I RMA my unit and they send me a new one. I wonder if Doug would take an unopened brand new one straight from Marantz, put it in his stock and sell me the modified unit as the purchased from him price.

If I understand correctly he is selling the mod on a unit he sells for around $400 all in. But he's charging $225 for the mod on a unit purchased elsewhere...

Doug gives a lesser price to anyone who buys the deck from him as he makes a profit selling the deck as well as the mod, so if he puts a new deck from another store in his stock, and pulls one out he for you is not making that profit. Plus he is then re-selling a warrantied item from another outfit. It does not make sense. It makes more sense to explain that you were an early adopter and ask for mercy and a possible deal. If you have purchased from him before, you never know.
followed by telling Marantz the thing is a joke out of the box and you want a refund vs a new unit so you can buy a new one direct.
Good luck but doesn't hurt to ask
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on April 16, 2018, 09:33:08 AM
followed by telling Marantz the thing is a joke out of the box and you want a refund vs a new unit so you can buy a new one direct.
Good luck but doesn't hurt to ask

^I would take this route and request a full refund, then buy a modded unit from Doug if you still wish to go this route.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on April 16, 2018, 09:55:37 AM
followed by telling Marantz the thing is a joke out of the box and you want a refund vs a new unit so you can buy a new one direct.
Good luck but doesn't hurt to ask

^I would take this route and request a full refund, then buy a modded unit from Doug if you still wish to go this route.

I am likely to take the path of least resistance. I don't have a lot of multichannel stuff coming up - my work schedule is super hectic until the middle of May then I get some opportunities to record more often.

I can always use my MP2 > PMD620 - since my Schoeps active cables need to go back to Nicky for repair anyway I won't be running more than one pair of mics until I get them back.

I will probably just return it for a new one and buy one from Doug. Not sure I want to get in a tangle with Marantz and B & H over a full refund after the return expired. One of the comments that the support agent I talked to last made was "We have sold approximately 10K of these and this is the first time we are hearing about these problems"

Funny since our small user group here - everyone has had some kind of flub with this thing.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on April 18, 2018, 08:31:22 AM
followed by telling Marantz the thing is a joke out of the box and you want a refund vs a new unit so you can buy a new one direct.
Good luck but doesn't hurt to ask

^I would take this route and request a full refund, then buy a modded unit from Doug if you still wish to go this route.

I am likely to take the path of least resistance. I don't have a lot of multichannel stuff coming up - my work schedule is super hectic until the middle of May then I get some opportunities to record more often.

I can always use my MP2 > PMD620 - since my Schoeps active cables need to go back to Nicky for repair anyway I won't be running more than one pair of mics until I get them back.

I will probably just return it for a new one and buy one from Doug. Not sure I want to get in a tangle with Marantz and B & H over a full refund after the return expired. One of the comments that the support agent I talked to last made was "We have sold approximately 10K of these and this is the first time we are hearing about these problems"

Funny since our small user group here - everyone has had some kind of flub with this thing.

I emailed support about the two issues I was having multiple times. With the Oade mod I could live with the file not saving at power loss, but not the other issue I had. The constant locking up with “saving” in the display. That sucked and is why I sent it back to B&H and why I won’t by another.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: Nick's Picks on May 01, 2018, 07:18:33 AM
still really enjoying the change in performance after the Oade mod.   fwiw.    big improvement.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on May 14, 2018, 01:47:35 PM

Went out and recorded Banditos the other night with my Aerco in front of the 706. Got a bunch of weird stuff from the Aerco - it's going back to Jerry -  but the 706 was solid.

Not my year so far...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: IronFilm on June 08, 2018, 03:02:11 AM
How does the Marantz's pre amps compare with the pre amps of its close competitors in this niche: the Zoom H6, Tascam DR70D, and Zoom F4?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: datbrad on June 08, 2018, 07:27:24 AM
Without a comp, just going by published specs I would say stock the 706 falls short of the units you mentioned. However one upgraded by Doug Oade should be significantly better. I just can't get past the no-file save on dead battery shutdown flaw so I'm holding off. The 661 mk1 & mk2 actually shutdown with a proper file save when internal batteries are depleted and if it's abrupt loss like pulling external power plug without batteries will still leave a file up to that point and it can be recovered. I have been in plenty of situations, as many here have, where batteries are low towards the end of a show, and I just kept my fingers crossed, ready to pop in backup batteries, and rode it out and made it to the end. No issues except de-stressing after the show. With this deck you can't let it roll and hope it makes it. You'd have to stop the recording early, replace batteries, and start back up again because the risk isn't just a cut, but ending up empty handed. Not good at all. Until Marantz fixes this weakness, I'm not touching this deck. Worse than no hold button, another deal breaker for me at least. Hope this story gets better....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on June 08, 2018, 09:26:09 AM
How does the Marantz's pre amps compare with the pre amps of its close competitors in this niche: the Zoom H6, Tascam DR70D, and Zoom F4?

For recording music I would say the preamps are comparable to the Zoom units but the DR70 has a slight edge. That is just my subjective opinion. The pres on the 706 don't really have any flavor (so they would be considered transparent, I guess) and are adequate (they don't overload as long as you have your gain selections where they need to be).

I've used it for several live music recordings and the recordings sound decent. Like any preamp certain mics pair with it better. My MBHOs seem to pair better than my MK41s. Not sure why.
https://archive.org/details/matis2018-06-02.MBHOka300.flac (https://archive.org/details/matis2018-06-02.MBHOka300.flac) - festival outdoors
https://archive.org/details/decemberists2018-05-23.ka300 (https://archive.org/details/decemberists2018-05-23.ka300) - medium theater from inside SBD cage
https://archive.org/details/JAB2018-02-03.sbd.mk41.flac (https://archive.org/details/JAB2018-02-03.sbd.mk41.flac) - small bar - used more features than before - ran mics + SBD, put a delay on the board feed and set the line out to send the matrix to a patcher, sent the sbd feed to the camera out for my vid cam, everything worked as planned, no hiccups at all.

Still waiting after many months for an update to fix the known bugs - mostly revolving around file saving - with nothing yet from Marantz. I've been running a backup PMD620 out of the line out in case I have any problems but ever since I've been using the backup deck I haven't had any problems at all. Thing barely sips any gas - I've run 8 festival sets about 14 hours total on a half charged 20100 mAh battery and it still has plenty of juice left in it.

I still don't recommend it to people at least until the promised but undelivered firmware update to fix the bugs is released.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: MJ on June 24, 2018, 04:38:25 AM
Each time I used this recorder, the unit stopped recording after 3 hours and 38 minutes passed.  I do not know why and how but every wave file was not properly saved and not playable on PC.  But when I stopped recording right after the recording time hit 3 hours and a half.  Every wave file were saved and playable on PC.  I usually tape a less than two hour show but sometimes I realized that I forgot to stop recording long after the show was over.  As long as I use this recorder, I should remind myself that I must check the recording time every now and then during the show.......
Koichi
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: barrettphisher on June 27, 2018, 11:50:23 AM
https://archive.org/details/travisbook2018-06-23.flac16audiotechnica4051b

Another Oade modded unit out in the wild
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on July 04, 2018, 12:43:55 PM

Still waiting on the promised fix for saving issues but the last 6 times I've used this deck it has performed flawlessly.

I've been running a PMD620 out of the line out to have a backup in case I have a file save issue and so far every time I've used the backup deck I've had no problems. Figures.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: skaggs on July 29, 2018, 03:55:51 PM
Each time I used this recorder, the unit stopped recording after 3 hours and 38 minutes passed.  I do not know why and how but every wave file was not properly saved and not playable on PC.  But when I stopped recording right after the recording time hit 3 hours and a half.  Every wave file were saved and playable on PC.  I usually tape a less than two hour show but sometimes I realized that I forgot to stop recording long after the show was over.  As long as I use this recorder, I should remind myself that I must check the recording time every now and then during the show.......
Koichi

Do you know how to tell it to split tracks at 2 gigs? 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on July 29, 2018, 06:32:40 PM
Each time I used this recorder, the unit stopped recording after 3 hours and 38 minutes passed.  I do not know why and how but every wave file was not properly saved and not playable on PC.  But when I stopped recording right after the recording time hit 3 hours and a half.  Every wave file were saved and playable on PC.  I usually tape a less than two hour show but sometimes I realized that I forgot to stop recording long after the show was over.  As long as I use this recorder, I should remind myself that I must check the recording time every now and then during the show.......
Koichi

I had the exact same issue. I sent it back. My intended use was all day festival recording. Hit record and leave. Having to babysit the deck at 3 1/2 hour intervals did not work for me. Other than that it’s a decent 3 hour show deck.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: skaggs on July 30, 2018, 11:55:43 PM
Each time I used this recorder, the unit stopped recording after 3 hours and 38 minutes passed.  I do not know why and how but every wave file was not properly saved and not playable on PC.  But when I stopped recording right after the recording time hit 3 hours and a half.  Every wave file were saved and playable on PC.  I usually tape a less than two hour show but sometimes I realized that I forgot to stop recording long after the show was over.  As long as I use this recorder, I should remind myself that I must check the recording time every now and then during the show.......
Koichi

I had the exact same issue. I sent it back. My intended use was all day festival recording. Hit record and leave. Having to babysit the deck at 3 1/2 hour intervals did not work for me. Other than that it’s a decent 3 hour show deck.



If you manually stop it saves files properly as far as you guys know--correct?   And as far as you all can figure we can't set automatic time/space cuts as it records?  thanks
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: DSatz on July 31, 2018, 12:52:12 AM
goodcooker wrote:

> I've been running a PMD620 out of the line out to have a backup in case I have a file save issue and so far every time I've used the backup deck I've had no problems. Figures.

I like this example of giving Murphy's Law the respect and leeway that it deserves--continuing to don your suspenders, even though your belt's been working fine.

--best regards
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: DSatz on August 03, 2018, 06:08:47 PM
Just a comment about the file-saving "bug": It seems to me that this wouldn't necessarily be fixable via firmware update. The way it would have to work, I think, is that if power cuts off during a recording, the unit would need to sense that, and use some reserve to carry out an emergency "save and close" operation that could well take several seconds to complete. This requires two design elements that may or may not be present: a circuit that directs the firmware to take over control in the event of a power failure during recording--and enough reserve energy storage to keep the recorder's logic going just long enough after the power has failed.

If those two facilities aren't built in to the recorder's circuitry, then there's nothing that a firmware update could do to fix the situation. Also, it's not enough for the recorder to monitor the declining battery level and guess that it's about to run out, because that approach is useless if/when external powering fails (e.g. someone yanks the cord).

So if people are holding their breath for this "bug" to be fixed ... well, I wouldn't, is all. Maybe it can be fixed via a firmware update and maybe it can't. And even if it can be, maybe they'll do it and maybe they won't. I'm just saying.

--best regards
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on August 04, 2018, 12:42:06 PM

So if people are holding their breath for this "bug" to be fixed ... well, I wouldn't, is all. Maybe it can be fixed via a firmware update and maybe it can't. And even if it can be, maybe they'll do it and maybe they won't. I'm just saying.


The two biggest glitches in this machine are

1) It does not save a file if the power dies - when this has happened to me I was running on external power which was accidentally yanked and internal AAs which became depleted after it switched over - so it could have been prevented if I was properly monitoring the deck but I didn't and that's what happened. The deck monitors what source it is being powered by and has a meter to indicate the amount of internal battery power available (via a simple icon). So the  ability for the deck to tell itself that power is failing and to force a proper shutdown is present in the circuitry so it should be able to accomplish this as a function of the software - just like any number of recording decks from Marantz's own line of recorders. The interesting thing is that the info written to the card before the shutdown is not accessible at all - we all know that the deck writes the info to the card as it records so why is there nothing recoverable on the card. Just because there is not a proper file header doesn't mean zero data was written to the card in the in the form of a file with a 0byte header that can be recovered. It's just odd.

2) The deck has some kind of issue related to record run time when it reaches 3h38min. This is clearly a "bug" and is probaly not related to any kind of hardware malfunction but to the software/operating system/firmware. The workaround is to power down the deck and restart it if you think you may reach the 3:38 mark during a single session no matter how many individual files you have created. This is a hassle for many concert tapers or recordists who want to leave the deck unattended. This is certainly just a software glitch and can be fixed. It's a big one though - I had the machine go into the SAVING screen and stay there until the power ran out. It killed the card - can't be recognized in the machine or any other device or computer I've tried it in.

CAVEAT - I'm not a software designer and have no idea how to implement the proposed fixes - I just buy the recorder and use it. I reached out to Marantz and got a response I didn't like (that's how this machine works - thanks for your purchase) so I left a diplomatic but honest review about it's issues on the B&H website where I bought it. I was contacted by B&H who said they contacted Marantz and were working on a fix. Marantz support has no comment on when that could happen and I'm not holding my breath in anticipation.

I like the deck and more often that not it has performed flawlessly. It is pretty amazing what you can get for $300 nowadays. That said - if I was doing something mission critical or for pay I would not be using this deck I would be using my 20+ year old Schoeps, my 20+ year old RAD preamp and my 10 year old PMD620  :yack:
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: skaggs on August 16, 2018, 05:31:22 PM
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=600757
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=600957


I was very diligent about stopping the unit.  I turned it off between sets.  All data was there.  I had this in June, but wouldn't run it at Bluegrass, as it's hotter.  I was worried it would overheat and lose a day's music.  I would probably just run my 661 or HDP2 if just doing two channel. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: kingdong on September 10, 2018, 08:21:53 AM
I am wondering if anyone has pulled a gain knob off of a PMD-706.  I have one that has a scratchy pot on one channel.  My thought is to pull off the know and spray in some contact cleaner.  Before I started, I thought I would see if anyone has any advice.  If looks like the knob should pull straight off the pot but I'd feel more comfortable if someone had tried this before...

Edited to add the response I got from Doug Oade about this.  He says that the pots are sealed conductive plastic type and therefore will not be helped by cleaner.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: skaggs on September 20, 2018, 06:59:46 PM
I had the data loss at Telluride Blues and Brews.  I had arrived about 3 on friday.  Set up my main stage rig and took my 706 to the side stage.  I forgot to put fresh AA's in the unit, and the piss-poor USB connection was a little off and when i went to shut down the deck, it lost power.  the tracks were gone.  SO they really need a freaking firmware update. 

I will have some AT 4051b/board matrix recordings and some AT 4051b>warm mod sets to come.  I only lost one set. 

I am waiting for bt.etree.  i may up some stuff on dime of LMA community archive instead this weekend.  I really did like the warm mod auds.  That said, I rand my mk41>Oade m118>PMD 661 on the main stage, cause I knew it wouldn't lose data if i had a power fail. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heva on December 12, 2018, 04:43:46 AM
Firmware update available dec.2018:
https://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd-706

"Firmware Version 1.23 (December 2018)
- Battery life improvements and various bug fixes"
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 12, 2018, 08:59:58 AM
Firmware update available dec.2018:
https://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd-706

"Firmware Version 1.23 (December 2018)
- Battery life improvements and various bug fixes"

Does Marantz provide any details on the "various bug fixes"?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 13, 2018, 12:57:17 PM
Firmware update available dec.2018:
https://marantzpro.com/products/view/pmd-706

"Firmware Version 1.23 (December 2018)
- Battery life improvements and various bug fixes"

Does Marantz provide any details on the "various bug fixes"?

I've been patiently waiting for this and now they describe it as "various".  :facepalm:

I'm going to call them and see if they can shed any light on what is actually addressed with this firmware update.

In other news - I used my 706 at Xmas Jam for 2 consecutive days of 8 hours each - no problems at all since I remembered to power down and back up every few sets.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 21, 2018, 03:24:33 PM
Updated my PMD706 with the new V1.23 firmware and did a few tests. Ran through the menus and didn't see anything new and the UI looks the same.

I started with a 2G card that I didn't care about and formatted it in the deck. I recorded 3 ten second stereo files with only a USB battery attached. During the third file recording I pulled out the USB plug from the input shutting down the deck while recording.

I took the card out and put it in my computer and it opened right up. All 3 files were there.
The first two files opened up in CD Wave Editor as expected.
The third file that I pulled the plug on listed "File header reports a size that is different than the system reports. Do you want to adjust the size?" so I clicked yes and it opened up the file just like it should have. It played and everything seemed fine. Clicked no the next time and it still opened fine. The header is corrupt but the file and all the data is there.

Looks like in my limited test they have fixed the file save on accidental power down problem.  :clapping:  It only took a year  :facepalm:

I'm going out for a while to do some Christmas shopping so I'm going to let the deck roll past the 3:39 time that people were having problems with to see if they addressed that one too...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: dactylus on December 21, 2018, 03:30:19 PM
^
Sounds very promising!  Good luck,  Thanks for the update.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on December 21, 2018, 10:02:22 PM

Let the deck run for 5h:23m while I was out. No hiccups, everything seems fine. Looks like they may have that problem licked as well...

Now if we can get them to add a function where you can change the meters to the sideways layout with the really responsive numerical peak readout that it uses during playback I'd be really happy.

It is truly amazing what you can get for $300 nowadays.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 07, 2019, 08:56:16 PM
Found one of these new/open box on Craigslist for cheap. I’ve recently been running 3 source matrixes but using my dr-22wl to get SBD audio.

Is an unmodded 706 a clear upgrade from my current DR-60d? I’d love to be able to run my Avantones, CA-14s, and a board feed into a single deck.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 07, 2019, 11:15:30 PM
Found one of these new/open box on Craigslist for $125. I’ve recently been running 3 source matrixes but using my dr-22wl to get SBD audio.

Is an unmodded 706 a clear upgrade from my current DR-60d? I’d love to be able to run my Avantones, CA-14s, and a board feed into a single deck.

Having run both decks I would say that it's a wash. The dr60 preamp sounds surprisingly good for such an inexpensive recorder but the 706 preamps are very adequate. Nothing special (honestly, what would you really expect for the price)  but they are pretty good on their own. The 706 definitely has more features for running multiple sources and a much more easy to use form factor - I never really got used to the pound of butter size of the dr60.

Update to the new firmware as it cured the problems that plagued the early adopters of this deck. Mine hasn't had any hiccups since the firmware update.

Another benefit is the lean power consumption - the same battery that ran my dr60 on 4 channels runs my 706 on 6 channels for twice as long.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 08, 2019, 12:03:42 AM
Found one of these new/open box on Craigslist for $125. I’ve recently been running 3 source matrixes but using my dr-22wl to get SBD audio.

Is an unmodded 706 a clear upgrade from my current DR-60d? I’d love to be able to run my Avantones, CA-14s, and a board feed into a single deck.

Having run both decks I would say that it's a wash. The dr60 preamp sounds surprisingly good for such an inexpensive recorder but the 706 preamps are very adequate. Nothing special (honestly, what would you really expect for the price)  but they are pretty good on their own. The 706 definitely has more features for running multiple sources and a much more easy to use form factor - I never really got used to the pound of butter size of the dr60.

Update to the new firmware as it cured the problems that plagued the early adopters of this deck. Mine hasn't had any hiccups since the firmware update.

Another benefit is the lean power consumption - the same battery that ran my dr60 on 4 channels runs my 706 on 6 channels for twice as long.

Thanks for this, decided to go for it if only for the ability to run 6 channels. I just picked it up and it seems to be built much more solidly than the 60d. Looking forward to giving it a spin this Sunday!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 08, 2019, 10:14:03 AM

Another cool feature that is lacking in most inexpensive recorders in the channel ganging feature. Any of the six channels can be assigned individually in the group menu and controlled with the channel fader for the lowest number in the group. I tend to run stereo pairs so I have mine setup ch1/2, ch3/4 etc.

The routing functions are pretty nifty - at one show I ran mics and SBD - sent the SBD to the camera output, sent the mix with a delay on the board feed to a patcher through the line out and everything went very smooth. Impressive feature set for the price.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on February 08, 2019, 02:19:22 PM

Let the deck run for 5h:23m while I was out. No hiccups, everything seems fine. Looks like they may have that problem licked as well...

Now if we can get them to add a function where you can change the meters to the sideways layout with the really responsive numerical peak readout that it uses during playback I'd be really happy.

It is truly amazing what you can get for $300 nowadays.

Thanks for the update. I could have lived with the file save issue as I rarely run out of juice, but the shutdown at 3:39 was too much for me. I might have to try this deck again!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 10, 2019, 03:37:28 PM
Has anyone had issues with the power/hold switch? Mine popped right off.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: MakersMarc on February 10, 2019, 09:37:46 PM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 11, 2019, 02:28:47 AM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Just got back from my first outing with the 706 and...

Popping and clicking from my Avantones into channels 1+2 using phantom power from the deck and super-noisy unusable sound from the CA-14 > CA9100 into ext in 1/2.

Major disappointment.

edit: here's pictures of the waveform for the Avantones. The CA-14 waveform looked totally normal.
edit 2: tried replicating at home. Recording my stereo sounds fine even when cranked up so that I’m getting peaks at similar levels to what I was getting at the show. Both the Avantones and the CA-14s sound just fine. Will try recording my crew’s jam session tomorrow nigh and see how it goes.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jerryfreak on February 11, 2019, 03:00:25 AM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Ricky Skaggs is your buddy?  ;D
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 11, 2019, 09:16:25 AM

I just used mine yesterday and everything was solid. Ran Nbox XLR in on 3/4 and a stereo board feed TRS into 1/2.

Ycoop - I wonder if you got one that's been abused then dumped? I haven't had any problems with mine other than the firmware problems that everyone had and I don't particularly baby my gear. I don't beat it up on purpose but it takes the kind of treatment that field gear usually takes. How were you powering it? What was your gain setup? Weird that you are getting good results at home but problems in the field...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 11, 2019, 11:10:41 AM

I just used mine yesterday and everything was solid. Ran Nbox XLR in on 3/4 and a stereo board feed TRS into 1/2.

Ycoop - I wonder if you got one that's been abused then dumped? I haven't had any problems with mine other than the firmware problems that everyone had and I don't particularly baby my gear. I don't beat it up on purpose but it takes the kind of treatment that field gear usually takes. How were you powering it? What was your gain setup? Weird that you are getting good results at home but problems in the field...

I guess that is possible. If so the seller did do a great job keeping the box and all the components/packaging in good condition. I’m thinking of finding another set of SDCs to borrow to give it another test run in the field while I run my DR-60d as well.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on February 11, 2019, 12:38:35 PM

I just used mine yesterday and everything was solid. Ran Nbox XLR in on 3/4 and a stereo board feed TRS into 1/2.

Ycoop - I wonder if you got one that's been abused then dumped? I haven't had any problems with mine other than the firmware problems that everyone had and I don't particularly baby my gear. I don't beat it up on purpose but it takes the kind of treatment that field gear usually takes. How were you powering it? What was your gain setup? Weird that you are getting good results at home but problems in the field...

I guess that is possible. If so the seller did do a great job keeping the box and all the components/packaging in good condition. I’m thinking of finding another set of SDCs to borrow to give it another test run in the field while I run my DR-60d as well.

Sometimes with used gear in the past it was possible that it was powered by an incorrect voltage that could play havoc with the circuitry but nowadays these recorders being powered of 5V USB it's unlikely.

Next time out make sure you have your gain settings on low to start out. I have only ever used low - I think once I may have used medium but it was when my Aerco was acting up from dead batteries so that one was screwed from the get go....
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: billydee on February 11, 2019, 01:10:52 PM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Just got back from my first outing with the 706 and...

Popping and clicking from my Avantones into channels 1+2 using phantom power from the deck and super-noisy unusable sound from the CA-14 > CA9100 into ext in 1/2.

Major disappointment.

edit: here's pictures of the waveform for the Avantones. The CA-14 waveform looked totally normal.
edit 2: tried replicating at home. Recording my stereo sounds fine even when cranked up so that I’m getting peaks at similar levels to what I was getting at the show. Both the Avantones and the CA-14s sound just fine. Will try recording my crew’s jam session tomorrow nigh and see how it goes.
Those wave forms look a lot like the ones Richard Skaggs got on a couple occasions recently, his were on the channels getting a board feed and using a 128gb card. His channels running mics always looked fine. Weird stuff for sure.

I believe he was advised that it was a card issue and he's had better results with a 32gb card.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 11, 2019, 01:36:28 PM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Just got back from my first outing with the 706 and...

Popping and clicking from my Avantones into channels 1+2 using phantom power from the deck and super-noisy unusable sound from the CA-14 > CA9100 into ext in 1/2.

Major disappointment.

edit: here's pictures of the waveform for the Avantones. The CA-14 waveform looked totally normal.
edit 2: tried replicating at home. Recording my stereo sounds fine even when cranked up so that I’m getting peaks at similar levels to what I was getting at the show. Both the Avantones and the CA-14s sound just fine. Will try recording my crew’s jam session tomorrow nigh and see how it goes.
Those wave forms look a lot like the ones Richard Skaggs got on a couple occasions recently, his were on the channels getting a board feed and using a 128gb card. His channels running mics always looked fine. Weird stuff for sure.

I believe he was advised that it was a card issue and he's had better results with a 32gb card.

Hmm. I’ll  buy a new card. What cards have you all used successfully?

I also realized that I had ganged channels, which I didn’t do when trying to replicate.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: MakersMarc on February 11, 2019, 04:13:43 PM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Ricky Skaggs is your buddy?  ;D

20 years now. 😀
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 12, 2019, 01:33:58 AM
Recorded a jam session tonight. No issues whatsoever.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: capnhook on February 12, 2019, 06:00:17 AM
Recorded a jam session tonight. No issues whatsoever.

New card?
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 12, 2019, 11:07:57 AM
Recorded a jam session tonight. No issues whatsoever.

New card?

Same card

Edit: Thankfully RX7 de-click did an excellent job with the clicks, salvaging what I thought was a lost effort.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: skaggs on February 14, 2019, 08:57:58 PM
My buddy Richard Skaggs is having all kinds of trouble with noise before and after the firmware update. He said going to see if Doug can resolve the issues.

Ricky Skaggs is your buddy?  ;D

This is very familiar.  I have had several (3 or more) of similar failures. They have mostly looked like this.   However I had a couple in the ambient channels that didn't look weird, but had audible noise issues. 

I have updated the firmware and switched from a 128 gig sdxc card to a 32 gig sdhc card.  I purchased my unit from Oade Brothers.  I am sending this into Doug to see if he can figure something out.

I can't depend on this device, and usually I do 4 channel for some promoter or festival or such.  My Tascam dr60 has been rock solid.  I will be utilizing this until I get something sorted out, even though I think this unit sounds better with the mods. 

Richard
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on February 28, 2019, 04:14:15 AM
Ran the 706 again tonight, switched the card this time. No issues.

I noticed that the prior outing my CA-9100's battery had run low, perhaps that contributed to the issue?

edit: what I thought was a clean go around actually had the same issues as the first time, just not at the spots I checked last night.

I suspect fault lies with the deck's (in)ability to write to cards, as I sent the deck's line out to my phone to stream via mixlr with no clicks present. That said, it is still befuddling to me why when I record at home I don't have any problems but in a show setting I encounter this issue. I had the levels set in both circumstances to peak well under -6 dB and the waveform doesn't look like brickwalling is the culprit.

ah well, back to the DR60d for me as well for the time being. Shame as I like the form factor and 6 channels.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 01, 2019, 12:41:29 PM

Did you update the firmware and format the card in the deck?

I had some static on one recording last summer but it really sounded like it was coming from the PA so I never really gave it much thought.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 01, 2019, 12:53:33 PM
^yes to both.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 01, 2019, 06:37:38 PM
Marantz has agreed to replace the deck. Now I just need to coax a copy of the receipt out of the Craigslist seller.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 11, 2019, 10:25:30 PM
Came home today to an amazing surprise. They shipped me a replacement unit before I even sent mine in to them. Im totally shocked and pleasently surprised!
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 14, 2019, 03:38:07 PM
Sorry for all the posts but...

I have a suspicion that what I’m seeing is the the circuitry between overloaded from transients. That would explain why the clipping  doesn’t show visibly on the meters, but does show in the final waveform.

My CK-1s have a sensitivity of 15 mV/Pa and the 706 has a max input of -8 dBu when set to mic in. I figure the max SPL of a show is somewhere around 105 dB. The spec sheet also says that the minimum gain is +28 dB. When does that gain get applied? Would it potentially result in a clipping?

I turned on the built in 10 dB pad on my mics. I think that may help address the issue.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 14, 2019, 08:55:35 PM

I'm not truly positive that the minimum gain is actually +28 dB from front end to ADC. A lot of speculation when this recorder was first released was based on it being totally unusable in concert recording applications based on that number.

In really loud situations I run MIC in on low and have to crank the gain knobs to 50 - 75% to get usable levels (for me between -12 and -6dB)  with my Schoeps MK41 that are 16 mV/Pa - so about the same as your Avantones.

If the machine actually adds +28dB at the minimum gain settings (LOW, knobs turned all the way down) it would be way too sensitive at concert volume but that's not my experience at all. Even if it does, which I doubt, my Grace V3 added ~25 dB of fixed gain to the analog outputs no matter what the settings and I often ran the gain knobs higher than zero even on loud sources.

I guess I've been lucky and not had any issues other than the same early power loss probs that were finally resolved.

Maybe I can figure out what the minimum gain on each setting truly is by sending a regulated test tone somehow.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 14, 2019, 09:43:46 PM

Maybe I can figure out what the minimum gain on each setting truly is by sending a regulated test tone somehow.

This sounds simple in theory but somewhat difficult in practice.

Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 15, 2019, 01:16:27 AM

Maybe I can figure out what the minimum gain on each setting truly is by sending a regulated test tone somehow.

This sounds simple in theory but somewhat difficult in practice.

Could be. It's more of a curiosity for me since I don't have any issue running the deck.

Early on when the Tascam DR60d was released we figured out the differences in sensitivity on the sets of inputs based on a test tone from a cable tester which helped people decide whether or not to try to run a SBD feed into the 3/4 channels and how to set the gain.

A lot of taping shows is a guessing game and it doesn't always pan out when you are trying new gear combinations - the Line Audio CM3 doesn't work with the PMD661, the Peluso mics have problems with the SD 7xx series...


Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 15, 2019, 01:44:15 AM

Maybe I can figure out what the minimum gain on each setting truly is by sending a regulated test tone somehow.

This sounds simple in theory but somewhat difficult in practice.

Could be. It's more of a curiosity for me since I don't have any issue running the deck.

Early on when the Tascam DR60d was released we figured out the differences in sensitivity on the sets of inputs based on a test tone from a cable tester which helped people decide whether or not to try to run a SBD feed into the 3/4 channels and how to set the gain.

A lot of taping shows is a guessing game and it doesn't always pan out when you are trying new gear combinations - the Line Audio CM3 doesn't work with the PMD661, the Peluso mics have problems with the SD 7xx series...

I’m down  to try this, depending on what would be needed to do it. I’m planning to talk to Wforwumbo about some of the numbers sometime soon,  I’ll bring it up with him then.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 15, 2019, 01:52:24 AM

He is pursuing a doctorate in acoustics or something similar so he is certainly more qualified than most of us to run the numbers. Or at least have an idea of how to proceed.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 16, 2019, 11:09:58 AM

Used my 706 last night to record stage lip at the local brewery - real chomper stronghold. Rock solid running the MBHO subcards with PFA.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 16, 2019, 01:53:23 PM

He is pursuing a doctorate in acoustics or something similar so he is certainly more qualified than most of us to run the numbers. Or at least have an idea of how to proceed.

As of this week he’s now Dr. W. Forwumbo.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: heathen on March 16, 2019, 08:06:01 PM

He is pursuing a doctorate in acoustics or something similar so he is certainly more qualified than most of us to run the numbers. Or at least have an idea of how to proceed.

As of this week he’s now Dr. W. Forwumbo.

He didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called MISTER Wforwumbo.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 24, 2019, 02:58:16 AM
Anyone know if there’s a way to fast forward quickly through a file? I can only get it to go around 3x speed.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on March 24, 2019, 08:16:08 PM
Anyone know if there’s a way to fast forward quickly through a file? I can only get it to go around 3x speed.

Same here. Nothing in the manual that I can find either. I wish they had used the enter button/jog wheel to scan through a file like on other recorders.

It's only a pain for me when I'm traveling after a show and want to listen in the car.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on March 24, 2019, 08:41:20 PM
Anyone know if there’s a way to fast forward quickly through a file? I can only get it to go around 3x speed.

Same here. Nothing in the manual that I can find either. I wish they had used the enter button/jog wheel to scan through a file like on other recorders.

It's only a pain for me when I'm traveling after a show and want to listen in the car.

Exactly the situation for which I'm wanting quicker transport. Guess I'll just continue to sit in my car and hold down FF for 10 minutes...or press record a bit later...
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on June 22, 2019, 09:40:10 AM

So Thursday night I'm recording stage lip mics and a board feed for Johnny Vidacovitch Trio who's guest that night is Vaylor Trucks (the blond kid on the front of the Brothers and Sisters album) and had some trouble. During set break I went over to the deck and hit stop. Left everything powered on since I had plenty of battery and backup AAs in. I was on the patio when they unexpectedly started the second set and I jogged over to the bag to start it back up and the SAVING message was there and deck was locked. Pulling the USB didn't do anything and I couldn't take the rig apart and pull the AAs out to reset the thing since my bag was on the stage right in front of V Trucks, cables were taped down and it would have created too much of a scene. Additionally, it was his birthday and he was very excited about getting a copy of the show. It did save the first set just without writing file headers correctly.

This thing has let me down too many times even though it's been rock solid since the firmware update till now. I'm moving to something else.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ero3030 on June 22, 2019, 11:08:07 AM

So Thursday night I'm recording stage lip mics and a board feed for Johnny Vidacovitch Trio who's guest that night is Vaylor Trucks (the blond kid on the front of the Brothers and Sisters album) and had some trouble. During set break I went over to the deck and hit stop. Left everything powered on since I had plenty of battery and backup AAs in. I was on the patio when they unexpectedly started the second set and I jogged over to the bag to start it back up and the SAVING message was there and deck was locked. Pulling the USB didn't do anything and I couldn't take the rig apart and pull the AAs out to reset the thing since my bag was on the stage right in front of V Trucks, cables were taped down and it would have created too much of a scene. Additionally, it was his birthday and he was very excited about getting a copy of the show. It did save the first set just without writing file headers correctly.

This thing has let me down too many times even though it's been rock solid since the firmware update till now. I'm moving to something else.

I feel ya.  There's only a issue with the recording that someone wants.  The dozens before that with no issues just sit on the HD! Go figure.   Ed
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ycoop on June 24, 2019, 01:03:40 AM

So Thursday night I'm recording stage lip mics and a board feed for Johnny Vidacovitch Trio who's guest that night is Vaylor Trucks (the blond kid on the front of the Brothers and Sisters album) and had some trouble. During set break I went over to the deck and hit stop. Left everything powered on since I had plenty of battery and backup AAs in. I was on the patio when they unexpectedly started the second set and I jogged over to the bag to start it back up and the SAVING message was there and deck was locked. Pulling the USB didn't do anything and I couldn't take the rig apart and pull the AAs out to reset the thing since my bag was on the stage right in front of V Trucks, cables were taped down and it would have created too much of a scene. Additionally, it was his birthday and he was very excited about getting a copy of the show. It did save the first set just without writing file headers correctly.

This thing has let me down too many times even though it's been rock solid since the firmware update till now. I'm moving to something else.

I'm with you, thing is just too unreliable. I've moved on (well technically back to my previous deck) as well.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: ts on June 24, 2019, 06:19:45 PM

So Thursday night I'm recording stage lip mics and a board feed for Johnny Vidacovitch Trio who's guest that night is Vaylor Trucks (the blond kid on the front of the Brothers and Sisters album) and had some trouble. During set break I went over to the deck and hit stop. Left everything powered on since I had plenty of battery and backup AAs in. I was on the patio when they unexpectedly started the second set and I jogged over to the bag to start it back up and the SAVING message was there and deck was locked. Pulling the USB didn't do anything and I couldn't take the rig apart and pull the AAs out to reset the thing since my bag was on the stage right in front of V Trucks, cables were taped down and it would have created too much of a scene. Additionally, it was his birthday and he was very excited about getting a copy of the show. It did save the first set just without writing file headers correctly.

This thing has let me down too many times even though it's been rock solid since the firmware update till now. I'm moving to something else.

OMG! That’s terrible. I feel so bad for you. I got rid of mine two weeks after I bought it. I would never have taken this POS in the field, even with a firmware update. Sorry.

If you’re looking for a budget priced four channel recorder, try the Tascam DR 70d. Never had an issue with mine. Budgets not a concern. SD Mixpre 6.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on June 25, 2019, 08:21:31 AM

If you’re looking for a budget priced four channel recorder, try the Tascam DR 70d. Never had an issue with mine. Budgets not a concern. SD Mixpre 6.

The Mixpre6 fits in  my budget of $1K for a new recorder but I don't know what it is about that thing - I'm just not as in love with the sound as everyone else. Also unpacking poly wave files  and what seems to be the overly complicated menus doesn't jive with me. I think I'm going to try the new Zoom F6. I use external pres most of the time so having top notch dual AD converters at 32 bit seems like the recorder for me. Just a line in device with six channels and a nice color screen.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: jbell on June 25, 2019, 09:44:44 AM
^  The polywave file is super easy just adds one extra step only if you are recording more than 2 channels.  Wave Agent is super easy to use.  The menus are super intuitive an easy to use I don't think you would find them complicated.  Also SD is very supportive if you have issues.  I ditched all my pres once I got mine.  I've been happy with the preamps.  Just my opinion, good luck on your search for a new deck. 
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: adrianf74 on June 26, 2019, 04:26:08 PM

So Thursday night I'm recording stage lip mics and a board feed for Johnny Vidacovitch Trio who's guest that night is Vaylor Trucks (the blond kid on the front of the Brothers and Sisters album) and had some trouble. During set break I went over to the deck and hit stop. Left everything powered on since I had plenty of battery and backup AAs in. I was on the patio when they unexpectedly started the second set and I jogged over to the bag to start it back up and the SAVING message was there and deck was locked. Pulling the USB didn't do anything and I couldn't take the rig apart and pull the AAs out to reset the thing since my bag was on the stage right in front of V Trucks, cables were taped down and it would have created too much of a scene. Additionally, it was his birthday and he was very excited about getting a copy of the show. It did save the first set just without writing file headers correctly.

This thing has let me down too many times even though it's been rock solid since the firmware update till now. I'm moving to something else.

OMG! That’s terrible. I feel so bad for you. I got rid of mine two weeks after I bought it. I would never have taken this POS in the field, even with a firmware update. Sorry.

If you’re looking for a budget priced four channel recorder, try the Tascam DR 70d. Never had an issue with mine. Budgets not a concern. SD Mixpre 6.

I'd go a step further... Tascam DR-701d.  Or a Zoom F4.   And, definitely, if budget isn't a concern, the MP6.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: georgeh on July 05, 2019, 09:45:02 AM
Trying to decide if I want to buy a PMD 706 ***with oade mods***, can't find anything positive about this deck, yet Doug Oade suggests getting one. Anyone happy with this deck?????
And would love to hear a recording with gefell's so I can hear for myself.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: goodcooker on August 01, 2019, 03:06:53 PM
After this deck let me down again with it's multiple personality behavior I bought a Tascam DR701d.

Hopefully it will get me by for while until I can get another deck that does at least 6 channels.

I really liked the Marantz 706 at first and thought that my pains with it were just the growing pains of being an early adopter. After multiple letdowns I just had to give up and go another direction.

Adios 706! Still have my trusty PMD620. That thing has never let me down.
Title: Re: Marantz PMD-706 Six Channel Recorder?
Post by: MohawkBob on August 07, 2019, 07:36:38 PM
I’ve been looking for a 6 track rig to record at a bar in Bristol, VT.  In spite of some of the problems reported here I decided to order a pmd706 from Doug Oates. Got a nice pull last night but found another problem.  I had tested the ch5-6 trs to xlr cables at home but not both plugged in at the same time. They are so tight side by side that they don’t make internal contact.  At the venue I had no ports 5 and 6 until I pulled one and then the other worked. I ordered some molded cables that are smaller diameter. 
Bob