Topic: Marantz PMD 671 announced (on Oade)

[Nick's Picks]

Doug gave me a detailed description of the mods for the 671.  well, not an extensive description, but he went off on the super swanky caps he uses.  gets them direct from japan..and they are whats holding up the project at this time.  Just waiting for shipping..

I think i'm getting the first ACM mod.

Now I just need to find the right case.  time for a new taper bag!
I'm thinking camcorder bag or lumbar.

[audBall]

Doug gave me a detailed description of the mods for the 671.  well, not an extensive description, but he went off on the super swanky caps he uses.  gets them direct from japan..and they are whats holding up the project at this time.  Just waiting for shipping..

I think i'm getting the first ACM mod.

Now I just need to find the right case.  time for a new taper bag!
I'm thinking camcorder bag or lumbar.

Nick, any word on prices for this unit yet?  Sorry if I already missed this but the oade site didn't say..

[Nick's Picks]

I think they are posted on the site.
if not, i know its under $1200.

[audBall]

I think they are posted on the site.
if not, i know its under $1200.

Forgive my Marantz ignorance, but if one were to choose the ACM 671 over the ACM 660, the 671 would just allow the addition of recording up to 24/96??  Does it sound better Is it supposed to sound better than an ACM 660?

[MattinSTL]

I'm trying to make this same choice... either ACM pmd660 or stock (for now) 671.

How do I listen to Nick's Picks ratdog recording... done with the ACM 660?

[Nick's Picks]

you need to download a bit torrent client.

or, do you know how to ftp?
if you have bandwidth, i'll get it to you.
if you dont, i can mail it to you

[MattinSTL]

Ahh thanks! Sorry that I'm so green on that... yeah I got bandwidth... 3mb download... or you can mail any size file to matt at gettreel dot com

I'm really festering on the idea of either the ACM 660 or the stock 671 (for later mod by Doug). Honestly the way Doug put it there's benefits to either choice. If both units are doing a 16/48 mic-in then the ACM 660 will beat out the 671... but running the 671 line-in will narrow the margins, but Doug says the ACM 660 will still beat that! Finally he does say that if you run 24/96 that the 24bit process let's you recover audio that's as much as 20db down! So for my use I can cleanly pull a whisper up to proper levels with 24bit... but if the ACM 660 really really rocks... then that may satisfy me for the forsee-able future.

All I really need to get is a good setup that will record dialog PERFECTLY (that's the important part) with zero hiss at either low levels or high levels... and once that happens you will only hear comments about those experiences... and not too many questions after that.

It's deciding on that box that's the hard part.

[Nick's Picks]

use an ftp client
nickspicks.tzo.com
port 21
schoepsi / maxellus

look in the 16bit directory

[kindms]

I read through this post and he Oade board and I just have a few questions.

The oade site says that the Basic Concert Mod is already available for 975.00 is this correct ?

Also it only breezes over it in the specs but it does do 24/96 digital in ?

ACM = Advanced Concert Mod correct ? if So i would imagine that the Advanced Concer Mod 671 is what is listed on his site as available in Oct ?

Oh and does anyone know if it will send a signal out via Digital if you are using the XLR inputs ? Sorry if this was covered but I didnt see it

[Rick]

Anyone know the internal bettery life on the 671 with phantom power?

[Nick's Picks]

dont know the battery life..
the prices on the Oade site...well, thats the source, so i'd guess they are correct.
the ACM mod is the one coming in Oct. 
It does do 24/96 input.
there are S/PDIF coax I/O jacks.  you can see if you look at the pictures.

[kindms]

I saw them in the pictures but it was a litle unclear if it did 24/96 via digi-in. I was also wondereing if the digi-OUT is live when using analog in. Like if i was the lead deck could i patch folks out of my coax out


Oh and thanks for the info +T

[Chuck]

Holy Cow... I just got off the phone with Doug... after 20 minutes of me asking questions and him answering them! He is one really NICE and KNOWLEDGABLE GUY.

I can see where he got his reputation... I asked him everything I could think of and he answered it all.

He did say "no refunds" but he also said that I should put the ACM 660 up against the stock 670 and be prepared to be blown away! Doug even said that the 660 STOCK will blow away the 670 stock! He also advised me to dump the MixPre right away 'cause running a MixPre line in on a 660 would sound WAY worse then running the ACM 660 MIC-IN without it.

I then asked about getting the 671 stock and running that via a MixPre and he said the ACM 660 will STILL sound better... but he also said that if I buy the 671 from him that I can always send it back later to get the mods (once they're ready).

Then I asked about the room acoustics I hear in the test recordings and he assured me that those are low frequency artifacts and other electronic noise bringing out the room whereas on the modded units you don't hear that and THAT'S why the other recordings sound so much closer... and he said he gets asked about that a lot! I still think it sounds like the room, but the previous point that he'd lose reputation if the end user didn't also experience this effect is a good point... I'm almost totally sold on the ACM 660 JUST for that alone! Bringing voices up close and intimate is a powerful tool for somebody who just wants dialog!

So what to do, what to do. I got a lot of thinking ahead of me today... and probably tomorrow... and the first thing I'm thinking is I'm going to cancel my MicroTrack... so that once I decide I can get one of these other machines from Doug.

Thanks for all who put up with my shit and replied. Doug seems like a good guy to have on your side.

I'm wonder how the modded 660 stacks up with the modded 671?
I wonder if there is any difference or of they will be essentially the same?
That comment about the stock 660 blowing away the stock 670 makes me wonder 

[MattinSTL]

Yeah it made me wonder too... considering the specs are about the same... but I'm trying to get a handle on what specs I should pay attention to and what specs I should ignore.

Doug basically said that the only benefit of the 671 over the 660 was the 24/96... that's it. He said that if both machines were running 16/48 that a stock 660 wouldn't be much worse then a stock 671... but that the 671 would be SOME better... he just wouldn't really say how much. Which I guess is fair considering sound can be subjective.

When I pressed for more info on the stock 660 versus the stock 670 he said, "the 660 is a couple years newer and technology keeps moving"... so I don't know if that satisfies you in anyway... but that's what he said.

[Chuck]

Yeah it made me wonder too... considering the specs are about the same... but I'm trying to get a handle on what specs I should pay attention to and what specs I should ignore.

Doug basically said that the only benefit of the 671 over the 660 was the 24/96... that's it. He said that if both machines were running 16/48 that a stock 660 wouldn't be much worse then a stock 671... but that the 671 would be SOME better... he just wouldn't really say how much. Which I guess is fair considering sound can be subjective.

When I pressed for more info on the stock 660 versus the stock 670 he said, "the 660 is a couple years newer and technology keeps moving"... so I don't know if that satisfies you in anyway... but that's what he said.

I definately think the digital ins/outs are worth something on the PMD 671.
Of course 24 bit is the reason most people will get it.