Marantz PM-95

Rare and very expensive (then) Marantz/Philips integrated amplifier with a built-in digital section ready for DAT, DAB and, naturally, CD - for those having bought a CD-95DR or CD-99DR

The internal structure is very close to that of the earlier PM-94 Limited, with the Philips digital section encased above that of the phono section. Upgraded componentry here and there and... the vanishing of the Quarter A scheme : either Class A (2x 20W) or Class AB (2x 150W) - "AB" however means that there is still a bit of sliding bias :)

The design is very far from the earlier PM-94 and PM-84 : diecast aluminium sideburns, diecast aluminium chassis, massive aluminium top plate and no knobs besides the two-gang, resistive conductor plastic volume attenuator !

Bar the digital section and the upgrade in smoothing caps (low-ESR but two instead of four), the rest is basically the same but for a few important details : 70µ PCB tracks, thick LC-OFC internal wiring, 25 relays to keep signal paths short. Plus separate LDPS power supply feeds for each section, fet+bipolars in the pre-driver stage, MOS-Fet in the power stages etc.

But the most different thing is :
digital !
Digital is handled by two TDA1541A S1 Philips converters to offer differential mode, a 9th order GIC LPF and a vast array of i/o digital terminals all ready and willing for 32Khz, 44.1Khz and 48Khz.
Nice touches here : all digital circuitry is shut off if an analogue source is selected and the two "direct" switches circumvent everything but the volume attenuator.

But the other most different thing is :
IR remote-controlling !
The big metal-encased RC-95PM play pad holds pre-programmed codes for ten components but its receptor can keep in memory about 150 other codes - should the owner decide for non-Marantz separates. Sources can be named, too.

Said RC-95PM was also shared by the Marantz CD-12 combo as well as the original Philips LHH1000 version but not by the ultra-rare Philips LHH AV1001 digital pre-receiver and LHH AV1002 3-channel power amp (sold together as LHH AV1000) - by 1992, such remotes were too expensive to produce, even for 320,000¥ components...

The trade-off for all of these niceties is that there is no phono input. The phono board location of the PM-94 is here replaced by the digital section, taking the entire right side.


A real PM-95 at hifi-do.