Marantz Sm 700

As far as I know, the Sm 700 is an updated Sm-800 with a different frontplate.

The Sm 1000 was the very last USA-designed Marantz ; the Sm 800 and Sm 700 were pure Marantz-Japan upgrades of the former.

Advertised at first along the Sm 1000 and Sc 1000 preamp, the Sm 700 replaced the Sm 800 and the monster Sm 1000 for a short while before this set of superlative units got somewhat dislodged by the Sc-11 / Sm-11 combo.

The front flap hides peak/hold meter swiches and the two sub-speaker switches (pair 1 & pair 2) ; the normal speaker outputs circumvent these switches and are named "direct".

Additional but optional balanced inputs could be added by doing away with a small backplate below the unbalanced terminals ; I don't know the price of that option nor do I know if the circuit behind was meant to be really balanced or just an unbalanced one starting with XLR terminals like those of the Sm 1000...

The air intake of the Sm 700 is placed exactly where it was on the Sm 800 and Sm 1000, with holes cut in the sideburns, of course :-)

Real changes, if any, perhaps lie in the power devices and slight construction upgrades ; specs and weight are equivalent.
300,000¥ cheaper then the Sm 1000, the Sm 700 cost 700,000¥ and was thus meant to be just as exclusive, even by Japanese standards.

A test I have at hand that compares all the super-superlative pre/main combos of the time shows for the Sm 700 an insignificant output voltage drop vs. speaker impedance of less than 10%...

Excellent, good or not really worthwhile, the Sm 700 was and still is is exccedingly rare at any rate.

A real Sm 700 here.