“As above so below” here fits well for the bass too which isn’t to suggest leanness or lightness. In quantity, the foundation is impeccably complete and decidedly anti ascetic - anything else wouldn’t really match the gourmet vibe of these machines in the first place. On quality meanwhile, things are more flowing and round like in the treble. The bass sequencer runs of The Ghost Of Each Room wanted a bit for straight-in-the-vein rhythmic rebound and I’ve heard the bass drum kicks and double bass runs on EST’s “Tuesday Wonderland” from the eponymous 2006 album with more crack elsewhere. The general mien of a flowing, polite, silkily relaxed, overall very homogenous and coherent sonic picture thus also held for the lower octaves. Ditto soundstaging. Perfectly sorted and focused, the Marantz combo erected a stage from a relaxed perspective which neither reached forcefully for the listener nor attempted to impress with sheer scale.

redaktion @ fairaudio.com