Marantz DV 9500 Pub

Page 1

of the Year

Marantz DV-9500
wm Universal Player
ww $2099
www.marantz.com

i\'lai'ant7.ls DVLHOO universal player
occupies an interesting slut in the mar-
ketplaue; it is expensive (okay, very
expensive) by mainstream standards.
yet it is relatively affordable compared
to the topper, uuohtamumelass'"
players with which it competes. And
that s the key point,

For years, weve heen disappointed
by would-he dirnll universal play-
ers that did not, in fact, do all things
well. Some offered great picture quélll
ty hut so-so sound; others sounded
great but not on all audio formats-
the list goes on and on. Happily.
Marantzs l)V-9501l is diff
ferent. First. the upsealing,
lilDiVII-equipped pla)
offers terrific picture qual-
ity that reviewer Manoj
Motwani calls the closest
I have seen In the Krell
DVD Standard. {The
Kl'Cll sells for a steep
38000.) Second, the
Marantl, offers halaneed
and uniformly high sound-
quality for Red Book CD3,

SACDs, and DVD-Audio

di. -sound that Moi

twain describes as open.

warm, smooth. extended,

with tight bass response." In

fact. the DV~95003 sound invites
comparisons to that of Sinmudio's
superh Moon Orbiter universal player
(the Orhitei' sounds better, hut sells for
whopping $7150).

While Marantz's DV9500 isnt
cheap, it does fulfill the promise of
being, a true, dlrall player with no
weak spots Considering that mean-
ingful steps up the performance lndder
will Cost thousands more. the DV-
9500 is an overachiever, and a bar
gain. [Reviewed in issue 61]

IJris Martens