Marantz 671 for $515, should I?

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darkaydix

Member
Hey guys, this is a quick quick thread.
I love the Marantz; the 661 and 670. I sifted through TONS of threads here and elsewhere looking at the 671-- comparing to 661, to HD-P2, etc etc.

There's a 671 on eBay that I can get for 515 (+shipping), slightly used. These usually run about $1000. I'm thinking I should jump on it, but as far as money goes, I usually need some validation when it's over a couple hundred because it just makes me nervous lol.

I'll be doing all sorts of things in the next few months with this thing; podcasting, feature length films, foley, fx, instrumental... and I loved the 670 as far as handling and layout (the menus were eh, but didn't get on me too much).

So. Should I jump on this? (I made the mistake of not jumping on StephenMick's 661 lol...)

Thanks in advance, all.


(EDIT: not to mention, I could send it and get an Oade after the fact; from what I've been reading here, Doug mods 3rd party pieces now).
 
I have the 671 and the pluses and minuses are...

I really like the slide record VS a button. It's a small thing but I like it a LOT. I did a bunch of tests using the pre's on the 671 and a MixPre going into the line in on the 671. I found very little difference in noise levels. The "limiter" on the 671 is useless, it's an auto gain kind of deal that reacts after the fact and takes awhile to recover. Total waist of a button. The low cut is soft, like -6 at 80 or something, so it doesn't help a lot on production work. For those reasons, and because I already owned one and was in love, I use the MixPre as a front end. Other downside VS TASCAM. Firmware updates are only installed at the factory so you have to send it in good luck trying to find out if you should or not. They are very close mouthed about what exactly the firmware updates fix so it's near impossible to know if it's worth shipping it to them for the install. THe early updates fixed some BIG issues so some are important. If I were buying used I would want to know the firmware version first. Unless it's fixed in a recent update you can't use CF cards over 4gigs. Not a huge deal since at 48/24 that is almost 4 hours, but...

I bought mine new locally for $850 so the $1,000 may be list but you can do better. $515 (if the shipping isn't a lot and the firmware is recent) is a pretty good deal. I would be more excited at $400, $515 is awful close to the price of a new 671 or Tascam so? OK just checked and your right it is now closer to $1K.

If you liked the 670 then the 671 is all that and a bunch of upgrades, just check the firmware #.
 
Noiz, thanks for the response on this.

I'm surprised that the limiter is essentially a waste; it was something I was hoping would be a great addition. Especially if I end up having to skip on a mixer depending on the budget I'm given (which is holding around $1500). Although, that is good to know that the pres on the 671 are good-- that's what I was hoping for. And most of the mics I'm looking at are all condensers (ie: Oktava MK012, NTG-1).
Didn't know/think about the firmware, thank you for bringing that to light. Just sent a message to the guy to find out. Do you know what # Marantz is at now?

I think right now my main worry is syncing sound... director is shooting on Super 16. The HD-P2 has the TC ability which was drawing me in, but I just loved the feel and usability of the 670 (so the 671, along with the reviews here and elsewhere, seems great to me).
I was eating up that thread that you and MattinSTL dominated a while back over the HD-P2 and the 671 :)
 
Note: They don't know the firmware as they weren't the original owners. Is there a way to check through menus or another fashion? Would the the manufacture date/serial be of help-- or perhaps I could assume to just get the most recent firmware from Marantz and assume that this 671 doesn't have it...
 
Well now I'm really frustrated! I just rearranged the studio and now I can't find the Marantz manual... There is some key combo that brings up the firmware info, also tells you some other things about the machine. The info may not actually be printed in the manual though because I was on the phone to their service desk and they may have told me how to do it and I wrote it down. The first 671 I bought had a very early firmware and I researched the problem called the service dept and got talked through the check. I bought locally and they were a bit upset that Marantz hadn't told them to swap their stock for updated versions. The early firmware had a bug with 24 bit recordings (if I remember correctly). Anyway they swapped it out for a new one when they came in and that had the new firmware.

I know my current firmware isn't the most recent but I couldn't get any real answers from service what has changed and I'm working fine so I haven't gotten it updated.

I believe the firmware update is free but you do have to send it to the factory to have it done.

As to TC. Film doesn't have TC so there is no reason to use TC with a film camera. My personal opinion is that there is rarely a need for TC in production work. A big exception to that is multi camera shoots IF everyone is locked to the same TC and word clock. TC was invented for video tape in the late 60's and started to get used in film production in ?the 80's maybe. Between the three major film post facilities in the Bay Area (when they were still all going) only one had a TC DAT to transfer sound and DAT was the "backup" until the late 90's so they were mostly transferring off 1/4" tape from analog NAGRA's with pilot-tone which is sort of like wordclock in digital, ie speed but not position.


If I find the manual I'll post the info but you could try calling Marantz. And yes you can just send it in if it turns out you have an early one.
 
Noiz, thank you very much for your response. Yeah, the post is essentially myself and the director and the composer, but it is what it is.
Let me know if you find the manual. From what I've posted, and been reading, TC will just be out of the question. Talking with my director and DP, it seems like a slate will be fine, as well as logs. The budget is indeed very low and there is only me for sound.... so that will be intriguing.


Thank you thank you for being available and responding. I've been learning SO SO much with this forum and with other things, and to have DVXUser available has been wondrous. Let me know if you figure out how to find the firmware. :)
 
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