Marantz 6100 Turntable Review, Are Marantz Turntables as Good as their Receivers?

In the late 1970s Marantz was making some of the best audio equipment on the market, their equipment was among the finer sounding of the era, and it was equally stylish, chrome, woodgrain, brushed aluminum. Who wouldn't want it sitting on a shelf in their living room? Although Marantz was most well known for making receivers and amplifiers, like every audio manufacturer of the era, they also made tape decks, speakers and turntables. So, is there other equipment any good, how does it hold up today? The short answer is yes, of coarse it is good, but we need to elaborate on that.

The Marantz 6100 is like the economy commuter car of the Marantz turntable line, it is the little brother to the 6200, and flagship model 6300. This means that the 6100 is a rather striped down turntable, it is semi-automatic, has standard specs for the era, and doesn't boast some of the premium materials like a solid wood plinth that the more expensive Marantz models have. Even though the 6100 is rather striped down, it is still a great turntable that does offer a lot.

Let's start off with aesthetics and features, as that is the first thing that you notice on a turntable. The look of the 6100 is not for everyone, it looks retro, it is not minimalistic and simple, the 6100 has a lot to look at. I personally love the aesthetic, but some people may not. The 6100 features semi-automatic operation, meaning that you do have to pick up the tonearm and lower the stylus onto the record, but when you pick up the tonearm, the platter automatically starts spinning.When the stylus gets to the end of the record, the arm is automatically lifted and moved back to the resting position. The turntable features a que lever, so that you don't have to rely on your hand to drop the stylus onto the record, and the turntable features a reject switch so that you can stop in the middle of an album and have the tonearm lift up and go back to the resting position. The 6100 is a belt driven turntable, but it has a button to switch speeds, so you don't have to manually move the turntable belt to do that. The 6100 does have a lot to offer in terms of it's aesthetic and features, although it it slightly striped down, it still has enough to satisfy most people.

Alright, now let's talk about build quality, the 6100 is a well constructed turntable, it is rather heavy, and everything feels sturdy and well made. The 6100 does have spring loaded feet that help dampen vibrations, but they aren't that useful, they do a decent job, but don't expect the feet to make up for the turntable not being on a sturdy surface. Overall the 6100 is a well made turntable that is still holding up today with almost no maintenance aside from changing the belt and adding a little lubricant to the bearings, which is not an involved process.

We saved the best for last, let's talk about how the turntable sounds and preforms. The 6100 preforms very well, even after 40 years. When playing a record, you will not hear any inner groove distortion or obvious motor noise, the turntable is quiet and runs very smoothly. The first thing that I noticed when I first set up this turntable and played an album is that the turntable sounded significantly warmer in tone than the previous Audio-Technia Lp60 that was setup, but the 6100 also had much more detail. At first I wasn't quite used to the tone of the 6100, but after many hours of deep listening, i've gotten quite fond of it. The tone is very nice, it has strong but not overpowering or muddy bass, and a good amount of detail to it's sound. The sound of the 6100 is very nice and inviting. The 6100 is not quite an "audiophile grade" turntable, because it is not quite as detailed as other models of it's era, and it definitely has a colored sound, it is not perfectly neutral, which isn't a bad thing. I like the sound of the 6100, but some may not like the warmth of it's tone, when it comes to equipment it is best to just listen for yourself to see if you like it, and not let any opinion but your own decide if you like it or not. If you like vintage equipment and that retro warm sound, then you might want to consider the Marantz 6100 as a turntable for you, the 6100 is a perfectly good turntable, and in my opinion the 6100 lives up to the quality that the Marantz brand is known for.