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Is KI a KO?

Giving the 6000 the Ken treatment
by Michael Jones

September 2001

Marantz CD-6000KI compact disc player. $1999

In the beginning there were hi-fi components. Then one man said "I can make these sound better" and he did. That man was Ken Ishiwata of Marantz Europe.

What Ken did was to take a standard Marantz CD player and "hot rod" it. He looked at improving the power supply, upgrading the electronic components and increasing the rigidity of the case. The player sold for more than the standard CD player, of course, but it was a success and helped re-establish Marantz in the minds of the buying public as a serious hi-fi brand.

Many years down the track Ken Ishiwata is still taking selected Marantz products and extracting the most from them. Today these products bear the logo "KI Signature".
In the current Marantz range there are only a few items that come with Ishiwata's signature.

Under the microscope this issue is a CD player, the CD6000KI, based on the 6000OSE that I reviewed in March.

So what's involved in the KI treatment? It begins with selecting the models that will repay the tweaking improvements. In this case the CD6000 has a solid metal front panels, desirable to help create an anti-resonant environment.

Next a copper plated chassis and rear panel are used to reduce electromagnetic radiation. An additional bottom plate is added to the CD player to further increase rigidity.

Talk to any hi-fi designer and he'll tell you of the importance of the power supply in the sound of a component. With the KI components, the original transformer is discarded and replaced by a specially designed toroidal transformer with oxygen-free copper windings.

The CD player receives an infusion of the Marantz HDAM modules instead of integrated circuit op-amps plus a few extra tweaks.

Listening to the Marantz KI Signature CD player was an enjoyable experience

The 6000 KI CD player builds upon the performance of the 6000 OSE reviewed earlier, but takes it to another level. Here's a CD player that excels in portraying music's tonal colour. There's a richness of the tonal palette that - noticeably with acoustic music - sounds more lifelike than most CD players.

There's a suaveness and polished elegance to the Marantz that appeals greatly. This is the complete antithesis to the bright and harsh sound that some people still associate with CD sound.

I had the opportunity of comparing the 6000KI to the Rega Planet which proved to be very interesting. Both players are very good, but approach music from completely different directions. For example, the Marantz excelled at portraying the sound of instruments, while the Rega was the better at portraying how those instruments interacted.

For example, on the jazz CD Fingerpaintings the Marantz captured more of the body of the trumpet and guitar than the Rega. But the Rega clearly showed that the guitarist and bass player were playing off each other, while with the Marantz they were playing pretty much the same tune at pretty much the same time.

Is it worth it?
Having heard the original 6000 OSE and the KI version, I'm confident in saying that the improvements over the original is worth every cent. While the OSE is a very good $1199 CD player, the KI treatment takes it to a whole new level.

The finesse and refinement of the CD6000KI will appeal to many.

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