Commonly, amplifiers use a single transformer, with separate power supply regulation for the preamplifier and power amplifier sections; the PM-10 takes things much further. With a dual-mono design, it has separate power supplies for the preamplifier and each of the power amplifier channels, with one transformer dedicated to the preamp to ensure the delicate signals passing through that section of the amplifier aren't affected by the demands of the high-power output stages. There's also a dedicated supply for the microprocessor controlling volume adjustment, input selection and so on, ensuring no noise from the control section finds its way into the audio’s path.

Why? Well, though it may seem convenient to have a DAC in the amplifier, digital circuitry is, by its very nature, noisy (in the electrical sense) and can interfere with the delicate analogue signals passing through the amp. That's why Marantz chooses to design its Premium Series range with any digital-to-analogue conversion in its Super Audio CD or network music players, keeping its amplifiers as pure and clean as possible.

What's more, to make the most of that purity of design, the PM-10 has also been designed with the option of working in 'Purest Mode': when engaged, this deactivates any internal disruptions, giving the signal the cleanest possible path through the amplifier. There’s also a Power Amp input, taking the signal straight from the input section to the power stage to let the unit work as a pure power amplifier.

What is the bridged amplifier about? In a conventional amplifier, one speaker is driven by the positive and negative part of one single output stage per channel, but a bridged amplifier does things differently, using two separate amplifier stages per channel to drive one speaker. To greatly simplify things: one amp pushes the speaker cones and domes, while the other pulls them back.

This allows for greater control over the way the speaker drive units behave, in that the amplifier can make them start moving, and stop, much more precisely.

In the PM-10, the bridged amplifiers in the power output stage - a total of four amplifier channels - allow this control to be combined with huge power output: it delivers 2x200W into an 8ohm load, and can easily cope with demanding speakers or those whose impedance varies widely with frequency, thanks to a 2x400W output into 4ohms.

That thinking developed the design of the Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module (or HDAM): unhappy with the audio quality available from 'amplifier on a chip' IC components, the company designed its own alternative, in the form of a miniature amplifier module built entirely of discrete components. As with all such design decisions, the engineers selected and optimized the HDAM through extensive listening in dedicated Marantz facilities in Europe and Japan, and since it was introduced, this component has both been developed and also found its way into an ever-wider range of products.

Even the speaker terminals here are special: the highest-aiming rivals tend to use components bought in from third party companies or designed as much for 'show' as 'go', but the PM-10 has newly-designed and exclusive Marantz SPKT-100+ terminals, made from high-purity solid copper.

In common with every other design and engineering decision behind this reference class amplifier, those terminals are there for one very simple reason: to deliver the pure Marantz sound that fans all over the world desire.