Marantz PMD 6. 20 Transom. Intro from Jay Allison For the Season of Gifts, we have a Jeff Towne review of another tiny new digital audio recorder, this time the Marantz PMD6. The 6. 20 is getting pretty close to the mark, but still has a few weird quirks that may drive you crazy, or maybe you can work around them. Check out all Jeffs thorough, radio producer specific reviews at Transomlots of pictures, details from field use, comparison charts, and audio samples with various microphones. Marantz has a long history of making professional audio recorders for journalists. Their PMD 2. 22 cassette decks can still be seen in service today, and their PMD 6. NJ6915d4oc/R2qT2jWxsrI/AAAAAAAAB3c/uqTJ_j7Dw9A/s400/Eee+and+PCM-D50.jpg?resize=40%2C40' alt='Marantz Pmd660 Firmware' title='Marantz Pmd660 Firmware' />Considering this history, its no surprise that Marantz got a lot right in the design of the PMD 6. Its also surprising that they got a few things very wrong. On the positive side, although its very small and light, the recorder feels very sturdy and well built. Its still mostly plastic, but theres some well placed metal components, and the switches and buttons feel solid. Installing The Windows System Drivers Fail Virtualbox on this page. It sells for about 4. US. Marantz 6. 20 bottom. The access doors for the SD card and USB port feel a little flimsy, but thats certainly not unique to this recorder. Recording is started by one press of the large REC button, and a red light around it glows solidly when a recording is rolling. That red indicator blinks when a recording is paused. Input volume is on a hardware rocker switch on the side. Most importantly, audio quality is very good, even when using external microphones. The recorder starts up fast, ready for recording in only a few seconds, and can operate for over four hours on two AA batteries. Controls are fairly obvious, and even the settings that are buried in menus are fairly easy to access. Were easy to access Help Transom get new work and voices to public radio by donating now. Record settings can be stored in three presets, allowing fast access to ones preferred set ups. File type. wav or MP3, sample rate 4. PMD561-front.jpg' alt='Marantz Pmd660 Firmware' title='Marantz Pmd660 Firmware' />K or 4. K for. wav files, bit depth 1. This makes changing from stereo ambience collecting to mono interview recording, or high quality wav file recording to memory saving mp. Marantz 6. 20 menu. These presets reside on the recorder, and will not be lost if the SD card is reformatted. The presets can be copied from one 6. SD card, placing that SD card into a second 6. This way, multiple 6. It should be noted that the 6. SD cards that stereo files do. Many of the other small machines only record stereo files, or require odd contortions to record mono. When in mono mode, the signal is directed to both channels for monitoring. Marantz 6. 20 cradle. The 6. 20 ships with a cradle with two connectors on the back a belt clip and a standard photo tripod socket that allows the recorder to be mounted in a stable position. Its plastic and flimsy feeling, but effective, and allows access to all important controls. As with most of these small, relatively inexpensive recorders, the mic preamps are not quite as clean as we might like, and have less gain than some of the higher end professional recorders. However, the 6. 20 makes relatively clean recordings, sounding clearer and less hissy than most of the other small handheld flash recorders, including its larger predecessor, the Marantz PMD 6. Marantz 6. 20 top. This is especially noticeable when using external microphones. There is only a mini jack for mics, so one needs an adapter cable to use a professional microphone with an XLR connector. This machine does NOT provide phantom power for condenser mics, despite the manuals confusing use of the term. It CAN provide plug in power for certain small electret microphones, but not the standard 4. Because of that, one must either use a dynamic mic, or a condenser mic that has an internal battery. The input gain has to be turned up very high for use with dynamic omni mics, such as the Electrovoice RE5. Beyer M5. 8, but the 6. It does even better with higher output condenser mics, showing only a very small amount of background noise. Interview mic recording samples http transom. Download. Listen to PMD 6. External Dynamic Omni Michttp transom. Download. Listen to PMD 6. External Dynamic Cardioid Michttp transom. Download. Listen to PMD 6. External Condenser Shotgun MicThe internal mics are of decent quality, serviceable in most situations, but a little bright and edgy sounding compared to the mics on the Zoom H2 or H4. In an odd contrast with other similar small flash memory recorders, the 6. Buy Marantz PMD660U3B HandHeld CompactFlash Recorder Microcassette Recorders Amazon. FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases3. PMD660reviews hIDSERP,5397. Marantz PMD660 Reviews SweetwaterRead Sweetwater customer reviews for Marantz PMD660. Rated 4. 0 5 by 14 customers View and Download Marantz PMD660 user manual online. Portable Solid State Recorder. PMD660 Recording Equipment pdf manual download. Download. Listen to PMD 6. Internal MicsThe 6. Its a tiny speaker, so of course its tinny and not all that loud, but it could be handy in certain circumstances. Download. Listen to PMD 6. SpeakerMarantz 6. On the negative side, there are a few design problems that make the 6. The headphone jack is located directly in between the two microphones, putting the protruding cable in an inconvenient place if using the internal mics to interview someone. Additionally, the cable can tap against the microphones if one is moving around. IMPORTANT UPDATE In April of 2. Marantz released a firmware update, available here. This update fixes an annoying monitoring latency problem as well as a few other issues. Downloads Manuals. This download page will help you in retrieving a Marantz user guide or additional product information sheets. Please use the category andor. There is a Read. Me file packaged with the download that explains the process, which can be easily done by any user. Model PMD660 User Guide Portable Solid State Recorder. ENGLISH CAUTION RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN. MARANTZ EUROPE B. V. 5600 EINDHOVEN THE NETHERLANDS. Shop for the Marantz RC600 Microphone Remote for PMD660 and PMD671, PMD570 and receive free shipping on your order and the guaranteed lowest price. View and Download Marantz Professional PMD661 user manual online. Handheld Solid State Recorder. Professional PMD661 Recording Equipment pdf manual download. Basically one copies the downloaded file onto an SD card, puts the SD card into the 6. Select yes and the 6. So the following complaints about monitoring latency are now moot, but well leave them here to describe the original recorder. Much more troubling is the short delay in the sound reaching the headphones, presumably a latency caused by monitoring the sound after it has been through the electronic processing of the record circuit. Its a very short delay, but just enough to make it difficult to speak while monitoring on headphones. Marantz 660 ManualMarantz Sr7008 Firmware UpdateTheres something very unnerving about hearing ones voice on a short delay, making it difficult to speak naturally, something to keep in mind if one is planning on using ones questions in the final production. Download. Listen to PMD 6. One doesnt hear the ringing feedback in that sound sample when headphones and mic are in their normal positions, but it illustrates the delay in the monitor path. This very short delay is less of a problem when monitoring someone else speaking, or other sounds in the environment, but it does make it harder to accurately assess the sound being picked up by the microphone. My fear is that users will stop wearing the headphones, or take one ear off, resulting in less careful placement of the microphone, potentially allowing more P pops, or the subject drifting off mic. Between the headphone jack placement and the monitoring latency, it seems that Marantz doesnt think that people wear headphones while recording. But watching meters is not enough careful listening through good headphones is the only way to verify proper mic placement, and that a bad cable, or external noise in the environment, isnt going to ruin the recording. Marantz 6. 20 right side. Less severe, but still worth considering is the issue of mechanical noise. The lack of moving parts makes these flash recorders wonderfully quiet for close up intimate recording. But sometimes, buttons and switches can make noises that show up on the recording.