These are not the same size of amplifier: Marantz Model 30 has roughly 2.2x the power of Marantz PM6007. That is about 3.5dB, so it is a question of room size and how hard your speakers are to drive, not of one being the better amplifier.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | A | Marantz Model 30 has more power - 100W against 45W into 8 ohms. That is about 3.5dB, so it plays usefully louder before it runs out and has more in hand on peaks. |
| Room size | depends | We rate Marantz Model 30 the better fit for a mid-size room, a large room and a very large room, and Marantz PM6007 for desk or near-field listening and a small room. Match the amplifier to the room you actually have, not the one you want. |
| Grip on hard loads | A | Marantz Model 30 holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output nearly doubles to 200W, where the other increases modestly. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Bass control | A | Marantz Model 30 has the higher damping factor (500 vs 100), which usually means a tighter grip on a woofer. Above about 100 the returns flatten out, so read this as a tendency rather than a ranking. |
| Noise floor | B | Marantz PM6007 is the quieter design on paper - 102dB against 88dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | B | Marantz PM6007 has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Analogue inputs | A | Marantz Model 30 takes more analogue sources - 6 against 4. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Amplifier class | depends | Marantz Model 30 is Class D and Marantz PM6007 is Class A/B. Class D runs cool and draws almost nothing at idle; Class A/B runs warm and is the long-established mainstream choice. Modern examples of both measure well - judge by the rest of the page. |
| Shelf space | depends | Marantz PM6007 takes up about 13% less shelf area (1764cm² against 2033cm²), and it is 60mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | B | Marantz PM6007 costs less - $899 against $2,999 at list. |
| Watts per dollar | B | Marantz PM6007 is the cheaper watt - about $20 per watt against $30. A blunt measure, and it says nothing about how either sounds, but it is the honest one for raw output. |
A Marantz Model 30 B Marantz PM6007
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Marantz Model 30 is ahead, but on only 1 of the measured areas, and it costs about 3.3x the price. That is a lot of money for a narrow margin - Marantz PM6007 is the sensible buy unless a specific feature above decides it for you. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Marantz Model 30 is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating. Start with the room. In a large or open-plan room, or with speakers that are hard to drive - low sensitivity, or an impedance that dips - Marantz Model 30 has the headroom, and headroom is what stops an amplifier hardening up on peaks. At desk distance or in a small room, 45 watts is already more than most people ever use, and the extra 55 watts would be headroom you pay for and never hear - we rate Marantz Model 30 poorly for near-field use for exactly that reason.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.