PDN

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $600.00 from NJ

Summary:
As my very first A-V receiver, I was and continue to be highly impressed with this reasonably priced receiver. I've always wanted to own a Marantz product and finally I have it. Build quality is excellent. Solid and heavy. For only $600.00, you do get a great deal of features, power, versatility, and most importantly, great sound. I'm driving B&W speakers with a very good subwoofer which makes the Marantz sound terrific. B&W's are easy to drive. I wouldn't recommend this receiver if you're driving 6 and 4 ohm rated speakers with low sensitivtiy.

I must admit I was fooled at the time that the unit can produce 90 watts x 7 all channels driven. That's not the case. Marantz guarantees 70% of its rated power into 8 ohms when in surround sound mode. The 90 watts is produced when playing in stereo or two channel. I found this out later. But I still love the unit and am still learning about its features and capabilities after all this time. So much to know. I'm primarily a music listener (and DVD concert watcher) and listen mostly in surround sound using (Dolby Pro Logic III Music or Neo 6: Music). Dending on the CD being played of course, this unit can deliver and blow you away. Playing Lee Ritenour's latest CD called "Smoke N Mirrors" for example, it's almost as if the band is right there in your listening room!! It has all of the most current surround sound modes as of mid 2006 but no HDMI video circuity. I honestly don't care about that anyway. Movies and concert DVD's in 5.1 sound stupendous!!

Strengths:
Build quality, weight, all metal enclosure, power, features, sound. Easy to progam once you get the hang of it. 3 year factory warranty. Decent amount of audio inputs for TV, VCR, DVD player (digital), other aux units such as my Sirius satellite radio receiver, etc. The panoramic settings in Pro Logic II is dynamite wrapping the sound all around you. Remote works very well and you don't have to point it directly at the unit.

Weaknesses:
No ability using the remote to raise and lower the volume of specifc speakers in the event you need this depending on the DVD or CD being played. Disappointed that Marantz does not state in writing about their 70% power rating in surround sound. I wish they would be honest and up front about this. A few more audio digital inputs would be nice.

Price Paid:  $530.00 from Dubai

Summary:
I was looking for an AVR with good music capability.and im fully satisfied with this one.The sound quality in HT as well as stereo is excellent.For music ,the sound quality is super smooth.The built quality is something special.the metal face plate,the metal volume knob...something unique to marantz avr's,the bult quality remains the same for the costlier aswell as the entry level ones..!!unlike others,using plastic bits.

Strengths:
Sound.Stereo as well as HT
Built.
The 'Marantz' name

Weaknesses:
None at this price level.

Similar Products Used:
Monitoraudio Bronze B2
Qed silver anniversary Biwire

Bonger

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.69 of 5, 13.00 votes

Price Paid:  $450.00 from accessories4less

Summary:
I was looking for a competent AV receiver for both music & movies to consolidate my hifi & HT system in my apartment without spending an arm and a leg and finally found "home" with this Marantz

Having owned a couple of NAD AVR's, I was happy with the 2 channel performance, but the NAD was thin on features, had reliability issues & had only just OK HT processing.

I did some research, read some professional reviews and they were dead on about the Marantz SR5xxx series.

Right away when I hooked up my speakers for some CD listening, I was impressed & pleasantly surpised of the stereo quality (which is my #1 priorty). I threw all types of music at this amp and it was never strained and always composed. Bass was rhymic & surpringly deep (deeper than my Bryston), not boomy. Drums, guitars had "resonance". Mids & highs were natural sounding, not overly warm or too sharp. Imaging & soundstaging was also very good. Now I'm not just saying this because I'm proud new owner of this amp. I am comparing the Marantz's 2 channel performance to my Bryston 2blp and I would say the Marantz is 85-90% of the sound quality of the Bryston,with the Bryston having only ever so slightly better control & transparency in mids & highs. You would have to listen hard with a familiar top quality recording to say the Bryston is a clear winner But the Marantz is so competent and close for everyday listening, I cannot justify keeping the Bryston for my L/R channels and save some space at the same time. I'm gonna sell my Bryston to upgrade to a better CDP or some tube amps for some truly different sound.

Next, was the mulit channel music & HT test. the Marantz simply made mince meat of my NAD's. Sound effects/steering was just faster, less flat sounding and again more natural, I'm guessing it's because of the Marantz's superior DAC's.

The features, user friendliness is superior compared to NAD. The Marantz pretty much has all the connections you need except HDMI. Other stupid thing is sub crossover frequency has only 3 setting...dumb!!

I've only had the Marantz for less than a week, so cannot vouch for reliablity issues, but I visted local dealer of both NAD & Marantz and he said "by far" NAD comes back to the shop more for servicing.

Marantz may not have the bigger reputation like usual mid, entry level high-end names like NAD, Rotel,etc, but I tell you listen with your ears and not what other people tell you. You will not be dissappointed with this unit.

Like the professional review I read said, the Marantz is a" $1000 hifi amp of a year ago, with HT features bundled in and somehow managed to lower the retail price to $500".

Strengths:
build quality, features, handsome looks, superb 2 channel & very good HT processing, price, value. Preamp section (excellent s/n ratio), detachable good quality power cord

Weaknesses:
remote is a little confusing, but not ugly and power sucking like my NAD. Speakers terminals can be of better quality. no HDMI? mediocre resale value. Marantz cranks out new series every year with only minor updates, flooding the market too many units

Similar Products Used:
Totem speakers, NAD, Bryston, Yamaha, Jolida, Kenwood

AVChic

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.33 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought this after some extensive research and found that for what I would be using it for, and the price and features, this model would be the best fit. I also listened it at the HiFi store, and found that I liked the sound of it the best from others in my price range. I am sure that there may be others more expensive out there that may sound better, but I am not reviewing them.
All in all, I have been VERY satisfied with my Marantz so far, even though I have owned it for only about a month so far. I have tried a lot of features on it, and tried hard to get to know it and understand it. I have read over the manual several times just to be able to get the most out of it.
I admit that it is not the top of the line, it lacks a few features that more expensive receivers would have, but I don't need or want those more expensive features, so the lower end of a high end brand will suffice for my needs and wants. For the price, (I paid almost $600) it sounds like a much more expensive receiver.

Strengths:
I found that the unit was very heavy, and seemed to be very strongly built. It is all made of metal, even the faceplate is brushed aluminum. The controls, buttons, and knobs are very solid to the touch. It does not seem to get very warm as I have heard some receivers do, which is a plus in my rather cramped entertainment center. I like the large amount of codecs, decoders, and filters that this comes with. Dolby, DTS, HDCD and several others. It recognizes the signal coming in (as long as it is digital) and automatically sets it to the right settings. You may override them if you wish as long as it is compatible. The Pure Direct mode is a nice feature, but not one I have found that I use very often. It's nice to be able to have it, but it's not that useful in my opinion.
I also like the video conversion capability, it can go all the way up to component. I have so far only used it from composite to S-Video, but once I get a TV with component inputs, I will be able to do that. The OSD menus are very self explanatory. You are even able to disable the OSD so that it does not interfere with the picture if you need to raise the volume or whatever.
The remote is universal, and can be programmed to control different components in the HT. Some have complained that it does not have lighted keys, I say that would be a nice feature, but seriously, it's not that important. The only time I have found that that would be handy is if I am listening to my music in total darkness. No big deal.
The sound that comes out of this unit is tremendous! I have it paired with a pair of Pardigm Titan bookshelf speakers, and a Paradigm CC-270 center channel speaker. I don't yet have a sub or surrounds, so I can't vouch for it's surround sound ability yet, but it seems more than capable of it. With just those small speakers, I have been able to shake the house. I have not yet needed a subwoofer because of it. If I were to be using this in a larger room than I am, then I probably would need some more power than the 90 watts per channel it has, but that's what an amp is for. It can connect to an amp easily if needed.
I've also enjoyed the video off feature. Though sometimes I just turn off the TV altogether. The front A/V inputs are handy if I needed to make a quick connection, rather than trying to pull the receiver out and blindly trying to find the right connection on the back. I also like the option to attach my SACD/DVD-A player through the 7 channel inputs on the back. Handy option. I can label the tuner presets whatever I want to call them.

Weaknesses:
There are not many. However it would have been nice to be able to have video down conversion along with the up-conversion, though I don't know if that is really something that any other receiver does or not. I would have liked to attach my DVD player to it with Component video in, and then output to my TV with the S-video output. This way once I get a TV with Component in's, I would only have to remove the one S-Video cable, and replace it with the Component video cable, rather than having to do it to the DVD player too. But that is not really a big deal to me.
As for the tuner presets, It would be nice to have a few more characters available to label the station preset with. You only get a short few, I think 10 or 12. Enough to spell Classical, with a letter or two left anyway. I would want to put a more descriptive label on it, like Capital City Radio, 90.9 FM or something.

Similar Products Used:
I have only used a very few other receivers, and never in much depth. I have used the Kenwood VR-407 at work in the break room, and my Dad's OLD LaFayette (30+ years old) that he still uses.