First Marantz that I have owned. Went from Pioneer, NAD, Sony to Yamaha. All much older stuff. Good Yamaha sound though. This Marantz has some very nice features, power, connections, dual HDMI outs (can use only 1 at a time) however the front USB port only plays USB flash drives. Then note- the only wav format it can play is iTune's wav format. MP3's no problem, any flavor it seems. Still a nice feature nonetheless. A have a couple for 16gb sticks. Just plug one in and let it play for hours. Audyssey is a little hit and miss, run it a couple of times then go and see the actual settings and adjust from there. Stays mildly cool. Looks very nice. With most AVR's on the market there is always some give and take on features/cost. The 6004 model seems have even more features with better access, usability, but more $. Still a very nice AVR for the now much discounted price. Nice clean sound-highly recommend. Would suggest playing stereo music-pure direct and movies-blu ray/24fps/ HD audio pass-through.

BD35 blu-ray, Deftech ST/10 mythos speakers, Polk surrounds, dual SVS pb-12 subs.

Some specs:

AV 7.1 Surround Reciever
100 watts per channel
5.75 x 17.45 x 14.25 HxWxD
26.5 lbs
HDMI 1.3a input 1.3a output


I've been a die hard "two channel" guy for quite a few years and finally decided to go Audio / Video. I sold my "Audiophile " integrated amp and bought the SR 6003 after a a good listen at the audio shop. Mainly I was listening for good quality sound and also wanted HDMI 1.3a. for a Blue Ray player.

I then bought a new Oppo BDP-83 Blue Ray player. I am getting fantastic results with this combo! The Marantz has exceded my expectations as far as sound quality. Very close to the far more expensive integrated I owned before and better in some respects because the multi channel playback is fantastic.

Although the SR 6003 has 7.1 capability I am only going 5.1 because my room doesn't really need that extra set of speakers. Instead I am using the back surround speaker hook ups to bi-amp my main speakers which is a very nice option Marantz incorporated in this unit.

Classy looking unit, easy to read display, back lit remote, Pure Audio mode, easy to understand set up and menu adjustments even for a rookie AV guy like me. The Audyssey speaker set up callibration actually works which supprised me. I only had to make minor adjustment to the sub and everything blended in very smooth .

This unit has so many functions and options I could go on for hours writing this review so I will just say I am very pleased with my purchase and would reccomend it to any one who may be in the market for a quality AV reciever that actually sounds very musical and won't break the bank.