clean clear sound, build quality

manual

Bought this receiver after seeing the good review in Home theater buyer's guide. Bought it mainly for home theater but ended up listening to more music then movies. Was a great match for my Boston Acoustics VR 965's. For the sound quality, build quality and features, this receiver is a great buy. Very satisfied with the unit.

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yamaha 995 denon 3300

Excellent build quality (hardly heats up), adequate number
of inputs and outputs. Flat response.

Volume has to be cranked up. Treble is weak.

I use this receiver to power energy e:XL28P mains, e:XLC center and e:XL16 rears.

When i first checked this receiver at the local dealer, i did find that i had to crank up the volume quite high. But i thought that was due to improper speaker setup.

But i have the same problem at home too. However the sound is awesome. Very detailed. All instruments can be heard, though as i mentioned treble (i mean guitar sounds, esp) do not come out very strong.

Source direct mode is awesome for listening to music.

When i tried the RX-v995, i got a headache after watching one movie. Did not happen with the marantz. For hours and hours of listening pleasure, i think the marantz rules. However the yamaha did have better surround sound performance. Vocals were better with the marantz.

I strongly believe that the choice of the receiver is highly personal, to suit your listening taste. On the whole the marantz felt like a better receiver to my ears, especially for music. 5-ch stereo is awesome. Night mode is quite handy too. The marantz also performed better on music in the source-direct mode. Yamaha is very strong on DSP though.

No complaints about the remote. Manual could give better troubleshooting hints rather than the dumb things like checking if your system is plugged in.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha rx-v995

Excellent build quality (hardly heats up), adequate number
of inputs and outputs. Flat response.

Volume has to be cranked up. Treble is weak.

I use this receiver to power energy e:XL28P mains, e:XLC center and e:XL16 rears.

When i first checked this receiver at the local dealer, i did find that i had to crank up the volume quite high. But i thought that was due to improper speaker setup.

But i have the same problem at home too. However the sound is awesome. Very detailed. All instruments can be heard, though as i mentioned treble (i mean guitar sounds, esp) do not come out very strong.

Source direct mode is awesome for listening to music.

When i tried the RX-v995, i got a headache after watching one movie. Did not happen with the marantz. For hours and hours of listening pleasure, i think the marantz rules. However the yamaha did have better surround sound performance. Vocals were better with the marantz.

I strongly believe that the choice of the receiver is highly personal, to suit your listening taste. On the whole the marantz felt like a better receiver to my ears, especially for music. 5-ch stereo is awesome. Night mode is quite handy too. The marantz also performed better on music in the source-direct mode. Yamaha is very strong on DSP though.

No complaints about the remote. Manual could give better troubleshooting hints rather than the dumb things like checking if your system is plugged in.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha rx-v995

Sound is extremely smooth, perhaps the smoothest receiver ever, remote is cool (learns other codes from other remotes to), solidly built, tons of ins and outs for A/V, excellent price

Dammit no backlight on remote, I can't see in the dark

This receiver is spectacular. The performance is high end all the way. I read the reviews in home theater and never really agree with what there reviews say. I thought I better go to the store and try it out myself if I like this receivers sound quality. I just purchased the Nakamichi a few months back and was absolutely pissed that this receiver sounded so much better, so I bought it on the spot and I'm trying to sell my Nakamichi deperately at E-bay. The Nakamichi is great, but the sound is somehow enhanced by the receiver making it sound unnatural at times. I prefer this Marantz because like I said above it is the smoothest performer around everything is natural and well defined. Music was musical and home theater performance was outstanding. I really like the remote because it allows you to learn other remotes thus eliminating the need for several remotes. The remote should have been backlit MARANTZ, but I am not gonna complain because this receiver sounds so good it makes up for that minor mishap. I would definitely recommend this to those who want high end performance at a reasonable price.

my home a/v system
-Paradigm Reference (all around)
-Marantz SR 7000
-Pioneer Elite Pro 510HD
-Pioneer DV09 Reference player
-Kimber Kable (all around)

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Nakamichi AV 10, Pioneer Elite, Sherwood, Denon

No doubt good sound

No phono & no sub-woofer with "Source Direct"

I wanted to buy this receiver. Really. It sounded like a very good quality receiver. I wanted it so much I was going to buy an external phono input so that I could still play records occasionally.

I'm not going to buy it. I listen to music much more than I do watch tv or movies, and I understand that the SR 7000 is a little weak listening to music unless you go "Source Direct". One of the people reviewing the SR 7000 on this site states that there is no sub-woofer output when you go "Source Direct". I stopped by a local audio store (that carries Marantz)and asked if that was true, the salesman did not know but said he would call Marantz. The salesman called me back saying it was true that there is no sub-woofer output under source direct. That is quite a dilemma.
A dilemma that seems insurmountable to me. I don't even have a sub-woofer right now, but if music under non source direct conditions does not sound good, then I would only be able to use a sub-woofer with movies and such. Nope.

Sounds like I need to stay with my old trusty Luxman L-210. Forty watts a channel, no sub-woofer, no 5.1 channels, but it does sound very clean.

Am I wrong?

Balanced Good for music & movie

no 6.1 output, virtual 6.1 surround mode
Papaer manual is useless, beeter to try and error

Sound is not so hard when compare with Denon but stronger than Yamaha RX-V800
The moive mode has enough power output to eahc channel (even for sub-woofer)

The quality is best as the price range

Similar Products Used:

Denon 2801, Yamaha RX-v800

Steady, clean power to speakers. Good remote. Great looks.

Most vague manual ever....some say too warm sounding.

The minor weaknesses are few with this great receiver:

-The manual is nearly useless in some areas and leaves others completely up to the user to figure out.
-Wish remote was backlighted...but still a great remote.
-The binding posts seem somewhat cramped to me...can be difficult to hook up speakers (especially with biwiring).
-Kind of heavy, but what do you expect for something this great.


And now the strengths of this baby:

-Truly 100 watts * 5 channels.
-Low Total Harmonic Distortion.
-Delivers the material to the monitors clean and true.
-Solid design and looks.
-Can crank the volume up without distortion or clipping (assuming the speakers can handle it).
-Remote controls everything you have hooked up to it.
-Sounds better the longer you listen to it.
-Can turn display off so that light won't disturb movie watching.
-DD and DTS decoding are perfect.
-On screen display.

I've only had this a few days, and I love it more each minute. It produce just the right amount of warmth to complement my somewhat bright sounding B&W speakers.

My system:

Technics 60 disc changer
Panasonic RV-30(DVD player)
SR-7000
B&W 602 s2 for mains.
XPHP monster cable (biwired to speakers).

My center, surrounds, and sub are nothing to speak of...I'm still in the process of upgrading my system to all B&W speakers.

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Kenwood VR-407 (though I really wouldn't compare the 2)

Sound quality, flexibility, value, multi room/multi source, remote,

Remote control, manual, lack of phono input

This is my first step into legitimate HT. My system now consists of Paradigm Titans + sub, Toshiba RPTV with progressive scanning, Toshiba DVD, Sony CD, Satelite. I had very good equipment before but much of it was purchased 20 years ago. Along the way, various upgrades were made such as pro-logic processing, equalizer and a second set of speakers to another room. Overall the performance was quite good. Now it is outstanding! I find myself listening to old CD's as if heard for the first time. Movies have never sounded so realistic. I don't think there is much more you could ask for from an A/V receiver.

I compared several other receivers and found that once you got passed the lowest cost products, the sound was very comparable between all manufacturers. High sound levels are undistorted with solic bass. I would have been content with the sound of any of the similiar products. It was the features that ultimately led me to the Marantz. The operation is easy and intuitive. There are sufficient inputs for most systems including S-video and assignable digital audio. The notable exception is the lack of a phono input although this is probably not a cocern to most users. The Marantz also does not have component video capability but I find it is better to route video directly to the tv anyway. The multi room /multi source feature is a great convenience, making it possible to watch movies in one room while listening to music in another.

The learning remote is wonderful. It has almost completely replaced all my others. It is well laid out and easy to use. An inportant consideration in a family with several users. However, the lack of backlighting seems like an obvious oversight. The glow keys are not a good substitute.

Many others have commented on the poor manual. I don't think this is the usual result of being written by someone with a poor knowlege of English. It is difficult to read because it is extremely succinct. None the less, all the required information is in there - somewhere.

You cannot go wrong to buy this receiver.

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Onkyo, Denon, HK

Sound! Power! Price!

Manual a little confusing for an HT beginner, but other than that nothing else

Really clean sound, very powerful. Easy on-screen setup for speakers. Great price (under $600 delivered), a lot of bang for the buck. Looked at HK AVR65 and Marantz SR880, liked the 7000 better. Gotta listen to it to appreciate it.

Extraordinary clean sound,5-channel stereo,automatic detection of DD,DTS,DPL,and the great remote.

cant adjust volume unless in "amp" mode.....(really being picky to find one)

First off, I'd like to say that like many, I set out on this journey by listening to the so called "experts" and thinking that I, of limited stereophile knowledge, would count on them to lead me on the right path to audio nirvana. How wrong I was! It seems like the old saying about opinions..... "everybody has one", is entirely true when it comes to audio/HT gear. My search began about 6 weeks ago. I went down to the local HI-FI shop and looked around, listened to quite a few different brands and models and quickly realized that I would need to do alot more research on my own before I could make an intellegent decision on this. Now the work had really begun.....I checked out all the audio-related web sites (including this one)and a multitude of high-end audio stores, as well as all the appliance mega-stores. What it came down to was this....I decided to forget all the biased #$%@# all the so called experts and salesmen had been telling me and go completly for the sound and sound alone, after all, isn't that what drives all of us interested in this stuff in the first place?......So, with that in mind,and with a price range of 1000 to 2500 tucked into my head, I went out and listened....and I mean really listened to everything out there.....including the stand alone amps that were over my price range so that I could use them to compare the difference in my own price range....So, what did I find?.....that sound can't be any more subjective than it is out there......Of course there is high-end stuff out there that you can pay thousands of dollars for and be assured that you are getting great sound for your money....however, just how much better? To me, it is measured in minute increments....too small to be justifiably charged these enormous amounts of money for it....anyway, this is a "hobby" after all, and who can say how much is too much when you are spending your own money for pleasure. One thing that I do know, and its that if I heard a live band in the next room, I would "know" that its a live band....whether I'm standing right in front of it or standing outside in front of my house. I've never heard a sound system that fooled me into thinking it was live. Not for any price! OK, enough ranting and getting back to the "hunt".....Regrettably, through all my research and listening to these various sound systems I had not bothered to listen to anything under the thousand dollar range. Big mistake!...there are litterly dozens of receivers in the 700-1000 range that sound decent...subjectively speaking. So I listen to them all.....and Marantz.....OH! Can it be true?.....can someone make a receiver for only 750 bucks that does all it does and still sound fantastic?..YES!....However, I'm not going to lay my money down till I'm really sure, so I listen some more....and more...and more.....I just can't justify not going back to something that is 1/3 of my budget........Its a modern miracle that someone can make a product that is this good for this amount of money.....OK, so I'm turning into one of those effusive reviewers someone else mentioned.....I can't help it....in this day and age, when it is more common to be ripped off by paying huge sums of money and not getting your moneys worth, it is so refreshing to actually get more worth for your money! Do yourself a favor and go out and give this receiver an unbiased listen.....you will be happy you did.........

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old top of the line sony DPL SDR-1011....Tested: Denon 3300,Sony 555ES,777ES,Pioneer 27TX,Onkyo 777,and endless others up to 2800 dollars.