DTE-ES Discrete 6.1 ; Direct Mode ; 6 channel Stereo ; sound quality

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I compared the Denon AVR-3802 and the Marantz SR-7200 in the same store back to back and switching without knowing what was playing. It took me more than 2 hours playing different sources (Stereo/multi-channel - PCM - Dolby Digital - DTS sources - Analog sources) and I chose for
the musical qualities of this receiver. I went to the store to buy the Denon (I'm usually a Denon man) and came home with the Marantz.

In stead of buying this on-line, you should start listening to the amp. Both receivers have there qualities and it's up to the listener to find out what they like best. It's like buying speakers : you have to compare and find out what speaker you like best.

I'm not a power freak but in my opinion this amp performs very good it's job !!!

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-3802

very good audio performance. fold out wiring diagrams that show the whole back of the unit in the manual are a nice touch.

video performance is not as good as I had hoped. Does not have on screen menu with component video. Please tell me if this is not correct.

The audio performance of this unit is very good. It is my first dolby digital unit, so I can't make any direct comparisons, but it is a huge step forward in quality from the old prologic unit. I am using this unit as a video switcher for the Philips 55pp9701 hi-def 16x9 tv and the video signals don't seem as good as they do with a direct hook-up of components to the tv. The component video from the dvd player looks really good, but the S video from the satellite has some video noise and loss of color that I did not notice when connected directly to the TV. My cables are cheap and I hope an upgrade will fix this. The remote is pretty easy to set up if you spend a day learning how to use it. I like the macros that let you program multiple functions with the push of a single button. I like the audio performance of this unit alot and if the cable upgrade fixes the slight video noise I will love it.

Similar Products Used:

None. Upgraded from an old kenwood prologic.

Sound, Sound, Sound. This is the important thing....isn't it?

Remote sucks!!! and the responce remote-receiver also sucks

-------THS REVIEW IS IN GREEK AND IS FOR THE SR-5200-------

Agorasa ayton ton enisxiti apo thn electroniki athinon prin peripou dyo mhnes.
Sthn arxh eixa ton philips o opoios den me enthousiaze kai poly oute se dts oute se DD. Phra ton sony str-v555es pou ipoti8ete einai foveros enisxyths kai mou bghke BLAMENOS dioti eixe ekneyristiko fysima kai tipota idiaitero oste na dikaiologei thn timh tou (ektos to remote). Ton epestrepsa kai phra ton sony 940 o opoios htan kseros hxos kai me polyyyyyy fysima.Ton epestrepsa kai agxomenos epsaxna gia enisxith....Thanks God, brhka ton sr-5200 kai ton syndesa me kala (poly kala) kalodia sta hxeia mou (front jm lab 509, rear jm lab 505, center jm lab cc5 & sub jm lab sw-20). Den xrisimopiisa center rear logo xorou.!!
PRoti tainia pou dokimasa htan to seven (region 1) me hxo anaforas kai epa8a plaka. Tromeros hxos kai KINHMATOGRAFIKH AIS8HSH.Meta dokimasa tainies opos to MATRIX & ALMOST FAMOUS & SAVING PRIVATE RYAN kai pragmatika entyposiastika!!!!!
Oson anafora mousikh to dolby prologic II einai tromera "ejypno" xorizontas tous hxous me poly kalh logikh sta 5 hxeia me to test pou ekana me to cd tou george michael "older". DOKIMASTE TO KAI 8A ME 8YMH8HTE. Patontas to plhktro source direct o enisxyths parakamptei ta patna kai 8eorei ola ta hxeia os large se movies kai ta dyo mprostina os large se mousikh...pragmatika eksaisio.

Sas to proteino anepifilakta.......

Similar Products Used:

Philips fr-975, sony str-v555es, sony str-db940

Great home theatre reciever and great for music too !!

Remote could be better.

I bought this unit in montreal Canada for 825$cdn which is about 530$ US. I listened to the Denon 2802 which is about the same price in Canada and prefered the sound of the Marantz. Well i read most reviews and don't know what everyone is talking about !!! The manual is not that bad. If you know how to read English there shouldn't be a problem the setup is quite simple. And people saying there is not enough power! How about trying turning up the volume knob! When i set the volume to 0db it's damn loud and it goes up another 15db. Maybe you feel that the volume does not increase in large enough incriments which means you have to turn the knob quite alot to significantly increase the audiable level but there is pleanty of power. This unit sounds awsome and besides "weak" remote i'd recomend this unit to anyone ! Who cares about the remote if the sound is great ! : - )

Similar Products Used:

Auditioned denon 2802

exellent two channel sound,features and build at this price range.

lacks dynamics and musicality of more expensive products.

sound and vision [aka stereo review]the magizine that said a pioneer $399 pioneer reciever sounded as good as mark levison amp pre amp combo.they also mentioned 18 gauge wire was as good as any from specialty companies ect. Its amazing the marantz recievers have had a lot of respect in many magizines and on this site and now their under powerd and noisy. the 7200 i have listened to drives the b&w 603 system to loud levels with out congesting the sound or getting harsh and one dimentional like many mass produced recievers, many recievers in this price range are unlistenable on 2 channel and muddy on dynamic 5 channel. The marantz does much better under those conditions.Marantz has offerd an alternative product based on preformance compared to acronym orientated japanese mass marketed stuff.If your insecure about your own ability to judge sound by all means by the product with the best review that month. The 7200 can play loud and the sound is comfortable and listenable for long periods as compared to other recievers in its price range yhat sound harsh and confused. Listen for yourself The 7200 in sound&vision may have been defective or Marantz didn't pay their ad bill;but the marantz 7200 i listen to has no noise in dolby digital and drives difficult speakers well.

Similar Products Used:

denon,yamaha,rotel

Almost Everything...

Remote is slow to repsond sometimes and manual sucks

I purchased the marantz SR-7200 finding it had all the features I desired in the price range I wanted. I was also lookign at Denon's 3802 but it was a little more expensive.

I have used it both for music using my DVD player (Marantz DV4200) right now has a CD player (I need to buy a new cabinet to get a 5 disc changer) and for home theatre. My speakers are paradigm monitor series (mini-monitors for the front, CC-370 for the front and rear center and ADP-370 for the rears). In the 4 months I have owned the reciever I have never noticed a popping sound with either CD's or DVD's. I read the reviews and switched the DVD player from optical to co-axial and still no popping. I can't say the popping phenomina reported by other reviewers is not real but I myself have never heard it.

I do notice on audio CD's the first second of the first song is normally cut-off but that is my DVD player not the reciever (I verified this by borrowing my friends CD player).

In my opinion this in an excellent reciever I have nothing but good things to say about it except the manual is really poorly written and the remote sometimes delays (exspecially when using it to control my satelite).


Keep in mind this is my first home theatre reciever and my previous reciever was Sony audio stero reciever.

Stereo Sound
Remote
Price

S-VHS degrade video (bad, bad...)
Bass management could be better
Lower power then should be

Oops, it looks my first review was a complete one block of text, and all my " where gone. So here is again the way ot should be:

It looks that the new SR7200 is the new "lets pick on it" target. I would like to offer my observation and to help separate fact from fiction with the 7200. Im an 41 years old audiophile that know good sound, I own a dedicate audio system for music only and all my life I was on a lookout for the perfect tone. I purchase the SR7200 on the same week it release and was one the first ones who got it. I wanted it have the latest processing technology and be a little more musically then regular.

There are some issue I would like to respond to Sound&Vision review.

False:
BACKGROUND NOISE:
I have no idea where they got noise, in matter of fact this amplifier is so quiet, with full volume at +10DB with my ears 1 from the tweeter I didnt hear NOTHING, In a matter of fact I was expecting some sort of hiss; hey I dont sit 1" from the speakers and every audio gear generate some level of hiss but this one was DEAD. In digital and analogue
Score: 5

Somewhat true:
POWER
As an audiophile who have many audio gear in his life I can say that today watts measurements are by far off from the old audio gear; in compare to my 1977 110W P/C Sansei, the Sansui is most likely 4 to 5 time more powerful then the 105 W P/C SR7200; however I think today is like comparing apples to oranges since those are from a different era. I can however can tell you that I had never listen to movies above -10DB on the dial and it is very loud.
Score: 3.5

True:
VIDEO
S. Video connection is BAD (maybe the video connection too, but I didnt use it), My TV monitor is lighter from the center to the left then the other half, it is very evident in dark scenes, and it is very annoying. (I called Marantz and they told me to contact my dealer even it was more then 2 month from purchase, the dealer "Ahead Stereo" was in great help, he contact Marantz and they are shipping a new unit to the store where I can swap my old unit with the new one).
Score: 2
(This score will go up if my new unit will be OK)

My impression with sound (Stereo) The Marantz is very smooth, very listenable for long time, it is great for background music since it a little laid back yet is detailed. The problem with A/V receiver is similar to sport utilities cars, you can say it can drive on both terrain but it will never will be as good as a dedicated vehicle for that porpoise. The Marantz it is like the sport utility car, it have a great combination that will make movies and audio enjoyable. Some receivers are more detailed so they excel in movies, but music will sound bright and cold and will cause fatigue very quickly.

I also want to mention that as die hard STEREO freak I wouldnt consider multi channel audio as an option; however I got a pleasant surprise with Circle Surround very nice sound stage with great separation and instruments location, I guess time change...
Sound Score: 4.5

Conclusion: Go and listen to the unit yourself, I think it is still the best receiver for the money.

Similar Products Used:

Many

Marantz Quality, great sound, even out of the box.

BAD Popping sound when powered off and on. Also random popping while DVD is playing. For a unit of this quality and price (I understand the unit is in the "high end" status)
the remote is sweet, and the owners manual should be rewritten by a qualified technical writer because who ever wrote it, has never even tried to set one of these units up.(Must have been a car designer in a previous life) Of course I've been out of the A/V market for at least 24 years. (Due to the fact that my old Marantz is still running fine, but I wanted to get into the 21st century. So I think I am a little frustrated with the whole thing.

Sound is exceptional even out of the box. Shopped around and listened to Sony, Denon, Pioneer, and Marantz before I bought. Boy was I in for a surprise! Without sounding like a complete idiot, systems sure have evolved. Just the sheer amount of programing needed to get the system working is frightening. It is something that I realize is a minor learning curve. But I am VERY happy with my Marantz. I have not the expertize of some when it comes to knowing all the bells and whistles, but I know what I like.

Similar Products Used:

None: Went with prior quality.

El mejor sonido que puedes tener en un receptor A/V de su categoria. Calidad de construccion. Muy guapo (sobre todo la version Gold).

Los famosos POPS debido a un defecto en el circuito de muting

Para DVDs los otros cumplen muy bien, pero si realmente te interesa que tu musica suene genial, es el mejor de su categoria. Sobre todo en SOURCE DIRECT mode, es amor a primera vista!. Suena mejor que muchos amplis solo de audio.
El conversor D/A interno sorprende. Suena mejor que el de mi reproductor, que me costo tanto como el 6200!.
PERO, algunos tienen un pequeño problema con el circuito de MUTING que hace que haga un pequeño "pop" (a veces casi no se nota) siempre que se activa. Por ejemplo, entre cancion y cancion del CD (en modo digital).
Que esto no te asuste. Compruebalo, esta en garantia, y si tiene el defecto te lo resolveran. Se puede pensar que es inadmisible para un receptor de esta categoria tener este fallo, pero cuando me pense cambiarlo por el Denon 2802..., No pude!. Para mi el sonido del Marantz no tiene igual y compensa que tenga que pasar un dia por el servicio tecnico para corregir esa tonteria.
Lastima que Marantz no este por la labor de cuidar mas de sus clientes, ya que Marantz España (Philips), a quien escribi, no quiere responder sobre el tema.
Pero siempre esta la tienda donde lo compras :))) que esos si se preocuparon del problema.
En resumen, quitando el pequeño problemilla, es soberbio para su categoria de precio y merece la pena con "pop" y sin el.

Para compensar el "rating", que no me parece justo le doy la maxima puntuacion.

Similar Products Used:

DENON, Yamaha, Onkyo

Great performance

Remote and manuals

Speaking from a performance point of view, this reciever is just amazing. I've played just about everything. Oh and my mp3s sound great. Even most of the 128k sound fine, but just for the heck of it I download 320k quality and now there really is no difference between that and listening to a real CD.

The remote that came with it kind of sucks. It uses a dial to give more options. The problem I've had is that the dial skips quite often. I keep turning and turning and the cursor doesn't move to the next item. Well maybe I'm exaggerating but everytime it fails, you really notice it.

Manual needs a lot of improvement. I've pretty much learned using this thing by trial and error. But once I got the hang of it things were fine.

The on-screen display is really simple. Personally I wouldn't have minded if they had colored it up a bit. It is basically white text on a black background. I suppose it would have been fine if I owned a B&W TV, but I splurged and got one of those new color TVs.

I may be focusing on the negatives here but I have absolutely not performance issues. Great machine!!