The
Marantz brand definitely has its fans, but positioning the marque against its sister brand Denon is a tough balancing act. Many were hoping for the old Marantz flagship SR8002 receiver to get the updates (
cosmetic and otherwise) handed out to the SRx003 models; but those folks will have to hope the 8-series skips generations, because the rest of the lineup has
quite expectedly been upped to SRx004 nomenclature. Convenience features take center stage on the SR6004 ($1,250) and SR5004 ($850), headed up by support for Marantz's RX101 Bluetooth receiver that lets you beam music, sans wires, to the receiver. These models also get Dolby Pro Logic IIz and the popular trio of Audyssey MultiEQ, Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ. After that, it looks like Marantz is getting served
second at the D&M feature table -- 4-in/2-out HDMI ports, no Audyssey DSX, and no mention of Anchor Bay video processing. Still, true fans might still find the Marantz sound that they love in these new models.
posted Aug 25th 2009 4:23PM
Marantz always get screwed when it comes to features, compared to the Denon models. But for the same price point, the Marantz counterpart always seemed to edge out the comparative Denon models sonically, even if it's small. so can't say this is a surprise.
That thing looks like an evil twin brother to my AV8003 Preamp/processor.
Marantz has a significant advantage over Denon sonically when I read few Marantz reviews.
Goto www.hometheatermag.com and read the review of Marantz AV8003, you'll see. :)
Bluetooth is a neat extra feature.
But, they are still lacking too much elsewhere.
I buy receivers based on their amp quality. I'll take a Marantz anyday over Denon, Integra, etc.