It does have component video switching, RF demodulator

none

I was thinking of the SR19 when writing the review below! The SR18 also has a built in RF demodulator for those of you with a LD player with AC3 output.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha

Excellent sound quality for BOTH music and movies

Lack of component video switching (even the DENON AVR 3300 has it!)

I've had the SR18 for a month and am still impressed every time I watch a DVD. Excellent sound quality and plenty of power 140x5W into 8 ohms and 200x5 into 6. I'm running Energy AC300 x 5 speakers and Energy eXL12 sub. It plays VERY loud and the SR18 seems effortless and bottomless in driving them. The sound quality is a bit laid-back and refined but detailed and dynamic. I'm listening to music and watching DVDs much louder than before!

I auditioned a number of receivers and in summary thought the Denon units bright, Yamaha unnecessarily complex (see below) and the Onkyo gutless. So who would I recommend the SR18 too?

-those who value SOUND quality above bells and whistles
-those who don't mind paying a little extra for quality
-those who would rather have 80-90% sound quality of separates costing at least 3 times as much (but if you've got a bottomless pocket go for that Krell, Theta, Meridian unit)

The previous reviews have covered a lot so I'd like to cover a few issues:

REMOTE CONTROL: brilliant! The manual is poorly written but once you understand the basics it is NOT difficult to program. It took me all of one hour to program 5 remotes. I can't understand why so many are having so much trouble! If you can hook up your speaker and components to the SR18 you CAN program the remote with no worries.

DSP MODES: one of the major reasons I chose the SR18 is the LACK of DSP modes (unlike Yamaha). Honestly who listens to their CDs on Jazz Mode #4 or Stadium Mode #2? Do you want to get lost in the music or movie or play around with all the bells and whistles that would keep your 10 year old occupied. The SR18 only has the basic modes you need: DD, THX, DTS music, DTS cinema, Hall, Matrix and stereo.

THX EX: some have commented the lack of this feature as a negative. On the contrary: there are only a handful of DVDs that have THX EX. I would be surprised if in the next year or three that THX EX DVDs even matches the number of pathetically low number of DTS titles out there!

Hope you finds this helpful.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, Yamaha and Onkyo

Well made, good layout and features.

Power.

Finally broke down and bought the SR-18. It took about a year as I really wanted seperates. I looked at the 5700, and the 4800, as well as a number of seperate options. Looked to buy one of the lexicon products on e-bay but the bids always went higher then I thought the older product was worth. In the end a reciever was the right choice for today, and I wanted something well built and ready to roll for the next 3-5 years. I also value 2 channel as much as movies so in the end while the Dennon products had more bells and whistles for movies, I did not think they were quite as clean for plain old stereo. This is not to say the Marantz is not great for movies, it is, it is simply to say that it aint quite as up to date as some of the other products out there today.

Three things that I think that anyone who is going to buy this unit new or used should know.

It aint worth full price anymore. At 3k it just aint up to it. I payed about 1800.00 and I am more then happy with what I got for the bucks. Do not pay full price. There are lots of units out there both new and used that are listing between 18-2200. Grab one if you get the cahnce, but I would not run down to the local dealer and layout full price at this point in time.

RC-2k remote is one of the best around. I had one already and it is one of the reasons I was leaning towards Marantz in the first place. One note on the remote, the documentation is not the best in the world and you should be ready to spend and afternoon getting the remote up and running. With both new remotes, it came down to two factors poor documentation and difficulty programming the unit. The remote is slow to learn. Not hard to program, just slow to pick up the new sets of inputs. More then once I have got no response at all. In some cases I get the all "OK" and then went to test and it did not have the key learned at all. Finally, I tried to follow the directions to reprogam one key for my DVD and it wiped out all the settings for the player and I had to start from step one. This is where I think the documentation needs some help. I read the section about three times before I started and was certain it would reset just the key I wanted to reset, but in the end it was a hard life lesson to learn and added to the overall time to get up and running.

Finally, this is a great head unit. This is one of the reasons I bought it in the first place. If you don't like the power on it, or have the oppertunity to step up, this unit can be your preamp. In short, the marantz won becuase I see it as a unit that can be a high end reciever for now and a high end pre-amp in a year or two. I don't think the Dennon, yamaha, ect are up to the same task.

If you can get one new or used go for it. Its a great unit and will bang out the tunes and movies for the next couple of years without missing a beat.

Similar Products Used:

Dennon 5700, 4800, AVR-9000

EVERYTHING

NOTHING

EXTRAORDINARY!

LOTS of clean dynamic musical power, THX eq + setup, 2 ch stereo as good as decent seperates

Remote is very hard to program

Great receiver that's worth even it's retail price. DVD movies sound improved at least 30% with this receiver and old speakers from Sony STRD 90ES receiver. I guess you get what you pay for. This receiver does accept banana plugs.You have to remove the plastic caps on the end of the speaker connectors . The best way to remove them is to drill a small hole in the center of each plastic cap , then screw a small screw in a little way, then use a pair of pliers to pull screw and cap off.
The best way to listen to pure stereo sound is to push the "S-Direct" button. This disables the sub out , bypasses all DSPs and tone controls, and sets main speakers to "large".
System is:
B&W CDM7SE, CDMCSE, WP-1 surrounds.
Rotel RCD 971, Panasonic A110 DVD
Pioneer 704 LDP
Velodyne FSR-12

Similar Products Used:

Sony ES , Denon and Yamaha

Superior build quality... Simply an exceptional product... Hard pressed to beat a Marantz!

Burned a whole in my budget for speakers to handle the SR-18..
(that is it's ONLY weakness!

SUPERIOR... After a long road of disappoinment... At last I have found peace! The SR-18 cant be anything more than a GOD send!Please, serious reviews need only apply! For all the rest that are serious, do not consider some of the last entries as legitimate, but rather a testimony to the fact that there is indeed whackos out there... Reviews from the past helped immensley... I thank you! As for 2 ch music... MY GOD! Music was meant to sound this way! Happiness can be had... and with the SR-18, really no other comes close, less you spend Mac money... Simply Marantz and simply the best!

Similar Products Used:

Only Marantz... Some Kenwood and JVC

remote,flip down panel,seperat quality receiver,made in japan.

remote,(but i just programed one remote a night), the speaker binding post (cannot plug in banana end's into post instead you have to insert from the side & screw the post down).no phono input

my first stereo was bought in 76, a marantz 2240, after that
a technics integrated amp,then yamaha m4 c4 seperates, then a technics pre, onkyo 508 pwr. lastly a yamaha dspe1000. why did i buy the sr18. i wanted better sound in 5-1. i watch alot of dvd movies, my wife alot of radio/cd's. i wanted dts,thx,dolby digital,100wpc,universal/learner remote,inputs
for future use,optic inputs,and something that won't be obsolete a couple of year's from now.

why didn't we buy one the others?
denon 4800- remote, front panel, sound.
pioneer elite- sound, build quality.
sony 777- no thx.
adcom- price,no thx.

what we own
marantz sr18
panasonic dvd-310
pioneer elite pd-f79 cd player
polk sda-2 front speaker's
paradigm cc200 center
paradigm studio/20 rears

after listening to all competitor's, comparing power, spec's, number of input's, output's, must have feature's, talking it over, repeat listening test's, and reading these review's, WE decided to buy the marantz.

hooking it up was not all that hard. you almost have to hook it up to video (tv) to simplify setup of the receiver. the remote was a little bit of a inconvenience, but i just took one remote a night & programmed it. now i love the remote. only one remote on my coffee table now & less batteries, the manual could be a little better for the first time buyer, even i had a little trouble with it.
but if you buy from a reputable dealer they should help with any question's or problem's you might encounter.

ok it's hooked up, first dvd movie, waterworld dts, oh no, no dts light, you've got to be kidding me. ok, calm down, double check connection's, all are ok, bad unit? no way, got out my dvd manual, duh, i did'nt have my dvd set up to send out dts signal's. ok, dts light's on, wow, the room shook, we were blown away from the sound. remember the audio store may not have the same speakers as you do. my wife is not all that technology savvy,but she can operate the remote/receiver with no problems. we have watched several movies, dts, thx, dolby digital. the sound is awesome, from the explosion's in independence day,to the slight faint background sound's in star trek first contact. cd's sound just as good on the marantz as they did on our separates.

summary
if your looking for a receiver with separate's quality & sound, dts, thx, dolby digital, learning remote, 5 digital input's, 2 digital output's, then you'll be just as satisfied as we are.

we love this receiver and are definitely happy with it!

AT LEAST READ THIS
we went on the internet and found the cheapest prices, printed them up, then, when we decided on the marantz,
it helped out alot, so much they were going to give us a new sr18 for $2100.00, 20 minute's later they offered us the display model for $1950.00 it was 3 months old,not a mark on it, with box.
you may not find as great a deal as we did, but you never know, it is your hard earned dollar's!!

Similar Products Used:

denon 4800,pioneer elite,sony 777,adcom seperate's.

Everything

This receiver is awesome. Who cares if it doesn't have 5 channel stereo? Real music lovers only listen to 2 channel music.

Um, the SR-18 is more detailed and accurate when compared to the Denon.

Anyway, ignore the below review because it is obviously not a real review since this receiver deserves more than 1 star. Get real.

This piece of equipment is for those who want great sound quality and want the "all in one" solution that a receiver gives.

It is sad though that people like lolo can post a bogus review of this receiver (the same goes for other reviews on this site) that drops the total rating like that. How that is supposed to be informative and helpful to future buyers is beyond me. Please fix those this Audioreview.

power, styling, weight, thx ultra, dts, dolby digital, separates quality 2-channel stereo, imaging/soundstaging, superior remote control

no 5-channel stereo, no 7.1, useless dsp modes

I wouldn't consider myself an "audiophile", but instead a critical listener and music/movielover. I decided on a receiver because I don't have the room in my apartment for 5 Marantz MA700's. I bought this particular receiver for the following reasons, listed in no particular order:

1. AWESOME 2-channel stereo.
2. It's GORGEOUS. Styling is superior to anything i've seen.
3. The remote.
4. Clean, quiet power.
5. EXCELLENT dolby digital, dts, thx ultra processing.

I just wish it had 5-channel stereo, because it would be great for those recordings in which imaging is not important.

My System:

Marantz SR-18
Pioneer DV-525
Sony ES 5-CD Changer (it's OLD. I'll soon upgrade to a Denon DCD-1650AR)
B&W 603 S2 (front)
B&W 601 S2 (rear)
B&W LCR S2 (center)
B&W ASW1000 (sub)
Monster M Series Cables & Interconnects
Sony 32" KV32V42

Marantz and B&W are a match made in heaven. The warm sound of the Marantz complements the sharp, natural sound of the B&W's.

Everything listed here is highly recommended (Well, maybe not the cables. I'll probably upgrade to Kimber).

1) Musical amp section
2) Powerful and dynamic amp sections
3) Excellent DPL / DD & DTS decoding
4) Excellent, but complicated remote
5) Digital output (1 coaxial, 1 optical)

1) Useless DSP modes
2) User Interface
3) User Manual
4) Limited amount of Digital inputs (2 optical, 2 coaxial)
5) No Phone input or preamp
6.) Sub-out inactive in 2 channel mode when main speakers are set to large.

Overview

The Marantz SR-18 is one receiver with need for little introduction. It is basically a state of the art
piece of hardware and one of the best all in one box home theater solutions on the market. Marantz has
recently come a long way with their A/V receivers, as this powerhouse flagship best illustrates here.
Build quality of the SR-18 is second to none within its respected class. The SR-18 is endowed with a
high-current toroidal transformer power supply, premium high storage, low ESR power supply
capacitors, fully discrete preamp and power amp output stages, and premium 96KHz / 24 bit DAC's.



Listening Tests

Our listening tests proved the Marantz SR-18 to be a very musical, powerful and dynamic receiver.
Two-channel audio sounded very composed and full, even at high volume levels. The amp never
sounded strained during bass heavy transitions. Instead, it just pumped out the low frequencies with
authority and clarity, yielding a very natural sounding midrange and airy, detailed, but not too bright
treble. One particular characteristic of the SR-18 we have come to appreciate was the extremely low
noise floor, which until this moment, we haven't found an all in one box unit which exhibited this
characteristic so well since the legendary Yamaha DSP A1. We spent considerable time listening and
evaluating DTS CD's on the Energy speaker system with much enjoyment and enthusiasm. The SR-18
decoded DTS CD's flawlessly and handled DPL and DD with equal prowess. In addition, bass
management was done correctly for the first time in a Marantz Receiver.



User Interface

We found the user interface of the SR-18 to be the weak point of this unit. The On Screen Menus
(OSM) were not intuitive at all. It took some doing just to get a darn test tone to initiate. The remote
was quite impressive looking, but also not intuitive to the neophyte or experienced audio buff who
desires to operate the SR-18 on the fly and is too lazy to refer to a user manual. With time and patience,
the user can master this powerful remote which could potentially serve as the main user interface to the
entire A/V system. This remote is light years ahead of the remote for the Denon 5700 or Yamaha DSP
A1 in this regard.

Perhaps one of the biggest gripes we had about the SR-18 with respect to user friendliness, was its
very lacking user manual. It was very vague in explaining system set up and operation. It furnished very
little electrical specifications on the unit and what it did provide was ambiguous and incomplete. The
user manual on the Yamaha DSP A1 and also the Denon 5700 are far superior in this regard.



Discrepancies On Specifications And Capabilities Of The SR-18

There are a few misleading specifications regarding this receiver. The first and most important
misleading specification is claimed output power ratings. The Brochure on the SR-18 claims the amps to
be 140 watts RMS at full bandwidth, while the actual user manual states 140 watts RMS at 1KHz. The
Denon 5700 is also marketed like this. Marantz / Denon probably rely on the fact that most consumers
will not be able to assertion or at least notice these misleading power figures and hope they buy based
on inflated numbers. While in actuality 140 watts RMS at 1KHz translates to about 105 - 110 watts
RMS at full bandwidth. This is one fine example of how manufactures like to play games with their
claimed power ratings.

While the SR-18 has these higher fidelity DAC's, they cannot be utilized with multi channel surround
signals (IE. DD, DTS, etc). The user manual for the SR-18 explicitly states the following on page 31: "
PCM-audio signals can be subjected to Pro Logic Processing when Fs = 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz , or 48
KHz. However output will be muted when 96 KHz PCM signal or DTS signal are input." What this is
basically saying is anytime a 96KHz signal is subjected to multi channel processing, it will be muted. Be
that as it may, ask yourself what's the significance of having 96KHz / 24 bit DAC's if they cannot be
utilized for all applications which employ 96KHz audio. Marantz in not the only vendor doing this. All
receivers boasting 96KHz DAC's also follow this principal as it is a limitation to the current digital
interface. Logical would lead one to conclude that all current 96KHz / 24 bit Processors are marketing
gimmicks at best. DVD audio, will be 192 KHz / 24 bit, is backed by a new Audio Standard, unlike
96KHz audio. DVD audio hardware and software will envelope the consumer market and lay to rest
the notion of 96KHz DAC's currently supported by some manufacturers which were too impatient to
wait for the new Audio Standard to be completed and finalized.

Another discrepancy found on the SR-18 was on its weight. As insignificant as this may sound to the
average shopper, the more sophisticated shopper would consider weight of a product as a good way to
judge the amount of guts in the unit (IE. Size of Power Supply, Heat Sinks, etc). The brochure on the
SR-18 claims it to weigh 56.1 lbs while the user manual states it weighs 49.7 lbs (same weight as the
Denon 5700). The 6.4 lbs discrepancy makes one wonder if the power supply may be smaller than one
was originally lead to believe. Keep in mind that the amps in this receiver, as well as most receivers, are
Class AB and utilize linear power supplies. Linear power supplies are large and bulky. A big
transformer weighs a good deal, which adds considerable weight to the box. The B&K AVR 202 and
Yamaha DSP A1 are the heaviest all in one box solutions on the market (55 lbs and 52 lbs
respectively). Please note, we are not trying to suggest that the DSP A1 or AVR 202 are better
because of this, but this fact does provide insight, in some cases, to build quality and emphasis placed on
quality of parts utilized in the particular product.



Conclusion

In spite of the Marantz SR-18's shortcomings mentioned above, we feel it to be an excellent overall
product for home theater applications. It ranks right up there with the B&K AVR 202, Yamaha DSP
A1 and Denon 5700. Each of these fine machines have their own associated strengths and
weaknesses.

Choosing which one to purchase is a function of the individuals:

1) Applications
2) Performance expectations
3) Budget
4) Preference

We felt the strong points of the SR-18 to be:

1) Musical amp section
2) Powerful and dynamic amp sections
3) Excellent DPL / DD & DTS decoding
4) Excellent, but complicated remote
5) Digital output (1 coaxial, 1 optical)

While we felt the weak points of the SR-18 to be:

1) Useless DSP modes
2) User Interface
3) User Manual
4) Limited amount of Digital inputs (2 optical, 2 coaxial)
5) No Phone input or preamp
6.) Sub-out inactive in 2 channel mode when main speakers are set to large.

Rating: 4 1/2

Similar Products Used:

B&K AVR 202, Yamaha DSP
A1 and Denon 5700