Marantz SR-5200 : Good clean sound, high current, nice design, S-Video switching, Pro Logic II, on screen display, great for movies and games.

No HDTV component switching, quality may be of concern(see review)

This is a review for the 5200, not the 5000. I've been looking into a receiver for quite a while now and finally decided on this one. Price-wise it had lots of features I was looking for except for hdtv component switching. Like han solo, my receiver went up in smoke too, so I'm not too sure whether Marantz is reliable. Maybe the shipment of 5200's they sent were all lemons or something. Anyway, when it was actually working it was great. Clean sound reproduction for movies and music, lots of power (even on my crappy Sony speakers), clear highs, mids and nice bass.

Connected to :
Toshiba CW34XC92 HDTV
Toshiba SD3750 DVD Player
Crappy Sony speakers not worth mentioning
Yamaha Sub
PS2, Gamecube, Xbox and DC

I'll follow up this review once I get my 5200 replaced.

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Kenwood VR-510

The sound quality is so clean. I love listening to my cds and watch DVD action movies. I owned ONKYO and JVC but Marantz is more for serious listeners. Marantz sound quality is superior!

A week prior to the 3 year warranty, 7 resistors "smoked" while watching an action movie. It is fixed now and it sounds just like brand a new receiver. If it were not for the "AUTO PROTECT" mode, it might have damaged my speakers too.

I will buy Marantz again for my spare bedroom.

100 watt 2-ch stereo, Strong 70 x 5 dts, price "B-stock at a friendly former employee price.

Manual, but I didn't even need it. I've sold electronics for 5 yrs.

The 2-channel stereo is rich, always a srength of Marantz. The remote is oversized but the learning keys make for great flexability. I have mine running my Sony Direct TV box, something that the SR5000 doesn't even list, also I have a seperate multi-disc cd player with very specified keys that I've all programmed, you will need a good memory though. Price & the Marantz sound we're my main motivators on this one.

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boston,polk.

Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, S-Video switching, Stereo Clarity

Terrible Manual, No On Screen Dispaly, remote could be better

Refurbished. Sounds and works great, but cosmetically imperfect (a few scratches on the dispaly, the case is a bit bent). For the price, it is a fantastic buy! It includes a 1 year parts and labor warranty, and ac4l provides DOA protection as well. Try to get that from a used purchase on ebay. Mark at ac4l was also very helpful with the few setup problems I had, due to the lack of a comprehensive manual. I upgraded from my Marantz SR580 to the SR5000 due to the need for S-Video switching. The sound quality on this receiver is what I have come to expect from Marantz. Very clean, excellent seperation, great response on both stereo CD's and 5.1 DVD's. I had a few problems with the setup of my Paradigm Sub using the SUB OUT from the 6 channel output. It seems that the sub will only receive a signal in all modes if the center channel is set to "SMALL" setting. Quirky, but it works now. A few things that I like better than the SR580 are: seperate level control for the rear right and left channels, DTS, S-Video, more digital inputs, more power. I would like to have a more user friendly remote (backlit, better layout) but since my previous receiver had an almost identical remote, I guess I'm used to it. This unit drives my Kef Q30 speakers fantastically. It would be nice to have an on screen display, but for less than $300, I'm not complaining. I have not been able to detect any s-video saturation problems, as a few others have reported, so either this particular unit is free from this, or my eyes are not as good as my ears. I love the sound and price of this unit! I highly recommend it!

Similar Products Used:

Marantz SR580, Sony STR-D915, HK AVR30

Copnstruction, sound

Remote, user manual sparse, only one optical input (two coaxial inputs)

Picked up this refurbished unit from Accessories 4 Less. Their helpful staff shipped it out the same day. I was impressed by their return policy, which picks up return shipping if the unit is defective. Also, it came with a full one year manufacturer's warranty. So I figured I couldn't lose with this great price.

The unit arrived promptly, and despite a few minor cosmetic blemishes, in perfect working condition.

The learning remote has more buttons than you can ever use. It had a few minor problems losing previously programmed functions. Also, the grid layout, isn't very ergonomic.

The receiver is solidly constructed and weighs about 30 lbs. But the real strength is the sound. I didn't test the surround modes yet, but in normal stereo, the sound rivaled my Sony ES which was about twice the price. A feature not really advertised is that although the unit puts out 70 watts in 5 channels, it is 100 watts in stereo. It must be conservatively rated, because as far as I could tell, it had no problems putting out the volume.

Probably more of a preference issue, but I would have preferred a less fine tuning volume knob. As such, I felt I had to turn it couple revolutions to reach a good volume. Also, the surround knob can sometimes be confused with the volume knob since they are identically sized.

But overall, a great amp from a great retailer. They have a lot of other Marantz stuff you may want to check out.

Excellent sound quality

Manual needs more explanation, remote is pre historic

This is a review for SR 5200. After a lot of research I decided to go with the Marantz over Yamaha and Sony. Could not afford the HK and did not like the Dennons that much. Couple of weeks after I bought the Marantz, the receiver went up in flames [literally]. Man there was a lot of smoke! I took it back to the dealers .. they were kind to replace it. I am told it was a lemon. Hope nothing happens to the one I have now.

Excellent receiver other than the above incident. really like it. If anyone has come accross a similar problem please let me know.

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Sony

Sound, Build quality, beauty

none

Really only wrote this review because this receiver is fantastic value. It knocked the socks of the HK in home theatre and cost $350 less! For 2-channel it smashed the HK into oblivion! A 5.1 amp/rec that retails for $1,000cdn AND does HT and 2 channel with poise and precision.

Cumbersome remote...yeah...likely done on purpose so you'll buy the SR5000. Manual...whats that for? And those that complain about coax digital inputs I daresay give your head a shake...thats a strenghth not a weakness!

Great product at a fantastic price! Makes my deftechs sing!

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Harmom Kardon

great sound...warm, clear, and plenty of punch

it will sometimes not read the coax from my dvd player..may just be the dvd player...ill get back to you on that

ok im a college guy with very limited funds. i would have to say that this is one of the best buys out there. i mainly got it for home theater, but im really amazed at the sound in 2 ch mode, it is just as good asthe $1000+ recevers i have listend to...i would recomend the reciver for anyone who wants a fairly cheap reciver that plays really well in 2 ch

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sony, normal best buy stuff.

Amazing 2-channel & DTS sound quality...powerful despite apparently low watts/channel...clean sound

Remote is pretty bad, but I use the Marantz RC-2000 anyway

I purchased this receiver to get DD/DTS for my new DVD player. When I hooked it up in my system, I was completely blown away by the sound in 2-channel stereo. The bass definition is outstanding, even with my B&W CDM1NT bookshelf speakers. The sound is very powerful and clean. As someone mentioned below, the sound really does seem to get better with time. I was torn between the Denon AV-2801 and this unit, and I am very glad that I chose the Marantz. I can't think of a glaring weakness with this receiver. I guess I wish that it had an A/B speaker selector. But for listening to music and movies, there is absolutely no better receiver in this price range.

By the way, some people have complained that the unit doesn't get loud enough for normal listening until the volume is fairly high. To me, this is a benefit. Once in this range, the sound gets very loud with slight volume increases. This way, very little adjustment is necessary for a significant change in volume. I much prefer this feature. There has also been mention about the DSP modes (concert, stadium, etc.) sounding bad. Who cares? These modes always make music sound artificial anyway.

My system:
B&W CDM 1NT
Polk Audio center channel (to be replaced by B&W CDM CNT)
Marantz SR-5000 A/V receiver
Rotel RDD-980 CD transport
Rotel RDP-980 D/A converter
Pioneer DV-C503 DVD changer
*will eventually own rears and a sub

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Adcom, Yamaha

Sound: detailed highs, strong [enough] bass, tonal balance better than average, fairly large soundstage, almost excellent imaging with the right source and cables. very dynamic for a receiver. ac-3 and dts are also very good. weakpoint is remote which is a total joke. construction seems reasonably solid. overall a steal at 550 for a home theatre receiver that sounds as musical as many "mid-fi" integrated amps.