Smooth output over frequency range
Huge Power Supply
Good connections
Superb control

Remote layout from hell

I got the STRDE 835 first. Lots of features, most of them implemented in a
half-@$$ed fashion. A friend of mine
has the 595a, which is good for movies,
crappy for music. The 5000 was about $100 more than either of them but it was well worth the extra expense.

First off, it weighs at least five pounds more than either of the others I looked at. All of that weight is in the power supply and it shows. Smooth, consistent delivery at all frequencies.

While the remote itself may be less than stellar, the control that the system offers over all aspects of its performance is exceptional. Volume control is smooth and gradual, as are ajustments to bass, balance, treble, etc. This is in direct contrast to the digital jumps that the STRDE835 and the Yamaha595a make in such controls. The remote is functional, and can be replaced with an uber-remote from Marantz for $250. I am also hunting down info on how to program my Palm-Pilot to control this remote through its infrared port.

Listening to Ashley MacIsaac, Curtis Mayfield, and Les Miserables made the superiority of this amp to position sound sources clear. I would reccommend this amp over its competitor if you would rather have solid performance in a areas where it counts rather than a slew of (most unused) "features". The STRDE835
puts on a heck of a light show, but
falls short on performance. The 595a
sounds good for movies, but fails the cut on music.

I give it four stars, it meets my expectations for performance and exceeds them on control. To use the remote, you really should read the manual.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STRDE 835
Yamaha 595a

Great sound, lots of inputs

Remote

This thing is hot. First listened to it with a $500 Marantz CD player and $1000 Boston Acoustics speakers and I thought I was bound to be disappointed with equipment in my price range. Not so! Listening to music through Energy eXL 25's and a Proscan DVD/DIVX player and it sounds great. Oh yeah, did I menion that it kicks ass in HT too? I must say I'm glad I waited a year to invest in a new system. At $599 this reciever is an absolute steal! Only problem is the remote: it's not backlit and the layout is confusing, butI'll take the hit for great musical sound at this price.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR DA 50 ES

Affordable, Simple Front Panel and Set-up,
good pro-logic seperation,
Ample S-video Hook-ups

A bit weak and hiss prone
Remote is "cheap" and awkward,
Video interference with RCA hook up,
Front panel molded in plastic,
Manual is the worst I've ever seen

I was very excited about the possibility of getting a Marantz receiver for about $600. Though it is a reasonable audio component it did not live up to my expectations. I attempted to evaluate the receiver on-line, but the Marantz website is very weak and provides no specs, only a product description. I purchased mine when I finally ran into it in a Cambridge Soundworks. They were very excited to be selling it and it looked pretty good in the low lights at the store in their very nice display room. I do not fault Cambridge for anything, their rep. was very helpful and perhaps compared to the other systems they offered it is a very good buy.

The detractions I listed above, however, were sufficient to induce me to return the receiver after two weeks. First, I have a satellite-sub speaker system (Cambridge). I have used if for about 6-month on my old Pioneer prologic receiver and I was pretty happy with them, but thought it was time to move into the digital era. I was shocked to see that I needed to raise the volume to 65 out of 95 to get into my normal listening range (these are not power hungry speakers) in a 10' X 8' room. At this level a small amount of hiss was audible from my speakers, particularly for CDs in prologic. A review of the specs in the manual (which is rediculously short, incomplete and poorly written) revealed that this receiver has some interesting aspects you will not find on the Marantz web page. First of it is rated with a THD of 0.09% that is twice level of distortion of most competing systems (even the Sony DB series). Secondly, it has different power ratings for stereo (100W) or prologic (70W). This suggests to me that this is unit is not implementing discrete channel amplification. Indeed, when I switched to stereo the systems was much stronger, but I bought it for home theater as much as for music. Thus I question the claims that the extra weight of the system is in the power supply, and if it is, it is not implemented very well.

Another primary negative for me was a problem with video interference, and I tested this very thoroughly to ensure that it was the receiver and not my other components, wiring or an RF leak, and I did this through each channel that could accept an RCA video input using monster cables. I plugged the unit into multiple outlets in different rooms and removed cords for other components and unplugged them. No matter what I did I got a noticeable pattern that was best seen on a solid or blue background as different bands (about 1/4 the height of the screen) each composed of jagged bands and waves within them. It is the sort of distortion that does not absolutely ruin the picture by mishapping things, it just puts a weak background pattern in the image. I can wire directly from my VCR and get a clear picture, but that would be stupid giving how much I paid for an AV receiver.

Along those lines of logic I was very disappointed to find no A/B switching. The cheapest receivers out there are generally capable of this and I run speakers in multiple rooms. The remote is no better than the remote for my old pioneer. It is just a big flat box with a tone of cheap buttons and switchs. Despite being huge it runs on 2-AAA batteries giving it all the feel of $5 calculator without an LCD panel. Marantz generally makes very solid components and thus I was also a bit shocked that they would package a $600 receiver with a cheap plastic front panel (though it does look good in low light it looks cheap under brigher conditions). The manual as I have already said is just plain tragic, I've read thicker resturaunt menus with much clearer english.

I did not attempt s-video hook-up, as I have not got a DVD player yet, and perhaps the video problems are not present for S, and you may have speakers that respond better to the power afforded by this meek unit, but the rest of the features are unavoidable. Seriously, give this model a thorough check out before you purchase it and ask to see some specs on it. I think you will find this unit does not live up to the Marantz name. I like to think the Cambridge guy that sold it to me was telling me the truth when he said he could not find the specs and only them for the next model up (SR7000), but I am beginning to wonder.

I returned mine and bought a Yamaha RXV795a for the exact same price. It made all of the difference. You get a full 85W per discrete channel, sturdier construction, more bells and wistles and no distortion. Likewise, the 85W is conservative as I can only turn up the system to 1/4 of its full volume before things are way too loud. The extra power means that no hiss occurs even at near defening audio levels (all receivers will hiss if set to an unused input and turned up high). I suspect the hiss for the Marantz was due to needing to turn it up so much to get any sound performance (really it was inaudible at 30% of its max level). The Yamaha is just a suggestion, I know there are other very good receivers out there, but the Marantz is not one of them.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV-795a

Dolby Digital/DTS, S-Video hookups, great sound

Video interference with RCA hook-up, video switching problems, terrible remote, owner's manual, hissing sound when volume is turned-up and subwoofer hook-up.

This is an excellent receiver. Sounds great! However, I ran into video interference problems while using my DVD Player and VCR with this unit. I took the SR 5000 back to the dealer to switch it out but they were out of stock. Now I am waiting on the SR 7000 and/or SR 8000.

Similar Products Used:

Sherwood Newcastle Receiver, Pioneer DVD-414, Sony VCR, Marantz Tape Deck, NHT SubOne Subwoofer, NHT 1.5s, Zenith Inteq TV, JVC "D" Series TV

Good Quality Sounds Reproduction

none

I bought Sr5000 in jakarta, indonesia. Costs about U$250. It is printed made in china, as labeled at backside panel. I wonder if it is as good as original japan one, until I had a chance to compare it to my-very kind of-boss's high end audio sets in the office.

The sets is:
VTL Pre Amp TL 2.5
VTL Power Amp Reference 350 Manley Series MonoBlocks
B&W DM3000, a pair of jumbo loud speaker

So I hooked my DVd Casio Player VK-700. Analog's left output to Sr5000 and Right goes to VTL sets. I turn it on, hear and compare the results from speaker, how good each in reproducing sounds side by side. After listen a bunch of music (pop, jazz, disco) for about 2 hours, I get the conclusion that, "As far as my ear can hear and notice, I can't tell the different!"

Both are having the same character of sounds, vocal, bass, trebel, transcient etc. Whether at low, moderate and high level. The different is, VTL can go much louder in higher volume.

Before I thought SR5000 sound too tiny and like "In a can", compare to my old sets. Now I realized that my old stereo is boosting too much high and bass, as a cheaper product's characteristic. I'm very happy with my SR5000 now, it is really a good and cost effective product.

Similar Products Used:

none, it's my first A/V Rec

no hiss, smooth and warm sound, quality built receiver

remote, manual

It's one of the good receiver in this price range. For HT I use it with the Take 5 package. With high enough volume level I can hear almost all the details from the movies. For music this combination can't give the sound I expect as we know that Take 5 is not really for the music. For overall this receiver deserves for 10 stars eventhough the remote is too big and the manual looks too cheap.

Similar Products Used:

Sony

An all-round receiver, simple and clear front panal

as mentioned by the friends before: manual and remote

The Kenwood 7080 sucks. I have tolerated for 3 years before I decided to purchase a new receiver. There is a choice between Onkyo 575, Denon 1801 and The Marantz. I asked the shopkeeper to play the 'Hotel California' CD. At the 1st round, the Onkyo 575 was kicked out of my choice. Then the choice between Denon and Marantz. The Denon sounds similar the Marantz, but personally I love more bass, so I selected Marantz. And I found that I got a right choice.
The sound is very clear. No hiss sound even I tuned the volume up to nearly 70 (though I have no idea what '70' means in this receiver. 70 watts? 70dB? 70% of maximum output? who can help me!!) Stong bass and crystal clear treble with my Bose 701. Sounds fantastic with the DTS or AC-3 on movies. I have a Heco centre and a pair of Paramount rear. Unfortunately I don't have a sub-woofer. Well, no Those whovideo interference is found in my Panasonic 29" TV. I just use an RCA cable, and haven't tried the S.
THose who are thinking of changing a new system please try a combination of the Sr-5000 and Marantz DV4100 DVD player. You will get much more than what you expect with such a price.
THe only weakness is the manual and remote. Luckily I am knowleageable enough to set up the system without the manual. Moreover there are too many buttons on the remote. up till now I have just tried the 'Volume up/down' and 'power' buttons. I am tired of reading the manual. I am a Chinese but I can't understand the Chinese on the manual, and I have to refer to the Engish version. How rediculous it is! Those who have the same recevier would you please teach me how to use it. A million thanks!!
For myself the DTS/AC-3, Stereo and FM receiver are enough for me, others like 'Large', 'Small', 'Surround mode' are meaningless to me

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood 7080, Denon 1801, Onkyo 575

Very clean sound.

Manual is really bad.

I purchased this receiver about 2 months ago and have been really very happy with it. I have it connected to a Hafler
DH-200 Amp for the left and right channels. The Halfer is connected to JBL L150's. I use the Marantz amps for the center and surrounds. The center speaker is a JBL L100 and JBL small speakers for surrounds. I keep the bass isolated to the left and right channels. The sound from both HT and straight audio is awesome. I'm pleased with the simple setup features and the well thought out tone controls. I don't seem to have the same problems with hiss and video as the other reviewers. As a matter of fact, the amps are very quiet and stay clean even at the highest power levels.

I would suggest to Marantz to get rid of their technical writing department as the manual is really bad. The remote is a little cumbersome, but not bad, once you get use to it.

It's not clear that Marantz uses 5 amps of the same quality inside the receiver. According to their advertisements, the amps are all 70W RMS 20-20000Hz with .09 THD. But their manual suggests that the left and right are rated as above but the center and surrounds are 70W at 1000Hz and no distortion rating is given.

Overall, the receiver is bulletproof and I highly recommend it. It does live up to the Marantz name given the price range.

Warm sound, no hiss, sharp transients, don't be fooled by the moderate power rating unless you crave ear damage. Does the job with authority and style.

cheap speaker connectors, no dedicated LFE sub output, don't try and use it for video switching, remote can be difficult at times. The included manual is frustrating in its simplicity. No deep setup tweaking menus.

This amp was part of package at CSW. The standard package included the Onkyo TX-DS575X. The sales guy insisted that I do the Marantz, and now I know why. I guess it's all about the sound ...

First problem when setting up ... no sound! I finally realized (thanks to the reviews here) that the 0-100 volume scale actually refers to dB, so unless you crank it up to 70 or so, you won't hear anything. Surprise! OK, on to the next hassle. BTW, don't be fooled by the moderate power rating ... there's enough beans here for most people looking to preserve their hearing.

Where to plug in the sub? Finally decided to slave it off the center channel, and tell the DVD player that there was no sub (sending all information to center channel) and it worked like a champ.

OK, all setup troubles resolved, time to listen to some great DVDs ... and then the amp started to shine. As soon as the "Dolby THX" logo played, I knew we were in for some serious listening. Oooh baby ... this is good!

My ears are pretty critical ... I can hear distortion, clipping, hiss, uneven freq responses, unnatural shadings of sound ... and with this amp, I have no complaints. OK, so I can't use it to knock down pictures off the wall, but at reasonable (and even unreasonable!) listening levels, it's a transparent and accurate champ. Can't comment on the bass, since the sub picked it all up, but the mids and highs were near-reference level.

Strangely enough, my DVD player (Sony DVP-570D) had great tweaking menus for the sound setup, and covered for any deficiencies in the amp's configuration capabilities. Put the two of them together, and I had everything I wanted.

Marantz appeared to have spent the money on the sound. They seemed to save on the manual (hah!), cheap speaker terminals, lots of connectors, and so on. OK, all in all, I'll buy that ...

So I guess it gets down to "whaddya lookin' for?". If you're looking for lots of options, knobs and flexibility, this probably isn't the amp for you. If you're looking for warm, rich sound that keeps your ears smiling in a midlevel HT setup, the SR-5000 is an ear-pleaser.

No regrets ... this one is a keeper for next few years (at least!). No urge to buy something better.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha audio amps ...

clarity, extension, build quality, midrange purity.

remote and manual

I've had this receiver for several months. I recently simplified my life from separates, but still wanted the quality of good sound. I am using the Marantz SR5000 with Definitive pro 100's with the pro sub 100 and pro center 100. The sound is remarkably close to high end at a fraction of the cost of separates. When new, the sound was a bit sterile, but as the unit broke in, the sound became warmer and more relaxed. I am looking into Audioquest Ruby and Type 4 speaker cable to replace the very bland Monster cables. I have a feeling it will improve matters. As for the poor remote and manual, I can only say that I guess they had to cut corners somewhere in order to make an excellent sounding receiver at an affordable price. The people at Marantz have done their homework on these new receivers. Oh, and by the way, I also believe the SR5000 sounds a bit warmer and natural than the SR7000.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 595, HK AV500