Smooth power supply, and excellent tonal qualities. Simple settings which are easy to manipulate.

Poor remote (you can update to a "cooler" one) which works fine, and bad instruction manual (which any good dealer will be happy to explain for you if asked).

This mini review compares the SR-5000 to the SR-7000 and explains why I have been led to believe that the SR-5000 is a better buy and musically more precise and clear.

After going back and forth for 3 months and demoing and re-demoing different recievers, I finally decided on the SR-5000. I am building my system from the ground up and started with a prejudice free mind about any name brands. After much resarch and even more driving between dealers I finally decided upon my setup. I started off at larger chain stores and looked at the best that was offered. I brought home both the Onkyo 676 and HK 500. The Onkyo had many many features but ultimately altered the pure tonal qualities of the signal. The HK 500 was brand a brand new model and I got one with a few flaws, it also lacked the ammount of power that I need for my speakers.

After feeling somewhat lost I ran across the Marantz line, and I liked what I heard. When I first bought my speakers I decided on Paragigm Mini Monitors for the fronts, the CC-350 for the center and a powerful Phase Technology Power 12 subwoofer. At the time I overlooked the Marantz line because I hadn't heard of them. I loved how the speakers sounded and moved along in the pursuit of a "better" reciever. As one may see I later managed to re-trace my roots back to the source of the origional killer sound I had demoed my origional speakers on.

I was about to flat out purchase the SR-5000 when the dealer told me that the new updated SR-7000 and SR-8000's would be out in a few weeks. So I borrowed the 5000 for a few days at home to get to know the unit. Then later when they arrived I brought the 7000 home. Now for a comarison between the two...

The 7000 has more features, more complex auto setups, more power, and a nicer remote than the 5000. But on the flip side it is very complex to setup (partly due to it having to many features), and a pain in the ass to adjust. It has plenty of power, but will make any external powered subwoofer sound with an internal crossover sound muddy and overall disgusting. To get a clean sound out of a powered sub with internal crossover requires something more complex than using the sub-preout.

The 5000 has 30 less watts, doesn't have a metal face (but do you buy a better looking receiver or a better sounding reciever?), has a poor remote, BUT SOUNDS INFINATELY BETTER!
It has a bassier sound to it, becuse it sends a stronger signal through the pre-out(also not crossovered), has simple external tone knobs, and is easier to setup up.

One on one the 5000s sound is much smoother and more precise sounding, the 7000 may have more power but has a harsher sound. While trying to find out why my sub sound so poorly on the 7000 the dealer and I both came to the conclusion that ultimately the 5000 was a diamond in the rough compared to the 7000.

Can you blame me for saving $200 bucks! You may think otherwise, but the SR-5000 is truly the best reciever I have come across in the under $1000 category. It has all the basics for any home theater including DTS, many setup inputs and outputs, and costs around $500-$600. Hope my review sends some light into the dark tunnel of picking out a receiver. I am very satisfied with my purchase.

Marantz SR-5000 Reciever
Sony DVP S330 DVD Player
Paragigm Mini Monitors Front Speakers
Paradigm CC-350 Center Channel
Phase Technology Power 12 Subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

HK 500, SR-7000, and Onkyo 676

Sound quality

Remote, manual

Recently purchased the SR-5000 and am very pleased with my purchase. Paid $370 on ebay for a new unit. I have the receiver hooked up to Paradigm Monitor 9's, Polk bookshelf rears, and a JBL 10" sub. (No center channel yet) The sound quality of this receiver is amazing. Despite the manual being horrible, setup was very simple. I am very impressed with Dolby Digital, but have yet to try out the DTS function. Even when turned up to high volumes I hear absolutely no hissing from the speakers. The special effect modes are kinda pointless (Hall, theater, etc), so I just don't use them. S-video switching is a major plus. Overall this is a great product and highly recommended. It has better sound quality and more features than any other receiver in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha HTR-5250, Denon 1800

lots of power 70 watts times 5 discrete
puts out good bass

none

this is the best sounding reciever I have ever owned. it has a lot of power. and doesn't hiss at higher volumes.it is simple to operate and looks elegant. exept they could have put a metal front and knobs on it like the SR 7000. marantz has always made good mid-fi products and also some higer end like the SR 14 EX. I think I paid a pretty reasonalbe price for it considering retail is like $600-$700 US.

Similar Products Used:

technics
musical fidelity
kenwood
sony etc.

Clean, hiss free and well balanced sound. Learning remote.

Manual

I have had my SR5000 for almost 2 months now. I will give it 5 stars for the clean, no-hiss and balanced (never harsh) sound plus it's low low price.

But in the beginning, I too, like many others, was surprised that the SR5000 had to be cranked up to 2/3 (level 60+ out of 95 on the volume) before it achieves a "listenable" volume.

A friend of mine lent me a Radio Shack digital sound level meter. The LCD display on the meter shows the sound level in decibels.

Setting the SR5000 to volume level 70, I activated the Test Tone. And guess what - the meter showed the sound level to be around 70 db (fluctuates a bit by 1 or 2 db up and down). I increased the volume to 75, and the meter showed the sound level as around 75 db. I decreased it to 65 and the meter showed around 65 db.

Suddenly everything made sense !! The Marantz engineers designed the volume control to display the sound level output in decibels, unlike the conventional 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock volume knobs (0 to 10 level) on other receivers ! What a brilliant idea ! If only they had explained that in the manual.

With minor adjustments to the surround and center levels, I matched all the speakers. And the test tones now show all the speakers to be almost alike.

Clean sound, great power reserves, much more than the rating suggests. Dolby Digital and DTS decoding is superb.

Surround modes not the greatest Ive heard, sound un-natural. Remote is very busy.Manual was a quick write but most people can figure things out I would hope.

I purchased this unit after comparing its strengths and what I would be using it for. The unit sounds very good on two channel which is suprising, it sounds as good in two channel to me as any of the others I have heard. Hi Fi Choice magazine actual tested its amplifier section to put out 105wpc X 5 vs its 70w rating where the Denon 3300 was overrated in this measurement and didn't hit the 105w rating x 5 in fact only 75wpc driving 5 speakers. The Marantz Sr-5000 was tested and measured 135w X 2 in two channel stereo!! In their magazine it also earned a "Best Buy" rating compared to others in and above its price. In Digital mode the sound is clear and the separation is superb. The internal dac can sound bright vs the analog input of my Pioneer DV 414 in two channel mode. The surround features I use are only Dolby Digital DTS and Pro-Logic, the unit nails these modes. I dont care for the church etc modes. For the money you can't get a better unit but for more you will get added features and a better remote.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RV 795 Denon 2800, 3300 Marantz SR 7000

Clean sound, absolutely no hiss, ease of use, appears to improve over time.

Remote is horrible. The manual is worse. Must be the worst manual I've ever seen. Apparently a trademark of Marantz

I shopped around for quite awhile before I ended up with this unit. I actually had two different recievers around the same price range, from JVC and Harmon Kardon, but took each one back. The SR-5000 is superior in every way. It even seems to have improved in sound quality over the last month although that is certainly very subjective. The manual is an atrocity. Better off with no manual at all. The remote stinks and I can see why people upgraded to the RC-2000. Personally I'm ordering a AV-2100 from Sony. This reciever is much cleaner than units with twice the price by other brands.

Similar Products Used:

JVC, Harmon Kardon and Pioneer

The best sounding receiver in this price category. The simplicity of the remote to the quality construction. This is one very contender for receiver of the year. Good work Marantz.....

I just don't know how else to put it: this is possibly the best receiver I could have heard in this price category. The best part of it is Marantz built it. Great sound and soundstaging is just part of what makes this receiver such a great buy.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR1800, Yamaha RXV995, Sony STRDB940,and others.

Sound Quality, Build Quality, Features, ease of use, pricepoint

Remote control, user manual,

Fantastic system. This receiver is an excellent choice for anyone with a budget who wants a strong foundation for a Home Theater system. Marantz builds a solid product with straight forward controls and a clean sound. It has all the digital inputs and outputs needed for the beginner audiofile and will easily grow with future upgrades. I have my sr-5000 running with Cambridge Sound Works Movie Works 5.1 speaker system and they included this receiver in with the 5.1 speaker package gratis. (P.S. I do NOT work for CSW) SO for About a grand, this system is an extremely good performer. I looked at Denon, Harmon Kardon, Onkyo and Yamaha - all in the same price range. Even though all the receivers sounded great I think Marantz was a step above.

I have three negative points. 1. The remote looks and feels cheap. 2. The user manual is terrible; Uninformative, incomplete, and has gramatical errors (probably like this review). 3. I wish the Subwoofer volume would remember the DSP/Stereo/Dolby modes. I need to raise and lower the volume between movies and the stereo/CD player. None are a big deal - I think Marantz put its money (and has the consumer put their money as well) into the areas that really matter.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Harmon Kardon

Heavy. great quality build the remote isnt all that bad.. just sensitive...

plastic front.. but arent most?? only 10 presets for FM

this product is outstanding quality.. i searched for a while and went back and forth between this and the 7000... but for the money i could not go wrong.. $540 and me in college i could not resist.. with the energy XL-26 speakers this reciever is amazing.. crisp clean highs.. does not cut out when you want to play some good music. is a great starter piece for those just getting into the hi fi field

Similar Products Used:

sony technics

Great sound, heavy quality, features

No backlit on remote, bad layout, manual could be better (but who needs it?), no phono input

The choice I had to make was between the Onkyo 575, the Denon avr 1800, the HK AVR300. These receivers were all about equally priced. I did like the Marantz, and read a few really good reviews on it (German Stereoplay even rated "Spitzenklasse", where Denon and Onkyo were 'just' Obere Spitzenklasse). However the Marantz was over my initial budget. But then I auditioned them all and the choice was easy. It had to be the Marantz, because it was the most 'musical'and speaker friendly (it likes all kinds of speakers). As I will use it mainly for music listening (CD's) and less for hometheater purposes (DVD) this was an important issue for me. We play a lot of classical music and this sounded very natural on the Marantz.
I also like the design and layout of the Marantz. It is kind of classy. No buttons or knobs whre you don't need them. The fact that the front is plastic does not bother me at all! When properly placed in a rack you don't even see or feel that. Programming the pre-sets for the tunerpart was very easy. Connecting the speakercables (Monster Z2 Reference series) was a bit tricky because the cable is pretty thick. But now my Chario Syntar 200T's sound great! (even the old BNS speakers sounded 2 classes better!
I do not like the remote. The fact that there are a lot of buttons in itself is not so bad. I can live with that. The fact that you cannot distinguish them in poor light conditions is however bad (no backlit): all the buttons have the same (tiny)size and design! The programming of the remote is however very easy. I am thinking of upgrading to a programmable backlit remote..
Bottom line: I am very pleased with my Marantz and i can recommend it to all of you who like a warm, musical receiver with lots of possibilities.