Great amp. Magnificent for his musicality 'to two channels. No matter whether in pre direct or only Stereo. If you use a Sub also for a 2.1 musicality 'and' beautiful all the same. One of the best amp I've heard, the passion for this job for musical vocation in 16 years. The sound and 'soft almost like a tube but also appropriately detailed no hints of glassy '.... zilch if not only great pleasure to listen to. Can 'outperform amp 2 much more' expensive channels, at least the appearance musicality 'and pleasure

Sound!! Detail and warm. Good stereo image. Very good 24bit/96kHz DAC. Source direct mode. Learning remote. Good headphone amplification.

Confusing Manual, hard-to-use remote. not-so-good pre-amp (compare to higher price gears). no A-B connection for front speakers.

First of all. I like this receiver. It is the last portion of Marantz products that are made in Japan. Very good material and "feeling", as well as the quality.

Soundwise, it is right there where I've expected. Not too much beyond the money, but no doubt the best choice in the range. The sound is warm and detail, maybe a little on the soft side for some guys who want straight step response for an explosion in a movie. I think quite a few of you buy this because you care about music--two-channel MUSIC instead of surround. In that category, it beats most of the competitors in the price range. It has clean transparent sound as well as a good image. Instrumental music sounds good, but little lack of juice on vocals. I have to mention the DAC of it, it clearly beats the famous Burr-Brown 20bit DAC in my NAD c521. Of course, it's 24bit/96kHz processing inside, which agrees with the theory. It does have a great pre-amp section, but not all that perfect. I connect it to my ATI 1505, and there is quite a bit of noise comes out, even no source is connected. Maybe it's just a problem of my receiver. The SONY TA-9000ES doesn't have that. Another great thing about this receiver is it has a Source-Direct mode, turn that ON!! The sound field is twice as large and deep as it's OFF!

Lastly, a little personal experience on the bass management. If you manually turn the mode to Stereo, the sub-woofer will turn on automatically, just press the number 8 in the remote, and no matter the main speakers are set to big or small. This is not available in source direct mode though.

Also this is just a regular home theatre receiver, not a Krell or Mark Levinson, we have to consider its driving capability. For people saying they have to turn it very loud to get real volume, they better check their speakers' sensitivity. It is not the receiver's fault. If you're using 85dB or 86dB sensitivity speakers, like Dynaudio or Monitor Audio small bookshelves, you probably need to turn the volume really high to get a volume, but if you switch to a 90 or 91dB ones, like a Genesis or B&W floorstanding, you will feel your ears are popping.

Finally, yes, the manual is confusing and the remote is hard to use.

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ATI 1505, SONY TA-9000ES, CREEK5350SE, Arcam a7se, Genesis G500......

Remote does everything. 5 channel stereo makes good backround music. Good looking.

Owners manual assumes you've hooked up a home theater receiver before so they dont explain the digital hook ups well

I wasn't looking at Marantz until I heard the 7000. What an amazing receiver.The sound in very impressive for an entry level product. This unit powers my Vandersteen system with ease. I've owned the 7000 for over 2 years with no regrets. The detail is incredible and the impact from movies is awsome. I've heard more than one home theater that costs 5 to 10 times what I paid and mine hangs right in there with them. I know this unit has been replaced in the Marantz line, but anyone looking at a used one should grab it quickly.

Just about everything for the price I payed.

...? Nothing i've noticed yet

I just picked up my SR-7000 last night (June 2003). The unit was brand new in the box, but sat on the shelf of the local audiophile shop for 2+ years. My original plan was to buy the 2003 Marantz SR-4300, but the only advantage it had was 6.1. I don't have a center rear so I opted not to get it because the SR-7000 did offer more power/channel, better circuit architecture (so i'm told...that might all be BS), and on-screen menus. Oh, and the SR-7000 has a slightly better looking front panel (only noticeable when they’re sitting side by side) and it has a true aluminum front panel and copper plated chassis, where the 4300 has a steel chassis (no Cu plating) and a plastic front panel with a metal foil appliqué. I'm well versed in home audio, primarily stereo and mono-block, so this was my first personal foray into home theater. I've resisted for a long long time because I like listening to music, and while movies are great I don't own many at all (less that 10), and I have a cheap little TV. However, as a near my college graduation date I figured it was time to step up a little...frankly I was just a little bored with my old Marantz dual mono setup. So, after hours of reading reviews, searching old and new product brochures, and listening to every conceivable system that was in my price range on speakers similar to my own I bought the Marantz SR-7000. I watched parts of 5 or 6 movies last night, and it was pretty neat. Since I have a junky little TV some of the wow-factor was lost, but it was still pretty awesome. My system includes: B&W DM303s (about 6 months old), B&W LCR 3 (Purchased with SR-7000), Paradigm Titans (Rev. 3, 1998), and a Velodyne CT-100 (made in the last month of production with the CT-120 amplifier). I have a Pioneer PDR-555RW CR-R(W) unit (1999), a Pioneer DV-626D DVD player with onboard DTS decoding (2000, multi-region upgrade 2001), and a Nakamichi OMS-5 analog CD player (1984, resistor ladder upgraded in 1987). First, a word of praise for all three of the B&W Speakers. WOW. Although the 3-series is on their lower end, these speakers are amazing. I have a pair of their much bigger brothers (Nautalis) in storage waiting for the college experience to and apartment life to be ovr with, but the 303s are GEMS in terms of frequency response. The lack some sensitivity on my 6L6 7-Watt valve monoblocks, but the 7000 pushes them around very nicely and overcomes the perception of low sensitivity. Paradigms “bookself” speakers are awesome for the price too, but the high frequency response or staging or whatever you want to call it isn’t as alluring as the 303s. The CT-100 has new life behind the 7300 too. I have to give my hapinstance combination of LCR3, DM-303, and Titans an A+ for home theater in a SMALL semi-reflective space (2 bedroom townhouse apartment with acoustically softened walls, read: “perforated paneled walls”). I was shocked how good this setup actually sounded. Even music (two channel) sounds greats. Not as natural as a valve amplifier, but still very pleasant. I could easily get by with JUST the 7000 A/V unit. But, since I’ve already got various other mono-blocks that I choose to use for stereo, I won’t get rid of them. That brings up on of the nicest features on the 7000: The Pre-Outs. It illustrates what a transparent pre-amplifier stage the unit has. I could tell NO difference between the 7000’s pre-amp stage and my favorite NAD preamp. I think Mr. NAD preamp is getting hawked on eBay next week. Sure, the 7000 sounds different than a valve preamp (duh!), but it’s a great solid state preamp…very musical. Many people have complained about the bass management of the 7000, but thus far I’ve noticed no problems. Granted, all of my speakers are inherently set to “Small” in the onscreen setup (which the manual explains will effect the crossover point and subwoofer attenuation), which noted on this list alleviates some of the problems. As for the remote and manual, I had no problems. I programmed the remote with the basic features I wanted from 3 other remotes in about 10 minutes. The manual used a lot of home theater buzz words, interlaced with a few (perhaps) “technical” words, but nothing too hard to follow. Overall, I continue to be very impressed with Marantz, even though I bought a receiver/amp/whatever that’s already a couple/few years out of prime. I think I’ll be happy with it for 4 or 5 years to come, and perhaps longer. If you’re looking for an A/V amp, and you have an ever-evolving stereo/theater system, and can still find an SR7000, new in box: BUY IT. What a nice piece of kit. Anyone know where I can get the Champagne colored chassis? ; )

Cool remote, many inputs and outputs

No power, no bass, way to expensive

I purchesed this reciever thinking I would get an awesome home theater experience. I was very wrong. In Dolby Digital it sounded ok but I had to turn it up loud to get any real volume. I like my action movies loud and this reciever had no power at all. I also tried 2 channel stereo and even then i had to max out the volume for any real loudness... I was very disapointed. Also there was poor bass management. Definately not worth that kind of money.

Sound Quailty, Built Quality,Features for the price.

None for the price.

In my opinon the SR7000 is the best sounding reciever in it's price range.I was looking at the SR19 but couldn't afford it so I bought the 7000.I plan to add the MA-500's at a later date. My System is as follows: SR-7000 Mirage 890's " 190's " Subwoofer " MC-3

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Dennon 2400 not bad but no match for the 7000.

sound fields, fm tuner, power vs. price remote very good- with small learning curve.

poor manual- doesn't describe how to dud from vcr to vcr etc thru receiver.

strong 5.1 channel receiver for movies used with Boston Lynnfield speakers and Velodyne Ul 12 sub. Has plenty of back hardware to handle switching of dvd, vcr etc. Great FM tuner with 5 ch. stereo.

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Harmon Kardon

If this is as much as you can spend, I believe it would be hard to do better. Does that say enough? It is really quite good. Plenty powerful. Very nice volume control knob - with digital volume readout. Easy device switching - if you can remember which component is connected to which switch. Accepts NINE different components plus AM and FM tuner. THIS IS GREAT. Front panel A/V inputs. It can be used as a preamp only with separate power amps (but why?) - the preamp is not that great. The tuner is very good - clear reception, free of multipath, strong signal. (For some reason even better than my separate tuner. Hmmmm.) Buy it - enjoy it. It''s a great bargain. Hook it up to great speakers and it will sound great.

The remote is not intuitive. I''m not afraid of gadgets, but I do tend to use four remotes to watch movies because it is easier. Yikes! (Maybe if you buy all Marantz... then the remote may be awesome.) It looks like it should control everything. I think I just don''t use it enough because I don''t watch enough movies. -less than weekly. (I have to agree with a previous reviewer regarding the bass/treble controls. Oddly, you have to choose Bass+ to increase bass and then Bass- to decrease bass. Why don''t you choose Bass and then spin the dial left or right to adjust the control? Strange... Audio reproduction, while competent, is not audiophile quality. Again, this is not why I bought this component. (This is an A/V receiver - not a "high end" component.) No phono input for us analog hold outs. Do you still have a turntable? Do you know what an LP is? If you do... Does anyone make an A/V reciever with phono inputs? Oh yeah, the very pretty and nice to spin knob to select the different surround modes is sometimes annoying. It cycles through a whole bunch of synthesized surround settings. (It can be set to automatically choose a particular setting for each of the input

Seems to me to be a capable component, especially at this price range. (Also, at the list price range.) It is more than competent at the task for which I purchased - that is surround sound for music (DTS & DVD audio) and for movie soundtracks. Additionally, I needed something robust enough to power Martin Logan SL3''s which are notoriously power hungary. First, I should say the Marantz powers the Martin Logan''s with ease. However, it can not compare in sound quality to a rather inexpensive and more than 15 year old Carver amp. With 2 channel sound, the improvement when bypassing the Marantz amps and utilizing the unit as a preamp only is clear even to my not-audiophile friends. When comparing my old Carver pre-amp and amp combination to the Marantz there is absolutely no contest. Anyone can clearly hear the superiority of the Carver. It is startling actually. That said, keep these two thoughts in mind: 1) The Martin Logan''s at $3400 bring out subtle details that more modest speakers will not distinguish. 2) When NOT comparing side-by-side, the Marantz sounds quite fine. It may not provide the realism I can retrieve from certain discs, but it is by no means fatiguing. It is musical and plenty powerful. I use this setup with a large screen TV, several VCR''s, DVD and LD player. It''s a bit complicated to connect everything but that''s the nature of this "theater" beast. I''m lucky enough to have a separate audio only room where I have larger Martin Logan ReQuests (love Martin Logan) with plenty of power, tube preamp, and high-end CD player. I say this only as a point of comparison. Music is my life, and I did not compromise on my audio system. This component was purchased mainly for watching movies with surround; playing surround music discs is a fantastic bonus. I still don''t feel justified in trying to reproduce a "video" room to match the quality of my "audio" components. The price would be conservatively many thousands for the amps/preamp. For movies I don''t think that expense is reasonable. This amp is great for movies and TV. It is very good for music but not really made for serious, concentrated, audiophile listening. (If anyone has a simple way for me to switch my speakers between audio only components for music and this receiver for video please let me know.)

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Not much direct comparison to other A/V receivers. Those I would like cost several thousands more - too much more for a casual A/V enthusiast. It seems more cost effective to have one great audio sy

5 channel stereo Remote Inputs/Outputs Looks Power Dolby Digital/DTS processing

Display not very bright Must have receiver on for items passing through it (digital cable) Pricey

I have had this receiver for over a year now and am generally happy with it. It has lots of bells and whistles, a,most too many. The 5 channel stereo is awesome. I run it with Mission speakers and a 15" Def Tech sub and the sound is excellent. I just wish the VHS switching could be engaged without the receiver on! Watching Queensryche''s Operation Livecrime on DVD with the sound processed by the receiver was almost as good as the concert.

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5 Channel Stereo, DTS, attractive front panel

Badly written manual; remote isn't backlit

I have had the SR 7000 for about a week and spent a good deal of the time setting it up and programming the remote due to the "Japanenglish" and poor layout of manual.

The Marantz delivers very clear playback of 5.1 dvd soundtracks and musics cds without brightness. I purchased this receiver based on it having 5 digital inputs (for the future)as well as Marantz's reputation for quality receivers.

Music reproduction is clear with a good imaging. Even though the receiver has 100 watts per channel, it doesn't seem as powerful as my old Onkyo 727 prologic receiver (however, Onkyo has been described as making receivers that tend to come across as "bright.") The speakers I use are Paradigm Monitor 7s in the front, CC350 center, and Atoms in the rear, all of which sound very good listening to the 5 channel stereo mode.

I too saw the website for Wild West Electronics and asked about Marantz's position on mail order and honoring the warranty. WWE stated that they buy from an authorized Marantz distributor so the warranty will be honored by Marantz. However, having just read that Marantz is using only hifi.com as their "official" internet partner, I bought the receiver from my local dealer in order to avoid complications later in lieu of a minor savings.

Take a listen to the SR 7000. While it doesn't have ear shattering sound, it seems to be a well built receiver with good imaging, excellent clarity, and lots of inputs for various gear (dss, vcr, tv, cd, cd-r, etc.) Give it a try.

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Onkyo 777, Denon 3300, Harman Kardon AVR 500, Rotel 965