Good sound and build quality. Warm Marantz sound!

Funky speaker terminals, Sound can get harsh(brite) at high volume!

My System: Source- Marantz CD-65se CD player
Speakers- Infinity RS-3
Cables- Monster datalink digital coax, and monster 12ga speaker cable. (cheap stuff)

Overall I am pleased with the sound of this unit, on 2 channel stereo. It has a warm touch to it, but not mushy! There is not as much detail in the low mid to bass as I would like. I am of course only using inexpensive speaker cable. I have ordered new Kimber AGDL digital interconnect and Kimber 4pr speaker cable, in hopes to regain some of the lost detail.

On movies this receiver is EXCELLENT!!! Easy to setup and to control. The Manual sucks!! But the remote is the best I have ever used. I use a Philips 940 DVD via optical digital connection. when watching Saving private ryan, I was ducking from the bullets!!

Overall this unit is excellent and well worth the investment.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Onkyo

Good (Symetrical) Looks, Power, Features

Too Warm, Horrible Manual

If you want an honest opinion of the SR-7000, don't read
the article in Home Theater Magazine about this receiver.
Hi Fi Choice's article in the January 2001 issue of Hi Fi
Choice is more accurate. The receiver is a great product
at a great price but has many flaws.
The manual that comes with the SR-7000 makes Sony manuals
actually look good. Marantz should be ashamed. Although
Denon's manuals are confusing for a novice home theater
person, they are at least complete. While reading every-
one's reviews about this product, I noticed that someone
thinks that the SR-7000 cannot accept banana plugs. It can.
European receivers (Marantz being owned by Philips...) put
plastic caps over the hole where you would enter the
banana plug. Put a tiny screwdriver in the centre of the
binding post and pluck out the cap. This is one of the
many many things that the manual fails to discuss.
The SR-7000 sounds great in Dolby Digital and DT. It is
powerful and fast. Two channel stereo music playback is
a different story. I have heard mention that the SR-7000
sounds as warm as a tube amplifier. A warm and rich
sounding receiver is good as long as you don't have warm
sounding speakers. My warm sounding receiver and my warm
sounding speakers have created a sound that's too warm.
The Marantz's warmth holds back the upper mids and highs
to the point that detail is lost. My speakers sound shut
in and not exciting at all. They sounded open and
exciting with my old Sony Pro Logic receiver- although
the Sony had a very small soundstage and lacked the
finnesse of Marantz, NAD, Denon etc. receivers.
I had a chance to listen to a pair of PSB Stratus Mini's
through the Nakamichi AV10 and the SR-7000. The Nak was
detailed and had a big soundstage although it made the
Mini's a tad bright. The Marantz was smooth and warm and
had a big soundstage but lacked the detail of the Nak. In
another store, I listened to the NAD 760, Onkyo 795, and
SR-7000 through a pair of PSB Silvers. The NAD was similar
to the Nak although it didn't get bright. The Onkyo's
sound was too compressed for my liking. I have yet to hear
any of Denon's receivers. I have my eyes on the 2801. I've
been told that the Denon's are warm but detailed. I'll post
another review and tell everyone what I found as soon as
I sell the Marantz and purchase a different receiver.
The remote control is nicely laid out and has good build
quality. Still, you have to change the remotes function
to TV in order to change channels on your TV (and whatever
other functions you teach the remote). Unfortunately, You
can only change the volume of the receiver when you are
on AMP mode! I had to go back the store where I bought
the SR-7000, put my remote on TV mode (where the remote
thinks that I'm going to control the volume on my TV) and
learn the remote to raise and lower the volume (through
another Marantz remote on AMP mode) on my receiver.
There are more strange quirks that I can talk about but
I will stop here. If you have bright speakers like JBLs
or Totems, this might be the receiver for you. If not,
try the Marantz head to head against another receiver from
the same source and wires before you lay down your hard
earned money!

Similar Products Used:

Sony Receiver

"Because music matters!" It is not my line, and it is no joke!

Marantz isn't giving these things away!

Somebody pinch and wake me, because I know that I am dreaming. There is no way that a sub $800.00 receiver can sound this good, or can it?

Ok enough about my dreams, let's focus on the task at hand. For all of you who have read my reviews on the Integra, Sunfire and Marantz products (all gear that I sell), you know that this is not a hobby but my life. I am a partner in an AV store in SLC and have been in the industry for over ten years now. I try to be as honest as I can but let me tell you, this time it's going to be hard not to sound over excited. That's right, this thing is that good.

Are you in the market for a sub $1,000.00 AV receiver? Well stop reading now and run, not walk to the nearest Marantz dealer. If you doubt my wisdom, just find one of these prized pieces set-up and give it a listen, you won't be dissapointed especially with two channel material. As with any AV receiver, the easiest way to find out how good it sounds is with two channel material, and let me tell that this thing is amazing. I could probably forget that it is a surround piece at all.

I gave this unit my usual assault of listening material from Janis Ian and Dire Straits to Andreas Vollenweider and Rickie Lee Jones, and here are a couple of things that stand out in my mind. I am listening to this piece using a Pioneer DV-434 DVD player as the transport (using coaxial digital only and letting the DAC in the SR-7000 do the D/A work) and a pair of Mordaunt-Short 902 bookshelf speakers on stands with KimberKable wire all around for the two channel stuff. The rest of the surround system includes M-S 902's for rear effects and a M-S 905c center speaker and a Velodyne VLF-810 subwoofer. On a side note, for those of you that have access to the Mordaunt-Short speaker line, give it serious consideration as it is marvelous stuff.

Starting with Dire Straits "On Every Street" (using the piece in direct mode with no subwoofer), I was immediately immersed in a huge, focused sound stage filled with wonderful depth and width ($800.00 receiver huh, I think someone snuck my Accurus gear in here when I wasn't looking). Dynamics and warmth were on par with the some of the best AV receivers I have listened to including the Integra DTR-9.1. The bass on track four was thick and full as it's supposed to be, and the accoustic and electric guitars stayed in their position relative to the center focus throughout the track. The treble is detailed and easy to listen to with just a tad too much sibilance. Mind you the M-S 902's are very revealing and can be bright with less than stellar amplification at the helm.

Switching to Janis Ian's "Breaking the Silence" proved to be a treat. Her voice on track three was about six feet behind the speakers where it is supposed to be, while the drums hung on the speakers in an almost mono like manner just like they should. Track twelve is a fast and furious test for any system when played at high volumes, much less a two channel system in the $1,200.00 range. The Marantz never even studdered, and I found myself constantly reminding myself that this was a mid line AV receiver and not good seperates gear. When pressed hard it got better, unlike most receivers in this price range that start to loose their polish when driven hard. All in all I spent about six hours listening to this piece and never once came across anything that annoyed me to the point of not wanting more. But how about the surround you say?

Well let me tell you, it was very good. I wasn't as impressed with the surround stuff nearly as much as I was with the two channel material. I think that was because at that point, I could have cared less if it even decoded any surround material. One item worth mentioning however. For those of you who use your DVD player for a CD player, and I know that you are out there. A slick feature that I have only seen on a couple of $2,500.00 plus pieces, is the auto PCM and DD/DTS parameter changing function. When playing a CD, the SR-7000 will output a direct (meaning bypassing the DSP and surround processor) signal with no sub, and when a DD/DTD signal is present it will change back to the appropriate surround mode with the bass management and subwoofer output intact.

Way to go Marantz! Finally a company that is thinking about two channel as much as surround stuff. Much consideration should be given to the SR-7000 if you are in the market for a great AV receiver, that just happens to sound wonderful when you pop in a CD!

Similar Products Used:

Integra DTR-7.1, Yamaha RX-V995

HT and stereo sound, number and variety of connections

no component connections, speaker binding posts, manual

I was in the market for new equipment. I was looking for Definitive Cinema 100 speakers. I found them at Park Ave Audio N.Y. a high-end audio store. While listening to the speakers I noticed that they were using a Marantz 7000 receiver. Apparently they were showcasing them though it was certainly not the most expensive receiver in the store. It sounded great with the speakers. I checked them out with CD's and then with a DVD. The HT was spectacular. I told the salesperson that I did not want to sacrifice stereo for HT and he assured me the 7000 was a great stereo machine. They are great for HT and I am very very pleased with their performance playing stereo recordings using the "audio direct" feature, which apparently bypasses the sound manipulation circatry (80% of my use is this way). The 7000 does it all. I played a variety of rock, classical, jazz, and blues and they all sounded fabulous. I used DVD's, CD's, cassette tapes, HI-FI video tapes and my old reel to reel tapes and they all sounded better than I had hoped at this price. I rented some DVD's including Gladiator. The effects were mind blowing. The sound was much better than all but three movie houses in New York. No changes in default settings were necessary. It sounds great at low and high volume. There is more than enough power for my small room. At high volumes there is no distortion. The sound is great at low volumes. It sounds complete, I don't get the feeling that something is missing and this is without having to change settings (magic). The remote is good once you get accustomed to it. I highly recommend the 7000. I was prepared to spend more money but I was happy I didn't need to. It would probably have cost me at least $500 more to get something better.

Awesome clear, clean power
remote that can control the world
5ch listening feature

weighs a ton
very deep (need a big shelf)
Manual pathetic

After screwing around looking at Sony, Yammy and Denon, went the marantz way. I'd be lying if the cool remote didn't sway me a bit. The rmote rocks, once you get it programmed and figured out. Could be backlit as everyone else says.
Manual is a waste of good paper, but if you are getting into this high end of a reciever, you should be ale to use on screen programming and figure the rest out on your own.
I am in love with the 5ch listening feature. If it is for music or watching televison, sounds just awsome.
When it comes to dvd's this reviever is sweet. Gladiator, and the matrix sound amazing. Way too much pwer for what i'll ever need. Moving the volume up to around -5 is about as loud as i can take it, but then it wraps around to +20, so wayyyy too much juice for me.
If you need something high end, check out this baby.
Gave it a pair of 5's. The clumsy manual, big size of the reviever and weight are all things i can ignore with the performance of this monster.


My system:
Television Sony Kp53v85
Reciever Marantz SR7000
DVD Sony S560D
Mains Paradigm Monitor 5 v2
Center Paradigm Cc 370 v2
Rears Paradigm Mini Monitor v2
sub Paradigm ps1000

If in the NW, they guys at Sound City were amazing, decent price, but service beyond expectations. Great guys to deal with.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Kenwood

Looks, remote, sound.

None yet

I cannot review this receiver in full as of yet but I will say that Im not sure what the dude in the last review was talking about as far as the sub out, the SR-7000 has everything including a sub out. His review is the worst I have seen and maybe even worse than the one I am writing(see review guidlines). I have listened to the Marantz at a dealer on Dynaudio speakers and I can say I was impressed at the demo but will hold off any complete review until I own one, the Dynaudios were superb as well. At this point it is the best receiver I have heard though in the settings available. Everything seemed seemless and quite and it seemed to me that it was more dynamic power-wise than the Denon AVR3300, cleaner than the AV10 Nak. The remote is ten times better as well, probably the best low cost remote out there. Marantz knows there stuff.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR3300, 2800. Yamaha RV905, Nakamichi AV10

6 Digital Inputs (future flexibility), Build Quality, Sound Quality, Ease of Use

None noticed yet.

Well I was upgrading from an older Kenwood Dolby Pro-Logic system, and I've been happy with it, so I searched out and field tested the KEN VR309, but it didn't have the flexibility for the very immediate future without 6 channel inputs. I then switched gears and brands and went in to test the SONY ES model that I had read about and after two stores, different ownership, the salespersons had me looking at Marantz Receivers and after listening to the clean, robust sound ,albeit through a set of Paradigm Reference speakers, I was easily over the SONY "name". Now that I've had the unit and listened and operated most of all the features I have to say that it's an incredible performer and "value" at the $800 dollar list.

If you're hedging at going up to this level of unit from the $500-$600 dollar units or you are even considering going to the above $1000 A/V receiver options out there.... ASK to see the "Inside Track" dealer survey on A/V Receiver Brands and you won't leave the store without a Marantz! That is assuming they carry them ofcourse.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood VR309, Sony STR-DA333ES

Great power & sound quality; lots of connectors for lots of input sources; quality feel to front-panel controls

Awful manual; remote is a chore to program and learn; box is large and deep (you need a big shelf!)

After suffering long enough with the same receiver (a 24 watt x 2 Reference - remember them?) and speakers (2-way Jensen's) that I bought 23 years ago in high school, the wife said to go for it and get a new hi-fi setup. After spending about 2 months researching and learning the market offerings after 23 years, I found the hi-end audio store close to my house and had them help me put together a system. The goal was to get a system that would last another 20 years, and have great sound for both home theater and audio. I'll admit - I didn't do much comparison shopping on either the SR-7000 or the other components (speakers and DVD player - see below) because I came to trust what the guys at Advanced Audio had to say. The most research I did was on this site - everyone's comments, especially on the SR-7000, helped a lot.

I have found over the 2 months that I've owned it that others' comments are quite accurate: great warm sound, great power, great value for the money, and a pretty bad manual and remote control. Some have said that they don't like the variations in volume level when switching between input sources, but that hasn't been a problem for me. I love the way that you can program the speaker relative volume levels, and it remembers different settings for each input device. I also find the front panel display quite useful - it displays a lot of info in only 20 characters or so of text. Another cool feature is the 5-channel stereo - it makes any 2-channel input source sound pretty damn close to 5.1, and allows you to keep all the speakers going all of the time. Some have also said that the FM reception is particularly good - that hasn't been my experience, but I live in a pretty far-out area, and it's no worse than my previous receiver.

Of course, since I bought all new speakers at the same time, I can't say for sure whether the SR-7000 is the main reason that I like the sound so much, but it's got to be a big part of it. The first DVD I watched on the new system was U-571 - YEAAHHHHHHHHHHH! If you don't have that one yet, GET IT. Best 5.1 soundtrack I've heard so far. Anyway, the SR-7000 has NO PROBLEM pumping out the depth charge explosions to the point of ear pain. I've also rocked out to Dokken's "Live From The Sun" DVD at a damn high volume level - sounds just like the live concert I went to when they came to my town.

In summary, I can't imagine some other receiver in this price range being better sounding or a better value than this one - highly recommended! My dealer was selling so many of these that I had to wait 2 weeks. It was worth it...

My new system:
Marantz SR-7000 Receiver
Marantz DV-7010 DVD player (much better manual!)
Linn Keilidh front speakers
Linn Centrik center channel
Linn Sekrit in-wall rears (I've got them mounted in my ceiling)
Vandersteen V2W subwoofer
(Linn speakers are connected with Linn bi-wired cable)

Similar Products Used:

none

Sounds great for a reciever in its price range.

Lack of backlighting on remote.

When I first bought the SR-7000 I was a little annoyed with the peak indicator light that would go on when I would listen to CD's. I found that the ATT option took care of that however and I havn't seen the peak indicator since. In the first week of use I found that the reciever sounded great for movies but the 2 channel sound quality was rather disappointing. I happened to come accross the source direct option on the reciever, this made a VERY BIG difference in 2 channel sound quality. It imaged better, bass was deeper and tighter, and the harshness that I had noticed before went away. I am very happy with the SR-7000. I Have Martin Logan speakers all the way around and I had felt that they sounded a little harsh but this reciever actually warms up the sound quite a bit. I wouldn't hesitate to recomend this reciever to anybody.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz SR-685, Nakamichi AV-10,

Sound, soundstage, built quality, LOTS OF POWER and the Direct Mode for the pure sound possible.

The manual... I could not find anything in that

I recommand it if you like the best music possible for the price.

My system is:
Receiver Marantz SR-7000
CD Player Marantz CD-48
DVD Player Marantz DV-3100
Speakers Cerwin Vega LS-15
Interconnects Analog Monster Cable
Interconnects Digital MIT Tmax OneWire System
Speakers wire Monster Cable 12

Similar Products Used:

JVC's receivers.. poor quality and sound compared to this