Multi-Room, 2-Channel Stereo, Build, Remote, Number of Inputs

Manual, Power

I have waited to review this product until I had some time to get familiar with it. It was purchased largely due to the reviews posted here. I really want to love this unit but there are a few issues worth mentioning.

1) Power. This unit is by no means powerful enough to run my large front speakers in 2-channel mode. Granted they are difficult speakers (Jamo 7.6,4 ohm load). I feel that I will have to add an additional amp for 2-channel listening. I do however question if this amp really does put out 100w @8 ohms.

2) Very revealing. This is actually probably a plus in terms of the receivers quality, but it is a pain to listen to poorly recorded sources through this unit. A great example is the remastered Led Zepplin 4. Its not worth turning on the hiss is soo loud.

3) Poor video switching. This unit really does more of a video sharing. You cannot mix sources (ie, component, and S) you must use the same source throughout. Not a huge deal to me, but it might be to some.

With a good source this unit does sing. The multi-room works like a charm (and almost worth the price of the unit). Love the remote (although backlighting would be nice). Overall I would recommend this unit for the money.

True music reproduction. DD, DTS. Good remote but consider the upgrade others have mentioned. Clean sound

I expected to find some based on a few reviews below, but now question there validity, because I found none.

First let me thank all of the legitimate reviews for this receiver. I wasn't really considering the unit until I discovered this web site and the reviews here. I had to scratch my head when some reviewers mentioned problems that seemed strange. Someone commented that the unit couldn't cover poorly recorded sources. In all my years of experience I’ve found that all good amps can't cover or mask bad sources. This argument seemed extremely questionable. Another reviewer could only find fault with leveling when changing sources. Another person commented that it really performs on DVDs but has problems with music reproduction and has questionable power. Okay, with these wishy-washy reasons for not liking the unit, I had to find out the real story. I went to the local shop to listen. First test, music reproduction. Wow! sounds like higher-quality gear with lots power. I noticed as the unit is turned up the sound just seems to get louder without loosing any quality, tonal balance, and staging. I was surprised because nearly ever other receiver I tested did just the opposite. I found this especially true for Sony, Onkyo, and Yamaha. As the volume goes up the highs become overly pronounced. This Marantz and the Denons I've tested, don't do this, they stay smooth throughout. The Marantz did do a little better than the Denon 3300 in this area but they both sounded nearly the same overall. Okay, on to the rest of the test. Direct mode sounded the best for music listening, followed by regular stereo. 5-Channel stereo was cool but doesn't do justice to regular two-channel listening. I found it good for regular TV playback and especially sports. DD and DTS performance was outstanding, just what I expected. I was happy to see that Marantz stays away from DSP modes. Other manufacturers’ obsession with these cheesy fake things is aggravating me. So to sum up the evaluation, it was extremely positive and now I have to reconsider Marantz because it blew me away. If you need a great-priced receiver that will pull double duty with music and movies try this thing out. And again I want to thank the questionable negative reviews (competing dealers, maybe?) You made me seek out the truth for myself.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR3300, Yamaha 995, Sony 333ES, Onkyo 777, and many others throughout the years

SEE BELOW

SEE BELOW

STRENGTHS:

5 Channel Stereo - Excellent. I've only heard it on 3 other receivers (Yamaha, Denon), but the Marantz was my favorite. A real pleasure - my wife loved it!

DTS Playback - Powerful. Other than 5 ch stereo, this was the receivers biggest strong suit. Dolby Digital was good, but DTS was awesome on this thing.

Easy Setup & On Screen Display - Intuitive and fairly straightforward.

Tight Bass Response - Excellent in both movies and 5 Channel Stereo.

Hiss Free Playback - Not an easy Task in the $700-800 Range (Ask Sony & Onkyo).

Solid Construction - Quality build was obvious from the start.

S-Video Switching - Performed Flawlessly.

Misc - Good looks, front inputs, quick access to treble & bass from remotes, learging remote.

WEAKNESSES:

Edgy/Raspy Voice Playback - For whatever reason, male voices became peircing. Frankly, given the Marantz's warm nature, I couldn't figure this out. Tried numerous speakers & cables to no avail. Male voice (movies only!) simply were not smooth. This could have been related to the high fixed crossover (see below).

100hz Crossover - The high crossover nearly limits good midrange speakers to entirely playing treble only. Wish they'd gone with 80 (or even better: Adjustable like Sony).

Does Not "Clean" Difficult Sources - My best example for this would be the Nick-At-Nite shows. As an avid watcher of "Classic TV", this receiver lost me right here. 80's shows were nearly unbearable to listen to. The Honeymooners? Forget about it - couldn't even hear Ralph's big mouth over all the static coming from my Definitive Speakers. OTHER REVIEWERS THAT SITED THIS ISSUE WERE NOT EXAGGERATING THE PROBLEM.

No Desirable Sound Mode For Normal TV - didn't like my choices for watching good ol' DSS channels. Dolby & Movie mode put everything in the center. 5ch stereo put voices all over the room instead of the center. Other DSP modes were lousy - echoes, reverb, etc. Anyway, I couldn't find a mode I consistently liked.

2 Channel Stereo - A bit flat for my taste, but again that's just me. Others will probably love the neutral/warm sound (my wife did).

Misc - flimsy binding posts, no backlit remote, manual, questionable power rating IMO, hard to find at discount price, treble/bass adjustment made little audible difference, night mode still fairly loud.


In the end, I ended up returning the Marantz (much to my wife's chagrin - she loved it for music). I simply couldn't get over my Old Favorites sounding so bad. Also, the edginess in male voices (which I beleive was some type of defect in my particular unit) really turned me away.

But, if you're more into music and like your HT laid back, this may be the unit for you. For regular basis TV watching though, I felt the SR-7000 had some issues that made regular TV watching unenjoyable. Your mileage may vary, so if you're in this price range, at least test it out.

..........

Equipment List:
Toshiba SD-2109 DVD Player
Sony CE535 5 Disk CD Player
Denon 3801 AVS Receiver
RCA DSS System
Sony Trinitron 32"
Definitive Technology ProMonitor200, ProSub, & C2 Speakers
Acoustic Research Interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DB930, Denon 3801, Technics SA-DX940, Yamaha RX-V800.

Quality performance for both Music and HT aplications. Numerous inputs and outputs. Great remote.

Poor documentation of the manual.

I've had the SR7000 for just over a month and I've finished tweaking the setting in the last few weeks. This A/V rec rocks! Even though I am relatively new to HT, I love good music and I would highly recommend this bad boy.

I am hampered by an odd shaped room that makes for horrible acoustics, so it took some work getting speaker placement and settings right. But now I can consistently count on this unit to make me smile and do my CD's justice. 5ch stereo mode is fantastic for background music, but for true music listening, I go to 2 channel and supplement the bass with a powered sub. (I have a B&W 600 series setup w/an ASW1000). I cannot believe the quality of the sound coming at me. I can easily discern individual instruments and still feel thudding bass notes all at the same time. I've found myself listening to more and more classical music.

For HT, It's too simple. Leave the default setting to AUTO and the unit will automatically detect a DD or DTS signal.

Others have criticized the remote for not being backlit. Maybe it's because I'm used to old, cheap remotes, but I've got this unit controlling everything. I think I saw a macro that might even put my baby daughter to bed.

Marantz would do well to pay a real tech writer to overhaul the manual. It is horrible and I found it to be lacking in many areas. That being said, I must confess that the areas that were the most frustrating for me were areas that involved general audio knowledge (LFE setting and analog vs. digital signals and how they relate to attenuation control...getting the picture?). If I were an audiophile it wouldn't have been an issue, but being an "average Joe" who loves good music and movies, this manual was frustrating.

Awesome sound for both music and movies, numerous I/Os, powerful, price

Bad manual, remote not backlit, no componenet video switching, crossover 100hz (too high)

Bottom line…I love this receiver. Buy it, you’ll be happy. In this rather long review I’ll explain how I chose the Marantz and then I’ll mention some things I’ve learned about it in the past week (hookup, etc.) with particular emphasis on my experiments with bass management. My complete system is:

Sony KP-53HS10 HDTV-ready RPTV
Marantz SR7000
Sony 360 DVD
Polk RT600i mains
Polk CS400i center
Polk f/x300 surrounds
Definitive technology Prosub 200TL subwoofer
Monster and audioquest interconnects and cables

Synopsis of my review if you don’t want to wade through the whole thing: 8^)
1. Best sound/features/quality of any AV receiver I looked at under $1000
2. Very musical, warm sounding on music
3. Great kick on movies
4. All the bells and whistles (DTS/DD/innumerable I/Os)
5. Experimented with bass management. My preferred hookup is the following: subwoofer connected to L and R main preamp outs with fronts set to LARGE and Subwoofer set to NO.
6. 5-channel stereo mode is very nice for regular TV and for background music
7. Manual could be better
8. Remote is great but should be backlit
9. Surprisingly good tuner

I researched receivers reasonably well before making my purchase. I wanted DTS/DD decoding, adequate power to make movies exciting in my 13X20 room, enough I/Os so I could hook it up to anything I might add in the future, but most of all I wanted it to sound great. I first heard about the SR7000 in an audiophile store when I was looking at speakers. The knowledgeable storeowner highly recommended it and gave me a copy of the HT magazine review (the receiver that shagged me). I also read all the great reviews on this site which really helped me to make the decision. Finally, I narrowed it down to the Marantz or comparable Sony (don’t remember the model). I A/B compared these two in an audiophile shop and slightly preferred the Marantz, so I bought it. I’ve owned it for one week and have been very pleased so far.

The sound is tremendous. I think I have a fairly discriminating ear and I’ve been very pleased with the sound of my CD’s. Poorly recorded CDs sound poorly recorded (SADE comes to mind) but well recorded CDs are awesome (Bonnie Raitt, Flim & the BBs). DTS/DD 5.1 audio DVDs are nothing short of spectacular. When I played James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theater and Eagles Hell Freezes over, I couldn’t stop smiling/giggling. I mean, I don’t think I’ve EVER heard better sound coming out of speakers; it almost doesn’t seem possible for music to sound any better!

Next I tried out the SR7000 on movies. It absolutely rocks! Dialog is crystal clear, explosions are gut-wrenching, and soundtracks are completely enveloping. In short, the performance of the receiver is phenomenal!

I’ve learned quite a bit in the last week about setting things up and I thought I’d pass these along. This system represents my first foray into HT so much of this might be obvious to those more experienced. In any case…

My biggest question was how best to manage bass. I started with my sub hooked up to the subwoofer preamp out (as recommended in the manual). I tried setting my fronts to small, using my sub for bass. The SR7000 has an internal crossover at 100hz so I turned the crossover on my sub all the way up. I seemed to notice a little dropout in the low midrange with this setup however. When I switched my fronts to large with the subwoofer on (all other speakers SMALL) I noticed a significantly fuller sound which I prefer. I like using the sub with music because it adds a little bass that my RT600s seem to miss. I have the volume on the sub quite low however and set the crossover to around 70-80hz. I discovered an IMPORTANT SURPISE with this setup however. If your sub is hooked to the subwoofer preamp out, and your receiver is set either to AUTO or Source direct stereo, there is no signal sent to the sub (others on this board have mentioned this for source direct). If you set your receiver on Stereo (without source direct) then the sub plays fine. Some people have said that source direct gives the best sound reproduction. The Soundscape guys thought this was BS but I decided to try it myself. With numerous A/B comparisons with and without source direct, I could detect no difference at all for what that’s worth.

I next tried a setup recommended at the store. I hooked the subwoofer to the preamp outs for the L and R mains and set my fronts to large and my subwoofer to NO. As I understand it, this redirects the LFE channel to the mains. Because the sub is hooked to the L and R preamp outs, the LFE channel still gets to the subwoofer but it also goes to the fronts. Again, I set my sub crossover at 70-80hz since I think my RT600s reproduce 70-120hz better than the sub. I was worried this setup might sound muddy because I was asking to mains to reproduce a lot of low frequencies. I did not find this to be the case at all however. For music, this setup sounded identical to having the sub hooked up to the sub preamp out. Try as I might, I could detect no differences at all between the two on any audio CD. There was a difference for movies however…

Using the L and R preamp outs for the sub sounded BETTER than using the subout. I was worried I might lose some LFE by blending it with the signal for the mains. This did not appear to be the case at all. Instead, I found I got noticeably BETTER LFE using this setup (better explosions, etc.). I assume the improved LFE is because my mains are now helping the sub with these low frequencies. Again, I found no muddying of the bass despite being concerned about this possibility. The other benefit of this setup is that you can use source direct and AUTO on the receiver without losing your subwoofer. Just be sure your subwoofer is set to NO and your fronts to LARGE so that the LFE is redirected to the fronts (and hence sub). I’d be very curious what others think of this setup. I’m very happy with it.

Other observations/questions: I noticed the word “COPY” showing up on my receiver display. Someone (on this forum?) explained that by changing the Digital Out to Source in the setup that this goes away. It did, so thanks. The manual could be better. The remote seems very good but should be backlit. No component video switching if anybody needs it (I don’t). Tuner’s nice but I don’t listen to the radio much. 5-channel stereo is VERY NICE. I didn’t think I’d ever use this feature but I was wrong. For regular TV viewing, I find I use it all the time. Also, when I want background music (guests over, etc.) I really like it. The sound is enveloping even at fairly low volume. Highly recommended.

A couple of questions: What is the 6-channel input in the setup menu? The choices are 2-ch or 6-ch. I haven’t found that has any effect on my system. I think it only applies if you have an external 6-channel decoder (I don’t) but I’m not sure. What are DC-1, etc. I assume these apply to multiroom uses (which I don’t have) but again wasn’t sure.

Sorry for the length of this review. Buy this receiver – you’ll love it!

No complaints here!

manual isn't very easy to read

I recently bought the Marantz and I love it. More than enough inputs/outputs, the remote is terrific. I have a pair of Paridigm 7se front speakers and they have never sounded so good. Can anybody help me set up the on screen display. I can't seem to get it, don't know if my JVC television is the problem or if I have to hook up different. Any input would be helpful. Next on the list is a Marantz DVD player to complete the home theatre experience.

Similar Products Used:

old Sony model

Unfortunately I have not been able to use most of its features, but no buyers remorse!

When changing preset FM radio stations it switches from stereo to mono(not a big deal).

I too listened to what would seem to be similar products in the 7000's price range and found the Marantz to be the clear winner. Unfortunately I am a poor college student and am buying a component at a time, so I have some pretty crappy speakers hooked to it now. It was said the best in an earlier review. I know this is great because I have no buyer's remorse. Pretty impressive considering this is the second most expensive thing I've ever purchased.

I would like to hook some Polk speakers up to this, ideally the cs400i and kind. Any input on hooking Polk up to this would be greatly appreciated!

Clean sound and power. Great tuner. Great remote. Excellent d/a converters. everything.

none.

Where do I start. I waited 4 months to review this product here. Everytime I listen to this unit, which is daily, I am always amazed at how clean and pure the sound is.
I learned about this product right here. I want to thank all the reviewers who raved about this product. Those reviews led me to audition the Marantz and to purchase it. This model is hard to find, but well worth the effort. It has plenty of power for my mid sized rooms.
It is fantastic with music, dvds, playstation and even cable tv. If you're in the market for a mid priced receiver, you can't miss with the Marantz SR7000.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha pro logic receiver.

Number of inputs, sound quality

Manual

This upgrade takes the place of my Dolby ProLogic reciever. After I bought it, I needed about an hour to set it up, including the upgraded speaker wire I purchased with it. I popped in the Matrix DVD and IMAX's Super Speedway (great disc) and I was blown away with the quality. I never had the dial past 0db and I was extremely pleased with the sound.

This product was considerably cheaper than the HK AVR500. I paid $1099 CDN as opposed to $1499 CDN for the HK. The digital inputs and multi-room capability cover my concerns for future upgrades as well.

Other than the useless manual (if you use the on-screen display, setup is simple), I have nothing bad to say about this receiver.


JBL Center and Surrounds
Audio Research Fronts
Energy 10" active sub.

Similar Products Used:

Compared to HK AVR 500, Denon 3300

DD/DTS, build quality, remote

Remote isn't backlit, Manual is virtually useless

I was getting a little tired of my Yamaha 5150. I wanted something a little "warmer" and a little more powerful.

I auditioned the usual suspects: Denon, Sony, Yamaha. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that my dealer didn;t have a 995 in stock, I would be writing my review on that .

The Marantz appears to be made very well. Heavy and solid. Luckily, I know hoe this stuff works, because the manual was a joke.

For movies, this receiver is simply awesome. Everything sounds better then it did with my Yamaha. The opening scene in Saving Private Ryan is highly recommended.

It was fairly easy to set up, and the rear of the unit is laid out nicely. Plenty of digital ins and outs. (which was something I was looking for, and that reason disqualified some otherwise very strong competition).

For music, the unit at first sounded a little muddy, but after playing with some settings, it opened up and now sounds great.

The remote ,functionally , is great. The fact that is not backlit, is not. They use this cheesy "glow", which really doesn't work very well.


Overall, I'm pleased as punch with my purchase. I know this, because I had no "buyer's remorse" and haven't been thinking about upgrading yet. :)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 5150