WHICH ONE? MARANTZ NR1403 OR NR 1504 OR DENON AV X2100W?

EDUBAG

Hi guys,

I have been out of HT for a while (2 years?)due to my pio elite vsx21 AVR going to the crapper on me. I have decided to give it another go and for some reason am drawn to the Marantz slim line of AVRs. I have a chance of getting either of the nr1403 or nr1504 for just a $50 dollar difference. for some reason I feel sometimes that less is more and is the reason why I have not discarded the nr1403, sometimes I fear that having all that extra features make the equipment less reliable. BUT on the other hand I guess for 50 dollars I get a lot of features(networking capability, not wifi, remote app and usb processing from the front of unit). THEN I saw that crutchfield have the denon AV X2100W for 400 us$ and it is LOADED with bell and whistles (wifi Bluetooth) etc.

so if any of you guys with experience with any of these units to let me know how they SOUND and if there is a difference between the two Marantz in SOUND. I am almost guessing that the marantzes should sound better than the denon, but it would be a guess.

by the way I can get the nr1403 for around 275 and the 1504 for 325 or so.

speakers at the moment:
front: polk rti4
center: polk csi3
rear: def tech promonitor 800
sub: def tech supercube 4000

this might change to:
front and rears: def tech promonitor 800
center: deftech procenter 1000
sub: sc 4000

room is about 4.5 meters x 4.5 meters by about 9' high

thank you all for your honest opinion,

Eduardo

rooftop59

I run the NR1403 in the bedroom rig and really like it, and I owned a similar Denon and also really liked it. Remember, they are owned by the same parent company. I would say if sound quality is your highest priority, go with the Marantz (I really like that it has pre-outs for the front LR channels). At the same time, with your speakers I think either one will drive them just fine. I would get the 1504 for the airplay capability, that is what I miss on the Denon. But obviously with no wifi you would need a bridge or a hard wired connection. If that is something you don't want to do, then go with the Denon. If you don't plan to add an external amp, I don't think you will notice much difference between then two.

DollarDave

Check out accessories4less.com for both.