My first experience with a Marantz receiver

GEBBY44

Ok so I recently fell into a really good deal on a Marantz SR7500, which by all reviews was supposed to be a really spectacular AV receiver from an audio standpoint. I hooked it up in the family room to the Paradigm Studio 100 v1 with Signal Ultra bi-wire cables and audio through an Ipod with familiar songs and a regular old Radioshack gold Y-cable into the analog inputs. This system had previously been hooked up to a Pioneer VSX-82txs as a pre with an Acurus A200 as the amp. I have been using this family room setup for casual music listening lately as I've found it rather adept at music and cozy as well. All comparisons or differences I heard are compared to this previous setup.

First impressions: I don't know why I have never tried Marantz before. Immediately the sound was much more musical with the speakers hooked up directly to the Marantz than with the Pioneer-Acurus combo. I was actually stunned at how well it sounded, even at higher volumes. Before I got the Pioneer, I had auditioned both the Onkyo 805 and Denon 3806 and thought the Pioneer had the most musical sound of the 3. I was actually slightly unimpressed with the Onkyo for the price at the time. I can't believe now that I never considered the Marantz. Not only are the highs amazing for a receiver, the lows are where I'm really impressed. The mid-bass and lower are tight and loud for a receiver. Another thing of note, the soundstage improved and separation was almost the same as the Pioneer-Acurus (very surprising to me). The Pioneer-Acurus combo gave slightly more crisp highs and even tighter bass, but the difference between the 2 setups really surprises me.

Next, I'm going to add a PS Audio Super Punch power cable to the Marantz to see what that does. Will maybe try it with the Acurus amp, but the receiver in two channel pure direct is amazing enough.

For those that have never tried Marantz and have demoed the mainstay Pioneer-Onkyo-Denon-Yamaha receivers, give a Marantz a try if you value musical qualities in your receiver. Even if you have to try an older model, like the 3-4 year old SR7500, I really don't think you will be disappointed. As if my praise above hasn't said enough, they are really worth the premium price over the other brands. I'm a Marantz fan now and I have only heard rave reviews of their customer service. If anyone has any suggestions or questions, I welcome all.

VXR8

I have an older Marantz SR-5300 rated at 90 watts a channel. Like you, I was using this receiver when I received my LSI9s and had the LSi9s powered by a Rotel RB-991 (200 watts x 2). I bypassed the Rotel and the sound was THAT much better directly from the Marantz, I couldn't believe it. A very musical receiver that is no slouch either in HT mode.