Marantz 7500 vs Rotel 1056 vs Denon 3805

Finally (I guess), I have short list for buying receiver. Actually, I am lost in reading specs and reviews. For the final decision, which one do you recommend?
My usage order is:

60 Music
%40 Movie

My speaker set-up:
Axiom M22ti
Axiom QS4
B&W VM1
Definitive ProSub 60

I would go for the Denon or the Marantz. The Rotel is nice, but it lacks features (like outlets on the back for other equipment, as well as other goodies). The Denon has the most extras of the group, but the Marantz will be more straightforward.

I rarely see people use those outlets, so is that really a big deal? I use one on my integrated because I only want the CD to power up at the same time, but it has no memory to lose. What other low power devices would you plug in?

IMO, it would be between the Rotel and Marantz to me, unless you are looking for the most cost effective solution and aren't going to be listening to mostly music. If you listen to more music, I personally would opt for the Marantz or Rotel.

I'd go for the Rotel if not the Marantz.When i went to get my new receiver a Marantz sr7500 as a matter of fact my dealer had a Rotel rsx1056 he was discounting i listened to it and it came home with me.But thats just my opinion.The marantz is still a fine receiver also.

Actually, I am more interested in Marantz and Denon. I have read a lot of reviews about Marantz. I think that Marantz has a little bit QC problem. Many people are complaining about some problems and also there are many refurbished Marantz in the market. Maybe refurbished device is good from price point of you but on the other hand, it is clue that something is wrong. At the begining, I was also interested in NAD. But NAD is lack of many features. There is also Arcam 250 or 300 but it is difficult to find their online dealer.

There is no such thing as a perfect component.All receiver's have one problem or another thru their life cycle.I had a marantz sr7000 before and for 4 yrs not one problem.My rotel when i first got it had an issue which was quickly taken care of by just swapping for a another new one.No problems at all now for the last 5-6 mos.problem is gone.What i'm saying is nothing is perfect and it's all a crap and shoot with electronics.Unfortunatly there are some mfg's that have more common and constant issues.But with marantz and rotel i think you would be safe,cant speak for denon which i know also has had issues.

You could pick any manufacturer and find similar issues and complaints. The QC issues will also tend to be very early on in the product cycle - the current models are well into this year's life cycle. That's what a warranty is for, and Marantz has an excellent one. My SR-5000 (recently sold) was 6yrs old and worked flawlessly.

Along the lines of what enrique said, you could pick the manufacturer that you felt had the best quality based on your research and still get a lemon. Quality is rarely ever 100%.

Yes enriq and garcia, I agree with you. Nothing is %100 reliable or fault free.

By the way, one of my freinds recommended me Arcam 2500. But when I compare the receivers in my list including arcam, Denon is the one has a lot futures. For an instance, auto setup/eq seems very usefull. Since I have never tried or used SPL meter to calibrate speakers, I am afraid of manual calibration. I read The Room EQ Wizard program manual and it seems it is not very easy.

Basic level calibration with an SPL meter is quite easy. EQing a room manually is a different story however. If you are looking for that feature, then it is between the Marantz and Denon. Features alone should not make your decision, since you have to know if you even need all those features. Having a lot of features is great, but if it makes it so complicated that you get frustrated, is it really worth it? I went through that when I setup a friend's Sony DA3ES. The extreme flexibility was a very nice thing to have, but it also meant I had a LOT of things to configure to get it to sound right... Anyway, I'd recommend you go listen to the 3805 and 7500 and pick the one that sounds better to you, since they are going to have most of the same features.

Yes , you are right. Sometimes, more feature means more difficulty.

But, I guess that Marantz 7500 does not have auto calibration but it has auto speaker distance measurement capability and it is different than auto-eq.

Wht not go with the 8400? It is an outstanding unit for music, and is no slouch in the HT department. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but is very clean.

Mac, I guess 7400 has auto speaker calibration but 8400 has more power. Except these, they look like the same.

whattodo said:

Mac, I guess 7400 has auto speaker calibration but 8400 has more power. Except these, they look like the same.

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The 7400 doesnt have auto speaker calibration, that wasn't introduced until the 500 models came out. You should do yourself a favor, go to www.accessories4less.com and pick up a 7500 refurb and enjoy an awesome receiver, plus you get one of the coolest oem remotes with it too.

whattodo said:

Mac, I guess 7400 has auto speaker calibration but 8400 has more power. Except these, they look like the same.

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right, and from what I understand that auto cal isn't worth a lot on any of the brands

MacManNM said:

right, and from what I understand that auto cal isn't worth a lot on any of the brands

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actually on my Pioneer 1015tx the autocal was almost dead on, think it was only a db off on my rears, all the distances and other levels were the same whether i measured them or the receiver, so if you dont want to take the time to do it urself someone might look for a receiver that has auto. On another note, was just checking out the Marantz website and the US site was down so I went to the Europe one, they can get all of their receivers in Silver, so not fair, the 7500 and 8500 I've only seen in black over here.

Spiffy, I am afraid of buying refurbished equipment. They are close to have malfunction again in my believe.

Spiffyfast said:

actually on my Pioneer 1015tx the autocal was almost dead on, think it was only a db off on my rears, all the distances and other levels were the same whether i measured them or the receiver, so if you dont want to take the time to do it urself someone might look for a receiver that has auto. On another note, was just checking out the Marantz website and the US site was down so I went to the Europe one, they can get all of their receivers in Silver, so not fair, the 7500 and 8500 I've only seen in black over here.

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Sure but you end up making changes to taylor the sound to your liking anyhow. Plus he's going to be listening more to music, IMO most music sounds better in 2ch mode, I would rather have that extra bit of power.

whattodo said:

Spiffy, I am afraid of buying refurbished equipment. They are close to have malfunction again in my believe.

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that may be true, but anything you buy COULD have a malfunction, if you buy from that site you still have the manf warranty and you can save like $250 dollars with a chance that nothing will go wrong at all. They also have Brand new 7400's

MacManNM said:

Sure but you end up making changes to taylor the sound to your liking anyhow. Plus he's going to be listening more to music, IMO most music sounds better in 2ch mode, I would rather have that extra bit of power.

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I agree on both points, I tweaked my auto cal to my likings too, and I also think 2 channel sounds better, but a difference of 5 to 10 watts will not even be noticed whether you go up or down.

Spiffyfast said:

I agree on both points, I tweaked my auto cal to my likings too, and I also think 2 channel sounds better, but a difference of 5 to 10 watts will not even be noticed whether you go up or down.

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That's true, but it is just a little extra headroom, and bragging rights.