Thanks, everyone. That's a huge relief to know. I take it I can buy an SR7010 with confidence that it will sound similar to my SR8002?
The SR7010 should theoretically sound better though I believe in practice you will have hard time telling them apart in pure direct mode.
I'm a bit tempted to keep my SR8002 as an amp and buy a lower end pre-pro, but I'm not nuts about the increased power usage that would ensue, and for the room size I'm dealing with, it would kind of be overkill.
The AVR is not designed for use as an amp. You can do it but the effort involved will be awkward, and sorry, could borderline on looking stupid.
Does anyone know why Marantz still use Toroidals in their top-of-the-line pre-amps?
Unless you have a direct line to the design team you are not going get the real answer. My guess is that it is a 90% marketing driven as it allows them to increase their margin by listing the theoretical advantages of toroidal transformer that they know full well won't translate into audible difference. As I mentioned before, weight is also a factor, notice that the 8002 is almost 10 lbs lighter than the Denon AVR4308 and 5 to 6 lbs lighter than the AVR3808.
If you compare the equivalent Denon units, such as the Denon AVR-3808 or the 4308 (half a notch above the 8002), the Marantz did not do better on the bench, probably worse actually in areas such as THD+N, SN, cross talk etc.
Below are from Sound and Vision review bench tests:
SR8002
Response from the multichannel input to the speaker output measures –2.21 decibels at 10 hertz, –0.69 dB at 20 Hz, –0.09 dB at 20 kilohertz, and –0.54 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the CD input to the speaker output was less than 0.017 percent at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –79.92 dB left to right and –78.19 dB right to left. The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with “A” weighting was –95.25 dBrA.
Read more at http://www.soundandvision.com/content/marantz-sr8002-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures#ZHewlM1k0Cy0IhhD.99
AVR3808
Response from the multichannel input to the speaker output measures –0.08 decibels at 10 hertz, –0.02 dB at 20 Hz, +0.03 dB at 20 kilohertz, and –2.83 dB at 50 kHz. THD+N from the CD input to the speaker output was less than 0.004 percent at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –87.53 dB left to right and –87.69 dB right to left. The signal-to-noise ratio with 2.83 volts driving an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with “A” weighting was –106.09 dBrA.
Read more at http://www.soundandvision.com/content/denon-avr-3808ci-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures#vCcfqRPfPbtqufRh.99
You can see why some of us tend to argue for Denon because of their better performance to price ratio. Denon seems to know how to shield their delicate amplification stages effectively without the use of toroidal transformers. They only use toroids in their 5XXX series AVRs.[/QUOTE]
If you prefer the look of Marantz, go for it, otherwise I suggest you consider the lower priced Denon X4200W or pay the same or more for the X6200W or X7200W. I am confident the 7200 is comparable to the AV8802 when used as a prepro.
One last question: reading the various documentation online, it appears that the new top-end AVR's from Marantz and Denon no longer seem to offer manual lip sync correction, which my SR8002 has. Is that correct, or is it simply not specified? I've only needed to use it a handful of times, but it's a wonderful feature to have available in those rare moments of need.
I am not sure I understand you question. If you turn off auto lip sync you can adjust audio delay up to 200ms. Is that what you refer to as manual lip sync correction?
