Sr 8012 vs AV7705/7704

[ldollio1]

I have a rotel 1585 amp, and trying to decide between the receiver or separates. my front speakers are B&W CM10, am I going to see a difference in sound quality?

 

[DJ7675]

I don't know what the street price of the SR8012 is, but having said that I would consider the Denon X8500 as well after going through this shopping process as well. You can get a new with warranty x8500 between $2700-2999. A few reasons I went this route:
-The 7705 and even 8805 didn't seem to justify their price when measured on audiosciencereview to me
-the X8500 does 13 channels, of amplification whether you use them in the theater or for zone2/zone3 purposes.
-X8500 has the ability to individually turn off or reuse any amp/channel. This should improve the performance when used as a preamp for just some channels, or it even has a mode to turn off all amps
-HDMI 2.1 upgradeable
For my HT I decided to either go wit a 7703 (pretty inexpensive in the used market and compatibl with the audyssey app) or the Denon. When I found a found I could get the x8500 for under $3k I decided to go with the x8500.
The amps in even the Denon X3300 measured well at a Sinad of 85, so I would expect the amps in both the SR8012 and the X8500 to measure even better. I would think the internal amps would be fine for most depending on seating distance and speaker sensitivity. Just my 2 cents after shopping for the past few months. Good luck with your shopping.

 

[Movie2099]

I have a rotel 1585 amp, and trying to decide between the receiver or separates. my front speakers are B&W CM10, am I going to see a difference in sound quality?

I would go the separates route. I would not spend that amount of money on an AVR. The Marantz AV7705 is very solid processor and retails for around $2200. The AV 8805 is $4500 and is the top processor for Marantz. Both products are very good and have very good reviews out there. The Emotiva XMC-2 is another solid processor. You won't find a lot of Emotiva love on these forums, but from the people I follow online regarding home theater who have owned the XMC-2, they've all said it's been a very solid processor for the money. I think it's going for $3000. It is 16 channels, so it is future proof when you decide to add more channels. If you go that route.

If you do go with an AVR there are many to choose from well under $1500 that will give you pretty much everything that $3000+ model will do. Denon, Marantz, Yamaha and Pioneer all have great AVR's for $1500 or less.

 

[DigitalDawn]

Either of the Marantz processors would be a great choice.

 

[PENG]

I would go the separates route. I would not spend that amount of money on an AVR. The Marantz AV7705 is very solid processor and retails for around $2200. The AV 8805 is $4500 and is the top processor for Marantz. Both products are very good and have very good reviews out there.

Sound good, if compared to the SR8012, but just an aside, did you know that regardless what the subjective reviews say about the likes of the 7705 and 8805, the fact is, on more than one test bench, they didn't measure up that well practically speaking? Especially the 7705 that measured worse than some AVRs in some important areas such as SINAD, IMD, FR etc? I would take one over my AVR-X4400H but it wouldn't be for sound quality that is a non issue in either case, but for the fact that it is an AVP. I wouldn't pay more than $200 for it though so it is a moot point, just making a point..

I know it is not the case in the USA, in Canada, the SR7013 had been down to around US$900 3 times last year. For a lot of people who may have use for some of the build in amps such as for the surround/height channels, it would be a much better choice as the significant savings could be spent on things that are more important, without sacrificing anything that matters to overall sound quality. I would agree with DJ7675 that if the AVR-X8500H is in fact available brand new for under $3,000 then it is an excellent value, and I would bet money on it that it would measure practically as good (may even be a touch better since it doesn't have HDAM) the 7705, though we would be splitting hair and get lost in the second of third decimal points.

 

[DJ7675]

A dealer I have used several times which has been excellent is safeandsoundhq. You can get an “open box” x8500 for 2999 or an sr8012 fo 2299. Full manufacturers warranty etc.
Couple of links you may or may not find useful:

Marantz AV7705 Home Theater Processor Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz AV7705 UHD Home Theater Audio Video Processor. It is on kind loan from a member. The AV7705 costs US $2,200 from Amazon with free shipping. From what I have read this unit is current until October of 2020. The design is typical of...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Review and Measurements of Marantz AV8805 AV Processor

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz AV8805 flagship Audio and Video Processor. It is on kind loan from a member and costs USD $4,499. If you are not familiar with this category of device, AV Processors are the heart of high-end home theaters. They provide all the input...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Denon AVR-X3500H AVR Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Denon AVR-X3500H Home Theater Audio Video Receiver (AVR). It is kindly loaned to me by a member. The AVR-X3500H is a 2018 model but it is still available from Amazon for US $599 despite having a retail price of US $999. If it performs, this is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

A few takeaways for me:
7705 performs worse than some avr’s. Over $2k and you get no amps
The Denon X3500 amps are actually quite good with a SINDAD (Noise + Distgortion) of 85 besting many of the seperate amps. The internal amps of the SR8012 and Denon x8500 are likely even much better. It is also very likely that the Denon 4400/4500 DAC and amps measure better than the x3500. I think the Denon/Marantz receivers offer a great value wit the built in amps and don’t give up anything in regards to performance to the 7705/8805.
Marantz/Denon receivers are very good values in my opinion. If I were going to go seperates I would actually go with the Monoprice HTP-1. 16 channels, Dirac, very good measured performance, and has compatible with the dirac bass management. I just think Marantz is behind in the high end processors. YMMV.
I also wanted to add that the bench tests I have seen on the 7703 showed the same performance as the 7705. The 7703 works with the Audyssey app as well which was the reason for the recommendation of the 7703.