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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
Current setup that is going into the theater room of my first and only house, marantz sr7007, paradigm premier 800f fronts, 500c, and 2 surround 1's, my question is, how good is the Marantz? Bought it used for $350 because it doesn't support 4k t.v.. is it doing my front speakers justice? Is it worth adding a amp? If I do add a amp, say a marantz 2ch, and do a audessy setup, I understand the load will be taken off the internal amplifier, but will it potentially play louder when listening to stereo music? Or be the same loudness becauseof audessy? Looking to get more volume out of vinyls, and wonder if I should add the external? Or just wait till it smokes and mortgage the house to get a new one lol. Thanks for any input!

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NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
Marantz makes quality products. You're not going to gain any improved sound quality by switching to an external amp unless you're driving that Marantz past it's limits. You'd just be emptying your pockets for no real benefit. With a sensitivity of 89 dB, the paradigms are not that difficult to drive to high volumes. With 125wpc, you should be able to get them over 100 dB at 10 feet away without any issue. How big is your room and how far do you sit from the speakers?
 
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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
Marantz makes quality products. You're not going to gain any improved sound quality by switching to an external amp unless you're driving that Marantz past it's limits. You'd just be emptying your pockets for no real benefit. With a sensitivity of 89 dB, the paradigms are not that difficult to drive to high volumes. With 125wpc, you should be able to get them over 100 dB at 10 feet away without any issue. How big is your room and how far do you sit from the speakers?
Currently the room is 12 deep, 18 wide, 8ft ceilings, open on right side, sitting 8ft away, speakers 7 ft. Apart. The new house has a converted 2 car garage to entertainment room, movie theater wall screen at right front, unfortunately the right tower is going to be in the corner about 10 inches from back, 8 inches from right side, left tower approximately 12 ft. away, and hopefully sit about 10ft back, it's a 110" screen, the room itself, if estimating, is 24x24 ft. Closing friday and moving in a week. First priority is to setup theater room and system(used epson 8350 with 24hrs on it fir $300) and the second surround in the living room. The converted garage has 9ft ceilings and pretty closed off, with French doors into the house, the concrete floor has just carpet on it over half and premade wood flooring over the non theater half. If watching tv or movies, it gets stupid loud (I have sensitive hearing so over 75db at seat is loud for me) but listening to records the phono input maxes out at level 72, and sounds strained, where equivalent sat radio volume is 55, and no clue what it maxes out at.

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NINaudio

NINaudio

Audioholic Samurai
Sounds like an issue between the record player and the receiver, not an issue with not having enough power for the speakers. I can't help much more on that end as I have no knowledge of turntables and/or how they're connected and associated issues that one may have with them.
 
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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
Sounds like an issue between the record player and the receiver, not an issue with not having enough power for the speakers. I can't help much more on that end as I have no knowledge of turntables and/or how they're connected and associated issues that one may have with them.
Thanks, like the heading says, dont want to waste $, and thought the sr7007 put out some good numbers as its equivalent nowadays is $2,200. That's why I dont want to feel like I'm straining it. I'll have to look into the turntable side of things. Maybe some new wiring is in order.

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mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
Just a suggestion. Next time may want to ask first then buy? ;)
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I am not the guy to help with your Vinyl situation, but @TLS Guy knows as much as anyone on the topic. While we wait for him to respond, find out what cartridge you have. There are two common categories - moving magnet and moving coil. I suspect you have the one that puts out less signal than your Marantz's phono preamp section is designed for.
... and just to double check the basics, make sure your turntable is plugged into the Phono inputs - all other RCA inputs can be interchanged among different sources, but the phono is an input designed (and required for good sound) exclusively for the output of a phono cartridge.
Also, what turntable do you have? Were you using it previously with a different receiver? If so, which one?
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
What kind of phono cartridge are you using? If you have a moving coil cartridge, its output voltage is low and you would need an appropriate preamplifier to boost its voltage to a value compatible with the phono input of your AVR. On the other hand, if you are using a moving magnet cartridge, either it's defective or the moving magnet phono preamp in your AVR is.

Another question: Did you plug your turntable output to the phono input of the receiver? It won't work with any other input.

If you provide us with the brand name and model of the cartridge, we should be able to recommend what should be obtained to get your vinyls to play at acceptable volume levels similar somehow to those of a CD.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
One thing you have in that avr is a simple input level adjust to help bring the volume of the analog/phono input up to be more comparable to other/digital input levels. Details about the tt/cartridge wouldn't hurt, tho.
 
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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
Just a suggestion. Next time may want to ask first then buy? ;)
Not sure I'm following? All of my equipment in my opinion I got pretty good deals on. Either used, or if I buy X and Y, can you throw Z in for free? Way I see it I have a $10,000 entertainment system for $5,000.

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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
One thing you have in that avr is a simple input level adjust to help bring the volume of the analog/phono input up to be more comparable to other/digital input levels. Details about the tt/cartridge wouldn't hurt, tho.
I knew that was a thing in car stereos, didn't know it was possible in home audio. I unfortunately have a RT-81 with a stock at95e cartridge, was thinking of upgrading to either a red or blue ort on a separate headshell and swap em out (just now learned about mv output from carts). AT for used and the ortofon for new. Got the tt for xmas 2 years ago, so sadly, I can modify it to the moon, but replacement is not a option. Kinda want to try straight wiring cartridge to RCA, but cant find anything on it......yet.

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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
One thing you have in that avr is a simple input level adjust to help bring the volume of the analog/phono input up to be more comparable to other/digital input levels. Details about the tt/cartridge wouldn't hurt, tho.
Sob, you got it again! Knew that was there, you have to adjust each source when your playing it, thought it was just for digital input, but that was because I was on t.v.. go to phono, different level adjustment. Man you're good.

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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I knew that was a thing in car stereos, didn't know it was possible in home audio. I unfortunately have a RT-81 with a stock at95e cartridge, was thinking of upgrading to either a red or blue ort on a separate headshell and swap em out (just now learned about mv output from carts). AT for used and the ortofon for new. Got the tt for xmas 2 years ago, so sadly, I can modify it to the moon, but replacement is not a option. Kinda want to try straight wiring cartridge to RCA, but cant find anything on it......yet.

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So give that input level adjust feature in your avr a try....it's what I use to help even things out with my setup. That AT95e's output at 3.5 mV isn't as good as the Ortofon Red/Blue's 5.5 mV tho (which I suspect has a lot to do with people reporting better results with the cartridge rather than particular sonic differences). I'd think that tt is fine.
 
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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
So give that input level adjust feature in your avr a try....it's what I use to help even things out with my setup. That AT95e's output at 3.5 mV isn't as good as the Ortofon Red/Blue's 5.5 mV tho (which I suspect has a lot to do with people reporting better results with the cartridge rather than particular sonic differences). I'd think that tt is fine.
Just did, huge difference! Especially with 70s and 60s music, went to +10 (+/-12 limits) and it's now right on par with t.v. and radio, and not maxed out volume with phono. I like the turntable, i just am sure it's not up to par with a $2k table. Will be upgrading the cartridge next year, after all I'm a homeowner now, and this system always amazes me everytime I listen to it (and the fiance loves it).

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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Just did, huge difference! Especially with 70s and 60s music, went to +10 (+/-12 limits) and it's now right on par with t.v. and radio, and not maxed out volume with phono. I like the turntable, i just am sure it's not up to par with a $2k table. Will be upgrading the cartridge next year, after all I'm a homeowner now, and this system always amazes me everytime I listen to it (and the fiance loves it).

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You could also just try a different/external phono stage with more gain. I bought a ART Phono Plus a while back to digitize vinyl, and it has adjustable gain which is nice. I just keep vinyl for nostalgia....can't imagine putting 2k into a player when mine is perfectly fine (altho the current version does sell for almost that much).
 
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pattyt21

Junior Audioholic
You could also just try a different/external phono stage with more gain. I bought a ART Phono Plus a while back to digitize vinyl, and it has adjustable gain which is nice. I just keep vinyl for nostalgia....can't imagine putting 2k into a player when mine is perfectly fine (altho the current version does sell for almost that much).
No need, what you recommended worked perfectly, and dont feel as bad as when I had the volume maxed out. Thanks! I really appreciate all you do on here.

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