New help with what to replace 10 yr old receiver with... Yamaha, Denon or Marantz? Receiver or Pre/Pro?

M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
Hello all. New guy here but not new to home audio and HT. I've been out of the game for many years as life has a way of rearranging priorities. If any of you used to frequent HTT and or HTF back in the day I am Brian S. I was one of the early guys building sonosubs back before SVS got going. I eventually moved on to Infinite Baffle subs which I absolutely love! I built my living room around my 5.1 HT system a few years ago including a dedicated media wall with two 15" subs in an infinite baffle. I also built all my speakers, well I made the cabinets anyway. (They are an Audax HT kit designed by Vance Dickanson with pre-built crosssovers by Madisound). As time goes on and things change I plan to invest more time once again in this hobby including building more speakers and subs. Also delving into dedicated two-channel audio.

With that said I am in need of some guidance. My Onkyo TX-NR809's HDMI board finally crapped out a couple of weeks ago. I had been toying with the idea of replacing it with something with Atmos before it died but now I don't have much choice as I don't want to invest several hundred dollars in repairing a 10 yr. old receiver. I had been using the Onk as a PRE/PRO all along. The internal amps were never used. Perhaps that's why it lasted as long as it did before the HDMI before died, IDK.

So I have been looking at the current crop of upper end receivers to once again use as a Pre/Pro and also potentially a couple of dedicated processors. The thing is I only have 7 channels of amplification.. Two ATI Amps, a 1505 and a 1502. I was bridging the 1502 to my center and using 4 of the 5 channels of the 1505 for L,R,LS and RS with one channel unused. If I go the separates route I will need to not only add more speakers but also more amplification which equals more $$$. Not that I'm not opposed to doing that it's just that I'm not sure if I really need to. I don't listen to HT at the levels I used to so my brain is telling me that I probably will be just fine using a receiver to power the Atmos speakers and continue using my ATI amps as I was.

What I'm looking at and trying to keep it under $2500ish list.

Receivers:

Denon AVR-X4700H
Denon AVR-X6700H
Marantz SR-7015
Yamaha RX-A3080

Pre/Pros:

Marantz AV7705
Yamaha CX-A5200

So here's the part where analysis paralysis comes in. I would like to purchase something that has good build quality and won't crap out like my past three Onkyos. I'm done with them. They were the shiz back in the day power wise but I'm out now. The new Denon and Marantz receivers have a great feature set based on what I've seen but I've also seen some reports of bugs in the recently released 2020 models which is to be expected I suppose but I don't want to be a Guinea pig for them. Now Yamaha on the other hand has a fantastic reputation for build quality and reliability. However they are lacking HDMI 2.1 and some other features such as Audyssey. Add to that after seeing the new design of the Yamaha 2020 line I don't think I'd consider them. It's a shame but they are not very visually pleasing to my eyes.

I'm hoping getting this out of my head and for you guys to sift through will perhaps yield some helpful ideas. So gentlemen and ladies, if there are nay here, what say you? What direction would you go?? BTW, if anyone is in the Tampa Bay area are there any meets happening?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
No guarantees on how long consumer electronics last to an extent. Higher up the ladder the better your chances might be, but no guarantee (ask @AcuDefTechGuy about his experience with Denon's top pre-pro unit a while back). I've seen issues with even Yamaha reported, altho they do apparently hold up their reputation for reliability well enough....but they wouldn't use Audyssey, they have their own program called YPAO.

With external amps I might go with just the Denon 3700, tho. The Denons have had a pretty good run of measurements at audiosciencereview.com, latest up is the 8500 which did very well, and the amp section is quite capable. I can use avrs alone for power and do in a few cases, but I also am being nicer to my ears now than I once was. In my main setup I did hook up some amps (that were just laying around unused) back up to my main Denon 4520 just for the heck of it, but no real advantage by doing so.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
The new 2020 Yamaha AVRs (HDMI 2.1) are supposed to be selling by October this year according to Yamaha rep.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Receivers:
Denon AVR-X4700H
Denon AVR-X6700H
Marantz SR-7015
Yamaha RX-A3080

Pre/Pros:
Marantz AV7705
Yamaha CX-A5200

What direction would you go?
My vote:

AVR - I would get the RX-A3080 (or upcoming replacement in Oct/Nov 2020)
Pre-pro - I would get the CX-A5200 (or upcoming replacement - don't know when)
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
My vote:

AVR - I would get the RX-A3080 (or upcoming replacement in Oct/Nov 2020)
Pre-pro - I would get the CX-A5200 (or upcoming replacement - don't know when)
I looked into the 3080 but it's back ordered. The 20's? I'm not sure if I want to go 2 or 3 more months with just tv speakers. So if I don't want to wait I'm pretty much limited to the Denon and Marantz units. The only thing that I question is the tunabilty in the bass region of the Marantz/Denon vs Yamaha.

I know Yamaha's YPAO supposedly isn't as good as Audyssey but yamaha does have a parametric EQ function where M/D does not if my research is correct?

The EQ function may be a moot issue since my sub amp (Behringer inuke NU3000dsp) has parametric EQ built into it. Although I'm not sure if it allows independent EQ for each channel. That's something I'll have to look into.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I looked into the 3080 but it's back ordered. The 20's? I'm not sure if I want to go 2 or 3 more months with just tv speakers. So if I don't want to wait I'm pretty much limited to the Denon and Marantz units. The only thing that I question is the tunabilty in the bass region of the Marantz/Denon vs Yamaha.

I know Yamaha's YPAO supposedly isn't as good as Audyssey but yamaha does have a parametric EQ function where M/D does not if my research is correct?

The EQ function may be a moot issue since my sub amp (Behringer inuke NU3000dsp) has parametric EQ built into it. Although I'm not sure if it allows independent EQ for each channel. That's something I'll have to look into.
Pretty sure your iNuke will have dsp for each channel. I do like how XT32 deals with subs myself altho additional dsp available thru the sub amp isn't a bad thing....
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I looked into the 3080 but it's back ordered. The 20's? I'm not sure if I want to go 2 or 3 more months with just tv speakers. So if I don't want to wait I'm pretty much limited to the Denon and Marantz units. The only thing that I question is the tunabilty in the bass region of the Marantz/Denon vs Yamaha.

I know Yamaha's YPAO supposedly isn't as good as Audyssey but yamaha does have a parametric EQ function where M/D does not if my research is correct?

The EQ function may be a moot issue since my sub amp (Behringer inuke NU3000dsp) has parametric EQ built into it. Although I'm not sure if it allows independent EQ for each channel. That's something I'll have to look into.
The RX-A3080 is back ordered? Wow. Maybe they have stopped production of these units to get ready for all the new 2020 models.

I will have to contact my distributors on Monday to see if these are completely gone.

I do love the manual Parametric EQ on my Yamaha. Guys here have been using the Audyssey Editor App with their Audyssey XT32 to fine tune the bass like Parametric EQ.

Yamaha does allow PEQ for every single speaker and 2 subs. I think Denon/Marantz only allow EQ for Subs and the Main L/R speakers.
 
D

DJ7675

Audioholic
My vote:

AVR - I would get the RX-A3080 (or upcoming replacement in Oct/Nov 2020)
Pre-pro - I would get the CX-A5200 (or upcoming replacement - don't know when)
On the 5200, didn’t Gene find an issue on the balanced?
 
T

txbonds

Full Audioholic
The RX-A3080 is back ordered? Wow. Maybe they have stopped production of these units to get ready for all the new 2020 models.

I will have to contact my distributors on Monday to see if these are completely gone.

I do love the manual Parametric EQ on my Yamaha. Guys here have been using the Audyssey Editor App with their Audyssey XT32 to fine tune the bass like Parametric EQ.

Yamaha does allow PEQ for every single speaker and 2 subs. I think Denon/Marantz only allow EQ for Subs and the Main L/R speakers.
3080's are available at lots of places. Crutchfield and BestBuy both have them. Accessories4Less does too I think. Just an FYI.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
On the 5200, didn’t Gene find an issue on the balanced?
It was the THD level of about 0.015% at 4 Volts, which most amps, like ATI amps, won’t need.

Most amps like ATI have 28dB voltage gain or higher and will only need 2V to produce full power of like 300W.

At 2V, the THD was like 0.007%.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
3080's are available at lots of places. Crutchfield and BestBuy both have them. Accessories4Less does too I think. Just an FYI.
Yeah, even if they are backordered by Yamaha, I am sure some stores will have them in stock - until they are sold out.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I think Denon/Marantz only allow EQ for Subs and the Main L/R speakers.
Playing with the graphic eq on my Denon 4520, seems it is available as:

L/R (L/R together, but also Center, Surround L/R, Surround Back L/R options)
Each (each current speaker channel separately)
All (universal).

It's 9 bands, at 63Hz, 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2 kHz, 4kHz, 8 kHz, 16kHz, range of +6 to -20dB). No particular LFE/sub eq option, tho.
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
OK here's another question..

If you could get a Marantz SR8015 or a Yamaha Cx-a5200 for about the same price which would you choose?
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
Well I think I have decided to go with the Marantz SR8015.

The only question now is when will it be available?? The research I did shows it was supposed to be available "mid August". It's mid August now and no one has them yet.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
OK here's another question..

If you could get a Marantz SR8015 or a Yamaha Cx-a5200 for about the same price which would you choose?
AVR vs Pre-pro for the same price?

I would get the CX-A5200. Or wait for the CX-A5300 (don't know release date). :D

The CX-A5200 THD+N XLR Outputs at 2.7V is 0.003981%. If your amp is 26dB, 2.5V would be able to output 311W into 8 ohms or 622W into 4 ohms.
 
Last edited:
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Well I think I have decided to go with the Marantz SR8015.

The only question now is when will it be available?? The research I did shows it was supposed to be available "mid August". It's mid August now and no one has them yet.
My distributors are saying Marantz is very backed up. Yamaha current AVRs, Denon AVRs, and Marantz AVRs are all backed up.

But the CX-A5200 pre-pro is in stock from most distributors.
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
My distributors are saying Marantz is very backed up. Yamaha current AVRs, Denon AVRs, and Marantz AVRs are all backed up.

But the CX-A5200 pre-pro is in stock from most distributors.
As luck would have it I was able to do a diy fix for my Onkyo. Turned out it was the infamous DTS chip cold solder thing. I was able to use a heat gun to fix it. Even if it is temporary it at least gives me time to wait and see what happens with the availability of the various models I was considering. That said I am still leaning towards the Marantz.
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
Because of Audyssey?

Brand pride of ownership?
Several factors.

Audyssey
Preamp mode
2 presets
DTS X pro
HDMI 2.1
eARC
13.1 capability
Build quality, copper chassis, toroidal transformer etc
Looks.. It's much more esthetically pleasing to my eyes than the new Yamahas.
 
M

Mirage_Man

Enthusiast
It finally made it!







Got it all hooked up earlier and did a quick audyssey calibration only to find the tweeter in my center is blown . Fortunately I had a spare center to use temporarily until I can replace the tweeter.

Watched a movie on Netflix tonight, "The Old Guard" with Charlize Theron. Lots of action scenes to give the system a workout. It performed very well. Still need to do some tweaking but what I heard makes me very happy about my upgrade from a 10 yr old Onkyo. I'll post a review once I get the new tweeter in the center and the system dialed in.
 
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