Since your original post/question seem to have evolved, so it may be time to tell us the following, for a more meaning ongoing discussion:
- What speakers for the L, C, R, surrounds, Atmos?
- Model number of the power amp(s) you are using.
- Your seating distance from the speakers, just approx. for now.
- How loud do you listen related to reference level? Are you familiar with the term "reference level", that is 85dB with 20 dB peak? It is probably about as loud as you would hear in a good cinema watching Star War movies.
- The noise floor of your room, or you don't know much about that, just tell us if you consider your room dead silent, quiet, very quiet, or somewhat noisy, enough that you wouldn't want to watch TV news with volume below -35 or so.., that is, you can hear a little background noise all the time.
With the above information, we should be able to provide you with more informed feedback, instead of very generalized response. As ADTG mentioned, it all depends.., you may in fact stand to gain going with an additional amp, or replace you current amp, or even benefit from a prepro, but not the AV7705 for sure.
By the way, you asked " isn’t Marantz the higher end of Denon? "
My impression is, since United Sound acquired both, their marketing seemed to have started to promote the notion that Marantz is tuned to favor "music".
To me, they clearly wanted to feed on the already existing myth that somehow Marantz has a "warm" sounding signature, while Denon has a "more neutral, impactful, punch" kind of sound signature. It is a smart move for them, if they want the Marantz brand to continue to thrive under the same umbrella. They obviously knew getting into it that Denon out sold Marantz by a significant margin so they had to do something to increase the profit margin on the Marantz products.
Other than that, take a look of the following and you decide if Marantz is higher end
.
Review: The Denon AVP-A1HDCI AV processor is packed with the latest HD audio and HDMI connectivity and THX Ultra2 Certification. It supports 12 channels of audio and is a technological masterpiece.
www.audioholics.com
www.soundstagehifi.com
ADTG has that $7,500 Denon (a huge paper weight now I guess..
, but it failed on him after only 8 years. My Marantz AV8801 costed me over $3K, outdate after two years. That's why ADTG now is happy with a $3,000 (I bet he paid less..) CX-A5100, and I went further, very happy with my $1,200 AVR-X4400H that is almost identical to your AVR-X4300H, and yes I used external amps, 3 of them to make up 11 channels.
