Marantz AV7005 Networking A/V Processor Review

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Everyone who's spent an hour already in 2011 with their ear pressed against a tweeter or subwoofer raise their hands

Ooh, me, me!

I dont know how many did but I spent much more than an hour, good thing my speakers have nice grilles on them. For some reasons I thought I should blame ACDTG. The review is not posted on their website yet...

How could you blame me? I spent about 30 minutes with my ears against the tweeters until you PM'ed me to run that little test for you, which then brought my ear-tweeter time to over an hour thanks to YOU!

Man, my subscription to HTM just expired! And believe it or not, I'm either too cheap or maybe just too lazy to renew.

I figured they have everything posted on-line anyway.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

What is the point of XLR "balanced" circuits if they are WORSE than unbalanced?

Oh, so that is the reason the Denon AVP-A1HD is fully 100% balanced from Input-to-Output...

But most pre-pros are not fully balanced...

So why even waste our money making these ridiculous "NOT FULLY BALANCED" circuits???

 

[GranteedEV]

x

What is the point of XLR "balanced" circuits if they are WORSE than unbalanced?

Oh, so that is the reason the Denon AVP-A1HD is fully 100% balanced from Input-to-Output...

But most pre-pros are not fully balanced...

So why even waste our money making these ridiculous "NOT FULLY BALANCED" circuits???

fully balanced or not, I prefer XLR. it clicks when you stick it in...nothing like it! It also makes connecting to pro amps easy, which many of us do. And it often allows subwoofer daisy chaining.

 

[PENG]

How could you blame me? I spent about 30 minutes with my ears against the tweeters until you PM'ed me to run that little test for you, which then brought my ear-tweeter time to over an hour thanks to YOU!

I did thank you first but then you told me you could not hear anything with ear on grille so I had to repeat my tests many time different ways. Thanks to TLSGuy who said even his system was not totally silent at maximum gain. That made me feel a little better. May be next time I see the audiologist I should check my hearing at 60, 120, 180 Hz in case I am super sensitive to those harmonics.

Man, my subscription to HTM just expired! And believe it or not, I'm either too cheap or maybe just too lazy to renew.

I figured they have everything posted on-line anyway.

OKay I think I can tell just a little. The SR7005/AVR-3311 based AV7005 has much better cross talk numbers, about 10 dB better than the SR7005 and almost 1 dB better than the older and better dressed, higher class sister AV8003. It's frequency response is also flatter from 10 to 50,000 Hz than its sister (AV8003). S/N is slightly lower but is still a respectable -121.49 dBrA

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I did thank you first but then you told me you could not hear anything with ear on grille so I had to repeat my tests many time different ways. Thanks to TLSGuy who said even his system was not totally silent at maximum gain. That made me feel a little better. May be next time I see the audiologist I should check my hearing at 60, 120, 180 Hz in case I am super sensitive to those harmonics.

I think some amps/preamps have "slight" ear-tweeter hiss/hum, and some do not. It does not mean that the ones with the ear-tweeter slight hiss/hum are not as good; they are just designed slightly differently.

OKay I think I can tell just a little. The SR7005/AVR-3311 based AV7005 has much better cross talk numbers, about 10 dB better than the SR7005 and almost 1 dB better than the older and better dressed, higher class sister AV8003. It's frequency response is also flatter from 10 to 50,000 Hz than its sister (AV8003). S/N is slightly lower but is still a respectable -121.49 dBrA

That is a good thing. It should be like that. Pre-pros are supposed to have much better Crosstalk, SNR, THD, & FR.

The AV7005 looks to be an excellent pre-pro.

Some components are just designed to have minimal ear-tweeter hiss/hum no matter what.

 

[dem beats]

I just ordered the SR-7005.....

 

[PENG]

I just ordered the SR-7005.....

It is a good AVR, just don't look for total quietness or perfect cross talk. It has received good reviews from both HTM (top pick) and HCC.

 

[QuidProSchmoe]

Nice Review

A very nice review. However, I disagree with you on one point, and agree with you on another: (1) Your English isn't "crappy." It's better than a lot of Americans'; (2) I wouldn't want Freddie Mercury "coming at me on all fours" in my living room, or anywhere else for that matter.

Well done.

 

[RajKrishnan]

Stereo quality of av7005 vs PM7001KI Sig

Hi,
Thanx for the most detailed review of the AV7005.
I use a Marantz PM7001KI stereo amp for pre amplification today into my Audiolab power amp. I plan to upgrade to av7005. Would the stereo (music sound quality of my CD/vinyl) sound quality be equal or better?
Thanx.
ps. I've been looking for a preamp that wud give me equal or better sound quality as my PM7001KI while allowing me to enjoy home theater as well.
Rgds, RajK

 

[GranteedEV]

Would the stereo (music sound quality of my CD/vinyl) sound quality be equal or better?

It should be virtually unchanged, with the exception that the auto speaker setup might improve your imaging ever so slightly (or might not!)

 

[Mongao]

Hey Steve,

MM7055 AND a MM7025? I'm turning green here, buddy. That's awesome!

I would definitely run the fronts with the MM7055 since it has more capacitance (uF storage capacity) available! I'd use the MM7025 for the rears. Ideally, you can bi-amp the Fronts and use the last available channel at the MM7055 for your center channel.

I'm using a 4.1 set up, so I have one free channel at the back of the MM7055. With this set up even at loud volumes, the MM7055 doesn't get anywhere near hot. It just gets a tiny bit warm, yes, but it's really nothing much!

Thanks for the nice review ! I called my dealer to ask for the MM8003, as it`s discontinued now, he offered me a good deal on both 7055 and 7025 (I have a SR6006), so I am considering buying both.

Advantages: bi-amp my huge Polk RTiA9 fronts, using the 7025 to drive the low frequency (more demanding ?) part, while the 7055 would drive the rest. I believe that both would run very cool all the time, I listen to music really loud for hours in a row and I am afraid of having overheating issues with the 7055 alone driving my large towers and everything.

What do you guys think ? Or is it overkill and I should neglect the combo offer and get only the 7055, no bi-amp though ?

Thanks a lot !

Mongao

 

[PENG]

Thanks for the nice review ! I called my dealer to ask for the MM8003, as it`s discontinued now, he offered me a good deal on both 7055 and 7025 (I have a SR6006), so I am considering buying both.

Advantages: bi-amp my huge Polk RTiA9 fronts, using the 7025 to drive the low frequency (more demanding ?) part, while the 7055 would drive the rest. I believe that both would run very cool all the time, I listen to music really loud for hours in a row and I am afraid of having overheating issues with the 7055 alone driving my large towers and everything.

What do you guys think ? Or is it overkill and I should neglect the combo offer and get only the 7055, no bi-amp though ?

Thanks a lot !

Mongao

Using a XPA-3 to run the front 3 speakers may be a better alternative. It will give your big towers more power and probably cost less. Bi-amping most likely won't improve SQ for you anyway.

 

[Mongao]

Using a XPA-3 to run the front 3 speakers may be a better alternative. It will give your big towers more power and probably cost less. Bi-amping most likely won't improve SQ for you anyway.

Thanks, but what I am afraid of is running an AMP of a different brand from the PRE, I have read many possitive reviews about the Emo`s, but as I have a Marantz PRE, I believe that sticking to an AMP of the same brand will preserve the general audio tonality;

Thanks,

Mongao

 

[PENG]

Thanks, but what I am afraid of is running an AMP of a different brand from the PRE, I have read many possitive reviews about the Emo`s, but as I have a Marantz PRE, I believe that sticking to an AMP of the same brand will preserve the general audio tonality;

Thanks,

Mongao

I had my AV7005 paired with an Adcom 2X200W plus a MM8003 initially using the 2 channel amp for the front two channels. Then the Adcom had one channel failed so I use it to power the center channel and bought an Anthem 2 ch amp for the front L and R. The MM8003 (8ch) is powering just the 4 surround channels so its big toroidal PS transformer is plenty for them. Any well designed/built power amps will not and should not have their own "tonality" as their job is to amplifier the input signal linearly and faithfully without adding any flavor to it.

I am quite confident your 6006 preouts have enough output voltage to drive the Emo amp properly. If you feel more comfortable sticking to Marantz amp that may be the way to go but you should know that the 70XX amps are really not much more powerful than a stout AVR such as the Denon AVR4311, and Onkyo or Yamaha models within that price range. If your speakers are not hard to drive, your room not too big and you don't listen at unreasonably loud level then those two little amps will be more than adequate.

 

[Mongao]

I had my AV7005 paired with an Adcom 2X200W plus a MM8003 initially using the 2 channel amp for the front two channels. Then the Adcom had one channel failed so I use it to power the center channel and bought an Anthem 2 ch amp for the front L and R. The MM8003 (8ch) is powering just the 4 surround channels so its big toroidal PS transformer is plenty for them. Any well designed/built power amps will not and should not have their own "tonality" as their job is to amplifier the input signal linearly and faithfully without adding any flavor to it.

I am quite confident your 6006 preouts have enough output voltage to drive the Emo amp properly. If you feel more comfortable sticking to Marantz amp that may be the way to go but you should know that the 70XX amps are really not much more powerful than a stout AVR such as the Denon AVR4311, and Onkyo or Yamaha models within that price range. If your speakers are not hard to drive, your room not too big and you don't listen at unreasonably loud level then those two little amps will be more than adequate.

Thank you very much, your advice is much appreciated. I will definitely quote a shipping on the XPA-5 (I am in Canada), although my preferred choices still are the MM`s.

Regarding the Denon, well, thanks, but I only need an AMP, I already have the SR6006.

Thanks,

Mongao

 

[PENG]

Thank you very much, your advice is much appreciated. I will definitely quote a shipping on the XPA-5 (I am in Canada), although my preferred choices still are the MM`s.

Regarding the Denon, well, thanks, but I only need an AMP, I already have the SR6006.

Thanks,

Mongao

Your 6006 is fine and I mentioned the Denon 4311 only as an example to indicate that those Marantz amps are really not more powerful than a robust/stout AVR, that's all. If you are in Canada you may also look at something like:

Parasound New Classic Model 2250 Two Channel Power Amplifier (Silver) - Canuck Audio Mart

Just let the 6006 power the other channels and you should be fine. If not, you can add an Outlaw monoblock later to power the center and that should be all you need. Unless you really enjoy 7 ch stereo, most music/movie contents so put too much demand on the surround channels, at least not on continuous basis.

 

[wlmmn]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is this processor much better than what's in my SR6003, or is it the case of diminishing returns, i.e. a lot of money for only a little improvement? Like, if I paired this AV7005 with a decent 5-channel amp, realistically how much better would my set-up sound than just going by the SR6003 alone?

 

[morganovich]

i recently tried one of these when my anthem broke.

contrary to the other reviews, i absolutely hated this processor. save your money and buy the integra.

this has a dead flat soundstage, ZERO voice localization, and really weak surround features. the video scaler is unimpressive as well.

even in 2 speak mode, disks that generally image like crazy are flat and fake sounding. it's a truly horrible experience. i could not wait to get it out of here.

the reason this looks like such a bundle of features at a low price is that it's low quality. there was no setup, manual or automatic, that could get a 5.1 system to sound anything like it should, especially with a 110" screen.

to make kef reference speakers and a bel canto amp sound bad takes some real doing, but the marantz managed it and was even worse with my vandersteins, which are some of the warmest, best imaging speakers i've heard. it turned them into muddy, flat goop.

i have no idea what the purpose of this product is. it's far too low end for a serious system, but 2-3X the price of many alternatives for lower end without, as best i can tell, being any better.

 

[adk highlander]

First let me say thanks for stopping by and making your first post such a positive one.

Second everything you have stated is extremely subjective and may be true to your setup and room but may not be at all what others experience.

the reason this looks like such a bundle of features at a low price is that it's low quality. there was no setup, manual or automatic, that could get a 5.1 system to sound anything like it should, especially with a 110" screen.

What is this supposed to mean and what does the screen size have to do with anything?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

he should've stopped right after

i recently tried one of these when my anthem broke.