Hi all, as you can see this is my first post so just wanted to thank you all for the lurking I've been doing!
A bit of history: About 10 years ago I built my "budget system" that has kept me fairly happy since. My usage is mainly focused around audio listening, not so much home theater-however it's an added benefit for sure--and while I do listen in 5.1 quite often, I don't care about improving my system from that aspect. Here is my layout.
Sony ES V333 receiver (component in question)
Pioneer Elite 45A DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio player
Itunes played through Mac to Airtunes using digital coax (80% listening done this way)
B&W 602 S2 Mains
B&W Center and Sub
Cheap surrounds
Logitech Harmony 890 remote
Decent/High quality cabling-Transparent Audio (mains and 5.1 interconnect for SACD/DVD-A), Blue Jeans, Monster...
So, I've been fairly content with my systems performance but here is what brought up me considering a receiver upgrade...Basically I wanted a second zone for playing music outside with seperate volume control and hopefully-another audio source (ie:so can still watch/listen to TV inside and listen to music outside). It started with me simply wanting a seperate volume control for outside speakers but my receiver is fixed volume for A&B speakers--I quickly learned this is a $300ish fix-a bit much just for the volume control. Then I thought hey-it would be nice to have the multi-zone so I started my receiver search. I've been drawn to the Marantz SR6003 for its reviews/performance/aesetics. It's around the $800 mark-which now I'm spending a while lot more than I can justify just to have a second zone.
Then it got me thinking about my receiver now-it seemingly serves its purpose but I know it could be better. When it was new 10 years ago it was the bottom of the Sony ES line I belive...is the new Marantz going to give me far superior sonic performance over the Sony?
I realize the new Marantz is going to come with many newer hookups to enable HDMI, yada yada, which is nice but nothing I need at the moment-but would be nice for the future.
So bottom line-I don't want to spend nearly $1,000 just for the second zone and future expandability---but if my system is going to drastically improve sonically it maybe well worth it...
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance
