marantz 4002 v. onkyo 605 v. yamaha 663

[bkmerrill]

help...i read on avs that marantz beats the yammy...what do yall think about this?! opinions on each?

 

[Midcow2]

I favor Marantz, but ..

All three of your choices are excellent. You need to look at the application and the specific features.

Onkyo's run hot; one other forumn said it was because the were not using he latest technolgy transformers, but they seem to be reliable and not have problems. Before buying Marantz Onkyo 905 was top contender

I have had recently mid-high AVRs (9-10 years old) Yamaha, Pioneer Elite (5 years old), and now Marantz (3 months old). I like Pioneer Elite the least and after some hassle with their tech support department I probably won't buy Pioneer again.

The Yamaha, I have is pretty old and I am not really sure why I didn't consider Yahmaha this time around. After buying, I did look at hte two top end Yamahas and they aree pretty impressive.

Again part of it is your own personal preference but you have three very good contenders.

Good Luck

 

[bkmerrill]

ok, well heres a little more about my usage of it:
i will use it for long periods of time, so the onkyo running hot makes me nervous..
i would use it for probably 50/50 music to movies, and want both video capabilites as well as audio. i do not necessarily need great upconversion as i will be using hdmi player and cables with a 1080p sony xbr4 lcd. i will be running a 5.1 surround system, but will only use the two mains (towers) for music probably, and would like an a/b switch for this reason...and will probably eventually add outdoor speakers and would like this capability as well.

based on this information what can yall say/suggest

 

[Midcow2]

Marantz for sure , but need to go with SR5002 ($399.99)

You can hook-up outdoor speakers on B channel and have A, B, or both A and B on. You can set the volume different for the b speakers. However, you cannot do this with SR4002 need to go up to SR5002 minimum fro multi-room.

Download the manual : http://us.marantz.com/DFU_SR4002_SR5002_Final_eng.pdf and look on page 5 and page 13 and page 28

The SR5002 retails for $749 , $200 higher than SR4002. but you can typically get one for less ,around $399.99 at Hypathia Way ( if interested look at PriceGrabber.com). Hypathia Way is interesting, brand-new, unopened, in the box equipment, but not an authorized online Marantz dealer, but in checking my serial number with Marantz they will provide repair and fullly warranty the equipment. I bought from Hypathia Way because they were the lowest cost by far.

Good Luck!

 

[bandphan]

help...i read on avs that marantz beats the yammy...what do yall think about this?! opinions on each?

what was the reason for this besting?

 

[Seth=L]

I think the SR-4002 is likely a very good receiver, and should do just about anything audiowise you would need it too. The RX-V663 doesn't have a huge advantage with video or audio processing as I would only use the decoding inside a Blu-ray player to get my HD audio anyway (the Blu-ray secondary audio tracks only work when the Blu-ray player handles the decoding). The audio sent from the Blu-ray player is pure uncompressed multichannel PCM, meaning there is no loss of sound quality, in fact it should sound exactly the same as having the receiver decode from the HD audio bitstream (Dolby True HD, DTS-HD, Dolby Digital Plus).

The Onkyo should be dropped from the running period, it's l ikely under the power bracket of the Marantz and Yamaha receivers, has heat issues, has reported popping issues, and a few other beefs such as quality audio production (which may or may not be a real problem and it could just be in people's heads).

All that said, the Yamaha has a slight advantage in features over the Marantz. Those features may never be used though (such as HDMI 1.3 features). Neither receiver has a phono input, so an external phono preamp (which is generally prefered) would be needed for LP playback. Both receivers have preouts for all channels, so using the Marantz or Yamaha as a preamp with power amplifiers is an option. This is not so with the Onkyo.

 

[bkmerrill]

good advice, yeah i was thinkin i was leaning toward the 663 right now, but i know that onkyo, hk, and sony are all coming out with their next versions of their receivers around this summer, and might not need one until then...anyone heard anything about these new ones?!

 

[GlocksRock]

I ordered the 663 from JR yesterday, they are still offering it for $400 with free shipping just mention AVS forum. I spoke with Alex and he was very friendly. I also hear they are offering a discount on the 863 as well.