Marantz or Arcam or Marantz/Monolith or Arcam/Monolith

[PENG]

Wow- Thanks for opening my eyes to this Kurt. Like I said in my response to PENG....I bit disappointing from the customer point of view.

In addition to being 7.1.4 capable, your 3060 has significantly more PS capacitance, 18,000 uf X 2 vs 12,000 uf X2 for the 2060. I thought I should mention it to help you feel less disappointed. It also has much better 5 and 7 channel driven outputs (measured by that Geman site) than the 3080, but that's puzzling..

 

[lovinthehd]

Not only are amp sections shared, but some features may simply not be enabled at certain price points? Just seems the way price-point product hierarchies can go....

 

[raoul]

You could also look at Anthem if you haven’t already, they’re fairly priced and have very good room correction, many say on par with dirac live. Maybe you could get the avm60 with the monolith amp, or the mrx720 if you want to use the internal amps for surround and atmos duties.
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I went for the MRX720. The amp is anemic and the company has failed to provide a reliable app for a remote despite promising it a number of times. I'd say terrible customer service. I ended up adding an NAD power stage to overcome the terrible lack of power from the MRX amps. The NAD is incredible and if you want DIrac I'd find a NAD solution.

 

[ahmed_gharbawi]

I went for the MRX720. The amp is anemic and the company has failed to provide a reliable app for a remote despite promising it a number of times. I'd say terrible customer service. I ended up adding an NAD power stage to overcome the terrible lack of power from the MRX amps. The NAD is incredible and if you want DIrac I'd find a NAD solution.

If you mean that the mrx’s amplifier does not produce as much power as a dedicated power amp that should have been obvious to you before purchase. Very few av receivers can match the power output of power amps.
As for customer service I really can’t comment as I haven’t yet had to deal with them.


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[lovinthehd]

I went for the MRX720. The amp is anemic and the company has failed to provide a reliable app for a remote despite promising it a number of times. I'd say terrible customer service. I ended up adding an NAD power stage to overcome the terrible lack of power from the MRX amps. The NAD is incredible and if you want DIrac I'd find a NAD solution.

While I wouldn't say anemic, assuming it's similar to the 710's amp section, certainly not among the more powerful avrs either. Some do prefer a power amp on the pre-outs on avrs, tho.

 

[Grunt66]

Back in the later part of 2017 I found that I was listening to more music over watching movies. At the time I was using a Denon AVR- 4311CI as a pre-amp with Wyred 4 Sound and Emotiva amps. Prior to the Denon I had a Onkyo TX-NR906. My front speakers are Mirage OMD-28's. The Denon did a good job for movies but when listening to music the sound was tinny and dull. One day while at a Best But Magnolia Design Center I had the opportunity to listen to a Arcam AVR-550. Other AVR's in the listening room from Denon, Marantz, Onkyo Integra, and Pioneer. All the aforementioned AVR's cost over 2k and the only model I remember was the Pioneer 901 because we have the Pioneer in our living room.

No room correction was applied to any of the AVR's. Switching back and forth between the AVR's while listening to music the wife and I liked the sound of the Arcam over the other's. My wife does not share my interest in the hobby and is very frugal.

They had a open box Arcam AVR-550 and I purchased it. There was an issue initially with setting up the room correction (Dirac). Once it was set up the proof was in the sound. The open box AVR-550 was only discounted $200 so I returned it and decided to purchase a new one instead. None were in stock and ETA for a new was over month until it was received. So then I decided to have a look at the Anthem AVM-60. I already had a Wyred 4 Sound ST-1000MKII that I had been using with my Denon and a Emotiva XPA-3. I gave the Anthem AVM-60 a try and while it was nice we felt it was lacking in the 2 channel sound for music when compared to the Arcam.

I then came across a used Arcam AVR-850 for a price of $3,100 and I purchased it. Maybe it is the Dirac room correction but once I starting using the Arcam over the Denon it felt like a blanket had been removed from my speakers. I was initially looking at replacing my speakers (Mirage OMD-28's) but once I incorporated the Arcam into my system the thought of replacing my speakers was no longer needed.

I am using a Oppo 205, Bluesound Vault 2i. along with Tidal for music listening.

 

[bob smith]

Back in the later part of 2017 I found that I was listening to more music over watching movies. At the time I was using a Denon AVR- 4311CI as a pre-amp with Wyred 4 Sound and Emotiva amps. Prior to the Denon I had a Onkyo TX-NR906. My front speakers are Mirage OMD-28's. The Denon did a good job for movies but when listening to music the sound was tinny and dull. One day while at a Best But Magnolia Design Center I had the opportunity to listen to a Arcam AVR-550. Other AVR's in the listening room from Denon, Marantz, Onkyo Integra, and Pioneer. All the aforementioned AVR's cost over 2k and the only model I remember was the Pioneer 901 because we have the Pioneer in our living room.

No room correction was applied to any of the AVR's. Switching back and forth between the AVR's while listening to music the wife and I liked the sound of the Arcam over the other's. My wife does not share my interest in the hobby and is very frugal.

They had a open box Arcam AVR-550 and I purchased it. There was an issue initially with setting up the room correction (Dirac). Once it was set up the proof was in the sound. The open box AVR-550 was only discounted $200 so I returned it and decided to purchase a new one instead. None were in stock and ETA for a new was over month until it was received. So then I decided to have a look at the Anthem AVM-60. I already had a Wyred 4 Sound ST-1000MKII that I had been using with my Denon and a Emotiva XPA-3. I gave the Anthem AVM-60 a try and while it was nice we felt it was lacking in the 2 channel sound for music when compared to the Arcam.

I then came across a used Arcam AVR-850 for a price of $3,100 and I purchased it. Maybe it is the Dirac room correction but once I starting using the Arcam over the Denon it felt like a blanket had been removed from my speakers. I was initially looking at replacing my speakers (Mirage OMD-28's) but once I incorporated the Arcam into my system the thought of replacing my speakers was no longer needed.

I am using a Oppo 205, Bluesound Vault 2i. along with Tidal for music listening.

You've been on quite a ride getting to this point, and your trip is useful in guiding where I am now...trying to figure out if I can justify the AVR850. Not so much about money as it is about whether or not the SQ is worth the risk that there are issues with the 850 that I'll have to deal with. Or has Arcam worked out about as many bugs as there are. And I don't relish sending the unit to New York a few times, either. I'm going with a 7.1.2 using the Emotiva XPA-3 for less critical channels. All my music is 2 channel source, either mp3 or internet streams. So I depend a lot on dsp effects as well as room correctioin. I'm not likely to go separates, but the Anthem 1120 is what I consider the alternative. How has the 850 worked out at this point for you?

 

[Grunt66]

You've been on quite a ride getting to this point, and your trip is useful in guiding where I am now...trying to figure out if I can justify the AVR850. Not so much about money as it is about whether or not the SQ is worth the risk that there are issues with the 850 that I'll have to deal with. Or has Arcam worked out about as many bugs as there are. And I don't relish sending the unit to New York a few times, either. I'm going with a 7.1.2 using the Emotiva XPA-3 for less critical channels. All my music is 2 channel source, either mp3 or internet streams. So I depend a lot on dsp effects as well as room correctioin. I'm not likely to go separates, but the Anthem 1120 is what I consider the alternative. How has the 850 worked out at this point for you?

No issues to report and I am extremely happy with the 850. I have been using it since June of 2018. The 850 is used in my man cave that my wife of 33 years has graciously allowed me to use to support my audio habit...lol. I am using the 850 in a 5.1 configuration and have not felt the need to explore the Atmos configuration, maybe that might change in the future. Currently I use the 850 for listening to music and occasional movies. For me at least I am a big fan of DIRAC room correction.

Initially when I received the 850 I was having a difficult time setting up DIRAC with the supplied microphone. My problem was solved when I purchased MiniDSP IMIK-1. I have no problem recommending Arcam.

I would look at the new Arcam AVR's that are being released if you have not purchased one as of yet.

 

[ahmed_gharbawi]

The avr850 will beat the mrx1120 for SQ everytime, and that’s expected given it retails for almost double the price!

This comparison is only valid because the anthem is 11 channels out of the box and has a room correction software that can compete with dirac live.

That said, if you listen to two channel music you’ll definitely notice the difference in SQ, and now that arcam is releasing a new lineup of receivers (difference is that they support 16 channels) maybe you could get the 850 at a discounted price!


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[AcuDefTechGuy]

The avr850 will beat the mrx1120 for SQ everytime, and that’s expected given it retails for almost double the price!

So it's all about the money?

Whichever costs more will sound better?

Like the $10,000 ATI pre-pro will sound $6,000 better than the $4,000 Monoprice HTP-1 Pre-pro?

If that's the case, why buy AVRs to begin with? AVRs must suck compared to Separate Pre-pros that cost more.

I wish Yamaha would jack up the MSRP of their pre-pros to $10K. Then put it on sale for $3K. That way their pre-pros will sound like $10K MSRP.

 

[ahmed_gharbawi]

So it's all about the money?

Whichever costs more will sound better?

Like the $10,000 ATI pre-pro will sound $6,000 better than the $4,000 Monoprice HTP-1 Pre-pro?

If that's the case, why buy AVRs to begin with? AVRs must suck compared to Separate Pre-pros that cost more.

I wish Yamaha would jack up the MSRP of their pre-pros to $10K. Then put it on sale for $3K. That way their pre-pros will sound like $10K MSRP.

Doesn’t necessarily mean that it will sound 2x better than the anthem, and I do not say that as a rule. But I’ve listened to both and the arcam sounded better to me, especially in two channel listening.


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