Marantz sr6005 and Emotiva UPA-700

S

speakerdoo

Enthusiast
Hi, I am new to the whole AVR-Amp deal. I am wondering if you guys think its ok to pair Marantz sr6005 with Emotiva UPA-700. Will there be any discernible difference in audio quality. It will be powering PSB-Imagine series speakers.

Thanks.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I bet the Marantz will sound just fine on its own. If it needs help, and if it can talk, it would probably ask for something like a XPA-2,3 or 5 to pair with.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I would consider the UPA only marginally better than the Marantz's amp section.
There would be a decisive effect from splitting the speakers between the units (maybe let the Marantz take the front 3 and give the other 4 to the UPA - which means a UPA-5 might make more sense than a UPA-7).
However, I am really inclined to agree with Ping - the Marantz has a good amp unit. If the Marantz really is struggling, you should give it more than a UPA amp.
Here are measurements for the earlier SR6004 (it is likely that they did not change the amp section with the SR6005).
Marantz SR6004 Measurements and Analysis — Reviews and News from Audioholics
 
W

wlmmn

Junior Audioholic
I would consider the UPA only marginally better than the Marantz's amp section.
I have a Marantz SR6003, and I used to use its amp section before getting an Emotiva XPA-5 to handle the amp duties and I'd have to agree. I was expecting the XPA-5 to significantly boost cleanness of tone as well as a volume boost and it didn't really do either. I still have to turn up the Marantz (now just used as a processor) quite a bit on some movies, recordings, sometimes up to -4 and it's by no means LOUD.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
I have a Marantz SR6003, and I used to use its amp section before getting an Emotiva XPA-5 to handle the amp duties and I'd have to agree. I was expecting the XPA-5 to significantly boost cleanness of tone as well as a volume boost and it didn't really do either. I still have to turn up the Marantz (now just used as a processor) quite a bit on some movies, recordings, sometimes up to -4 and it's by no means LOUD.
Thats odd, when I switched to the XPA5 it was like night and day, I mean how do you not notice twice the power? I noticed a HUGE difference between the denon 890 and just a upa5...

Im not sure what your budget is, but the UPA700 is $500 and a Bstock XPA3 is $600 so for the extra $100 I would go that route and run your surrounds off of the avr... Or if the budget is good enough for the xpa5 go for it, you can always send it back...
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
The demands of the speaker and room size could make the difference between your results.

It looks like those Ascends spend much of their time around 5 ohms.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I have a Marantz SR6003, and I used to use its amp section before getting an Emotiva XPA-5 to handle the amp duties and I'd have to agree. I was expecting the XPA-5 to significantly boost cleanness of tone as well as a volume boost and it didn't really do either. I still have to turn up the Marantz (now just used as a processor) quite a bit on some movies, recordings, sometimes up to -4 and it's by no means LOUD.
Double the power you get 3 dB higher in SPL, noticeable but rule of thumb for people to perceive doubling the loudness is more like 6 to 10 dB. Besides, you can only benefit from the increased output if it is put to use. In many home audio 2 channel stereo setup the amp typicaly output a few watts on average with peaks to over 100 watts if the speakers are playing full range and the music has heavy bass contents. Those who reported day and night or huge difference probably are exaggerating, or it is a matter of different definitions of such adjectives. That being said -4 would be way too loud for me, unless you have a large room, low sensitivity, low impedance speakers and/or somehow your level trim was heavy on the negative side. Is it the say in pure direct mode?
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I spent some time auditioning a pair of Blades recently. They were powered by a pair of Mc 1.2 kW monoblocks. The big meters showed most of the time the blades drew oly a couple of watts each, with frequent peaks to 10 to 12 watts and rarely past the 120W mark and only when the volume was turned way up and the music has heavy transient bass instrument hits. All those talks of more power making big differences need to be seriously qualified, such as by saying "during high transient peaks.....heavy bass drum hits etc., etc.,....."
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
The differences I noticed were in clarity and bass projection... Im not a pro here, but I could here an obvious difference in the overall sound quality at the louder levels... Not as prevalent with music {just the 2 towers} as it is with the movies, it seemed like when the avr was running all the speakers it was lacking, especially in the lower range... My highest listening levels are around 95db at the listening area, and the denon could get the speakers to it, that wasnt the issue... The separate amp does it easier and more better :D...
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
The differences I noticed were in clarity and bass projection... Im not a pro here, but I could here an obvious difference in the overall sound quality at the louder levels... Not as prevalent with music {just the 2 towers} as it is with the movies, it seemed like when the avr was running all the speakers it was lacking, especially in the lower range... My highest listening levels are around 95db at the listening area, and the denon could get the speakers to it, that wasnt the issue... The separate amp does it easier and more better :D...
Thank you for clarifying your claim by providing more specifics. That sort of support what I guessed in the first place that it had to do with your definition/or exaggeration of the commonly used adjectives (huge, obvious, day and night) to describe difference people supposedly heard after adding an amp or two. Base on your speakers and listening level your Denon should thank you for pairing them with the XPA-5 for multi channel applications such as HT. Still, unless you sit far away from the ascends and your room is large, sitting 3 to 4 meters from the main speakers you need about 8 to 16W (depending on the room) per channel to get your 95 dB of listening level that you said was you highest. So even without the Emo, your Denon should do okay in sound quality with music that does not have frequent peaks of around 102 to 105 dB. Your speakers probably won't play much louder than that anyway without SQ beginning to suffer.

I believe in more power is better but I wouldn't raise expectation too high inadvertently (choice of adjectives) for people who are about to spend a lot of money on things that may not meet their expectation. Some people may not hesitate to spend thousands for a little noticeable improvement while others may want more, or even the so called "huge", day and night" kinds.
 
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ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Thank you for clarifying your claim by providing more specifics. That sort of support what I guessed in the first place that it had to do with your definition/or exaggeration of the commonly used adjectives (huge, obvious, day and night) to describe difference people supposedly heard after adding an amp or two. Base on your speakers and listening level your Denon should thank you for pairing them with the XPA-5 for multi channel applications such as HT. Still, unless you sit far away from the ascends and your room is large, sitting 3 to 4 meters from the main speakers you need about 8 to 16W (depending on the room) per channel to get your 95 dB of listening level that you said was you highest. So even without the Emo, your Denon should do okay in sound quality with music that does not have frequent peaks of around 102 to 105 dB. Your speakers probably won't play much louder than that anyway without SQ beginning to suffer.

I believe in more power is better but I wouldn't raise expectation too high inadvertently (choice of adjectives) for people who are about to spend a lot of money on things that may not meet their expectation. Some people may not hesitate to spend thousands for a little noticeable improvement while others may want more, or even the so called "huge", day and night" kinds.
I would definitely say its night and day, but Im talking audiowise", Im not saying, "I bought these $300 wires and it is a night and day difference", no, but adding the amp is really a big difference...

And when I was talking to the owner of ascend, I was told that to figure my power needed-
use the furthest distance from the furthest speaker which is 6m
use 90db sens.
and add 3db headroom

When I do it it comes out to 227 watts, I must be doing it wrong because even if I change my distance to 4m it still comes to over 100watts??? I dont know how you got 8-16w, and to get 105db {at 6m with my speakers and 3db headroom} like you said the denon could do, I would need almost 2300 watts!!!!

If I were the OP, I would get the external amplifier... I have changed things that made no difference like more expensive XLR cables {but they look nice if you happen to be hanging out behind my av rack} and I have changed things that hurt the sound quality too, like changing my crossovers in my old towers, so Im not one to try to warrant my changes by telling others to do it, The amps were some of the best changes I have made...
 
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P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
I dont know how you got 8-16w, and to get 105db {at 6m with my speakers and 3db headroom} like you said the denon could do, I would need almost 2300 watts!!!!
If you want to quote me please re-read my post. I said you need 8 to 16 watt to get the 95 dB (I mentioned 102 to 105 PEAKS) that you said was your maximum and I stated that it was based on the assumption that you do not have a large room and you are sitting 3 to 4 meters away, I also said other things/more assumptions such as depending on you room....etc., but not going to repeat it here as you can go back and read it.

Now that you have provide more info such as sitting 6 meter from your speaker (so you probably have a large room). If you could provide the room dimension, I can do some calculations for you otherwise I can only do it with, again, bunch of stated assumptions. That's why we cannot and should not tell people what to expect without stating assumptions you base your comments on.
 
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W

wlmmn

Junior Audioholic
Double the power you get 3 dB higher in SPL, noticeable but rule of thumb for people to perceive doubling the loudness is more like 6 to 10 dB. Besides, you can only benefit from the increased output if it is put to use. In many home audio 2 channel stereo setup the amp typicaly output a few watts on average with peaks to over 100 watts if the speakers are playing full range and the music has heavy bass contents. Those who reported day and night or huge difference probably are exaggerating, or it is a matter of different definitions of such adjectives. That being said -4 would be way too loud for me, unless you have a large room, low sensitivity, low impedance speakers and/or somehow your level trim was heavy on the negative side. Is it the say in pure direct mode?
Room isn't that big, it's a condo and I have the room treated with strategically placed ATS acoustic panels, the speakers I have are Paradigm SE3s (sensitivity 93dB), Paradigm SE center channel, surrounds are some older B&W bookshelfs, it's all 8 ohm speakers. I've only done 1 or 2 dB worth of trimming of speaker levels through the Marantz. When I'm watching Planet Earth on Blu-Ray, sometimes I have to turn it up to -2dB to open up the sound to a reasonable level. *shrugs*
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
If you want to quote me please re-read my post. I said you need 8 to 16 watt to get the 95 dB that you said was your maximum and I stated that it was based on the assumption that you do not have a large room and you are sitting 3 to 4 meters away, I also said other things/more assumptions such as depending on you room....etc., but not going to repeat it here as you can go back and read it.

Now that you have provide more info such as sitting 6 meter from your speaker (so you probably have a large room). If you could provide the room dimension, I can do some calculations for you otherwise I can only do it with, again, bunch of stated assumptions. That's why we cannot and should not tell people what to expect without stating assumptions you base your comments on.
Im not trying to start an argument, Now I will copy and paste your quote "you need 8 to 16 watt to get the 95 dB that you said was your maximum and I stated that it was based on the assumption that you do not have a large room and you are sitting 3 to 4 meters away"

And when I put 95db with my speakers {which you know what they are because you referred to them in an earlier post} and 3-4m distance even with 0db headroom... I need between 30-51 watts, I was trying to tell you you were wrong in a nice way, 8 watts is BS...

And contrary to your post I did not give any hard facts like your system will be 10db louder or more 10% efficient, I simply tryed to extend my feelings on how I felt after I added the amp... The theater runs Much better, sounds Much better, looks much better, and makes me much happier... Its that simple, there are a lot of upgrades in this hobby that are a waste of time and money an external amplifier isnt one of them....
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
Room isn't that big, it's a condo and I have the room treated with strategically placed ATS acoustic panels, the speakers I have are Paradigm SE3s (sensitivity 93dB), Paradigm SE center channel, surrounds are some older B&W bookshelfs, it's all 8 ohm speakers. I've only done 1 or 2 dB worth of trimming of speaker levels through the Marantz. When I'm watching Planet Earth on Blu-Ray, sometimes I have to turn it up to -2dB to open up the sound to a reasonable level. *shrugs*

I would get the largest amp you can afford for at least your front 3 xpa3 is a nice choice.. Outlaw 2200's are on sale but I still think 3 of them will be close to 1000$ I dont know how you feel about class d but crown xls1000 's are cheap too..
 
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P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Im not trying to start an argument, Now I will copy and paste your quote "you need 8 to 16 watt to get the 95 dB that you said was your maximum and I stated that it was based on the assumption that you do not have a large room and you are sitting 3 to 4 meters away"
I also stated it depends on the room.

And when I put 95db with my speakers {which you know what they are because you referred to them in an earlier post} and 3-4m distance even with 0db headroom... I need between 30-51 watts, I was trying to tell you you were wrong in a nice way, 8 watts is BS...
I said 8 to 16 and depend on your room, but you have to pick "8....is BS", well thanks for being nice, can't imagine if you didn't...:D

And contrary to your post I did not give any hard facts like your system will be 10db louder or more 10% efficient, I simply tryed to extend my feelings on how I felt after I added the amp... The theater runs Much better, sounds Much better, looks much better, and makes me much happier... Its that simple, there are a lot of upgrades in this hobby that are a waste of time and money an external amplifier isnt one of them....
I had no arguments with that, once clarified, didn't you noticed I thanked you for your follow up post?

I am going to stay calm by ignoring your calling me...BS.... stuff, now please read below with patience if you don't mind.

Ascend said 92dB 1W 1m, "in room". You do your math, at 3m you need 9W, or 16W for 4m. In reality most room will get more than 2 dB gain as distance increases beyond the specified 1m; and that should get you back to the 95dB that you said was your maximum at 4m.

I have done some quick calculations, at 6m that you said you were listening from you speakers, you need about 72W to get 95 dB base on only 2 dB of room gain but again in reality you will find that 36W will get you there with the room gain you should likely (not 100%) be getting from that kind of distance, but it really depends on your room geometry. I do not use googled spl calculators as I can have more flexibility creating my own table using Excel, but you can use the those online calculators to do your own, just pick a good one though. I am sure you already know to gain 3dB spl you need to double the watts and for doubling the distance you need to quadruple the watts. If you have low impedance speakers you have to factor that in too but Ascend provide watts/W @1m instead of the 2.83V/W @ 1m that others typically provide so it makes calculations simpler.

I think you misunderstood my point about what improvements you claimed you were getting. You get what you perceived and I have no arguments at all with you. All along I have been simply cautioning other readers to be careful when they see people using adjectives of their choices about the improvements they perceived, they may not perceived the same if and when they follow suit and upgrade, that was all.

The "mistakes" you perceived in my calculation is not mistakes, it is about the stated assumptions and approximations, I could have stated an assumed room gain, but I thougt it is a very common knowledge already around here, and I was only factoring 3 dB of it on top of Ascend's specified 2 dB in room sensitivity. If you waited a little longer before making such accusations, I would have explained to you how I came up my numembers. I guess when you asked in that post, I was having supper. Let me emphasis a little, like many engineering calculations, we often have to make assumptions and approximations and it is okay to do so if the applications, such as this, do not really require a high degree of accuracy. If you take real measurements you will most likely find a good +/- 3 to 6 dB difference from my calculated values depending on many factors and how/where the measurements are taken.

Finally, I think there is no need to use words like BS, even, and that is even, if a slight mistake was made. I have never used such words on you, other than suggesting that you may have your own definitions of "huge" and "day and night" or exaggerated somewhat (regret that). And to summarize, your 6 meters listening distance combine if you relatively high 95 dB SPL does call for much more power than others who sit 3 to 4 meters away from their speakers in smaller rooms. Even then, your Denon should only show its weakness during the "peaks" and when you are in fact listening at your specified "maximum" level of 95 dB; and if that qualifies to be considered "day and night" kind of difference then it is good for people to do know the reasons and I hope now we do. Now you can see that it may not be that "odd" as you referred to the other posters claim of not getting much improvements in his case.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
I also stated it depends on the room.



I said 8 to 16 and depend on your room, but you have to pick "8....is BS", well thanks for being nice, can't imagine if you didn't...:D



I had no arguments with that, once clarified, didn't you noticed I thanked you for your follow up post?

I am going to stay calm by ignoring your calling me...BS.... stuff, now please read below with patience if you don't mind.

Ascend said 92dB 1W 1m, "in room". You do your math, at 3m you need 9W, or 16W for 4m. In reality most room will get more than 2 dB gain as distance increases beyond the specified 1m; and that should get you back to the 95dB that you said was your maximum at 4m.

I have done some quick calculations, at 6m that you said you were listening from you speakers, you need about 72W to get 95 dB base on only 2 dB of room gain but again in reality you will find that 36W will get you there with the room gain you should likely (not 100%) be getting from that kind of distance, but it really depends on your room geometry. I do not use googled spl calculators as I can have more flexibility creating my own table using Excel, but you can use the those online calculators to do your own, just pick a good one though. I am sure you already know to gain 3dB spl you need to double the watts and for doubling the distance you need to quadruple the watts. If you have low impedance speakers you have to factor that in too but Ascend provide watts/W @1m instead of the 2.83V/W @ 1m that others typically provide so it makes calculations simpler.

I think you misunderstood my point about what improvements you claimed you were getting. You get what you perceived and I have no arguments at all with you. All along I have been simply cautioning other readers to be careful when they see people using adjectives of their choices about the improvements they perceived, they may not perceived the same if and when they follow suit and upgrade, that was all.

The "mistakes" you perceived in my calculation is not mistakes, it is about the stated assumptions and approximations, I could have stated an assumed room gain, but I thougt it is a very common knowledge already around here, and I was only factoring 3 dB of it on top of Ascend's specified 2 dB in room sensitivity. If you waited a little longer before making such accusations, I would have explained to you how I came up my numembers. I guess when you asked in that post, I was having supper. Let me emphasis a little, like many engineering calculations, we often have to make assumptions and approximations and it is okay to do so if the applications, such as this, do not really require a high degree of accuracy. If you take real measurements you will most likely find a good +/- 3 to 6 dB difference from my calculated values depending on many factors and how/where the measurements are taken.

Finally, I think there is no need to use words like BS, even, and that is even, if a slight mistake was made. I have never used such words on you, other than suggesting that you may have your own definitions of "huge" and "day and night" or exaggerated somewhat (regret that). And to summarize, your 6 meters listening distance combine if you relatively high 95 dB SPL does call for much more power than others who sit 3 to 4 meters away from their speakers in smaller rooms. Even then, your Denon should only show its weakness during the "peaks" and when you are in fact listening at your specified "maximum" level of 95 dB; and if that qualifies to be considered "day and night" kind of difference then it is good for people to do know the reasons and I hope now we do. Now you can see that it may not be that "odd" as you referred to the other posters claim of not getting much improvements in his case.
OK, I have NO idea what 82% of that means, but I was told not to calculate with 92 room sens. and I use the Crown calculator since thats what 3 different sources told me was a good start...

I have the speakers in front of me and I know for a fact they need more than -20 watts to fill the room... When someone is looking for more power its probably a good idea to get it, If the OP was only putting his avrs volume up 1/2 way he probably wouldnt be considering a sep amp...

As far as the BS comment, I apologize, I am recovering from shoulder surgery, on pain meds, and went from smashing the gym 2 hours a day 7 days a week since I was 17 to sitting on the couch for 15 hours a day, I have so much built up aggression my gums are bleeding... literally for some reason my gums bleed since I stopped working out...:( And I cant stop taking the pain meds cause it is killing me even taking them, the dr said my shoulder was the largest he ever attempted to repair {normally a small scar, they cut me 8 inches}, but anyway, IMO the op should try an amp...
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Room isn't that big, it's a condo and I have the room treated with strategically placed ATS acoustic panels, the speakers I have are Paradigm SE3s (sensitivity 93dB), Paradigm SE center channel, surrounds are some older B&W bookshelfs, it's all 8 ohm speakers. I've only done 1 or 2 dB worth of trimming of speaker levels through the Marantz. When I'm watching Planet Earth on Blu-Ray, sometimes I have to turn it up to -2dB to open up the sound to a reasonable level. *shrugs*
When you say room isn't that big but it may be big by other people's standard. The thing is, few people should be listening with the volume at -2dB. I typically have it at between -15 to -25 with or without the help of any of my amps.

Your speakers don't seem to be of the hard to drive type and Paradigm stated that maximum input power is 140W with typical program source so to play safe you probably should go with a 200W per channel amp. If you still find it lacking then I have to guess your room may in fact be too large for those speakers and/or you like to listen at much higher SPL than other. It would be great if you could get a RS SPL meter and find out what kind of average SPL you are really getting with the volume at -2.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
OK, I have NO idea what 82% of that means, but I was told not to calculate with 92 room sens. and I use the Crown calculator since thats what 3 different sources told me was a good start...

I have the speakers in front of me and I know for a fact they need more than -20 watts to fill the room... When someone is looking for more power its probably a good idea to get it, If the OP was only putting his avrs volume up 1/2 way he probably wouldnt be considering a sep amp...

As far as the BS comment, I apologize, I am recovering from shoulder surgery, on pain meds, and went from smashing the gym 2 hours a day 7 days a week since I was 17 to sitting on the couch for 15 hours a day, I have so much built up aggression my gums are bleeding... literally for some reason my gums bleed since I stopped working out...:(
No need to apologize as I understand to you it seemed like BS that you were reacting to. This is just a hobby as you said, many of us actually enjoy some civilized arguments now and then even if we don't know we are arguing. Again, now that we know you are so far away from the speakers and the fact that you listen to 95 SPL, you probably will get even more (really huge:D) improvements with speakers upgrade and a couple of XPA-1 if not the McIntosh 1.2 kW.:D Those little 340SE probably can put out 110 dB but may be not. What do you cross them over at? I would suggest no lower than 80 Hz but your best bet is to ask Ascend.
 
ImcLoud

ImcLoud

Audioholic Ninja
No need to apologize as I understand to you it seemed like BS that you were reacting to. This is just a hobby as you said, many of us actually enjoy some civilized arguments now and then even if we don't know we are arguing. Again, now that we know you are so far away from the speakers and the fact that you listen to 95 SPL, you probably will get even more (really huge:D) improvements with speakers upgrade and a couple of XPA-1 if not the McIntosh 1.2 kW.:D Those little 340SE probably can put out 110 dB but may be not. What do you cross them over at? I would suggest no lower than 80 Hz but your best bet is to ask Ascend.
They are crossed at 80 exactly, I thought I would have to cross my 2.2 system at 80 also but I ended up at 100, there was too much bass at 80 for music for some reason, Im thinking the crossover ramps were different because at 100 its perfect... and doesnt sond like much less bass than the ascends crossed at 80... If that makes any sense...
 
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