Hi All,

 I've been researching receivers and it has literally been a very difficult decision.  There are so many options out there and each one seems to be give you just a little bit but not everything.  Anywho, I've been researching Denon and Onkyos and Denon's line-up literally made me go mad trying to identify what receiver does what. I researched Onkyo and I don't have a warm fuzzy about their quality, though I do think they put a lot of features in their products. 

I'm starting to consider Marantz and trying to search for a deal on the SR5003 or SR6003.  I don't hear a whole lot of discussion about marantz which has me a tad concerned.  Would you recommend Marantz as a "very good" Home Theater receiver?  I've read that they do very well with CDs and music, but is how do Marantzs compare when playing blu-ray or DVD?   Are other brands significantly different (different meaning better) at handling movie soundtracks? Also, how is their customer support?

I'm running a 4T Hybrid SD system btw.

 

Thanks

Marantz make great receivers and are known for having a very warm sound, and they function well for both movies and music.  One thing that I see as a drawback with them is that you can't set the crossover independently for each speaker.  You do get the small and large settings, but I myself prefer being able to experiment with several different crossover settings in 10 Hz increments.  If that's a not deal breaker for you then I say go for it. 

If you do want more control over the crossover settings then you can go with the equivalent Denons which would be the 1910 or 2310. 

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Jason Hicks
Aperion Audio Guru

Hi and thanks for your inquiry. +1 for what Jason said, Marantz receivers are great--we have nothing but praise for them and consider them to be at the forefront of receiver quality. Rest assured the 5003 and the 6003 are great matches to our speakers. I'm not sure if there are much better brands for AVRs; other comparables would be NAD, Rotel, and Arcam, (though you will get significantly less features with these brands than Marantz), and yes, even Onkyo. They still make a great line of receivers, though not all are winners as they once were.

Hope this helps!

- Oliver

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

I have the Marantz av 5003 and love it - very musical and works very well with HT too.  Shopped the pioneer elite and other brands and to me the Marantz was more musical and warm sounding.