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Review and Measurements of Marantz AV8805 AV Processor

witchdoctor

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Two different markets. XLRs are rare in the AVR/AVP area as most of the emphasis is on digital sources. XLR inputs in the stereo preamp area are an up-market feature.

Thanks, I was thinking about Anthem because my speakers are all Paradigm Active Reference and Anthem likely matches well. I like the XLR in the Marantz and will likely go with the 8805 then.
 

Sal1950

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Thanks, I was thinking about Anthem because my speakers are all Paradigm Active Reference and Anthem likely matches well. I like the XLR in the Marantz and will likely go with the 8805 then.
Do you have a source component with XLR out? Could maybe slightly improve that source's sound but highly unlikely.
 

witchdoctor

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Do you have a source component with XLR out? Could maybe slightly improve that source's sound but highly unlikely.

I am using the Onkyo XP-1 DAP as my streamer. It plays every type of hirez file including MQA, will upsample files to DSD, and I use a 2.5mm to XLR cable to hook it up to my pre-amp from its balanced output. It sounds great in RCA too but balanced does make an improvement.
 

Sal1950

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I am using the Onkyo XP-1 DAP as my streamer. It plays every type of hirez file including MQA, will upsample files to DSD, and I use a 2.5mm to XLR cable to hook it up to my pre-amp from its balanced output. It sounds great in RCA too but balanced does make an improvement.
Can't argue your unsupported claim of better sound, but if you do have the balanaced option might as well use it.
 

Sal1950

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pedrob

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RichB

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Is the AV8805 unlikely to offer any listening improvement over a Denon AV-X3700H
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/denon-avr-x3700h-avr-review.15031/, which is recommended? There seems to be lots of glowing reports elsewhere that are probably nothing more advertising blub rather than honest appraisals.

If the Denon is only used as pre/pro with the amps turned off then its likely to be even better.

I'd feel more conformable with that assessment if at least the center channel was measured and there were measurements with REQ/PEQ engaged. ASR has provided a tremendous service in measuring baseline performance for AVR/AVPs and many companies are already responding to poor measurements with fixes and improved design hygiene.

- Rich
 

ntsarb

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Oh it would be great if you measure this. I see this unit as sweet spot in AVRs for cinema+music with balanced stereo pre-outs and es9026 dac. I’ve recommended it to few of my friends and it sounds really good to my ears.

I found this thread while searching for any measurements data for the RX-A3080. Has anyone measured it?
 

Sal1950

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I found this thread while searching for any measurements data for the RX-A3080. Has anyone measured it?
Not here friend, Did you try using our Search system?
 

ntsarb

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Not here friend, Did you try using our Search system?
I was pleasantly surprised to discover this forum. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much info about the actual performance of the RX-A3080.
 

pedrob

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Has anyone come across a modified version by authentic cinema?

https://www.authentic-cinema.de/mod...v-surround-und-stereo/marantz-av8805-english/

Quoted:

Description of the modification

Main Power Supply Board

The main power supply board houses the important buffer capacitors and bridge rectifier for the audio unit.

We change all buffer and support capacitors by the best versions that is available on market. We use 4 large (15000uf) Mundorf Mlytic and 8 high end Elna capacitors. Additionally we change a few other capacitors with best one. So we get a total of round about 70000uf best buffer capacity only for the audio unit.

Also we changed the bad bridge rectifier with ultrafast, softrecovery diodes for less switching distortion.

Totally we changed 33 parts on the main power supply board.

DAC Board

The buffer capacitors on the dac board were changed by audiophile ultra low esr capacitors and partially bypassed by best wima foils. The coupling capacitors were be replaced with best wima foil capacitors.

All operational amplifiers were changed by best sounding Texas Instruments Versions by the sound plus serie.

Additionally we changed 104 parts on the dac board.

HDAM Modules

The marantz AV8805 have 15 discret builded hyper dynamic amplifier modules.

We replaced all coupling and buffer capacitors with audiophile, better versions. Furthermore we use best wima foil where it's possible and/or as a bypass for optimal impulse response and best filtering.

We make 150 changes on the 15 HDAM boards.


XLR In Board

All coupling and buffer capacitors were changed by best sounding capacitors with better technical values.

Of course we use Wima foils for better impulse response and filtering.

Also we replace all operational amplifier by best sounding Texas Instruments versions of the sound plus serie.

We replaced 14 parts on this small board.

Switching Power Supply

This board provide for the digital unit. We improve the filtering and replace the fuse by a better one.

We make 4 changes on this board.

In summary we make 304 changes in the Marantz AV8805 to improve the sound quality.

After the modification the Marantz AV8805 increases the sound performance over the complete bandwidth.

The punchy bass gets more structured , the resolution, especially in the middle, sounds very excellent. The highs never get harsh and sounds nonetheless very open.

The sound is very 3-dimensional and single parts are perfect locatable.

With the warm touched and better resolution sound performance the modified Marantz AV8805 make you feal in the movie or concert.
 

Kal Rubinson

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Kal Rubinson

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Damn. I came here to hear, "Yes" to this exact question. :-( WHY! This is fixable in FW, correct?
What are you thinking is fixable?
 

Kal Rubinson

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I was asking if they could fix the issues plaguing their measurements somehow with a firmware update. It was a hopeful question....
AFAIK, those are hardware issues.
 

Hayabusa

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