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Help choosing a receiver ? 3.1 Focal Aria

BluSmaug

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Helle everyone,

I am in the market to replace my Yamaha RXV 675 (90w stereo).
I have a 3.1 system with two Focal Aria 906, Aria C900, and Focal Cub3 subwoofer.
I plan to add later 2 Focal Dôme Flax for 5.1, and later 5.1.2.

I have narrowed my choice to these :
- Marantz 6014 (110w stereo) 930€
- Marantz 7013 (125w stereo) 1250€

After reading the X3500h review i have a few questions :

- Will I hear a difference from my yamaha with any of these two receivers ?
- Are the preamp sections of both of these the same quality and are they good quality ?
I plan to add later a power amp like an Emotiva to drive the front speakers.

- Will they perform as poorly as the denon x3500h, on the dac side ? How do this translate on the sound quality ?

Thank you very much !
 

HiFiQUEST

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We use Focal Aria speakers all the time. We found that they sound best with Anthem Receivers. (We also Deal with Yamaha so we did many Vs tests :) )
 

VintageFlanker

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- I read the review of the denon x3500h, and it is quite scary. Can i expect the same level of distortion and poorly implemented dac on this two models ?
Definitely.

I would be scared knowing how the flagship AV Processors from Marantz measured here...

Even considering the amp performance alone, both 6014 and 7013 are rated (at best) at 0.08% THD+N. That equals to 61db SINAD... needless to say: horrible performance. And these are Marantz's specs. It could be even worse once measured. If you're concerned about power only: Yes, both amps will drive the 906s fine.
Will I hear a difference compared to my Yamaha ?
Hard to say. From what I see here. The more recent Yam 1080 would perform OK and would be a good alternative to both Marantz. At least, certainly better than most AVR measured before.
We found that they sound best with Anthem Receivers
Spreading the legend of audio brands pairing well...That is not gonna help at all.
 
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B

BluSmaug

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Thank you for your reply. I dont understand all this technical stufd like Sinad. But in real life, at normal listening levels, does it really matter ? Plenty of people are satisfied with the sound of their Marantz.

Thank you very much
 

VintageFlanker

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Thank you for your reply. I dont understand all this technical stufd like Sinad. But in real life, at normal listening levels, does it really matter ?
Audibility thresholds of amp and DAC measurements

And:

Understanding Digital Audio Measurements

Plenty of people are satisfied with the sound of their Marantz
Understand that plenty of people are always satisfied with anything they purchased... but strangely feel the need for upgrade/changing few times after.
 

peng

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Thank you for your reply. I dont understand all this technical stufd like Sinad. But in real life, at normal listening levels, does it really matter ? Plenty of people are satisfied with the sound of their Marantz.

Thank you very much

Be careful of what you read though. Below are what Amir did show better performance for the AVR-X3500H afterwards in post#10

THD+N was about 0.001726% (averaged for the two channels measured).

He also said:

"1.2 volt is essentially the same. It goes crazy after 1.5 volt (vol = 80). "
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/denon-avr-x3500h-avr-review.10053/

So at 1.2 V (probably same until it hits 1.5V), and at 29 dB gain, the AVR would be outputting >140 W, exceeded its rated output by a lot.

Examples of amps with approx. 29 dB gain are models made by Emotiva, Monolith, ATI, Marantz, Onkyo, Yamaha, Outlaw....and many more.

The <1.5 V pre-out measurements would explain why it scored reasonably well for a $549 (discounted) to $999(list) in the power output measurements, unfortunately in Amir's DAC ranking he still went with the 2 V output like he has been doing for DACs. The AVR-X3500H is not meant to be used as a standalone DAC, it is just a receiver. One that performs very well if used as such, or paired with an external amp with reasonable gain of 29 dB and rated 200 to 250 WPC.

It beat the NAD T758 V3 by miles in just about all categories, but not as good as the Anthem MRX 520 if used as prepro, but would be virtually as good if paired with typical 29 gain 200 WPC power amp. If used on its own as an AVR, then it even beats the MRX 520 by a mile too, in fact is would likely outperform the NAD T777.

Subjectively speaking, we are going to be all over the place, fortunately for people like me who is tired of trying to audition different gear in different place under different conditions, we have people like Amir right here and Gene at AH who are providing us with such great service. psychologically, I think people who paid more for the more boutique class units such as NAD/Anthem/Arcam, they would tend to hear better sound quality for whatever reasons..;). That applied/worked to/for me too...........

1582381853882.png
 

peng

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Even considering the amp performance alone, both 6014 and 7013 are rated (at best) at 0.08% THD+N. That equals to 61db SINAD... needless to say: horrible performance. And these are Marantz's specs. It could be even worse once measured. If you're concerned about power only: Yes, both amps will drive the 906s fine.

The 7013 is rated 0.05%. Marantz SR70X0 and Denon AVR-X4X00H are all rated 0.05% whereas their lower brothers/sisters are all rated 0.08%. I don't believe they are that different if measured within their limits, but on paper, that's the difference.

Hard to say. From what I see here. The more recent Yam 1080 would perform OK and would be a good alternative to both Marantz. At least, certainly better than most AVR measured before.

The funny thing though is, based on audioholics.com's measurements Denon/Marantz tended to have higher pre-out voltages up to 4 V wheras Yamaha's would fall apart at >=2 V. Gene seems to be more forgiving with THD+N at the 0.05% level, i.e. SINAD at around 70 or even 65 wheras Amir would consider that major disaster, probably because his reference point is the performance of desktop DACs, not, at least not totally, in terms of audibility. So if choosing between the 1080 and 3500 (just for example) for use with external power amps, one should consider the gain specs of the targeted power amps and how loud they listen, and more, it could get a little more complicated for people who like and focused on numbers too much.
 

abbazaba

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I auditioned a lot of pre/pros with my Focal Chorus 826v and found the warm NAD sound to best pair with the bright Focals. Hard to recommend NAD from a reliability stand point though. The Marantz SR5008 was pretty decent as well, though the subjective SQ wasn't as good as the T175HD (I used the preouts when testing).
 
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