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(known) Problems with Marantz Cinema Series

HalA

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My main issues have been with streaming. Some times My streaming freezes where I cannot get back to menu or when my movie ends I have snow on my screen or on lower 3rd of the screen. One time all streaming services froze up till I rebooted .
other issue is that Marantz turns off at random times. I turned off auto power which reduced number of shut downs but not eliminate.
again nothing horrible but concern for future issues once I pass 60 day return option.
 

HalA

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Thank you for your reply.
I have the latest firmware and I have been sent another receiver replacement and the same issue. Sounds like this is an inconsistent issue and Marantz should be more diligent on quality control .
 

anil

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i use cinema 40 which i bought 1 week earlier. couple of issues still exists ...
* slowness in processing when using through HDMI (eARC), page change takes at least 1-2 seconds
*when using USB for lossless content, sometime sound interrupts/lost
*folders/tracks arrangement is not in place
*cant use cinema 40 remote to operate sony tv A90K. my tv keeps in standby mode even i use marantz remote to turn on the avr
*sometime AVR hangs/dead for few seconds and need a restart
 

anil

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Hi, does anyone facing cinema 40 hang issue or black screen or restart.
 

Dennisgubbels

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I have the cinema 50 and have also a problem. I have Dirac installed and when i make a smart select saving whit Dirac On it turns off when puch it again.
 

jimk1963

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Cinema 40 pre-outs (L/C/R/SL/SR/FHL/FHR) are connected to Monoprice Monolith M8250X 8-channel amp. Running AppleTV 4K and Spectrum Cable DVR. With either media box, the center channel audio just suddenly disappears in the middle of watching any content containing center channel material. The center channel audio does not return until I power the system off, and back on again. Within a few minutes to maybe half-hour, the center channel dies again. Troubleshooting so far:

1) Replace C40-to-8250X pre-out cable --> no improvement
2) Change C40 Speaker Layout from "Pre-Amplifier" to "7.1CH+Zone2", and try Center Ch Speaker as "Pre-out only" or "Pre-out+Spkr" --> no improvement
3) Change M8250X amplifier channel --> no improvement, dropout follows the Center Channel input so I don't think the amp has any problem
4) Bypass M8250X by using C40 Center Channel amp --> problem goes away (all other channels still passing through M8250X)

This leads me to think the C40 Center Channel Pre-Out circuit has some kind of bug, or is just intermittent/bad.

Has anyone had a similar experience?
 

kalexan9

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Cinema 40 pre-outs (L/C/R/SL/SR/FHL/FHR) are connected to Monoprice Monolith M8250X 8-channel amp. Running AppleTV 4K and Spectrum Cable DVR. With either media box, the center channel audio just suddenly disappears in the middle of watching any content containing center channel material. The center channel audio does not return until I power the system off, and back on again. Within a few minutes to maybe half-hour, the center channel dies again. Troubleshooting so far:

1) Replace C40-to-8250X pre-out cable --> no improvement
2) Change C40 Speaker Layout from "Pre-Amplifier" to "7.1CH+Zone2", and try Center Ch Speaker as "Pre-out only" or "Pre-out+Spkr" --> no improvement
3) Change M8250X amplifier channel --> no improvement, dropout follows the Center Channel input so I don't think the amp has any problem
4) Bypass M8250X by using C40 Center Channel amp --> problem goes away (all other channels still passing through M8250X)

This leads me to think the C40 Center Channel Pre-Out circuit has some kind of bug, or is just intermittent/bad.

Has anyone had a similar experience?
It might be the amp. I heard that it needs a mod to prevent issues like what you are describing if it hasn't been modded already.
 

jimk1963

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It might be the amp. I heard that it needs a mod to prevent issues like what you are describing if it hasn't been modded already.
Issue is not the amp. I've swapped good-working channels with the CC and the issue follows the CC. Also, regarding issues with this amp, you may be referring to the link below. This issue was resolved some months back, and isn't a dropout issue but rather a low level hum/buzz issue. Not having this issue on my unit, guessing this simple fix is already in the box (haven't opened it to confirm).


Did some further troubleshooting:
1) First, streamed Apple Music over the ATV4K Music app, center channel had no dropouts
2) Returned to last known programming with this issue (MAX app, Righteous Gemstones). Within minutes I reproduced the CC dropout
3) Tried all the various Marantz sound options (Multi-Channel Stereo, Dolby, etc.), to see any of those might work. None worked
4) Entered Marantz Setup menu, specifically Speakers/Manual Setup/Levels/Test Tone --> CC tone works fine (this was a relief - thought possibly there was a speaker connection intermittency, and these are KEF in-walls, very heavy and not friendly to remove)
5) Returned to MAX, CC still dead
6) Fiddled with ATV4K audio settings (Dolby Atmos, etc), none made any difference
7) Back to MAX app - noticed the video was really jerky, stuttering along. Made me suspicious of the ATV4K and/or the MAX app
8) Restarted the ATV4K - CC still dead within MAX app
9) Deleted the MAX app (full delete), reinstalled it
10) CC audio restored on MAX app - ran it for an hour without issue

Doesn't explain audio failures on other apps, nor on the SpectrumTV cable box. Seems like there is something in the HDMI signal coming into the Marantz that it sometimes can't properly handle. It certainly doesn't appear to be a HW issue, at this point anyway. Will keep debugging.
 

anil

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Anyone facing marantz cinema 40 hang issue ? It stops during audio track play using USB.
 

Dodgethis

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my cinema 50 started acting up, very slow menus today, and the web GUI a blank black page. I decided to do a factory restore and it worked, set up started but hung after linking to wifi. The time zone choice window was blank and I couldn’t proceed. If I drop out of the incomplete setup menu I can change sources etc. I tried a restore factory settings and still the same issue. Now here is where it gets strange, when I went into my router to get the IP address of the AVR, its identifying itself as a Denon • AVR-X3800H. Not sure what to do from here as i can’t even get to the firmware page or test page
 

EWL5

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my cinema 50 started acting up, very slow menus today, and the web GUI a blank black page. I decided to do a factory restore and it worked, set up started but hung after linking to wifi. The time zone choice window was blank and I couldn’t proceed. If I drop out of the incomplete setup menu I can change sources etc. I tried a restore factory settings and still the same issue. Now here is where it gets strange, when I went into my router to get the IP address of the AVR, its identifying itself as a Denon • AVR-X3800H. Not sure what to do from here as i can’t even get to the firmware page or test page
Not as strange as you think. Folks denying Marantz and Denon share just about the same SOC don't understand the concept of upselling!
 

peng

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when I went into my router to get the IP address of the AVR, its identifying itself as a Denon • AVR-X3800H. Not sure what to do from here as i can’t even get to the firmware page or test page
Prove it, that it is actually a Cinema 50, post a photo, please!!:D

Jokes aside, is everything working other than the fake ID part?
 

Dodgethis

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Prove it, that it is actually a Cinema 50, post a photo, please!!:D

Jokes aside, is everything working other than the fake ID part?
Haha :)

No it’s broken, as above the whole thing hangs when on WiFi. I set up with Ethernet now and it’s working so that’s an ok workaround for now. What I have realised is it’s listed now as only connecting to the 2.4Ghz band when I have support for 5Ghz and receptions seems really bad when devices next to it get 833mbit, the cinema 50 is only getting 130mbit. I’m guessing one antenna is mysteriously broken or the wireless network card has failed and in some kind of safemode where they forgot to change the device identifier from Denon to Marantz
 

peng

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Haha :)

No it’s broken, as above the whole thing hangs when on WiFi. I set up with Ethernet now and it’s working so that’s an ok workaround for now. What I have realised is it’s listed now as only connecting to the 2.4Ghz band when I have support for 5Ghz and receptions seems really bad when devices next to it get 833mbit, the cinema 50 is only getting 130mbit. I’m guessing one antenna is mysteriously broken or the wireless network card has failed and in some kind of safemode where they forgot to change the device identifier from Denon to Marantz
Apparently in some cases, one may have to do the factory reset a few times to fix some strange issues. Regardless, no harm trying to factory reset it 5 times.
 
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