Marantz 7706 owners thread?

[HTDIY]

I have the 7706 ordered and it will arrive in a few days. I know the 7705 was sufficiently savaged here on its performance but I decided to take a leap and try the 7706.

Any other owners on here wanna chime in with their experience running it in their own theaters?

Some commenters pointed out many of the problems identified during the testing are things that won’t be audible. I’m curious to hear “real world” impressions from those who have experienced the 7706 first hand.

 

[Golfx]

I have the 7706 ordered and it will arrive in a few days. I know the 7705 was sufficiently savaged here on its performance but I decided to take a leap and try the 7706.

Any other owners on here wanna chime in with their experience running it in their own theaters?

Some commenters pointed out many of the problems identified during the testing are things that won’t be audible. I’m curious to hear “real world” impressions from those who have experienced the 7706 first hand.

I have owned Sound United products for at least 10 years. There is much to be said for reliable and feature-rich prepros. They just work and don’t let you down. Enjoy!

 

[Qbd]

I bought the AV7706 even after the rather negative reviews of the AV7705 here.

Like you said, the SINAD values are unlikely to be audible, and the noise values are also fine (only slight hiss with ear right next to tweeter with my 99 dB/W horns powered by Hypex NC502MP).

I’m happy with it. I owned a Denon X4200 before and appreciate the AV7706 with an upgraded but still fairly similar functional interface. With the Audyssey phone app I’m able to achieve somewhat better sound quality than previously.

I’m also eager to try out the new Audyssey Windows application in the near future.

My main gripe is unrelated to audio, but I really wish they would enter this century and switch to an RF remote instead of IR, as my receiver is not in the same room as my speakers. Even if I have a Harmony remote, I still prefer the original remote.

 

[glonline]

hello,
dac change ( like 4700h..)affected even AV7706 or not ?

regards
GL

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I have one that was sent for review but got put away for my move. I haven’t had a chance to do full measurements or a review. However I can say that I had the AV7705 in before that and it measured the same as here. I got the 7706 in and quickly did a SINAD measurement and recall it roughly matching the 7705. No better or worse.

I asked about performance gains and was told the DAC board was identical. I do not believe it was changed. If there was a running change made recently I can’t say. I assume not.

I have finally moved and plan to use the AV7706 in my main theater. I have one of the new Pioneer elite receivers with Dirac in for review which is going to power my li
Family room system. I plan to compare them a bit since I have both. I also will have the Trinnov coming in as brain of the main theater since I am a dealer and that makes sense. While none of these are really comparable, at least it gives a sense of what different products are like.

Having installed and used Trinnov, familiar with Gene’s gripes of the Storm, and used plenty of Marantz and Denon gear for years, I can totally see the appeal. It’s dead reliable. Far more so than the esoteric brands. It’s also feature rich with a lot of useful features. I love HEOS and similar systems. I sold a client a Trinnov and he transitioned from the simple reliability of the Denon to the quirkiness of the Trinnov. It might be better but it has issues. It’s not perfect.

So the point is, I actually think it’s a good product. Assuming it works like the AV7705 did. It’s feature rich, easy to use, reliable, and the sound is good enough for most. My new room is quieter than my old room, so we shall see if it’s SINAD proves audible. I didn’t hear any issues in the last setup at the listening position.

I’ll have official measurments soon as well. Still getting settled from the move. But at least all my test equipment is now available to me. Somewhere in that mess of boxes in the garage.

Matt

 

[HTDIY]

I have one that was sent for review but got put away for my move. I haven’t had a chance to do full measurements or a review. However I can say that I had the AV7705 in before that and it measured the same as here. I got the 7706 in and quickly did a SINAD measurement and recall it roughly matching the 7705. No better or worse.

I asked about performance gains and was told the DAC board was identical. I do not believe it was changed. If there was a running change made recently I can’t say. I assume not.

I have finally moved and plan to use the AV7706 in my main theater. I have one of the new Pioneer elite receivers with Dirac in for review which is going to power my li
Family room system. I plan to compare them a bit since I have both. I also will have the Trinnov coming in as brain of the main theater since I am a dealer and that makes sense. While none of these are really comparable, at least it gives a sense of what different products are like.

Having installed and used Trinnov, familiar with Gene’s gripes of the Storm, and used plenty of Marantz and Denon gear for years, I can totally see the appeal. It’s dead reliable. Far more so than the esoteric brands. It’s also feature rich with a lot of useful features. I love HEOS and similar systems. I sold a client a Trinnov and he transitioned from the simple reliability of the Denon to the quirkiness of the Trinnov. It might be better but it has issues. It’s not perfect.

So the point is, I actually think it’s a good product. Assuming it works like the AV7705 did. It’s feature rich, easy to use, reliable, and the sound is good enough for most. My new room is quieter than my old room, so we shall see if it’s SINAD proves audible. I didn’t hear any issues in the last setup at the listening position.

I’ll have official measurments soon as well. Still getting settled from the move. But at least all my test equipment is now available to me. Somewhere in that mess of boxes in the garage.

Matt

Hope your move is going well Matt. Have you had a chance to try out the 7706?

 

[Avbahn]

Upgraded from Denon X3400 to Marantz AV7706 and have issue with emphasized sibilance that Denon did not have in the same system.
Have tested seemingly everything Audessey on/off, Tone control, GEQ but does not really cure the focus on sibilance. Otherwise sounds great and a big upgrade from Denon but highs ruins it.
Did not expect that as usually it is stated that Marantz has warmer sound.
For sources using streamers Atv4k and Shield Pro for speakers Genelec actives with using treble -2db and also have acoustic panels in room.
Only thing on top of prepro change was using XLR outputs directly. Previously used same XLR cables with XLR to RCA adapter cables.

Any recommendations to try before I give up on Marantz?

 

[Golfx]

Upgraded from Denon X3400 to Marantz AV7706 and have issue with emphasized sibilance that Denon did not have in the same system.
Have tested seemingly everything Audessey on/off, Tone control, GEQ but does not really cure the focus on sibilance. Otherwise sounds great and a big upgrade from Denon but highs ruins it.
Did not expect that as usually it is stated that Marantz has warmer sound.
For sources using streamers Atv4k and Shield Pro for speakers Genelec actives with using treble -2db and also have acoustic panels in room.
Only thing on top of prepro change was using XLR outputs directly. Previously used same XLR cables with XLR to RCA adapter cables.

Any recommendations to try before I give up on Marantz?

I just guessing at this point but did you use audyssey for room EQ? If so it contains a preprogrammed midrange compensation. If you have the $20 purchased app you can remove that and also adjust your target curve. You can also limit/restrict EQ to only the lower frequencies (say 500hz) using the app which would eliminate the midrange compensation as well.

 

[Avbahn]

Yes tried with Audessey through the app like you stated. In my setup Audessey off and using Genelec room compensation switches yielded the best result. Have tried Audessey curtains to limit frequences as well but the sound character is same on sibilance perspective. Maybe not the best match to my system but have not tried other prepros if the result would be same/similar.

 

[Avbahn]

Yes tried with Audessey through the app like you stated. In my setup Audessey off and using Genelec room compensation switches yielded the best result. Have tried Audessey curtains to limit frequences as well but the sound character is same on sibilance perspective. Maybe not the best match to my system but have not tried other prepros if the result would be same/similar.

Upgraded from Denon X3400 to Marantz AV7706 and have issue with emphasized sibilance that Denon did not have in the same system.
Have tested seemingly everything Audessey on/off, Tone control, GEQ but does not really cure the focus on sibilance. Otherwise sounds great and a big upgrade from Denon but highs ruins it.
Did not expect that as usually it is stated that Marantz has warmer sound.
For sources using streamers Atv4k and Shield Pro for speakers Genelec actives with using treble -2db and also have acoustic panels in room.
Only thing on top of prepro change was using XLR outputs directly. Previously used same XLR cables with XLR to RCA adapter cables.

Any recommendations to try before I give up on Marantz?

Summarized my jouney in another thread: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...av7705-review-av-processor.25951/post-1235157

 

[Sal1950]

- Slight bass boost for Speakers (not using DEQ).
- From 4kHz to 20kHz -1db tilt changing Audessey standard Reference curve.
- All Audessey other options turned off
Putting it all together the overall sound now is well balanced and sounds really great in Stereo and Surround.
Source sibilance is still there of course but it is smoother and not harsh anymore. So happy for now ;-)

There's a reason most listeners preferred the Harman house curve.