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Marantz AV8805A Review (AV Processor)

twokdesigns

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got it and yes just found on this site and messaged but looks like 2022 build out timeframe on buckeye. hoping could do sooner. really appreciate advice and answers!
 

peng

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do either of those have direct online wesite ordering? trying to google both but maybe just not looking the right way?

Are you talking about the Buckeye amp and the VTV amps?

ASR have reviewed both, so just search this site.


 

peng

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got it and yes just found on this site and messaged but looks like 2022 build out timeframe on buckeye. hoping could do sooner. really appreciate advice and answers!

If you need it within a week or sooner then go with VTV.
 
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twokdesigns

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If you need i within a week or sooner then go with VTV.
so one factor. I was hoping to move to a more warm natural sound with class a/b. these suggestions would be class d amps. I currently am running the rotel rkb-8100 v3 and ofcourse not as much power but not really sure power is what will improve the overall theatre sound. do you have experience with how these amps sound incomparison to say the monolith a/b amp. I am happy to have more headroom if they sound as good and the bonus is that it doesnt weigh 100 pounds and has a lower profile.
 

peng

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so one factor. I was hoping to move to a more warm natural sound with class a/b. these suggestions would be class d amps. I currently am running the rotel rkb-8100 v3 and ofcourse not as much power but not really sure power is what will improve the overall theatre sound. do you have experience with how these amps sound incomparison to say the monolith a/b amp. I am happy to have more headroom if they sound as good and the bonus is that it doesnt weigh 100 pounds and has a lower profile.

In my experience, all my class ab amps (have a few including Adcom, Anthem, Bryston, Parasound Halo, Marantz, NAD, Outlaw all would just amplify the music signal without adding the so call sound signature such as warm, bright, thin or whatever... Incidentally, today I spent hours listening to the Halo A21, the VTV Purifi and the AVR amp in Stereo, heard no difference. To me, amps can sound different, but if you stick with those with good specs and measurements, they will most likely sound very similar if used within their limits, similar enough that in a blind listening test you won't be able to tell them apart in direct mode using analog inputs.

In terms of sound quality, don't think class A, AB or D matter as long as the specs and measurements of the amp show flat FR, THD, IMD, cross talk below the threshold of audibility, noise well below your noise floor, DF high enough, DR better than CD quality etc. The key is, have enough headroom so it will never clip in your application. Put it this way, if you find an class AB amp that sounds warm and yet there is nothing in the specs and measurements that can explain the "warm sound", then don't be surprised in a controlled blind listening test, the amp may sound as warm as other amps with comparable specs and measurements.
 

twokdesigns

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thank you. if my rotel rkb8100v3 were xlr capable i would likely be happy knowing I could connect to lyngdorf mp-40 or 60. but knowing the changing of the world of sound im wanting to achieve the best results way above my needs.
 

wseroyer

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New thought, marantz av8805a and monoprice monolith 7 amp good combo?
sure, Gene over at audioholics loves monoprice monolith amps and they measure well, the one he measured was older and they have balanced xlr inputs now.

 

peng

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so one factor. I was hoping to move to a more warm natural sound with class a/b. these suggestions would be class d amps.

I may be wrong but I would think natural should mean neutral, and as such, a "warm" sound may not necessarily be natural by definition.

Bench measurements typically use a load resistor, and people would claim that even amps with flat FR will sound different because loudspeakers are not resistors. So in the past, when I was playing with Room EQ, I would also measure the FR of my AVRs, and amps as well using my speakers. Incidentally, I just did one a few days ago, to compare the A21 with my new Purifi amp made by VTV.

The A21 is class AB but Parasound told me it would run in class A up to about 8 W, so for the comparison test I did, it would have been in Class A. In this test you can see that my class A and class D amps have the same FR from 15 to 22,050 Hz. On the THD+N side, at below their rated power output limits, both would be at levels below the threshold of audibility so there shouldn't be any intentional low order even harmonics at play that could contribute to the so called warm sound. I do believe some amps may not have been designed for neutrality/tranparency, but I also happen to believe the vast majority claims of the different sound signatures between amps with similarly good specs and measurements are imagined. People often talked about its their ears and brains that they trust, when in fact it is quite likely it's their eyes and brains doing the hearing and trusting because they invariably did not do such comparison listening in controlled blind tests.

If it helps you decide on class AB vs class D, you can always visit a high end dealer who typically would stock both, and you can do a comparison yourself. I wonder if they would let you do some level matched blind tests using analog input and direct mode only though. Or you can just trust the specs and measurements and save yourself some money. To be clear, I am just offering my opinion based on my own experience, and to limited extent, my technical knowledge.


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twokdesigns

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thanks! I am leaning tiward just keeping my rotel rkb8100 v3 as it sounds great putting out a clean 100 watts per each if the 8 channels in class d. is light and stays cools. There was a minor audible differrence in the sunfire tga 7401 at 400 watts class h but to be honest before it failed and I had to return it even at the high levels of sound it wasnt a huge difference thoigh a bit cleaner pushing tye volume knob higher not by much. weighed a ton. Guess I had expected a huge difference so my limitation will likely end uo being my speakers are too effecient and really dont need that much power. rms on all is 150watts and 4 are in ceiling as atmos not needing high wattage. rest are in wall. Was looking for the best possible sound when I decided to go seperate from avr but not yet hearing a drastic differrence and takes me back to maybe picking up a new audio control xr-6 with integrated keeping my rotel for atmos.
 

twokdesigns

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decided on the yamaha cx-a5200 in combination with the mx-a5200. I know not anywhere near dirac but have nit foubd that at this time there is a bug free processor and combo that I cant wait for while enjoying the yamaha experience. Tbh I dont have the very best speakers or location given my theatre room is wide open I dont believe even dirac would be able to correct completely. seemed a good deal and had good reviews. thoughts.
 

peng

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decided on the yamaha cx-a5200 in combination with the mx-a5200. I know not anywhere near dirac but have nit foubd that at this time there is a bug free processor and combo that I cant wait for while enjoying the yamaha experience. Tbh I dont have the very best speakers or location given my theatre room is wide open I dont believe even dirac would be able to correct completely. seemed a good deal and had good reviews. thoughts.

I don't like the bug with the XLR outputs, other than that if the price is good, it can be an excellent placeholder.
 

twokdesigns

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well although dont need xlr since both sit on the shelf together but describe what at the distance of less than a foot the xlr bug would affect?
 

Newman

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decided on the yamaha cx-a5200 .... seemed a good deal and had good reviews. thoughts.

When it first came out it was top of my list: good price and quality, and I have positive experience with Yamaha.

Then I decided Dirac was essential so it dropped off my list.

Since then I have changed my mind about Dirac, but the lack of Auro-3D puts me off. One thing that I would definitely have to get some clarity on, is the bass EQ system. I know it has advanced a lot since my older unit was made, but if it is still based on PEQ, and with a limited number of fixed frequencies to select, and not a huge number of bands available in the bass, then that would be a deal-killer for me. I actually had to put a miniDSP on the sub output of my (older) Yamaha AVR in order to manage the bass EQ acceptably.
 

peng

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well although dont need xlr since both sit on the shelf together but describe what at the distance of less than a foot the xlr bug would affect?

It's not about that, its output has much higher distortions vs the CX-A5100. I don't remember the details, you can read the Audioholics.com's reviews for more information. That bug for some reason does not affect the RCAs.
 

twokdesigns

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when I get this in lets do testing. Guide me on what I need to do to provide answers and I am ready to help adress issues you have had in the past. I can always sell this combo if we find it fails.
 

peng

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when I get this in lets do testing. Guide me on what I need to do to provide answers and I am ready to help adress issues you have had in the past. I can always sell this combo if we find it fails.

By the way, have you read that review/measurements? It was too late for me to link it last night.

As Gene said, 23 dB may sound like a lot, that it really is of course, but likely not an audible issue for most people, though crazy people like me fixated on numbers will not buy it unless as placeholder only, and because I can always use RCAs that don't have the issue.



I wanted to verify if this problem plagued the CX-A5100 so I measured them side by side before swapping out my old CX-A5100 to review the CX-A5200. I ran identical tests on the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 to show illustrate the differences in distortion at 2.7Vrms output for XLR and Unbalanced. As a reference, 2.7Vrms is almost the full voltage required for the MX-A5200 to reach max rated power.
Yamaha CX-A5100 Main XLR vs UnBal THD +N.jpg Yamaha CX-A5200 Main XLR vs UnBal THD +N.jpg

Distortion vs Frequency Response Yamaha CX-A5100 (left pic) ; CX-A5200 (right pic)

CX-A5100:
Brown: Unbal - 90dB @ 1kHz
Red: Bal -95dB @ 1kHz

CX-A5200:
Purple: Unbal -88dB @ 1kHz
Blue: Bal -72dB @ 1kHz

As you can see there's actually about a 23dB difference in distortion between the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 at the same drive level and test conditions via the XLR outputs. The difference in distortion between the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 unbalanced outputs was only 2dB in this comparison.

Yamaha confirmed my measurements and discovered the culprit to this increased distortion had something to do with how the volume control IC interacts with the XLR outputs. This is something they plan to resolve in future models but cannot make a hardware change to this current model.
 

twokdesigns

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I think for my use even the critical ear wouldnt notice an audible difference using xlr or rca being the units are within 1 foot of each other. is this correct?
 

peng

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I think for my use even the critical ear wouldnt notice an audible difference using xlr or rca being the units are within 1 foot of each other. is this correct?

All else being equal, for such short distance, there is no way one can hear the difference between using XLR and RCA, assuming the amp is well designed and no bugs.. Some critical ears would likely notice something though, if they were aided by eyes lol..
 

twokdesigns

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sadly as much as I want to own the very best with zero distortion or bugs ill be honest in saying my speaker setup would do it no justice. I have a large open living room with all windows. the dining area is the more open area. I have two inwall speakercraft cinema aim5 inwall each side of the 65inch samsung. The rest of my setup is all in ceiling klipsch pro-180-rpc-lcr with 2 front and 2 rear of listener(actually more directly above and to left amd right of the listener on the couch and one center above the samsung I also have one front mounted in wall iw 14inch subs using peachtree 220 amp for 400w per ch. this basically makes me have to fake atmos using the front 2 ceilings as height
 
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