Marantz Cinema 70s AVR Review

[GXAlan]

Previous slimline NR series don't have HDAMs, not sure if the new Cenima 70 has, can anyone confirm that?

No HDAM.

It does show that good HDAMs are good (AV10).

 

[GXAlan]

I voted Poor at list price.

At $700, refurb, 5 year warranty, it’s more reasonable. The sound quality is mediocre but it has decent feature set and if you correct below the transition frequency then plain Audyssey isn’t bad.

That said, given the price premium of the new designs, it’s Poor…

 

[audiotron]

Maybe we should send Marantz a copy of your paper...

 

[mcdn]

I own one of these and I actually find it works perfectly for me as a way to bring Xbox, TV, music, etc together. I only use the pre-outs so don’t care about the amp performance, which is lucky because obviously neither do Marantz. 94dB SINAD is meh, but it’s driving speakers and a room with at best 60dB SINAD between them.

 

[mcdn]

A couple of quick observations about this model:

--It's the newest version of what used to be the NR17xx line, with the previous model being the Marantz NR1711. They changed the front panel look for the new name Cinema Series, but the rear panel and internals show the similarities between this and the older NR17xx line.

--With these slimline designs, like with Yamaha's similar RX-S600, RX-S601, RX-S602, you're often paying more than the equivalent non-slimline receiver, just to get the smaller chassis, while getting less power output than the non-slimline model provides. So you really are paying more for less, quite literally. It's a shame, because I like the looks of the slimline models, but I'm not willing to pay more for a lesser receiver than their standard models.

Yes indeed! It’s a pre-pro with just enough amplification to get away with being sold as an AVR.

It has full pre-outs, fits in a small space, and fully turns off its amps via relays if they are unused, so it runs cool.

 

[ban25]

Not surprising. The 70s, like all of the current D+M lineup with the solitary exceptions of their respective flagships (AV10, A1H), use the TI PCM5102A DAC specced at ~93 dB. The pre-outs hit the spec sheet, so they did as good as they could with what they had to work with. When you review the Cinema 40, it will of course measure the same as this in the pre-out performance and similar to the X4800H in amplifier performance.

 

[GXAlan]

I own one of these and I actually find it works perfectly for me as a way to bring Xbox, TV, music, etc together. I only use the pre-outs so don’t care about the amp performance, which is lucky because obviously neither do Marantz. 94dB SINAD is meh, but it’s driving speakers and a room with at best 60dB SINAD between them.

94 dB isn’t bad if you’re listening under 94 dB, right?

 

[DonR]

Marantz returning to poor form. Looks like the AV70 was an aberration. For an AVR used for movie viewing, it is acceptable but only just and you pay a premium for smaller size. 2-channel... nope.

<disclosure: former NR1501 owner>

 

[JSmith]

I don't expect the amplifier to go into any kind of mode to protect itself with just 10 watts of output.

Absolutely not, this is a major fail in itself... I'm surprised at the poor showing here overall.

Great to see the measurements on this though, thanks @amirm.

Some pic's;

JSmith

 

[peng]

Marantz returning to poor form. Looks like the AV70 was an aberration. For an AVR used for movie viewing, it is acceptable but only just and you pay a premium for smaller size. 2-channel... nope.

<disclosure: former NR1501 owner>

Pre out performance is good, but for use as prepro, I wouldn't pay more than $800. Otherwise may as well get a x3800h or RZ50 unless someone needs the slim size.

 

[DonR]

Pre out performance is good, but for use as prepro, I wouldn't pay more than $800. Otherwise may as well get a x3800h or RZ50 unless someone needs the slim size.

Pre-pro kind of negates the small form factor unless you are using active speakers.

 

[Miniyouuuu]

Horrible performance.
I was thinking this unit as a Hdmi Pre amp for my 2.0 amp setup but distorsion and jitter is huge, DAC is ultra low tier. No way!

 

[Rja4000]

Thanks for this review.

Analyzing the spectrum of a 1 kHz tone shows that the ultrasonic energy is indeed the problem:

The graph after this sentence is not the right one.

 

[respice finem]

Considering probably the majority of popular home theater speakers are 4 Ohms, I wouldn't buy it until it's fixed.

 

[ralph]

At least it looks good
And you can find it for well under 1k € in Germany...

 

[poxymoron]

Marantz' new tag line:
"One step forward, one step back".

 

[DSJR]

They get away with this 'cos most of the time there's a picture to distract you and 'sonic performance' becomes a very poor second (how our brains process I gather). Not sure I like the looks either but it's personal taste and getting that thing repaired in several years time?

 

[respice finem]

Marantz' new tag line:
"One step forward, one step back".

Or one step forward, two steps back

(thinking back to my old NR1608, roughly the same functions, for less than half the price).

 

[Haskil]

Thank you Amir...
it is impossible to buy a home cinema amplifier without reading ASR... I am not about to change my Denon 3600...
This Marantz model is Audyssey? Does it allow you to take the DIrac paid option?

 

[respice finem]

Thank you Amir...
it is impossible to buy a home cinema amplifier without reading ASR... I am not about to change my Denon 3600...
This Marantz model is Audyssey? Does it allow you to take the DIrac paid option?

It is possible but leads to regret