You should be happy with the 70 because it measured better than the much moe expensive AV7705, 06 and av8805 and probably the Hegel too. Just don't use the amps if you need more putput than it can offer at low distortions.Can you stop reviewing my gear; first the Hegel H95 and now the Marantz 70sI daren't buy anything else!
In all seriousness, I bought the Cinema 70s to use as a processor/pre-amp only and wasn't expecting cutting edge performance. As I understand it, audio over HDMI is quite noisy generally but Toslink doesn't have the bandwidth for uncompressed multi-channel audio. Is there something else around the same price or less that performs notably better? I looked at the MiniDSP Flex but it doesn't have HDMI (probably due to how it measures).
I've tried the DAC in the Cinema 70s with Tidal Connect and didn't prefer it over the Hegel, but other than that, using the Cinema 70s with Audyssey room correction and bass management has genuinely been fine.
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Marantz Cinema 70s AVR Review
- Thread starter amirm
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I read somewhere that hdmi is an inherently more noisier interface vs toslink. Perhaps because often it is transmitting video data also. But it was a few years ago so perhaps it has been addressed in the newer protocols.
I’ll flip the question. Show me an audio processor that measures better over hdmi than its toslink implementation?
Well the Monolith HTP-1 does better over HDMI than its AES/EBU implementation, using a HP Omen 15 laptop as HDMI source and a YellowTec PUC2 Lite as the AES/EBU source.
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Chances are that at some point in the future, we'll see a movement towards software-based solutions and a reduction on the physical part if only due to manufacturing costs and engineering.And that’s not even touching on the Video processing side of this device. AVR’s have essentially become Audio Video dedicated computers. Then there’s room correction of some type. HDMI performance, Various Streaming Services performance (max throughput). I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to spend a full week testing out every attribute and functionality and still miss something. The ultimate problem with these devices is they try to do so many different things that they forget to do any of them well. I know Amir is happy to see the ass end of this kit being reboxed and shipped out before we all come up with a list of stuff we want him to test.
Well perhaps Monolith spent a large proportion of the $4000 asking price on eeking the most out of hdmi?
Right. Which is how other AV processors will prioritize their budget…
There’s a reason why HDMI can handle 40 Gbps of data while Toslink is capped at 0.125Gbps of bandwidth.
Fair question, but why not look at those measured on ASR yourself, examples: AV10, AV8805, AVM60, AVM70, RMC-1, XMC-1, Monolith HTTP-1, a couple of ARCAMs etc., that's just prepros, you can compared the AVR's too. Then you can tell us if HDMI's have lower SINAD most of the time or not.
Sorry, I’m not understanding the point you’re trying to make.
Why would the ability to handle more data make the hdmi interface less noisy than toslink?
The Toslink limit is more because there is no digital copy protection as HDMI has with HDCP. If you've ever heard of Verizon Fios, then you know fiber optic technology can handle way more data than 0.125 Gbps. As a matter of fact, long run HDMI cables also are typically fiber optic as well!
In other words, the Toslink connection is not "secure" for audio.
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Would a Fosi V3 amp be a good match for powering only fronts on 70s? It's 136USD shipped right now.
If that meets your power requirements then yes it can be a good match. It is going for $89.99 on Amazon, likely cheaper if you buy direct from them in HK.
I was watching "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)" yesterday and the listening part was done on Cinema 70s in a 5.1 setup and it was a totally stunning experience. I couldn't think that this low-height Cinema 70s will be able to drive all the five speakers well enough in a 30m2 living room that is open space with a 15m2 lobby/kitchen and 10m2 lobby/dressing, so a lot of space to be covered by the speakers. Explosions from the WW2 were so realistic and powerful that I thought that my windows got broken, tough I'm aware now that my SVS SB-3000 was 2dB higher than usual, so this might be the case.
Adding LPF to 40 Hz for Center and Surrounds are probably helping a bit in minimising bass THD on those three speakers, given that most of the bass is already coming from the subwoofer and frontal speakers too. I did liked the fact that I was able to manually adjust from settings the energy between 4 kHz and 8 kHz with -2dB to my JBL surround speakers, so their brightness was a bit notched down and their output sound is more neutral now.
I've noticed that it got pretty hot, but with proper ventilation it will run a bit cooler than in my case. Next time I'll drive the front speakers from the Yamaha A-S701, so it will definitely run cooler. However, I don't expect Cinema 70s's output stage to get damaged due to overheating, given it's oversized transistors vs. its output power, so its undersized power supply is somehow "helping" in this regard.
Teardown will arrive soon, hopefully this week, until Christmas.
Adding LPF to 40 Hz for Center and Surrounds are probably helping a bit in minimising bass THD on those three speakers, given that most of the bass is already coming from the subwoofer and frontal speakers too. I did liked the fact that I was able to manually adjust from settings the energy between 4 kHz and 8 kHz with -2dB to my JBL surround speakers, so their brightness was a bit notched down and their output sound is more neutral now.
I've noticed that it got pretty hot, but with proper ventilation it will run a bit cooler than in my case. Next time I'll drive the front speakers from the Yamaha A-S701, so it will definitely run cooler. However, I don't expect Cinema 70s's output stage to get damaged due to overheating, given it's oversized transistors vs. its output power, so its undersized power supply is somehow "helping" in this regard.
Teardown will arrive soon, hopefully this week, until Christmas.
I have this 70s for 5 months using it as pre-pro with rotel power amp and Eversolo Dmp A6 ! I had alot of avr's in the past from denon, nad and arcam but this little 70s was quite a surprise in 2ch and simple 5.0 set-up! It's even better in pre pro mode ! I got it cheap 650€ , and is here to stay and improve surround experience! Even on its own power is better in stereo sound than denon ! The process is complete with the addition of evesolo dmp-a6 using analog out to Marantz pre-out to Rotel power amp for proper stereo "nirvana" . The test it's not in it's 70s favor as I see but for someone who watch movies from time to time you can't go rong ! Give it a chance if you are interested . T here is a surprise for you
Which Rotel power amp model, please ?!?
Which Rotel power amp model, please ?!?
$711 USD is much easier to stomach vs the $1200 retail price!
Rotel rb-1552Which Rotel power amp model, please ?!?
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