Marantz NR1510 AVR Review

[Descartes]

Sad that companies are releasing such crappy products, they have plenty of features with really bad performance!
I guess features sell, to the majority of the population. It seems many people could give a damn for quality!

 

[01svtL]

If you don't need the wifi card, couldn't you just remove it? Or is it difficult to do?

 

[01svtL]

I picked up a NR1711 today just to see if having the two sub outputs would make any difference with the room correction for me. I ran through the setup, but no matter what source I play, it wants to play the audio through the TV speakers. This has never happened with any receiver before. If I turn everything off, and then just turn on the receiver and play via analog with my iphone, it'll play through the speakers, but if I turn the TV on at that point, it plays audio through the tv. If I turn the TV back off, no sound. I have to turn the receiver back off and back on again, leaving TV off, to get the sound through the speakers again. I can't get it to send audio to the speakers no matter what when playing the Firestick. It's all through the TV.

 

[TheBatsEar]

I ran through the setup, but no matter what source I play, it wants to play the audio through the TV speakers. This has never happened with any receiver before.

I think this might have something to do with eARC and/or CEC:

HDMI ARC and CEC not working? Try these fixes

If you have a problem with HDMI ARC and CEC not working, you've come to the right place, as we show you how to fix this troublesome tech.

www.trustedreviews.com

The challenge is not in fixing the settings, the challenge is to find them in your TV ;-)

 

[radix]

I picked up a NR1711 today just to see if having the two sub outputs would make any difference with the room correction for me. I ran through the setup, but no matter what source I play, it wants to play the audio through the TV speakers. This has never happened with any receiver before. If I turn everything off, and then just turn on the receiver and play via analog with my iphone, it'll play through the speakers, but if I turn the TV on at that point, it plays audio through the tv. If I turn the TV back off, no sound. I have to turn the receiver back off and back on again, leaving TV off, to get the sound through the speakers again. I can't get it to send audio to the speakers no matter what when playing the Firestick. It's all through the TV.

As @TheBatsEar said, you often need to make a setting in your TV to tell it to use eARC.

I have found with the 1510 that if I play Airplay to it, it does not switch back to TV Audio by itself and I have to select that source on the remote.

 

[01svtL]

As @TheBatsEar said, you often need to make a setting in your TV to tell it to use eARC.

I have found with the 1510 that if I play Airplay to it, it does not switch back to TV Audio by itself and I have to select that source on the remote.

It was in the AVR settings. I forgot now which it was, as I’m no longer at home, but I switched ARC (I think) to off and it worked fine. My tv does have ARC though, so I’m not sure why that mattered. Anyway, I don’t need it.

 

[Ajduncan7]

Hello, I am new to the forums. I really appreciate the wealth of data here and especially this review provided by amirm.

I got this avr because it seemed a good priced option that had a lot of features, streaming, phono, preouts, subout etc.

I never have used its amp, as I use the preouts into a good condition yamaha m80 amp.

The dac has never sounded great to me, analog inputs work better (Apple/Amazon music via heos or optical < iphone dongle to analog).

Would I get improvement if I bought a good external dac and ran it into the analog inputs on the nr1510? Or would it be a waste of money, and a better off to get a separate preamp? I was hoping since the comment was made

“I was surprised to see that even with normal processing mode, nothing was digitized”

I could just use this as my preamp since I already have it, also I do like the phono stage of the nr1510, its better than a lot I have heard to be intergrated into an avr.

Any input appreciated!

 

[TonyJZX]

first of all, make sure the NR1510 doesnt digitise everything

BUT even if it has analog pass thru its like passing clean drinking water thru dirty pipes

there's no way i would think passing analog thru whatever mess is inside the Marantz will be better than bypassing this thing altogether

however your mileage may vary... like it makes sense to just try it out

pass an analog signal thru the marantz to your power amp and then move the marantz out of the way... ie. use an analog preamp etc. instead and see how it goes

your room situation may not mind the marantz

 

[raindance]

first of all, make sure the NR1510 doesnt digitise everything

BUT even if it has analog pass thru its like passing clean drinking water thru dirty pipes

there's no way i would think passing analog thru whatever mess is inside the Marantz will be better than bypassing this thing altogether

however your mileage may vary... like it makes sense to just try it out

pass an analog signal thru the marantz to your power amp and then move the marantz out of the way... ie. use an analog preamp etc. instead and see how it goes

your room situation may not mind the marantz

Using Audyssey on this unit completely swamps any DAC differences you might think you hear. I ran mine into a Parasound HCA1500A amp for a while and in Direct mode there was a discernable difference between analog input and digital input. However, with Audyssey in use, there was less difference. Bypassing the Marantz using a Schiit Sys gave a clear improvement.

I still have the unit and still use it in my living room (for 95% streaming TV viewing purposes). It is absolutely fine for this purpose as-is. I did try it in my office for 2-channel music listening and it did not last long for that purpose

 

[Ajduncan7]

Using Audyssey on this unit completely swamps any DAC differences you might think you hear. I ran mine into a Parasound HCA1500A amp for a while and in Direct mode there was a discernable difference between analog input and digital input. However, with Audyssey in use, there was less difference. Bypassing the Marantz using a Schiit Sys gave a clear improvement.

I still have the unit and still use it in my living room (for 95% streaming TV viewing purposes). It is absolutely fine for this purpose as-is. I did try it in my office for 2-channel music listening and it did not last long for that purpose

Thank you Tony and Raiandance!

This was a mixed system but now its a 2ch only.

I agree that audyssey makes a difference. I have tried many times to get it perfect and even at best the high end detail was too crunchy, bright or idk how to describe it but not smooth and not pleasant.
I did a curve copy and then toned the highs down in the eq (by ear) and that helped a lot. With audyssey I feel the sound stage is much improved and possibly more detail, but the detail isn’t as pleasant. Its hard to describe, but I feel I have to pick one or the other with this unit. Anyways seems like I need to get a decent dac and preamp( I like the idea of a sys) and plug it into my amp and see for myself. I just now thought but I have already kind of done this already using my iphone with dongle to rca into my amp, and even using the iphones digital volume control, the sound is improved over the 1510.

Thanks again.

 

[raindance]

The default Audyssey curve is not crunchy or bright unless you select flat. You didn't say if you are using dynamic EQ.

 

[raindance]

The default Audyssey curve is not crunchy or bright unless you select flat. You didn't say if you are using dynamic EQ.

Also curve copy isn't a good way to do anything because it can't copy the entire curve, the resolution is much reduced using this feature.

 

[respice finem]

A catch when comparing Audyssey output vs. without is, the Audyssey output is not as loud as without. You can see it in the summary. Even if it's not by much, the quieter output usually will sound less "lively".

 

[Ajduncan7]

The default Audyssey curve is not crunchy or bright unless you select flat. You didn't say if you are using dynamic EQ.

Also curve copy isn't a good way to do anything because it can't copy the entire curve, the resolution is much reduced using this feature.

I understand the curve might not be, but thats the outcome I get in my room. This is Reference, dynamic eq off. It does a great job on the low end, blends sub well etc just don’t like the highs. Thanks for the info on curve copy/manual eq its just the only way to get the highs tamed as I cant use the audyssey app since the 1510 isn’t supported.

 

[raindance]

Try calibrating with the mic only in the main listening position. Don't move it around. See what happens.

 

[Ajduncan7]

Try calibrating with the mic only in the main listening position. Don't move it around. See what happens.

Not tried that, will do.

 

[raindance]

Also make sure that MDAX is off.

 

[Ajduncan7]

Also make sure that MDAX is off.

I did what you suggested and this is the best results I have gotten with audyssey, so thank you!

 

[CapMan]

Just reading this thread from last year as an owner of the Marantz Slimline AVR range. Disappointed to see the measurements, but as others have said I bought it for very specific reasons .

1. It’s small!
2. It has front LR pre-outs
3. It has a trigger out
4. CEC works very reliably with my Panasonic TV.


This means I can easily integrate it with my stereo set up including turning on the stereo amps when I turn on the TV.

You have to go quite high up the Denon range to get similar features (the 3800 I think, which is much more expensive and has 11 channels - when I only need 5).

No excuse for poor design from Marantz, but in a small room with a 5.1 setup and simple integration with a main stereo system it’s the only AVR at this price .

 

[Thomas_A]

Just reading this thread from last year as an owner of the Marantz Slimline AVR range. Disappointed to see the measurements, but as others have said I bought it for very specific reasons .

1. It’s small!
2. It has front LR pre-outs
3. It has a trigger out
4. CEC works very reliably with my Panasonic TV.


This means I can easily integrate it with my stereo set up including turning on the stereo amps when I turn on the TV.

You have to go quite high up the Denon range to get similar features (the 3800 I think, which is much more expensive and has 11 channels - when I only need 5).

No excuse for poor design from Marantz, but in a small room with a 5.1 setup and simple integration with a main stereo system it’s the only AVR at this price .

The various models seem to give quite varied measurement results. While the 1710/1510 models sadly have jitter issues, it seems that THD is different between them. I can’t replicate the pre out THD of the 1710 model that Amir measured in the 1510 model. This is odd given their resemblance. Also, earlier NR models did not have the jitter problem. Marantz is sadly alone with these slim line models having all these features. Denon should have one.