Marantz SR7015 8K AVR Review

[Dj7675]

Love Italian home cooking, the best.
I am looking to pull the trigger and buy a receiver, I have almost decided to get the Yamaha Aventage RX-3080 just on their reputation, other reviews and builld quality it weighs 10-15 pounds more than most in it's price range . When I was 16 in 1981 my first amp was a used Yamaha CA 2010. anyway any opinion (s) on the RX-3080 ????

My opinion is you should get it and have drop shipped to Amir to measure it

 

[Roland]

Love Italian home cooking, the best.
I am looking to pull the trigger and buy a receiver, I have almost decided to get the Yamaha Aventage RX-3080 just on their reputation, other reviews and builld quality it weighs 10-15 pounds more than most in it's price range . When I was 16 in 1981 my first amp was a used Yamaha CA 2010. anyway any opinion (s) on the RX-3080 ????

I have just bought an RX-A3080. I'm impressed with the sound - it sounds marginally weightier and smoother than my Denon AVR-X7200 (with the same speakers in pure direct). The sheer weight of the A3080 was a consideration for me too - it's got a dirty great power transformer!

 

[Dj7675]

I have just bought an RX-A3080. I'm impressed with the sound - it sounds marginally weightier and smoother than my Denon AVR-X7200 (with the same speakers in pure direct). The sheer weight of the A3080 was a consideration for me too - it's got a dirty great power transformer!

Congratulations on your new unit. We need someone to send in one to be measured

 

[Roland]

Unfortunately it would cost rather a lot to ship it from the UK!

 

[kenshinesca]

So if I got this receiver and hooked up an amplifier with 1 volt sensitivity what would happen if I raised this over volume of 73. Sorry if this is a dumb question. I was under the impression that it would suffer audiowise. Would the difference even be audible

 

[peng]

So if I got this receiver and hooked up an amplifier with 1 volt sensitivity what would happen. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

It would work very well, assuming the amplifier also gave comparable specs and measured very well.

 

[kenshinesca]

I would work very well, assuming the amplifier also gave comparable specs and measured very well.

I was under the impression that it would suffer audiowise according to the Sinad vs measured level test.

 

[peng]

I was under the impression that it would suffer audiowise according to the Sinad vs measured level test.

Oh sorry I missed the part about "..........if I raised this over volume of 73". In that case, "audio wise", yes you may get audible distortions but it really would depend on your speaker and amp specs. For example, if the amp is rated 100 W, volume 73 may be high enough to drive it pass its clipping point during peaks in the contents (music/movies). Not really the preamp's fault in any case.

 

[kenshinesca]

Kinda wondering if I should just return this receiver. Might get something different where I won't have to worry about this kind of thing. Thinking about getting the Denon 3600H it basically does everything better minus 8k/4k120. Seen the Marantz sr7015 for 1700 and impulse bought it.

 

[peng]

Kinda wondering if I should just return this receiver. Might get something different where I won't have to worry about this kind of thing. Thinking about getting the Denon 3600H it basically does everything better minus 8k/4k120. Seen the Marantz sr7015 for 1700 and impulse bought it.

Just to be clear, is yours the SR7015?
If it is, keep in mind:
a) SINAD is not bad until pre out voltage is higher than about 1.5 V
b) The X3600H does not have preamp mode, so you can only get the >96 dB SINAD for the FL/FR channels by disconnecting the internal power amps.
c) Do you believe you can hear the difference between SINAD 96-100 dB and 75 dB? I don't think I can...

The SINAD of the other channels would not be better than the Marantz at pre out >1.5 V, but yes you will save a few hundred $, if you can find one.

The graphs below should allow you to compare the two, just note that the second graph is for the X3700H, for the X3600H, there is no preamp mode so you should use the use the green trace for the channels not disconnected to the internal amps, and the blue/red traces would be for the FL/FR channels for the X3600H, except also note that the X3600H for some reason, did measured a touch better than the X3700H, under the FL/FR, amps disconnected condition.

 

[kenshinesca]

Just to be clear, is yours the SR7015?
If it is, keep in mind:
a) SINAD is not bad until pre out voltage is higher than about 1.5 V
b) The X3600H does not have preamp mode, so you can only get the >96 dB SINAD for the FL/FR channels by disconnecting the internal power amps.
c) Do you believe you can hear the difference between SINAD 96-100 dB and 75 dB? I don't think I can...

The SINAD of the other channels would not be better than the Marantz at pre out >1.5 V, but yes you will save a few hundred $, if you can find one.

The graphs below should allow you to compare the two, just note that the second graph is for the X3700H, for the X3600H, there is no preamp mode so you should use the use the green trace for the channels not disconnected to the internal amps, and the blue/red traces would be for the FL/FR channels for the X3600H, except also note that the X3600H for some reason, did measured a touch better than the X3700H, under the FL/FR, amps disconnected condition.

View attachment 114837

View attachment 114838

My plan was to run the marantz sr7015 and have it power my height channels and have the osd nero xa5180 5 channel amp power my fronts and rear channels.

 

[AudioLover73]

Actually, this is why people prefer one brand of camera over another. If you look at the different brands like Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Sony, etc. you will notice that they have very different ideas of what colors should look like and how much contrast and sharpening should be added. For example, I love the skin tones from Fuji and Nikon.

It's kind of weird how we think of audio and video differently. Almost no one would ever say something like, "I don't like weakly saturated reds and blues, which is why I bought this...

 

[larry.s]

Amir, unfortunately I bought one of these before I saw your review. I am en engineer and also an electronics tecnician. Is there anything I can doto make this beast more like the Denon? Swap out the filters or tack on some caps?

 

[AudioLover73]

What in his review do you see as a potential concern?

Amir, unfortunately I bought one of these before I saw your review. I am en engineer and also an electronics tecnician. Is there anything I can doto make this beast more like the Denon? Swap out the filters or tack on some caps?

 

[gaussianmist]

New member here.

After reading this incredibly thorough review, I'm wondering if we're not getting a bit too overwrought over the results. For example, the noise floor in my listening room is about 50dBC and I understand that the average noise floor is somewhere in the mid 40s. In evaluating the Marantz's DAC it was observed that the Marantz's poorest result for 2 volts in the measured range was about 75dB. Now in my room the Marantz's noise and THD would be swamped by my noise floor; my noise floor would mask the 75dB SINAD. So are we making too much of this?

Great to be on board.

 

[MalinYamato]

OMG, I am a Denon fan and have an old Denon flagship receiver in Tokyo. In Sweden, I bought a Maranz 7011 believing in the talk that Marantz is better with music while Denon performs better with movies, and since I prioritize music I got Marantz. Well, these measures show that I was wrong, very wrong indeed and that I should return to my world of Denon. For two-channel music I use SMSL M500 DAC that feeds into the Maranz and for the main channels, left, right, center I use my own built class D Amp from Class D Audio. To feed the rest, 9 speakers, I engage the amps and DACS from Maranz.

Should I replace my Marantz with a Denon?

 

[AudioLover73]

People are getting bent out of shape over differences they cannot perceive. These measured variances are imperceptible.

...I'm wondering if we're not getting a bit too overwrought over the results...

 

[peng]

OMG, I am a Denon fan and have an old Denon flagship receiver in Tokyo. In Sweden, I bought a Maranz 7011 believing in the talk that Marantz is better with music while Denon performs better with movies, and since I prioritize music I got Marantz. Well, these measures show that I was wrong, very wrong indeed and that I should return to my world of Denon. For two-channel music I use SMSL M500 DAC that feeds into the Maranz and for the main channels, left, right, center I use my own built class D Amp from Class D Audio. To feed the rest, 9 speakers, I engage the amps and DACS from Maranz.

Should I replace my Marantz with a Denon?

If you want to save some money, yes, but if you prefer the Marantz look and the legacy 7.1 analog inputs then it is up to you to determine if the extra money is worth it or not.

Yes the Denon's measured better but it is highly likely you cannot hear the difference. You may, under one condition, that is using digital inputs and 44.1, 48 kHz sampling frequency contents because of the slight roll off starting above 10 KHz but you would have to have excellent hearing to notice the difference, all in theory of course.

 

[gaussianmist]

@amirm You wondered in your review of the Marantz av8805 whether a firmware fix might clean up the DACs' issues. If so wouldn't that be applicable to the 7015?

 

[amirm]

Some things like the DAC filter, yes.