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Marantz SR8015 Review (Home Theater AVR)

Whoareyou

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Have you tried the MultEQ app with your Marantz?
Not possible. The 7010 is a 2015? model and the Audyssey app is not supported for that year's models.
Lack of support for the Audyssey app is one reason I am interested in the 8015, and asking question about it.
 

new24k

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What was D&M's promise on 5 channel performance? 70%? If so, we are missing that at 61%. Maybe they measure it differently.

/

It's a guaranteed 70% of the listed 2-channel power performance.

In the case of the 8015 - it is rated at 140 watts - so your finding of 119 watts with 5 channels driven is well within that.

119 watts is actually 85% of its stated 140 watts.

As a matter of fact, Audioholics review found that the 8015 did 70% with 7 channels driven.
 

Todd74

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Honest question that’s been driving me nuts— if we’re using an external amp, would we truly be able to discern much difference between the 8015 and the 6014 in a small HT, not placebo or theoretical stuff but real difference?
…. And follow up question- is the jump from 4 ceiling channels to 6 worth the additional cost?
 

Matthew J Poes

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Honest question that’s been driving me nuts— if we’re using an external amp, would we truly be able to discern much difference between the 8015 and the 6014 in a small HT, not placebo or theoretical stuff but real difference?
…. And follow up question- is the jump from 4 ceiling channels to 6 worth the additional cost?
I see no real value in 6 vs 4 atmos speakers. I know some think it makes a big difference, that isn't my own personal experience. It makes the most sense in larger theaters with many rows of seats, but in a small 1-2 row theater, I see no big benefit. I have set up some demo systems with 6 speakers and shut down pairs and didn't notice any difference at all.

As for the sound quality difference, look, Amir makes a point of the technical deficiencies and differences, but at the end of the day, most of them are good enough that in 99% of systems, you couldn't hear a difference. If anything, the external amplifier, if it had more power by a substantial amount, might make an audible improvement by reducing the chance of hearing any clipping. Even that isn't a guarantee. I constantly advocate for big external amps and have folks on forums tell me they never hear a difference. Gene and I clip amps all the time, so I don't know how you all listen to movies.
 

bo_knows

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I see no real value in 6 vs 4 atmos speakers. I know some think it makes a big difference, that isn't my own personal experience. It makes the most sense in larger theaters with many rows of seats, but in a small 1-2 row theater, I see no big benefit. I have set up some demo systems with 6 speakers and shut down pairs and didn't notice any difference at all.

As for the sound quality difference, look, Amir makes a point of the technical deficiencies and differences, but at the end of the day, most of them are good enough that in 99% of systems, you couldn't hear a difference. If anything, the external amplifier, if it had more power by a substantial amount, might make an audible improvement by reducing the chance of hearing any clipping. Even that isn't a guarantee. I constantly advocate for big external amps and have folks on forums tell me they never hear a difference. Gene and I clip amps all the time, so I don't know how you all listen to movies.
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for your insight on the atmos setup.
Gene is constantly mentioning the use of multiple subs in the home theater and I understand why.
That being said, which speakers/channels in home theater are you clipping? Front? Center?
What is your cross-over frequency to sub(s)? 80Hz? 100? How do you know you are clipping the amps?
Is there an indicator led on the amp or do you just hear it? Just wondering...Thanks

P.S. How am I listening to the moves? Very very quietly so my wife and 11 months old daughter don't freak out on me. :)
 
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H-713

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Most of the deficiencies highlighted by Amir's tests, at least when it comes to DACs, headphone amps and power amplifiers, are not really a huge problem in practice. Even if an amplifier has 0.1% THD (which is horrible), the effect will be subtle.

The three things that are noticeable are frequency response issues (almost never a thing for these devices), a high noise floor (again, rarely bad enough to cause a huge issue) and low output power. The last one is where the big differences can show up, because clipping tends to be quite noticeable.

Oh, and of course stability. Amplifiers don't sound as good when they blow up.
 

oupee

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Honest question that’s been driving me nuts— if we’re using an external amp, would we truly be able to discern much difference between the 8015 and the 6014 in a small HT, not placebo or theoretical stuff but real difference?
…. And follow up question- is the jump from 4 ceiling channels to 6 worth the additional cost?
I had SR6013 and for a while Denon 4700. SR8015 sounds significantly better in stereo than SR6013 and much much better than 4700. In HT this difference will probably be erased. HT is just a terrible riot, although with the SR8015 the rear speakers sound better in some (non-action) movies. I use external amplifiers at the front and center. At the fronts because I have a special set of stereo that sounds better to me and I don't want to use such a complex machine SR8015 only for stereo. I have a Hypex NC250 at the center because I bought it for a test (two) and the impedance at the big center speaker drops to 2.5 ohms and I don't want to load the SR8015. I can't judge if the sound is better with HT with external amplifiers because switching would take forever. The advantages are that I do not burden the SR8015 so much, I also use a lower volume of the SR8015, which is logical when not using the three most used internal amplifiers. I don't know how the difference between four or six ceiling speakers is written here, but if I had a suitable room, I would make the SR8015 9.2.4 and not 7.2.6.
 

peng

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It's a guaranteed 70% of the listed 2-channel power performance.

In the case of the 8015 - it is rated at 140 watts - so your finding of 119 watts with 5 channels driven is well within that.

119 watts is actually 85% of its stated 140 watts.

As a matter of fact, Audioholics review found that the 8015 did 70% with 7 channels driven.

Right, also Amir's 70% vs 61% is moot, without referencing the THD+N level.
 

peng

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I had SR6013 and for a while Denon 4700. SR8015 sounds significantly better in stereo than SR6013 and much much better than 4700. In HT this difference will probably be erased. HT is just a terrible riot, although with the SR8015 the rear speakers sound better in some (non-action) movies. I use external amplifiers at the front and center. At the fronts because I have a special set of stereo that sounds better to me and I don't want to use such a complex machine SR8015 only for stereo. I have a Hypex NC250 at the center because I bought it for a test (two) and the impedance at the big center speaker drops to 2.5 ohms and I don't want to load the SR8015. I can't judge if the sound is better with HT with external amplifiers because switching would take forever. The advantages are that I do not burden the SR8015 so much, I also use a lower volume of the SR8015, which is logical when not using the three most used internal amplifiers. I don't know how the difference between four or six ceiling speakers is written here, but if I had a suitable room, I would make the SR8015 9.2.4 and not 7.2.6.

Again, that's your opinion..:), others may differ..
 

oupee

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Again, that's your opinion..:), others may differ..
This is not my opinion, it is my personal experience. Write your personal experience on these AVRs. But if you have an unstoppable urge to write something theoretical, please don't? I won't even read it.
 

peng

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This is not my opinion, it is my personal experience. Write your personal experience on these AVRs. But if you have an unstoppable urge to write something theoretical, please don't? I won't even read it.

Someone's dream is also someone's experience, so sure, I have to agree with you on this.:D
 

JonfromCB

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This is not my opinion, it is my personal experience. Write your personal experience on these AVRs. But if you have an unstoppable urge to write something theoretical, please don't? I won't even read it.
lol, our opinions are based on our personal experiences. But I get what you are saying.
 

Sal1950

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I had SR6013 and for a while Denon 4700. SR8015 sounds significantly better in stereo than SR6013 and much much better than 4700. In HT this difference will probably be erased. HT is just a terrible riot, although with the SR8015 the rear speakers sound better in some (non-action) movies.
Can't you provide any verifiable evidence to support your claims?
 

Sal1950

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Buy (according to the local SINAD) and sell at a loss and make your personal experience. Nothing beats it.
WHAT ?
 

mustafametal

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Hello,

Thank you for the thorough discussion
I am not very knowledgeable with AVRs/Amplifiers
I have a high need Turntable, EAT Sharp
A pair of Klipsch reference r600 speakers
I would like to buy an AVR, that would work for home cinema and music, with emphasis on music!
I listen to Metal/Rock
Now I narrowed my choices to:
Denon 6700
Denon 4700
Marantz SR8015
NAD 778 v3

So in short, I would like an advise from you please, before I jump in and spend a large amount of money, for me anyhow, on something I have little knowledge of
I am looking for something that would offer an excellent listening experience in Metal, with full dynamics, and that would be nice in movies (not a priority)

Thank you
 

DubbyMcDubs

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As an owner of an SR8012, go with the Denon.
 

bigguyca

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It's a guaranteed 70% of the listed 2-channel power performance.

In the case of the 8015 - it is rated at 140 watts - so your finding of 119 watts with 5 channels driven is well within that.

119 watts is actually 85% of its stated 140 watts.

As a matter of fact, Audioholics review found that the 8015 did 70% with 7 channels driven.

Marantz's specifications for two channel performance from the SR8015 webpage is:

"Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, .05% 2ch Drive) 140 W"

Where are you finding measurements that the SR8015 fulfills the 70% Guarantee under these measurement conditions?

Did you notice that Audioholics was measuring at only 1kHz for 7 channels, and the distortion limits were 1% and .1%? The measurement conditions for 5 channels were the same. Do you understand that these test conditions are very different from those listed by Marantz?
 

Anterantz

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Marantz SR8015 11.2 channel 8K AV Receiver (AVR). It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $3,299 and is the flagship unit from Marantz.

All Marantz AVRs look the same and the 8015 is no exception:
View attachment 134218

I am not a fan of the port hole display from looks or functionality. It does less and looks worse in my opinion than a wide rectangular display on its sister Denon products. Typical of these products, despite the high cost, the volume control is stiff and has horrible feel. Fortunately you will be using the remote in this application but still, can't this be made a bit better feeling? Surely in a showroom people play with this control.

As is common with Denon and Marantz products, the SR8015 runs hot, really hot. The left row of amps really cooks with the case almost too hot to touch. There are two fans on each side under the row of heatsinks which is nice but they don't come on to keep the unit more comfortable in typical use.

The back panel tries to give the look of high-fidelity with gold color:

View attachment 134220

Can't believe in this day and age they still insist on including component and composite video inputs. I know in retail more connectors seems to be associated with higher value but really, let's leave them behind and make it easier to find what is what in the back.

I have a recent policy of running my measurements by D&M for review but this unit has been tested by Audioholics and since my results are inline with that (but with very different conclusion), I did not do so.

Marantz SR8015 DAC Measurements
As usual we start our AVR testing by creating as straight of a pass through we can from digital input to analog output. Let's start with HDMI and pre-out then:

View attachment 134221

Ah, it is a relief to test the first Marantz AVR that doesn't destroy performance in the name of subjective listening tests they perform. While SINAD could be better still, it is by far the best I have measured in any Marantz AVR/processor:

View attachment 134222

While I tested the unit in pre-amp and pure mode, neither was necessary. It seems that Marantz has solved the problem of amplifier clipping and dragging the DAC performance down at the source (likely an independent power supply). My interface to HDMI in my analyzer software can cause problems of its own so I like to switch to using another digital input that doesn't have this problem, namely, Coax. So let's measure that:

View attachment 134223

Strange to lose 3 dB performance here but since most people use HDMI anyway, I guess this is OK.

Edit: forgot to post the distortion+noise versus output level:

View attachment 134283

Dynamic range is in line with what we measure in AV products:

View attachment 134225

Spectrum in our jitter test is not clean but fortunately it is not an audible problem:

View attachment 134299
IMD distortion test is good, again for an AV product:

View attachment 134227

Linearity test shows lack of accuracy starting at 19 bits which is below what I like to see but is in keeping with the rest of the measurements:

View attachment 134228

Multitone test shows what we have seen with the rest of our tests except rising noise floor in lower frequencies:
View attachment 134229

Sadly now we get to a poor decision on Marantz's part yet again with a super slow DAC reconstruction filter:

View attachment 134230

This will generate ultrasonic noise (mirror image of your music) which we can see impacting the THD+N versus frequency which has high bandwidth to include them:

View attachment 134232

This is due to mistaken belief that time domain ringing at higher frequencies matter but there is no listening tests to prove such. Even if Marantz believes in this approach, they should provide a menu option to select one of the standard DAC filters for those of us who like to have the correct approach here.

Marantz SR8015 Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with testing the amplifier using analog input (pure mode) and testing the Front Left and Right channels:
View attachment 134233

We see the result of the competent amplifier design from D&M with above average performance:

View attachment 134234

Sadly when I switched to Coax input performance dropped a few notches:

View attachment 134235

I can't explain this as with SINAD of 98, this conversion should have been transparent. The problem seems to be in more power supply noise appearing with digital input. Anyway, for proper comparison to stand-alone amplifiers, I will continue my testing with analog input.

Dynamic range is good for an AV product:
View attachment 134236

Frequency response is flat in audible band and quite extended:

View attachment 134238

Crosstalk is decent:
View attachment 134239

There is plenty of power to be had in 2-channel mode:

View attachment 134241

View attachment 134242


View attachment 134243

Sweeping at different frequencies shows the predictable performance we expect from class AB amplifiers:

View attachment 134244

I wrote on the slide that distortion dominated but thinking now, this may be power supply ripple which rises with power causing the lines to be horizontal rather than dropping down (which they would if the noise was residual).

All the tests so far have been in 2-channel mode. Let's now measure power from 1 to 5 channels to see how it scales:

View attachment 134245

What was D&M's promise on 5 channel performance? 70%? If so, we are missing that at 61%. Maybe they measure it differently.

EDIT: the comparison is against 2 channel mode which it achieves.

Conclusions
Me complació ver que Marantz eliminó muchos de los compromisos que habían incluido en sus productos en el pasado en nombre de un "mejor sonido". El único que queda parece ser el filtro lento, que es el más fácil de arreglar: danos un filtro DAC seleccionable como lo hacen muchos DAC económicos. De lo contrario, este AVR de Marantz funciona de manera similar a sus homólogos de Denon desde el punto de vista del rendimiento de audio, lo que supone un gran paso adelante.

Puedo recomendar el Marantz SR8015 AVR.

------------
Como siempre, las preguntas, comentarios, recomendaciones, etc. son bienvenidos.

Aprecie cualquier donación utilizando: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
¡Hola, cuando las medidas se dan al 1%, esto significa que el valor de 0.1% de thd o es más!
 
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