Marantz SR-7000 Receiver
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- Type: Receiver
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Entry-level excellence!
Pros
Excellent soundstage. Expansive sound is reminiscent of separate components.
Cons
As of 2005, it is a dated machine with little scalability.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Sound quality comes close to challenging separate componentry without the high price of buying separate componentry.
I have since upgraded/graduated to the next level in the audiophile world and left behind this jewel of an A/V Receiver. In a few words: I regret selling this unit. Not only did I sell it for less than what I had bought it for, the unit that replaced it seems to lack where this Marantz excelled!
Let me give you some history to the original SR7000 purchase. I had a Harman Kardon stereo tuner and decided to jump into the "surround sound" world by purchasing my first surround sound receiver: the Marantz SR7000. After spending long hours reading review after review (professional and actual consumer reviews) I decided that the Marantz SR7000 would fit the bill. The criteria for the purchase: Sub $800 price tag matched with outstanding performance. Everyone wants the most "bang for the buck" and for the $749 price tag I paid in the Year 2000, I felt this was the right choice.
Musical Soundstage:
What you want it gives; deep/wide soundstage. When listening to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an exhibition" I was amazed at how well I could place where each instrument and player were sitting (if I were to keep my eyes closed). Mellow highs and distinctive bass and equally impressive midrange made me smile! As the speakers, receiver and cables were burned in properly, the sound grew warmer with each play.
Surround Sound:
This player picks up and automatically turns on the proper channels per the decoding of the DVD. So, at the time, if a DVD source was player 5.1 surround, ALL 5.1 channels would light up on the very useful graphical user interface. Internally switching on this machine is OUTSTANDING. In fact, the decoding and switching of the internal channels was so lightning quick on this receiver, it puts to shame my Rotel RSX 1055 which takes twice as long to decode and switch the circuit. To give you an idea, if I were to put in a CD and press play, the Marantz would automatically sense 2-channel playback and you would actually "hear" music right from the start. If I were to put in the same CD song and press play, the Rotel takes a while to decode the signal and switch to 2-channel playback to the point where I would miss the first 3 seconds of a song. This should give you an idea of how good the internal circuitry is on the Marantz SR7000.
Aesthetics:
Well, it is just another big black box sitting on A/V rack. It collects dust and you must clean it internally once in a while. The front face is not overly cluttered but it isn't a "pretty" looking unit. My Rotel is beautiful in comparison but both do the trick. The one thing that became annoying was that I could not turn off the Marantz unit interface from the remote while watching a movie thus I would have to get up and hold down a certain button to turn off the interface lighting in order to make the room darker. Some may find this annoying and distracting during movie playback.
Internal components:
HUGE heat sinks and huge power supply make this one heavy machine. And a good rule of thumb is...the heavier the machine, the better. This usually indicates a massive power supply and equally massive heat sinks. What does this all mean? Cleaner power equals cleaner sound. Oh yeah, and NEVER place anything directly on top of a receiver! These babies get hot and need space to breathe.
Unfortunately, this machine is dated (as of 2005). It does not have 7.1 decoding nor does it have a ton of inputs for scalability. However, if you're on a budget with starting your home theater system, you should strongly consider purchasing this unit and building from there.
Let me give you some history to the original SR7000 purchase. I had a Harman Kardon stereo tuner and decided to jump into the "surround sound" world by purchasing my first surround sound receiver: the Marantz SR7000. After spending long hours reading review after review (professional and actual consumer reviews) I decided that the Marantz SR7000 would fit the bill. The criteria for the purchase: Sub $800 price tag matched with outstanding performance. Everyone wants the most "bang for the buck" and for the $749 price tag I paid in the Year 2000, I felt this was the right choice.
Musical Soundstage:
What you want it gives; deep/wide soundstage. When listening to Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an exhibition" I was amazed at how well I could place where each instrument and player were sitting (if I were to keep my eyes closed). Mellow highs and distinctive bass and equally impressive midrange made me smile! As the speakers, receiver and cables were burned in properly, the sound grew warmer with each play.
Surround Sound:
This player picks up and automatically turns on the proper channels per the decoding of the DVD. So, at the time, if a DVD source was player 5.1 surround, ALL 5.1 channels would light up on the very useful graphical user interface. Internally switching on this machine is OUTSTANDING. In fact, the decoding and switching of the internal channels was so lightning quick on this receiver, it puts to shame my Rotel RSX 1055 which takes twice as long to decode and switch the circuit. To give you an idea, if I were to put in a CD and press play, the Marantz would automatically sense 2-channel playback and you would actually "hear" music right from the start. If I were to put in the same CD song and press play, the Rotel takes a while to decode the signal and switch to 2-channel playback to the point where I would miss the first 3 seconds of a song. This should give you an idea of how good the internal circuitry is on the Marantz SR7000.
Aesthetics:
Well, it is just another big black box sitting on A/V rack. It collects dust and you must clean it internally once in a while. The front face is not overly cluttered but it isn't a "pretty" looking unit. My Rotel is beautiful in comparison but both do the trick. The one thing that became annoying was that I could not turn off the Marantz unit interface from the remote while watching a movie thus I would have to get up and hold down a certain button to turn off the interface lighting in order to make the room darker. Some may find this annoying and distracting during movie playback.
Internal components:
HUGE heat sinks and huge power supply make this one heavy machine. And a good rule of thumb is...the heavier the machine, the better. This usually indicates a massive power supply and equally massive heat sinks. What does this all mean? Cleaner power equals cleaner sound. Oh yeah, and NEVER place anything directly on top of a receiver! These babies get hot and need space to breathe.
Unfortunately, this machine is dated (as of 2005). It does not have 7.1 decoding nor does it have a ton of inputs for scalability. However, if you're on a budget with starting your home theater system, you should strongly consider purchasing this unit and building from there.
