Marantz SR-9300 6.1 Channels Receiver

To upgrade or not to upgrade? That question is actually a little too broad. Are we talking about 'upgrading' to a receiver of equal or lesser quality to get the latest features, or going for a higher-quality piece that may not have the latest surround modes but sound wise can blow almost everything else out of the water?

This was the quandary facing me when I was presented with the opportunity of buying the SR9300, a 2003 model that by one perspective is completely obsolete, but by another is a gem of a receiver that will make you rediscover your movie and CD collection.

I had previously owned a Marantz SR7300 OSE, itself a fine piece of gear, and was quite happy to wait a few more years until HDMI and the HD surround modes were on every receiver (not just the upper-level ones) before upgrading. But when I saw a 9300 for well under $1000 ($3200 US retail in 2003) I had to jump on it.

I write this review with people like myself in mind – those that are willing to sacrifice cutting-edge features in order to purchase used gear that might be out of our price bracket when new. I'll also make a case that many older receivers can, with workarounds, function in an HD world.

If you are the type of person that loves music but believes all amplifiers sound the same (be they $200 or $2000), I'd urge you to give mid or high-end gear a listen. Good amplifiers such as this have a lot of reserve power, and let you listen for long periods without fatigue (unlike that old boom-box you loved so much in university and decided to keep using well after graduation).

Of course, you need decent speakers to realize the gains a good amplifier provides. If you have cube speakers plus a passive subwoofer setup you might as well buy that $200 piece from Sears. If you have even moderately priced speakers from a reputable manufacturer though, you will appreciate what the SR9300 can do.

The SR9300 was Marantz's top-of-the-line model in 2003, and is very well built, with gold-plated connectors and a copper chassis. It's THX Ultra2 certified, and as such is a 7-channel design, with 140Wpc. It's a little tall and long, so it might not fit in a cramped AV cabinet. Heat is not a problem, as it runs cool even when driven hard.

Sound is smooth and accurate, with terrific bottom end and crisp highs without sounding harsh. One feature the 9300 (and upgraded SR9200) had over the earlier SR9200 is 'precision decoding,' which runs the Dolby Digital or dts signal through the dual 24-bit processors twice, to give the equivalent of 32-bit decoding.

The digital to analogue converters (DACs) are very good; when running my satellite TV via the optical connection the sound quality improves noticeably compared to the analogue feed (which lets the satellite tuner do the conversion with its inferior DACs).

The SR9300 decodes almost every pre-HD surround format: Dolby Digital EX, dts-es, Dolby Pro-Logic 2 (Movie & Music), Circle Surround 2, and THX Cinema and Music. What it doesn't have is DPL2x, a desirable enhancement to DPL2 that lets you more readily utilize the back surround speakers in a 7.1 speaker configuration. The THX Ultra2 modes give you a similar result, but it would have been nice to have the Dolby version as well.

It also has wide-bandwidth component video switching (four inputs, one output), but does not up-convert composite or s-video to component, which means you will have to use all one video connector type or use more than one Monitor Out to your TV.

Setup is very straightforward via the on-screen menu. There are some nice features such as auto input detection (if you have a source that is connected using the analogue and digital inputs, the 9300 can detect this, giving preference to digital), and the 7.1 analogue input channels can be individually adjusted (set it and forget it).

The RC3200 remote is powerful and impressive, but being an LCD touch screen (with a few hard buttons for volume and channel up/down, and cursor navigation) you generally can't use it by feel for many commands. I use my trusty RC1200 remote instead, keeping the RC3200 as a backup.

Now, on to the sacrifice I mentioned earlier. The SR9300 is obviously lacking some features found in the latest models, including:
- video upconversion
- HDMI switching
- automatic channel level calibration (you need to do this yourself, either by ear or using a sound pressure meter)
- latest surround modes found on Blu-Ray (DD Plus, dts Master Audio)
- and a few other niche features like XM or HD radio, Ethernet connections, etc.

As I said earlier, there are workarounds to some of these, such as connecting your HDMI component directly to your TV, and using the 7.1 analogue inputs on the 9300 for the new high-resolution audio formats (provided your Blu-Ray player decodes them internally and has analogue outputs).

Even without using the analogue inputs, any dts-equipped Blu-Ray disc will send full-bitrate dts (instead of half bitrate on most conventional DVDs, limited for space reasons), giving us better sound from Blu-Ray than we usually get from DVD. In this scenario you might not even need to worry about the 'HD' audio formats and just keep using the conventional digital connections for convenience.

My experience with the SR9300 (and 7300 OSE before it) has convinced me that used receivers deserve consideration. Unless you absolutely must have the latest features, I'd recommend giving the older flagship receivers a try. You don't always give up much in features, and you gain a lot in sound quality over the entry-level stuff.