Receiver decision

[murphy3414]

Narrowed my search for a new receiver down to 3. HK 630, Marantz 7400, and Onkyo 702. Speakers will be Orb Mod2's. Any opinions or recommendations?

Was decided on HK until I recently read some disturbing comments and reviews regarding intermittent shutdown. Am now leaning toward Marantz. After all it does have the coolest remote.

[bleeding ears]

Hi, I am not familiar with those speakers so I cant say which receiver would suit best, however I too have recently checked out similar brand/price receivers.

I listened closely to a Marantz 7300ose which is very similar to the 7400 .The 7300ose has upgrades for signal purity whereas the 7400 has an extra amp inside for 7.1.

My conclusion was that an older Rotel receiver the 1055 I think (which was also listened to in the same shop) was much better sounding than the Marantz even though the wattage rating was only 75 watts Vs Marantz claimed 110 watts. The Marantz sounded good, very clear and detailed, but not quite as good up loud . Possibly a power issue?

As the Rotel was older it was a great price. The Marantz 7300ose which was a little more recent model was also a great price both around the $1400 Australian dollars, ex demo with full warranty.

I wasn't very impressed with Onkyos power ratings a bit vague and non commital in their claimed output, however I did not listen to a 702 so it could still sound good.

Harman Kardon, well their power/wattage ratings seem pretty honest but did not listen to the model you mentioned.

I would suggest you listen to a Rotel before buying anything. They may be a similar price to the others or maybe a bit more but I found the Rotel gear to sound much better in general.

Make sure you do your homework or else you may regret your decision as I have done in the past.

Good luck

[Aussie Geoff]

Murphy,

I'd also second the Rotel reciever option (RSX-1056 or RSX-1067)...

However if you want to stick to the 3 choices you raise, IMO the Marantz 7400 will give you the best sound (and the latest features in the HT feature war stakes), followed by the HK which has a differenct sound to the Maranz - more "American, Big and Fun" compared to the smoother Marantz sound... Onkyo is to stay away from IMO - hard and metalic / electrnonic osund not musical...

[B]Geoff[/B]

[Shane Martin]

The Marantz is being replaced FYI by the 7500 which is due out very soon or by the end of December. They are adding tons of new features.

Onkyo: Used to be great but QC issues have really hurt them.
H/K: Great sound and power but again QC issues have killed them.

Depending on where you live, Pioneer Elite is a good alternative. Their amps are bulletproof. They've been using their auto calibration for several more years than anyone else so they've perfected it. Marantz is just now using it and they may or may not be perfected yet. The Marantz has more digitals ins though and that is a concern to me. The nearest competitor in the Elite line here is the 56TXI which has I-Link/Firewire as well as everything else under the sun. The amp section is strong. List is $1799 but they are easily had for $1200US. IF you don't want/need the I-Link then the 54 is around $1k US.

Also the HK was replaced by the 635 just this year. They should be out now.

Rotel is good but they don't offer a 7.1 receiver with 7.1 amplifcation for under 1800 US. The 1056 only has 5 channels That is major suck for me. Their amps are good and dacs are good but they don't offer an auto cailbration mode nor do they offer the room eq like the others. This is fairly big feature nowadays. I suspect we'll see them add it soon but who knows. For some this is a deal breaker. I can certainly understand why. I don't consider the room eq to be just another feature.

[bandit788]

Sorry

I am aware this is comparing apples and oranges, but I used a Rotel 1056 as my reference. When compared to this, the Onkyo TX-SR602 sounded like crap, I mean a complete failure. I was not at all impressed with the Onkyo product. Just to make sure I was not just being stupid and thinking it should sound close to the Rotel we hooked up another brand new out of the box receiver, Denon AVR-2105, awesome compared to the Onkyo. The Denon had mids close to the Rotel, and high's not far off. The Denon’s bass was not nearly as controlled as the Rotel but spanked the Onkyo. I had nothing good to say about the Onkyo. Maybe with the extra wattage the 702 claims to have it will be a better product, but I doubt it. I am just not against Onkyo, I really liked the way the Onkyo looked, so much that I purchased it just to listen. But after hearing Hi-Fi (Rotel), and then the Denon for a comparable price to the Onkyo, I could not keep it no matter what. Before going with the Rotel, I was set on the Denon, and then I upped my budget to get what sounded best. All comparisons where performed on and identical speaker setup with an identical clip of audio that I like. Just plugged and unplugged for several hours. Good luck.

Shane

P.S. If you can’t get the Rotel, get the Denon AVR-2105, it really sounded good, may even say close to the Rotel.

[murphy3414]

It seems that Rotel and Denon are popular here. I admit, I have not looked closely at Rotel. I'll take a look.

As regards Denon, my local dealer tells me Denon and Marantz are one and the same. Which is the redheaded step-child I'm not sure. You would expect some parity between them.