should i go from rotel to marantz?

[rick c]

What do you guys think,was debating selling my rsx1056 to get a marantz sr7002.Really would like to take advantage of the HDMI convenience.But would this really be an upgrade.Figure i would only need to spend an extra 4-500. after the sale of the rotel.Plus the marantz has a little more power.

[btf1980]

Sure, go for it. Marantz makes quality receivers and the 7002 is competitively priced. :T

[Dmantis]

Tuff question I have been kicking around myself. Rotel doesn't offer a new Hdmi receiver with the lastest decoding built in. They decided to go HDMI 1.1. Now If you own players that decode the new Audio formats, you can send them HDMI and be cool with life with a Rotel. They have the new 1058. check it out before you decide to go with something else and see if it fits your needs.

All the new Japanese receivers have 1.3 HDMI. Integra has seperates . NAD also has HDMI 1.3 but after reading there spec's it wasn't clear if they have build in decoding. Someone could clear that up , life would be alot easier. NAD on a side note is very close to Rotel in every way but looks. Rotel looks alot better as in my opnion NAD makes some ugly ass gear.

As nice as the Marantz receivers are , it really depends on your speakers. If they are a 4 ohm load , you might want to consider an outboard amp to retain proper dynamic range. Most japanese receiver can't hold or just run out of gas when driving hard to drive speakers. Most can't touch Rotel in the sound quality department. This is why most of us love Rotel. Sound quality.

Right now it's a tuff market. With HDMI demands changing like the wind , Rotel with 1.1 made me shy away . Good luck man,

[rick c]

I'm kind of on the fence right now.Dont think the marantz will have a problem with my speakers.My rotel doesnt.I got 2 lower end marantz 1 in kids playroom sr5400 and 1 in my office sr4400 and i dont think sound quality would be a problem

[cfrizz]

Then you have just answered your question. Get the Marantz & plan on getting separate amplification down the road.

I love Rotel products but they are too slow to keep up with the ever changing technology, if they even try to do so. I understand why they can't, but that leaves them vunerable to people going elsewhere to get what they need/want now rather than waiting around to see if Rotel is going to catch up with everyone else.

I'm kind of on the fence right now.Dont think the marantz will have a problem with my speakers.My rotel doesnt.I got 2 lower end marantz 1 in kids playroom sr5400 and 1 in my office sr4400 and i dont think sound quality would be a problem

[Dmantis]

Then you have just answered your question. Get the Marantz & plan on getting separate amplification down the road.

I love Rotel products but they are too slow to keep up with the ever changing technology, if they even try to do so. I understand why they can't, but that leaves them vunerable to people going elsewhere to get what they need/want now rather than waiting around to see if Rotel is going to catch up with everyone else.

hi Cathy,

I couldn't agree with you more.

mantis

[TommyV]

I personally would not. I have the 1057 which is basically the same receiver with a 2x1 HDMI switch as far as I know. I think you will miss the Rotel simplicity and quality. I have heard a good amount of reports about software glitches in some of the recent Marantz receivers especially with HDMI. I am not sure what players you have but as suggested the new 1058 and 1069 have HDMI audio and there has been some announced Blu-ray players that decode all audio formats. HD DVD players already decode everything except DTS MA which is only on very few discs on the format.

Also the NADs do not decode the new audio formats.

I have gone through the same process as you, tempted to switch brands to get the new HDMI everything. I decided I am sticking with Rotel because nothing I am seeing as of now compels me enough to jump ship.

[blk100rr]

Question? as long as the BD/Hd player decodes the new formats and has the analog multi channel outs, The the current batch of rotel's should be fine, as far as audio goes? correct?

[Blindamood]

Question? as long as the BD/Hd player decodes the new formats and has the analog multi channel outs, The the current batch of rotel's should be fine, as far as audio goes? correct?

Correct. The only issue is when you have two or more sources with multi-channel analog out (e.g., DVD-Audio / SACD). In my case, I went with the Zektor MAS7.1 switcher, which allows me to switch up to 3 multi-channel analog sources, as well as 3 HDMI sources. The only thing I'm missing at this point is decoding of DTS Master audio, as my blu-ray player does not decode it internally.

[rick c]

That's one of my problems.I have a dvda/sacd player which i dont want to sacrifice.I have a tosh hda1 now which i have connected via dig since my universal takes up the analogs.I may get a blueray since to my understanding it's probably won the format war.

[TommyV]

I went with a zektor switch also (HDS4.1). It works very well as a quality multi channel analog switch.

[rick c]

I went with a zektor switch also (HDS4.1). It works very well as a quality multi channel analog switch.

I was just looking at the zektors.They have one now that also does the hdmi as well as the analogs.Maybe i should take this route.I could connect both my dvda/sacd player as well as the hda1 analogs and still connect the tosh hdmi.May even go ahead and connect my hd dvr via hdmi which is now via component.Would be great if it could detect automatically.But here's the thing also the zektor would cost me almost as much as the sr7200 if i was to sell the rotel.

[TommyV]

Well Zektors are high quality made in the USA. I agree though the price on some of them makes it not financially reasonable. That is why I went with their lowest priced model. I needed multi channel switching and more toslink inputs which it provides. I was told by them that the analog section is the same quality on all of their switches. If you need HDMI video switching as well you may want to just pair the zektor HDS4.1 with an HDMI switch from another company for a less expensive solution.

[Nuthed]

I was thinking of doing the same basic thing. I have been looking at an Integra DTR 6.8.

It has all the decoding and is HDMI 1.3a.

Its a 7.1 channel receiver and you can use the back surrounds to biamp your fronts.

I wouldn't even be thinking about doing this except for the fact that I have a PS3. If I had a Bluray or HDDVD player with analog outs I would be happy keeping my trusted RSX-972.

The only thing stopping me is a possible loss of sound quality. People on other forums, like AVS claim, that the latest crop of mass market receivers all sound as good as anthing out there. I'm not so sure. The DTR 6.8 is 4 ohm certified and has THX select certification, so I'm sure its a fine piece, but can it compare to a Rotel sound quality wise? Thats the big question.

[Nuthed]

Question? as long as the BD/Hd player decodes the new formats and has the analog multi channel outs, The the current batch of rotel's should be fine, as far as audio goes? correct?

Yes.

In light of the following post I guess I should have said maybe. :T

[Mark-n-b]

Yes.

Erm... sort of. Does the Rotel gear perform any processing on the multi-in signal? - speaker size, distance, volume etc etc or has all this to be performed in the player(s). Can this all be perfomed in every player?

The same question goes to the Rotel gear that has HDMI. :?:

[TommyV]

Erm... sort of. Does the Rotel gear perform any processing on the multi-in signal? - speaker size, distance, volume etc etc or has all this to be performed in the player(s). Can this all be perfomed in every player?

The same question goes to the Rotel gear that has HDMI. :?:

The Rotels do not do processing of the multi channel analog inputs but they do on the HDMI multi channel digital signals decoded by the players.