Amp upgrade - Marantz SR7009

[scene]

Currently I'm driving the speakers in my large (38m2 / 90m3) living room with an Yamaha rxv-667 which is not really up to the task - the room's too big for it and I've got big speakes (MA Silver 8i floorstanders, MA RS-LCR, MA RX-FX rears).

The good news is Mrs. Scene agrees *i-m_so_happy* and I now have approval to spend some money on a new amp...

So, I was thinking of the Marantz SR7009 - as it seems to have dropped in price recently (£999). I also was thinking of the Yamaha RX-A2040, as I like yammies when it comes to two-channel music, but at £1300+, I'm not sure it's worth the extra £400 over the Marantz.

Anyone got any thoughts on these amps?

@bigboss - didn't you decide on a RX-A2040 recently - how is it & did you look at the SR7009?

 

[his dudeness]

i have recently changed from a pioneer sclx56 to the marantz sr7008 which is the same amp minus atmos and bluetooth,found the pioneer cold with music,the marantz is great with music and movies,running with tannoy dc6t package and svs sb1000 sub,so vast improvement with music and have lost nothing with surround if anything better with surround due to audyssey,also has the easiest menu system ive used,highly recommended.

 

[scene]

Thanks for that! Was wondering what it was like compared to the pioneers - which I've thought about in the past but not been convinced about.

Did you try out any other amps before changing to the Marantz, or did you just trial the SR7008? Just wondered as interested to hear how it compares to the yamaha rx-a aventage amps...

 

[his dudeness]

had my eye on the marantz,have owned onkyo,sony,pioneer now the marantz,have a friend with a yamaha 2020 i think so listened to it,but prefared the marantz and bought online so had 14 days to return but once i had it set up right it was never going back,have a look at thishttps://www.avforums.com/review/dolby-atmos-av-surround-sound-receivers-group-test.10946

 

[scene]

had my eye on the marantz,have owned onkyo,sony,pioneer now the marantz,have a friend with a yamaha 2020 i think so listened to it,but prefared the marantz and bought online so had 14 days to return but once i had it set up right it was never going back,have a look at thishttps://www.avforums.com/review/dolby-atmos-av-surround-sound-receivers-group-test.10946

Thanks for that your dudeness, I did look at this article, which is what started me down the Marantz route in the first place...

 

[Series1boy]

I think big boss finally went with the Marantz

 

[Paul.]

Not sure if this is usefull information, but I am very happy with my SR7007. It sounds very similar to my old PM7200, that can only be considered a good thing

 

[scene]

I think big boss finally went with the Marantz

Oh - thanks for that - missed that, last thing I saw I thought bb was going with the yammie... Thanks for the heads up.

 

[scene]

Not sure if this is usefull information, but I am very happy with my SR7007. It sounds very similar to my old PM7200, that can only be considered a good thing

indeed

One of the things I was hoping for - given Marantz's track record for music amplification...

 

[bigboss]

Yes, the Marantz was a no brainer for me. Yamaha RX-A2040 isn't capable of 7.1.4 while the Marantz is, in combination with a separate stereo amplifier. Son_of_SJ can take the credit for veering me away from the Yamaha towards the Marantz. :happy:

My home cinema installation will be complete in 2 weeks, will put my thoughts then.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Son_of_SJ can take the credit for veering me away from the Yamaha towards the Marantz. :happy:

In that case, I look forward to your £10 consultation cheque arriving in the next post! *yahoo*

My home cinema installation will be complete in 2 weeks, will put my thoughts then.

More realistically, I look forward even more to reading your report on your home cinema installation!

 

[scene]

Son_of_SJ can take the credit for veering me away from the Yamaha towards the Marantz. :happy:

In that case, I look forward to your £10 consultation cheque arriving in the next post! *yahoo*

My home cinema installation will be complete in 2 weeks, will put my thoughts then.

More realistically, I look forward even more to reading your report on your home cinema installation!

Me too! bb's last installation was a joy to behold and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's done this time...

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Hey, what about my £10 cheque???? *smile*

 

[bigboss]

Send me your address and I will post it out to you.

 

[scene]

Well it's decided then.

I'm going to go for the SR7009 - the more I read, the more certain I am. Sounds like a cracking amp, with plenty of flexibility and pretty future proofing. Mrs. Scene is OK with it too

And it gets better! I've been sub-less in the living room (my main AV system) for a while now (must be nearly 4 years!) since the KEF sub went phut... Mrs. S is happy for me to get a new sub as well! *yahoo*

And after all my indecision a while back between the BK Elec XXLS400-DF and Monolith-DF - I think it's the XXLS400 - as Mrs. S is happy with this, and I'm not going to push my luck...

 

[scene]

Ordered the SR7009 just now

Thanks to all for you help? Now, following on from forum protocol - who do I need to send the £10 cheque(s) to? *scratch_one-s_head*

Actually, it's worked out well - while I've been trying to decide, Peter Tyson have dropped the price of the Marantz by another £50 - which was nice

 

[his dudeness]

brilliant,great vfm im sure you,ll love it,real looker to.*drinks*

 

[scene]

brilliant,great vfm im sure you,ll love it,real looker to.*drinks*

Thanks for your help - hopefully it will be arriving very soon

 

[his dudeness]

just a thought i bought a tripod for the audyssey mic which really helps when doing set up from 8 points around the listening position,really worth doing cost about 8 quid on amazon,think the 09 comes with a cardboard one,also dynamic volume and dynamic eq are on by default after running audyssey,hope that helps.

 

[scene]

just a thought i bought a tripod for the audyssey mic which really helps when doing set up from 8 points around the listening position,really worth doing cost about 8 quid on amazon,think the 09 comes with a cardboard one,also dynamic volume and dynamic eq are on by default after running audyssey,hope that helps.

Good tip on the tripod - thanks. I've got a full size camera tripod (and a very small one) - but they'll have the wrong thread size, I'm guessing for the mic?

And thanks for the heads up on the dynamic volume and dynamic eq. I assume you can just turn those off after running the eq, without impacting anything else?

 

[his dudeness]

the mic seems to be a standard camara half inch thread so you should be fine,and yea easy to switch off the dynamic volume and eq,this is remembered for each input as well,i could not turn it off while watching blueray the menu would not stay on screen,may have been a hdmi issue,so got via a app.

 

[scene]

That's good to hear.

Just have to see what happens with the dynamic volume and eq. Hopefully D+M will have fixed the firmware bug by now - I'm planning to download the Android and iOS apps, so if the worst comes to the worst, will be able to do it that way.

 

[his dudeness]

i use myav pro app its very good but doesnt support my bdp yet.

 

[scene]

Arriving this saturday - hopefully

I know what I'm doing this weekend...

 

[scene]

It has arrived!
Yes!! Great service from Peter Tyson; ordered on Thursday, Saturday delivery a free option. Arrived just after 8am this morning. Definitely recommend them...