AN AV AMP THAT SING!

Native_bon

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Now i knw what ur thinking... Av amp for muzic.?... Well i tell you... I went 2 a hifi retailer to buy a 2 channel amp & just happen 2 hear A Maramtz SR6003 Av amp playing, and immediately i said to myself this must be an expensive stereo amp. I ask the guys at the shop how much it cost & to my surpirse it was 700 pounds, & not only, that it was an Av amp..

I had to ask the same Question again, just to make sure he understood my Question. This amp was so clear ... Ok may not be as dynamic as some 2 channel stereo amps. But that was a little price 2 pay 2 get an amp that does it all in one.. Heres the best bit, this amp is just so smooth & very musical...

when still in the shop, i compared the Marantz to other 2channel amps, 2 be honest i disappionted with almost all the 2 channels. Top end griny & in ur face.

Anyway dont want 2 bore you anymore...

The reason why & writing this guys is Dnt let what u hear by mouth, or reviews make decisions 4 u... Go out there & make up ur own mind. Yea, u can use reviews as starting piont but let ur eyes do the listen...
 

Native_bon

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Native_bon said:
Now i knw what ur thinking... Av amp for muzic.?... Well i tell you... I went 2 a hifi retailer to buy a 2 channel amp & just happen 2 hear A Maramtz SR6003 Av amp playing, and immediately i said to myself this must be an expensive stereo amp. I ask the guys at the shop how much it cost & to my surpirse it was 700 pounds, & not only, that it was an Av amp..

I had to ask the same Question again, just to make sure he understood my Question. This amp was so clear ... Ok may not be as dynamic as some 2 channel stereo amps. But that was a little price 2 pay 2 get an amp that does it all in one.. Heres the best bit, this amp is just so smooth & very musical...

when still in the shop, i compared the Marantz to other 2channel amps, 2 be honest i disappionted with almost all the 2 channels. Top end griny & in ur face.

Anyway dont want 2 bore you anymore...

The reason why & writing this guys is Dnt let what u hear by mouth, or reviews make decisions 4 u... Go out there & make up ur own mind. Yea, u can use reviews as starting piont but let ur eyes do the listen...

Oh forgot 2 add i brought the Marantz amp & still very plsed with its performance.
 

WishTree

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This is like saying CD better than Vinyl.. The Vinyl believer will swear that Vinyl is better but the real magic happens only after spending considerable amount of money.

Same is the case with Stereo Amp vs AV Amp. Though HiFi enthusiast wants to believe that a proper stereo amp even at low price (say less that 500 pounds) will still out do an AV amp even upto 1000 pounds. But in my experiments, I have realised that the modern day AV amps beat the Integrated Stereo amp or match at lower price ranges..

But this is almost an unspoken thing here.. ;)
 
T

the record spot

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Couldn't agree more WT - I'm more inclined to take the view that the modern stereo amp is out of step in most cases and compared to their AV brethren, stereo amps are only more recently starting to include DACs (although some Japanese models from the 90s did too), the likes of the HK990 also offers more AV-type features - it'll handle two subwoofers, has some kind of room correction algorithms to shape the sound for room types and so on. However, as for handling high resolution bitrates for HD audio, not a hope.
 
A

Anonymous

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well i couldn't hear much difference between my old vdac and my current airport express, my blu-ray player is fine for cd's, not much difference at all compared to my old cd6003, i don't believe (nor could i hear) that speakercables or interconnects differ, and as for hdmi cables...

yet to my ears my old yamaha rxv-765 wasn't a patch on any stereo amp i've had for two channel music, perhaps that model wasn't the best in that regard? but to me it was clearly inferior to the dedicated stereo amps. i might even say night and day ;)
 
A

Anonymous

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maxflinn said:
well i couldn't hear much difference between my old vdac and my current airport express, my blu-ray player is fine for cd's, not much difference at all compared to my old cd6003, i don't believe (nor could i hear) that speakercables or interconnects differ, and as for hdmi cables...

yet to my ears my old yamaha rxv-765 wasn't a patch on any stereo amp i've had for two channel music, perhaps that model wasn't the best in that regard? but to me it was clearly inferior to the dedicated stereo amps. i might even say night and day ;)

Yes Max the old yamaha 765 wasnt much cop. but the yamaha vsx667 is frankly the biggest bargain around at the moment . very good in stereo and its only £300, and with all that functionality.
 

Native_bon

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Well haven made that statement, the General rule is that most stereo amps would sound better than an AV amp, but that does mean to say there are no Good Av amps out there. A few out there that just do a very good job at stereo muzic.
 

Native_bon

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As for cables changing the sound Hum were do u start... First u have 2 make sure u have a clean Mains supply. For u to notice the difference in sound

1, depends on how well each component of urs is built is terms of Quality

2, What you place ur system on,

3, Every cable has to be of high Quality, if not a weak link in ur system would hinder hearing the change in sound.

4, If u get it right u would be laughing, it will seem as if u got a new system & at the same time safeing urself lots of money.

In a good system the changes are not little Am talking night & day.
 

unfocused

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I've just bought a Marantz SR6005 which replaced a Arcam AVR350. The Arcam was in it's day a benchmark unit for stereo reproduction from a AV amp and though I've only had it a week, the Marantz is holding it's own so far! :O
 

aliEnRIK

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I couldnt be happier with my Marantz AV8003 pre amp (remote aside which is eating batteries)

Having recently fitted a musical fidelity A5 power amp for 2 channel duties I can only tell you I was gobsmacked as to how well the 2 work together

I was initially thinking all my hardware is probably too good for my old speakers. But I've had a rethink. Music is incredible through my system and could easily hold its own aginst much pricier systems

Id have to menion also that my new oppo 95 is on stereo duty, and its awesome for the money. Blows my old Arcam FMJ cd player away. Ive seen elsewhere, other people have been comparing it to 2k cd players (Entirely subjective of course)
 

entrails

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I have had the sr5003 (one step down from the 6003) for a few years and was very happy with its ability to handle vinyl played through it but found it was a bit uninteresting at playing cd's. I used a modded technics 1200 with cambridge audio 640p and was very impressed with the way it handled the detail dug out of the vinyl. I have ultimately connected up a creek evolution 2 integrated amp to my system and have certainly noticed an improvement in the dynamics better on cds and particularly improved the quality of the human singing voice (particularly Ella Fitzgerald - wow! is all I can say) but the Marantz was not bad at all.

I would also say that for certain recordings I preferred the way the Marantz handled vinyl through the surround system particularly Prologic II music and Neural THX settings particularly in digging out detail from complex multilayered music for example Beach Boys Sunflower album compared to two channel. Althought this may be due to the short comings of my front speakers. This is sacrilage to the two channel analogue brigade but different recordings have different strengths and weaknesses in relation to a set up and if something sounds good a particular way to you then that's what matters rather than whether it should do so. I found other recordings did sound confused and a mess through surround settings and strongly benefitted from a two channel sound stage.

I would also recommend you getting the sony s370 blu-ray player and hooking it up to the sr6003 to play multichannel through dsd and pure audio settings. Sounds really good and an absolute bargain for £99
 

Native_bon

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At least it goes to prove the piont that some Av amps 2 channel sound has improved so much.. Even my friends who got very expensive 2 channel amps very surprise at the sound of the SR6003 Av amp in stereo Mode.
 

pwiles1968

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I have the 6003 AV amp and it is Very good with stereo, but recently ai have added a dedicated DAC and Pre amp (AudiolabCDQ) and A Power Amp (Bel Canto Evo 2), the stereo replay to my ears was significantly improved, greater detail staging etc, I am however comparing apples with oranges here because my current stereo would retail new around 3x that of the AV amp.

Yes the Marantz AV amps are good with music and if you do not have space for 2 systems they are a great compromise, but they can be improved upon if you select your comonents carefully (I found that home demo was a must) you will need speakers that are good enough to show the differences, I would also guess that the music you listen to would be a factor, I notice bigger differences with some music more than others
 

Native_bon

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yes muzic always depends on how the muzic was mastered hence improvement on sum types & not on some others. I got my Sr6003 Bi amped. Using one of the suround channels. Using Wireworld mains cables. Speaker cables are russ andrews 8TC,S for bass & 8VS for treble. B&W 684 speakers. Cambridge audio refference Interconnects. Cambrigde Audio 840c cd player. On Quadrasire rack.. It just sounds nice open & Sweet!!
 

pwiles1968

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I used to run a separate power amplification on the 6003 for the front 2 channels using MA6100 mono blocks, also tried bi-amplifying using the av and mono but did not find any difference, one of the biggest differences I found on the SR6003 over my older SR5300 was the surround and 7.1 for movies, If you ever get the chance try adding a power amp for the front 2 channels, the right amp will give some improvement in the control, it will also free up the back channels to add extra speakers.
 

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