How do I connect my Yamaha RX-A2020 receiver to my Marantz PM6004 stereo amp?

[Oldboy]

Hello all,

As the title of the thread asks I'm after some advice as to how I connect my receiver to my amp, previously I had a mid range Onkyo receiver that didn't have the necessary connection to link my Marantz stereo amp and I totally forgot some time ago when I bought the RX-A2020 that it might have the connection and ability to connect to my Marantz amp.

I have completely forgotten now what connection I'm looking for on the 2020 and what lead I would need if indeed I can connect straight into the reciever so any help would be much appreciated as the Yamaha manual is as clear as mud. I'm just hoping I can say goodbye to my Beresford TC-7220 MK2 switch box and free up some space and cable clutter fingers crossed.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

And I thought you were the expert on the 2020.

So are you looking for your music players to go into the stereo amp, then pass through the 2020?

It must be possible, but do you think I have a clue how to do it.

 

[The_Lhc]

As you look at the back of the 2020, centre right section in white marked Pre-Out, take an RCA cable from the front left and right pre-outs (white is left, red is right) and connect it into an input on the Marantz (Aux/DVD maybe?). You don't appear to have a fixed gain input on the Marantz (EDIT: just checked, you don't) so you'll have to set its volume control to something like 12 o'clock and re-run the auto-level setup malarky on the Yamaha to get the levels correct.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Hello Oldboy,

I'm assuming, as The_Lhc implicitly has, that you want to go from Yamaha to Marantz, rather than the other way round. But why? Why not just put whatever signal you are thinking of straight into the Marantz???

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I presumed that he would have his speakers connected to the 2020, and wants the stereo sound of the Marantz to pass through the 2020 to the speakers, if not, I don't understand his aim. :?

 

[John Duncan]

So here's a good picture of the back:



(click for big version)

Half way down just to the right, there's the pre-out section, with two sockets marked 'Front'. Run a pair of normal interconnects from there to the Marantz (the Aux/DVD input would make most sense). Switch to that input and set the volume to half (simply because it's easy to remember, though you can choose whatever your 'normal' volume is if you wish).

Then run the calibration routine on the Yamaha, which will set the front volumes to be correct given the volume coming out of the Marantz. Then you should be done, and when you want to run the AV system, set the volume of the Marantz to whatever you chose up there ^^ and the input to the one the pre-outs are plugged into, and off you go.

Alternatively, you could do a level-matched comparison between the two and see if you can actually tell the difference...

 

[John Duncan]

It took me so long to write that that everybody has answered already...

 

[The_Lhc]

I'm assuming, as The_Lhc implicitly has, that you want to go from Yamaha to Marantz, rather than the other way round. But why? Why not just put whatever signal you are thinking of straight into the Marantz???

I presumed that he would have his speakers connected to the 2020, and wants the stereo sound of the Marantz to pass through the 2020 to the speakers, if not, I don't understand his aim. :?

Err, no, the front left and right speakers are attached to the Marantz, as are all his two channel (music) sources, that way when when he listens to music only the Marantz is switched on. When he wants to listen to surround audio he switches the Yamaha on as well which feeds the centre and surround audio to his other speakers and passes the front left and right out of the Yamaha's pre-outs to the Marantz which feeds the front speakers.

Have you guys seriously never heard of this before? It's a very standard setup, you get the musical quality of the stereo amp without losing the AV capability. If you do it your way BBB you end up compromising music quality by playing through the AV amp, which makes no sense at all.

 

[Oldboy]

Just to clarify I want to use my two fronts (Dali Zensor 5's) of my 7.1 set up for stereo duties with my Marantz PM6004 amp 6003 CD player as I do presently but lose the Beresford speaker switcher from my system as it seems it's not needed anymore given that the 2020 has the ability to do this. I can then lose a box from my rack and some cable clutter from my system, so basically I want to integrate a stereo set up into my current system.

 

[The_Lhc]

Just to clarify I want to use my two fronts (Dali Zensor 5's) of my 7.1 set up for stereo duties with my Marantz PM6004 amp 6003 CD player as I do presently but lose the Beresford speaker switcher from my system as it seems it's not needed anymore given that the 2020 has the ability to do this. I can then lose a box from my rack and some cable clutter from my system, so basically I want to integrate a stereo set up into my current system.

Don't worry it was pretty clear, just do what me and JD suggested.

 

[Oldboy]

I'm assuming, as The_Lhc implicitly has, that you want to go from Yamaha to Marantz, rather than the other way round. But why? Why not just put whatever signal you are thinking of straight into the Marantz???

I presumed that he would have his speakers connected to the 2020, and wants the stereo sound of the Marantz to pass through the 2020 to the speakers, if not, I don't understand his aim. :?

Err, no, the front left and right speakers are attached to the Marantz, as are all his two channel (music) sources, that way when when he listens to music only the Marantz is switched on. When he wants to listen to surround audio he switches the Yamaha on as well which feeds the centre and surround audio to his other speakers and passes the front left and right out of the Yamaha's pre-outs to the Marantz which feeds the front speakers.

Have you guys seriously never heard of this before? It's a very standard setup, you get the musical quality of the stereo amp without losing the AV capability. If you do it your way BBB you end up compromising music quality by playing through the AV amp, which makes no sense at all.

I think I understand that so this would just mean that the Marantz needs to be switched on for both duties but the Yamaha only needs to be on when using surround sound, is that correct?

Doing the set up again is a pain though as it's a long process needing 6 positions to be taken with the mic but I'm willing to do it, so the fronts have to be connected into the Marantz now and the RCA to the pre out as yourself and John told me but I'm wondering why the Marantz needs to be set at say 12 o clock during the auto set up, does this balance the front levels?

Sorry just want to get this right so I know what I'm doing before I change the configuration, many thanks for your help The_Lhc.

 

[Oldboy]

So here's a good picture of the back:



(click for big version)

Half way down just to the right, there's the pre-out section, with two sockets marked 'Front'. Run a pair of normal interconnects from there to the Marantz (the Aux/DVD input would make most sense). Switch to that input and set the volume to half (simply because it's easy to remember, though you can choose whatever your 'normal' volume is if you wish).

Then run the calibration routine on the Yamaha, which will set the front volumes to be correct given the volume coming out of the Marantz. Then you should be done, and when you want to run the AV system, set the volume of the Marantz to whatever you chose up there ^^ and the input to the one the pre-outs are plugged into, and off you go.

Alternatively, you could do a level-matched comparison between the two and see if you can actually tell the difference...

Thanks John :cheers:

You lost me at the point where you suggested a level-matched comparison though...could you elaborate further...?

 

[The_Lhc]

I'm assuming, as The_Lhc implicitly has, that you want to go from Yamaha to Marantz, rather than the other way round. But why? Why not just put whatever signal you are thinking of straight into the Marantz???

I presumed that he would have his speakers connected to the 2020, and wants the stereo sound of the Marantz to pass through the 2020 to the speakers, if not, I don't understand his aim. :?

Err, no, the front left and right speakers are attached to the Marantz, as are all his two channel (music) sources, that way when when he listens to music only the Marantz is switched on. When he wants to listen to surround audio he switches the Yamaha on as well which feeds the centre and surround audio to his other speakers and passes the front left and right out of the Yamaha's pre-outs to the Marantz which feeds the front speakers.

Have you guys seriously never heard of this before? It's a very standard setup, you get the musical quality of the stereo amp without losing the AV capability. If you do it your way BBB you end up compromising music quality by playing through the AV amp, which makes no sense at all.

I think I understand that so this would just mean that the Marantz needs to be switched on for both duties but the Yamaha only needs to be on when using surround sound, is that correct?

Doing the set up again is a pain though as it's a long process needing 6 positions to be taken with the mic but I'm willing to do it, so the fronts have to be connected into the Marantz now and the RCA to the pre out as yourself and John told me but I'm wondering why the Marantz needs to be set at say 12 o clock during the auto set up, does this balance the front levels?

Yes, you need a reference point to set the Marantz to whenever you're listening to AV audio as you won't be using the Marantz's volume control, only the Yamaha, 12 o'clock is used as it's easy to remember and should be at the right sort of level for the Yamaha to be able to setup the output level for its pre-outs to match the volumes with the Centre channel and surrounds. You can't leave the Marantz on zero volume of course and setting it too high could cause trouble if you forget when you switch back to music, so 12 o'clock is a good compromise position.

If the Marantz had an AV/fixed gain input you wouldn't need to worry about it at all as that would bypass the volume control completely but you don't have that option.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I'm assuming, as The_Lhc implicitly has, that you want to go from Yamaha to Marantz, rather than the other way round. But why? Why not just put whatever signal you are thinking of straight into the Marantz???

I presumed that he would have his speakers connected to the 2020, and wants the stereo sound of the Marantz to pass through the 2020 to the speakers, if not, I don't understand his aim. :?

Err, no, the front left and right speakers are attached to the Marantz, as are all his two channel (music) sources, that way when when he listens to music only the Marantz is switched on. When he wants to listen to surround audio he switches the Yamaha on as well which feeds the centre and surround audio to his other speakers and passes the front left and right out of the Yamaha's pre-outs to the Marantz which feeds the front speakers.

Have you guys seriously never heard of this before? It's a very standard setup, you get the musical quality of the stereo amp without losing the AV capability. If you do it your way BBB you end up compromising music quality by playing through the AV amp, which makes no sense at all.

I'm very sorry.

 

[John Duncan]

Yes, you need a reference point to set the Marantz to whenever you're listening to AV audio as you won't be using the Marantz's volume control, only the Yamaha, 12 o'clock is used as it's easy to remember and should be at the right sort of level for the Yamaha to be able to setup the output level for its pre-outs to match the volumes with the Centre channel and surrounds. You can't leave the Marantz on zero volume of course and setting it too high could cause trouble if you forget when you switch back to music, so 12 o'clock is a good compromise position.

That ^^

As for the 'level matched comparison', I think it would be interesting to listen to the Yamaha and PM6004 side by side (in stereo) to prove to yourself that the Marantz is better than the Yamaha. I say level matched because it;s important that the volume of both is exactly the same so that you don't fool yourself into thinking one is better than the other.

I wouldn't want to predict the result (I myself have found some stereo amps much better than my - admittedly modest - Yamaha receiver), but I think it's worth experimenting.

 

[Oldboy]

Understood, many thanks The_Lhc :cheers:

I presume I can still use my sound meter as usual on the fronts to get the levels correct on the Yamaha?

 

[The_Lhc]

Understood, many thanks The_Lhc :cheers:

I presume I can still use my sound meter as usual on the fronts to get the levels correct on the Yamaha?

I can't think of any reason why not but I've never tried it myself.

 

[The_Lhc]

I'm very sorry.

Good, don't do it again! BadBernardBresslaw!