A nearly perfect receiver?

Outwardly this new $2499 Marantz AV receiver looks not unlike the multitude of offerings available today.

It’s black, it has a ton of input and output facilities and a learning remote (a particularly nice LCD jobby). Why should this black box be any different? It’s finished reasonably well with a well laid-out fascia. Two large black knobs command surround settings on the left and volume on the right with a row of fairly standard, if old fashioned, source selectors across the bottom.

A welcome return to this and a few other brands out there is the multi-room, multi-source function, allowing a different source to be played in a second room at a different level. This is great for barbeque speakers - sit the kids down for a movie and enjoy the company of friends on the deck with a little Mel Torme. Ahhhhhhh.

There is no LaserDisc input as such. Not to worry, any of the other inputs can be assigned and titled to suit the source equipment. Only five digits can be used in the “function named indicator”. A little restrictive, as on other equipment I’ve used even the brand and model number can be typed in and in some cases scrolls across the display panel. A small thing but useful for non-enthusiasts and techo-freaks alike.

Okay - enough bits, buttons and bugs, lets hear it.

With TV,DVD,LD and VCR connected I listened to a variety of sources, both music and movies. They all shone through with commendable fidelity.

The Marantz presents itself with a welcomed lack of any amplifier fuzz or hiss. Quiet passages in Hannibal were indeed just that. When the scary bits erupted, the impact was such that I almost wasn’t ready for the passages I had seen and heard many times.

Yahoo, this is a goody. Okay, so the Dolby Digital and the DTS tracks proved this to be a very capable amplifier with DVD.

How does this Pro Logic II business stack up? What’s it all about? Is it any good? If you’ve ever listened to your favourite album on a conventional Pro Logic set up, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s pretty awful.

Pro Logic II has settings for movies as one would imagine, plus a second setting for Pro Logic II music and it's good, very, very good. So good in fact, that after some Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Toto and various other Laser discs concerts made me grin like a fool, I wondered “How is this going to sound with say a CD or even vinyl?”

I tried a couple of CD’s in Pro Logic II music mode without any tweaking of channels or delays and I was astonished.

I tried a couple of CD’s before I was almost convinced that this new matrix or steering logic from Dolby was really good.

I say almost as when I popped Diana Krall's second album Only trust your heart featuring Christian McBride, everything sounded great, the drums, the bass, except Diana, there was three of her - her in the middle, with a couple of herselves each side.

Not good but bare in mind that in real-world situations - we audio dorks live in a world of our own - people sit all over the place. So as I moved around the room I kinda started to like it. In fact, and I know I’m going to regret writing this, but I started to prefer it. I even plugged in my turntable and phono preamp and played tons of vinyl!

The best and most beautiful ear candy I’ve heard in a long while was Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee on this Marantz receiver using Pro Logic II's music mode through five great speakers and a great sub.

The most surprising thing I found with this receiver is in its power delivery. It's not a V8 but a well tuned straight six. Irrespective of brand or price, my bass drivers have often struggled to find an amplifier to faithfully deliver the kick and punch of a drum kit, when everything else seems bang on.

With this receiver though, my drivers had a solid and realistic thump to them, they kicked like ‘Vegas’... beauty!

This is a great receiver, understated, full of features, ample power (105 watts x 6) and with component video switching. This old man's going out to find some Buddy Rich LP’s before I have to return this thing.

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