I have to say that I am pretty pleased with what I've used so far. Firm codes and reliable multi-room codes.
Solid amp stages with superb drive. Very happy customers. Kind of like Denon for installers.

It is only sold direct here with no distys. No online sales. Rigidly policed I'm glad to day. I use a sr7500 and dv7600 at home for demo use and like it a lot.

We do a LOT of marantz. Reliability is Excellent, Control still leaves a little to be desired, but Totally functional. The x600 series components are definatly the best so far. Seems they keep improving the control with each gen.

If you havent messed with marantz inthe last few years, your totally out of the loop. They've been bought and sold a couple times since then and are a VERY solid company todeal with right now. I put them right up there with Integra as far as Integration and CUstom friendliness.

I totally agree Impaqt

Six years ago?? When Philips re-launched the line into the US in the mid-late '90s, it quickly turned into a very strong line and has been since that time.
The very first models had curved faceplates, but they were champagne gold. At my old store, we passed...
A couple years later, they kept the curve but went to black and that's when we decided to give them another look.

At my old store we sold it OVER Denon or Yamaha (#1 & 2 receiver lines of that era)...

The early version of Marantz's video line was hard to sell... Their big screens were 4x3 and cost as much or more than some of the early 16x9 (pre-HD) sets that were available from Mitsubishi, Hitachi UltraVision, and Toshiba Cinema Series.

Marantz had (and has) 3 yr. warranty, high-current low impedance stable amps, etc.
I sold a TON of SR-780's & 880's from that era.


I would say that their receivers do not stand out like they did in that era, but it is still a very solid line.

I guess I'll be taking a close look at the line now based on all of the positive comments. I have been using Integra and yamaha. What would be the advantage to using Maranzt over the Integra?

They were terrible 6 years ago? Why? Must be talking about those god-awful remotes they used to have...

We've been happy with them. Actually would put them up against DENON in an audio shoot-out...

Great stuff, actually!

Integra and Yamaha? Why would you need to look at any other lines? You have the best of both worlds Yamaha covers all budgets and Integra is as versatile for CI as they get! Man, you are like the guy walking down the beach with a hot lady on each arm still checkin out all the other ladies. Sorry for the sexist analogy but that is exactly comes to mind. Besides Marantz is at AV*D they may just set up your competition right after you made a big investment in the line.2 birds in the hand is way better than 1 in the bush. Just my .02

I agree, unless you also want to sell their projectors...

Just curious, what type of problems are you guys experimenting w/ the 2nd zone? There's discrete control of almost every command including tuner and presets.

Bob

It takes a little bit of education when it comes to Marantz 2nd zone, but you're right, it works fine.

I've been happy, and yes I'm a trunk slammer buying from A**D. For me it has been a life saver. I'm not a fan of the fidelity of Onkyo or Denon, HK is - well HK and yamaha wasn't an option. I had good hopes for Kenwood sovereign at one point but that's been dead for years. I'm sure one day Marantz will be crap again, but for now it is working well for me as a reciever, cd player, DVD line.

We have been selling Marantz for about a year and a half now, and overall I would give it pretty good marks. Bad points are - remote controls are not very ergonomic, the zone 2 operations are awkward, No HDMI until you get to the 4K$ mark, no navigational buttons on the DVD front panels, menu systems on the AV receivers are not really intuitive. Good points - Great Sound, not found in Best Buy or Circuit City, reputable name, and Great Sound. I wouldn't be afraid to recommend it.

You can use DVI to HDMI adapters on the SR8500 and the SR8600 will certainly have HDMI at roughly $1200 retail. I've begun to run HDMI wire for obvious reasons but until I'm forced to, I still use component for ease of use. Honestly if I'm really worried about getting the best out of the picture then I'm going to run it directly to the display and avoid the switching in the receiver anyway.

Stick with Integra ... I've yet to be disappointed with any of their products ...

Been selling Marantz for years. Good stuff. (except that bad run of Memory caps a few years back). Don't use the auto setup mic thingie in front of the customer. It inevitably screams "error - reverse polarity" when it's not true, but customers don't want to see that just the same. Still prefer Yamaha for Surround sound, and for CI specific features.

JMHO

We are using Marantz all the time now, They were my second choice as I was leaning toward Denon but in the last year or so both Denon and Marantz nearly have the same range and they change their models nearly the same time.
I am satisfied with their line now but I have question for you in the US.
What made are the new Marantz models ?
3 years ago almost all of them were made in Japan, now all the models including SR9600 is made in China!
Personally I don't have a problem but some of my customer wasn't willing to pay the price after they knew where it was made even when they loved the sound during the demo.
Have you guys faced the same situation ?