Dear Daniel, dear Jack,
I have a similar problem, perhaps even stranger:
I bought a Marantz SR-14MkII recently, because I had to replace a Pioneer VSA-AX10i because one of its D/A blew, which renders the unit total economic loss.
The SR-14 is awesome. I came with its original golden remote. However, the remote has one problem: the lower half of its LCD is blind! So, I can't enter the setup (to change speaker sizes etc.) because I can't see the button on the touch screen and there is no physical button on the SR-14 itself.
So, I got myself a newer Pronto Neo TSAU500 and successfully went through the pains of installing a serial device on a computer that has no COM1 and runs Win7 using the old software from 2003. What can I tell you: It really does work!
However, the IR code set 0296 won't operate my SR-14 or my other Marantz AV8003. (BTW: The latter remote will control only basic functions of the SR-14, but not enter setup.)
So, I would really really appreciate if you could send me a code set that I can load into the Pronto Neo that I can try with my SR-14. I promise to make a donation.
Thanks for reading!