Any recent NAD or Marantz receivers dropout free? (1 Viewer)

[John Garcia]

Doh, looks like you just missed the SR8000 on audiogon. Better snatch up that SR7000... I picked up the SR5000 for $200 off there for a friend, should be here tomorrow.

 

[Blaine_M]

My 5400 is dropout free, I'd assume the 6400 is as well. I think the 5400 sounds great, I don't notice a difference at all between the source direct and non souce direct modes. The crossover can be adjusted on the 5400, which is nice, mine's at 80hz. The 6400 looks and sounds very nice, I also listened to it at the dealer. The main difference looked to me to be a different remote, a couple more digital inputs, and a little more power. I think if I were to consider a new Marantz, I'd look at either the 5400, or make the jump to the 7400 for the extra video features.

 

[Chris PC]

I have a gut feeling that the 7300 ose may sound better than the 7400, but some people mention that the 7400 may be equal in build and sound quality etc to the 7300 ose. I don't see any x400 ose's models.

Hopefully the newer receivers are dropout free but I've not seen conclusive reports yet. I guess I'll have to get out there and try some receivers.

 

[Blaine_M]

Like I said, my 5400 is dropout free. Even in auto-surround mode I don't get a dropout. I have heard some people say with the older models they get a delay when the auto-surround is detecting which surround mode should be used. The only problem I had with my 5400 was that some idler current thing was set to high, it ran hotter than a scalded dog. I took it in to the dealer and they adjusted it, it still runs good and warm, but not scalding hot.

 

[John Garcia]

The only OSE in the x400 lineup is the 5400 OSE, and I don't think it is coming to North America for some reason. The 7300 OSE will likley have more headroom than the 7400, but overall, they will probably sound more similar than not. The 7400 has the new 32bit DACs, while the OSE has the DACs from the 8200 (which I think are the same as the 8300, 24bit Crystal).

I compared the 5200 to my 6200 at the time, and there was a slight improvement in headroom with the 6200 vs 5200, but they otherwise sounded the same.

 

[Chris PC]

Hmmmmm....the 7300 ose are out there and not too expensive. I'm not in need of PLIIx or 7.1 so maybe a used 7300 ose is the hot tip? Has 80 hz crossover too.

If there are no dropouts, then maybe I'll try that for now.

 

[John Garcia]

The OSE has a copper clad chassis like the 8200/300/400 also, a plus in my book.

I just received and fired up the SR5000 in my bedroom system. All I can say is WOW, this thing is very impressive, I forgot how good it sounded. GOOD power, and sounds great. Sounds at least as good as my PM7000. Sweet piece of gear.

 

[Chris PC]

Anybody know where I might find the 7300 ose in Canada? Retail stores or online? I've seen the 7300ose at accessories 3 less for an ok price, but I don't know about buying a receiver from the US in terms of warranty etc.

 

[Chris PC]

Lowest I've seen the 7300 ose for is $1200.00 CDN or $799 USD from the US. Anybody seen the 7300 ose anywhere?

SR 8000 vs 7300 ose vs 8200/8300.

Do the 8200/8300 have a copper chassis and sheilding like the 8000 and 7300 ose?

HDAM's or Toroid power supply?

Which receiver has which?

 

[John Garcia]

Yes, the 8200/8300 have a copper clad chassis and a ADDC "Adaptive Double Differential Control" DAC setup that sounds great with music, which the OSE does not have. No HDAMs on these two, and I don't think they have a torroidal power supply, but it is pretty hefty - considerably heavier (felt like at least 10lbs) than the 6300 or 7300.

 

[ChrisAG]

From what I've been able to gather, the new 8400 is more similar to the old 8000 than it is to the 8300.

- Smaller chasis (based on the 7400);
- No THX certification
- HDCD decoding

The smaller chasis means that it probably loses one input. That's unfortunate, since it leaves one out of luck if one has two video recording devices (VCR, DVD-R) plus another video source like DSS.

However, the torroidal power supply and gold-plated inputs are interesting upgrades. I'm putting the 8400 at the top of my wish list, though I'll probably wait a year till they go on sale on clearout.

 

[Chris PC]

John,

High Power Current Feedback Circuitry Massive Energy Power Supply, Huge EI Transformer, Large ELCO’s

So I wonder how that compares?
Also, I wonder if what was involved with the "HDAM's". Sounds like HDAM's is just a name for the amplifier output overall and not any actual parts?

 

[Blaine_M]

I think this subject has been beat into the ground. I've told you before that the 5400 is dropout free, I would assume the 6400 is as well. Go to your local dealer and find out if you think there might be problems with the 6400.

 

[John Garcia]

However, the torroidal power supply and gold-plated inputs are interesting upgrades.

The OSE has all gold plated inputs/outputs as well, which is odd, because I don't think my 8300 does.

 

[Chris PC]

Blaine_M,

Yeah, I know. I had started another thread about the 7000 and 8000. I guess I'm just continuing the search for receivers that sound good, ie as good or better than the 7000, but don't have the dropout issue.

I'm no longer thinking about any 5x00, 6x00 or 7x00 unless its the 7300 ose. Otherwise, I'm going with the 8000, or 8200/8300. I think now this thread may continue discussing the sound quality of receivers which don't have dropouts. A 7400 owner told me today his had dropouts, but I guess they are fixing those.

 

[Chris PC]

Well, an SR 8300 is in my future, but perhaps when the resale value drops. For now I'm cashing in on another baby steps upgrade. I'm getting the SR 8000. Now I guess I'll have to sell my SR 6200 (whether or not Marantz fixes it) and perhaps sell the SR 7000 (kinda hard, I'm sure I can convince myself to keep it for a backup or second room system).

I noticed as I went from the SR 6200 to the SR 7000, there was less of a difference in sound quality between Source Direct and regular stereo. There is a difference, but its subtle and not night and day. I still think bass is better in SD on the 7000, and also the upper and midrange seem better, especially imaging, but its not like the 6200. With the 6200, I found the difference more noticable. SD on the 6200 is almost as good as non-SD on the 7000.

With the SR 8000 or SR 8300, does Source Direct still make a significant difference in sound quality? John, you said there isn't much difference with the SR 8300.

I'm hoping to have a receiver where the SD is not necessary. That way, I can use the crossover for all my speakers, and integrate the subwoofer better for both movies and music. Running the subwoofer off the left and right pre-outs has the drawbacks of not being able to control the subwoofer level with the remote/receiver, and also the pre-out bass level is often to low to keep the subwoofer on.

 

[John Garcia]

With my 2200 watching movies, sometimes when it gets late, I will turn off the sub and go into SD. I don't notice an improvement in SQ, just less bass.

With my 222ES, I don't even bother with SD anymore. If I want full range, I switch to the 7ch inputs and get pure analog direct. With digital (coax), SD doesn't seem to offer a noticable improvement.

For the sub, do you use a Y splitter on the inputs? The increased input voltage will usually keep it from shutting off.

 

[Chris PC]

When trying to blend the subwoofer with my front speakers using Source Direct, for 2 channel CD's, I use the front left and right pre-outs into my subwoofer, it has a left and right input. I can't change the level coming from the receiver really, so if there is no bass after a few minutes, my subwoofer keeps shutting off. Also, this makes me overlap the subwoofer between the front speakers lower limit of 32 hz and the subwoofer crossover of 50 hz. Doen't seem to blend well. If it did, I could have a switch for going between using the front L & R preouts for music and using the single sub pre-out for movies (so the level is higher going to the subwoofer during movies, hopefully preventing it from shutting off), but thats complicated.

I'm going to go back to using the single subwoofer pre-out into a single input on the subwoofer. I'll try the subwoofer for music, but with the SR 7000, source direct still sounds best. Maybe the SR 8000 will have less difference between source direct ON and OFF. I'll work on my two-channel sound and use the subwoofer for movies. I'll experiment from time to time with blending the subwoofer for music, but I'm going to try outboard amps, the SR 8300 or powered PSB Image 7PT's to get my 2 channel improved.

Sounds like the SR 8300 removes the need for source direct and allows the use of the subwoofer, complete with the subwoofer crossover, for music.

Another point.

One thing I noticed with the SR 7000 is that while listening to music in Source Direct, it still sounded as though it may be better than SD on the 6200. More to the point, I could increase the bass with the 7000's tone control and it was effective and didn't sound too bad. Doing the same with the 6200 has always been a pathetic joke. I'd max it out at + 6dB and you could hardly notice a difference, and it sounded muddled. Of course, it always boils down to the fact that SD still sounds better for bass, even with the 7000, but with the 6200 it was more obvious. Remember I replaced the 6200 with the 7000 mainly because of the digital delay/dropout defect in the 6200. It could have been possible that the sound of the 6200 with SD or without, was poor because I was listening to my CD players analog outputs, going through too many analog to digital conversions. To make sure that wasn't the case, I did extensive comparisons with my receiver in and out of source direct, using my DVD player digital connection. I did this after I got my subwoofer back from being repaired. I hoped the subwoofer would blend better. It didn't sound horrible but it still wasn't sounding the way I wanted. I compared source direct and stereo and digital with analog and came to the conclusion that the best sound came from using the digital connection AND Source Direct. I therefore decided that I wanted rid of the digital delay/dropout and so I luckily found the 7000 and 8000.

So do you use the tone controls at all for music?
What are your front speakers again and do you ever listen to the subwoofer for music?

 

[John Garcia]

I never touch my tone controls with the 8300, and I use the sub more than half the time for music, depending on what I'm listening to. I found that I thought my old sub was OK for music until I got the HSU VTF-2, so maybe your sub is part of the problem? Maybe sub placement?

My mains are GR Research A/V-2s, three of them across the front. -3dB @ 55Hz.

Sounds like what you may need is an ICBM to take care of your bass management.

In my little 2ch system, I have no sub with Mordaunt Short 902s, and use Source Direct on my PM7000 integrated (which of course is analog only).

 

[Chris PC]

The subwoofer could be part of the problem. I'll have to test some more. The reason I would like to be able to use tone controls is that fact that I like bass even when the music isn't loud. So when I'm not listening to the music very loud, I can increase the bass only. I used to like loudness controls. Actually, I'm surprised that with the SR 7000, I hear deep tight low end even at low volume, so there is less of a need now, but it would be nice. So your new subwoofer is better or worse for music than your older subwoofer?