Marantz AV 10 - Initial Impressions (1 Viewer)

[John Dirk]

I was sending my missives while at the gym this morning before work, so was overly terse.

If you prefer rolling your own room correction to running any of these automated tools, that’s hobbyist choice. But having glanced at REW and mini-dsp and done a quick search on options for outboard room correction options, I came away uninterested in trying to go that route.

And what’s exciting about ART is it really looks like next-gen processing. Audyssey and ARC and REW, I believe, are all basically the same thing: speaker distance adjustment and speaker frequency correction. The differences I’m guessing are about how many sample points, how many computed points, and magic sauce in combining multiple measurement locations. ART adds something new: using active audio output from speakers to further improve perceived room echo and delay effects. Surround speakers actively play to support correction from LCR, say.

Does it work well? Will it work in my theater? Is it useable by an enthusiast or is a pro installer needed? Is it worth the money compared to current systems? I don’t know. Info is sparse. I’ve read one review. But to me, who wants to upgrade room correction in a significant way beyond Audyssey, ART is exciting and very promising.

OK. Sounds like you'll be in the market for a new pre/pro, plus the $900.00 entry price for all-out Dirac.

Not saying you shouldn't. Just saying "I wouldn't"

 

[JohnRice]

I guess it’s time for my regular response. I’m skeptical. Sub integration is the most difficult element in my book. The problem is that a lot of users don’t want to work with placement, which defeats the entire objective. The “magic pill” is popular and profitable, I’m just not a believer. Most of the claims seem like bunk to me.

 

[DaveF]

OK. Sounds like you'll be in the market for a new pre/pro, plus the $900.00 entry price for all-out Dirac.

Not saying you shouldn't. Just saying "I wouldn't"

In my defense an AV20 with Dirac ART will (it seems) cost less than your AV10. So it’s not too too crazy an idea.

In reality? I don’t know. Anthem AV70 for $4000 or a Marantz AV20 with Dirac for ~$9000? I’ll need some great reviews and maybe an in-home demo to sway me to Marantz. I’d hoped this to be a Fall 2025 upgrade. But I might choose to push another year and see what shakes out.

 

[DaveF]

I guess it’s time for my regular response. I’m skeptical. Sub integration is the most difficult element in my book. The problem is that a lot of users don’t want to work with placement, which defeats the entire objective. The “magic pill” is popular and profitable, I’m just not a believer. Most of the claims seem like bunk to me.

Well sure. My subs’ placement are optimized against a variety of competing factors in my theater. But as those factors include “wife” and “aesthetics” and “pre-existing wiring limits”, optimal placement is not acoustically-optimal. So I very much want advanced computer processing to help me out.

 

[John Dirk]

Sub integration is the most difficult element in my book. The problem is that a lot of users don’t want to work with placement, which defeats the entire objective.

Agreed! With my room dimensions plus an AT screen, I'm pretty limited.

In my defense an AV20 with Dirac ART will (it seems) cost less than your AV10. So it’s not too too crazy an idea.

In reality? I don’t know. Anthem AV70 for $4000 or a Marantz AV20 with Dirac for ~$9000? I’ll need some great reviews and maybe an in-home demo to sway me to Marantz. I’d hoped this to be a Fall 2025 upgrade. But I might choose to push another year and see what shakes out.

So I very much want advanced computer processing to help me out.

A fully-loaded AV20 "should" clock in at closer to 7K but It's never a crazy idea to spend your hard-earned cash however you please. Having [briefly] owned the AVM70, I can tell you a couple of things.

1) ARC is an excellent, overall, room correction product and does claim to fully time-align and integrate multiple subs. I watched it go through it's process and the "bells and whistles" seemed promising indeed. In the end, however, the bass in my room was tight, yet unacceptably anemic, so I rolled back and went the manual route. I've heard Anthem has addressed this well-known issue through software, so it's possible you might have a better experience.

2) Coming from Marantz, you will definitely find the Anthem UI archaic and clumsy. It's better with their app but still limited and woefully behind what you're accustomed to.

We all "want" a simple, technology-driven solution but, where sub integration is concerned, I have yet to find one in my price range, especially with my placement constraints. One thing I absolutely love about my new SVS SB17's is their DSP engine. With 6 independent PEQ's per sub, I've been able to [mostly] eliminate the inherent nulls in my room and am generally satisfied with the results.

 

[DaveF]

I’m hoping to attend Audio Advice Live this year and have a look at current processors, sit in on demos, all that fun stuff. Hopefully get a better idea of what’s what and pricing options.

 

[DaveF]

BTW, I did get the "Blu Ray" cleaner disc, which is not a Blu Ray at all. It's a DVD. Still, there is a slight design difference between it and the "DVD" cleaner, which is actually a CD.

Regarding the "DVD" (CD) cleaner being "incompatible" with BR players, I can only guess that was ignorance regarding whether BR players can play CDs, which every single one can do. Even though the older DVD cleaner has worked fine for me on multiple players, it probably is a better idea to use the "Blu Ray" one, just in case.

Is this the intended thread?

 

[JohnRice]

Is this the intended thread?

Probably not. Not the first time I’ve done that lately.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Probably not. Not the first time I’ve done that lately.

Been there, done that.

 

[Clinton McClure]

 

[JohnRice]

To be on topic, though. There is this waiting for me to rip the HT equipment apart so it can be added..

 

[DaveF]

Probably not. Not the first time I’ve done that lately.

If it belongs somewhere else, I can move it there.

 

[DaveF]

View attachment 254050

To be on topic, though. There is this waiting for me to rip the HT equipment apart so it can be added..

I want to re-wire my electronics rack. It was super tidy when originally installed. I’ve since made a variety of changes and tweaks in the ensuing eight years and it’s a mess now.

But I didn’t get to it this winter, and it seems like a cold-weather task. I think I’m waiting to replace my Marantz and maybe PS4. Then everything will be done for a while, and would be a good time to clean up the cabling.

 

[JohnRice]

I want to re-wire my electronics rack. It was super tidy when originally installed. I’ve since made a variety of changes and tweaks in the ensuing eight years and it’s a mess now.

But I didn’t get to it this winter, and it seems like a cold-weather task. I think I’m waiting to replace my Marantz and maybe PS4. Then everything will be done for a while, and would be a good time to clean up the cabling.

Yeah, I haven’t torn it apart in longer than I can remember. I didn’t when I got the AV7703 seven years ago. I almost didn’t this time, but decided it was best to do it now.

 

[compson]

If it belongs somewhere else, I can move it there.

Here is the intended thread:

The Best 4k Blu-Ray Players

The 800 is pretty much the equivalent of the Oppo 203. The 900 takes the analog audio up another notch, as I recall. I would run a cleaning disc on your 203. My Oppo UDP-203 seems to be skipping and locking-up on a number of discs lately, so much so that we have to shift over to the...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[Robert Saccone]

1) ARC is an excellent, overall, room correction product and does claim to fully time-align and integrate multiple subs. I watched it go through it's process and the "bells and whistles" seemed promising indeed. In the end, however, the bass in my room was tight, yet unacceptably anemic, so I rolled back and went the manual route. I've heard Anthem has addressed this well-known issue through software, so it's possible you might have a better experience.

I am running an AVM90in my main setup. ARC did a nice job with my setup including my two subs. I did want some more punch in my bass and ARC had two sliders for adjusting bass that made it easy for me to get it where I liked it. It was actually easier in ARC than what I had to do in Audyssey MultEQ-X to get a satisfactory result on my secondary Marantz system. For the record with the built in base level Audyssey in the Denon /Marantz products I was never very satisfied with my bass. That all changed when I tried MultEQ-X. I will say that it took a bunch of time to learn and experimentation to get a result I liked with it though.

 

[DaveF]

I’m still base level Audyssey (well, top level Audyssey circa 2016) and feel overdue for something better.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Just doing a drive-by browsing of the thread, so nothing to contribute to the audio conversation...

I've been meaning to rearrange and clean up the wiring on my equipment rack for the longest of times. I have been stuck trying to decide upon what should go on the rack and what should be taken down. Decisions, decisions.

- Walter.

 

[John Dirk]

I’m still base level Audyssey (well, top level Audyssey circa 2016) and feel overdue for something better.

That's exactly where I was when I was ready to replace my aging AV7702 MKII. I ended up going with the AV10 so that I could have a path to DIRAC and also access to higher-level Audyssey functions. Unless I go absolutely crazy and buy a Trinnov, I think this is my last pre/pro.

 

[JohnRice]

That's exactly where I was when I was ready to replace my aging AV7702 MKII. I ended up going with the AV10 so that I could have a path to DIRAC and also access to higher-level Audyssey functions. Unless I go absolutely crazy and buy a Trinnov, I think this is my last pre/pro.

I've been looking at the audio industry, getting concerned with the instability and general unreliability of recent processors. The processors in my living room and HT are from just when there were significant but valuable changes in standards. They came out just as 4K was becoming a thing. They handle it, but DV in particular wasn't settled when they were developed, so it had to be added with firmware, and isn't fully functional. I simply do NOT see anything useful in the real world coming any time soon, if in my lifetime. So, I decided to replace the receiver/processor in my living room and HT now, with ones that I know are solidly reliable. Similar thought process as John Dirk.