Marantz or Rotel ? (1 Viewer)

[Wayne A]

Narrowed it down to these two
1.SR-8200
2.RSX-1066
Would it be possible to give the pro's and con's of each?

 

[Arnold van Oostrum]

Hi,
The Rotel machine you mentioned is not entirely correct. Which do you mean?
- RSX-1065, which is Rotel's flag ship AV receiver;
- RSP-1066, which is Rotel's current pre-amp processor.
Since your comparing with SR-8200, being an AV receiver, my guess is you're interested in comparing it with the RSX-1065.
I encounter some troubles with the RSX-1065, you can see here. Although the Rotel sounds really great and is very good in stereo, the issues are negative.
I can't say anything on the SR-8200, I've never auditioned it. But if the Rotel didn't have this issue, I definitely would go for the Rotel.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

I'm familar with both the marantz and rotel (1066 & 1055) and its a difficult choice between these two fine models. Personally I'm thrilled with my Rotel but let your own ears be the judge. The one big plus for the Rotel is the fact that its firmware upgradable...and the firmwares are coming our on a semi regular basis and they're free.

 

[Steve Marsh]

I have owned the Marantz 7200 and the Rotel 1055. These are both 1 step down from what you are looking at.
As Andrew said they are both fine recievers.
Both are very smooth with 2 channel
I feel the Rotel has the edge with more dynamic power and little better detail. For music it is not as noticeable as on movies. I thought the 7200 seemed a little underpowered with movies. (yet the Rotel is rated at less power)
I am not sure on this but I think you have to invoke the test tone on the 8200 to adjust the channel levels. Check first.
My vote is for Rotel. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ferran Mazzanti]

@Andrew Pratt,
AFAIK the SR8200 is also firmware upgradable. It comes with an RS232 port that you can connect to... your computer? to do the firmware upgrade. Marantz fans here say that a new firmware is on its way.

 

[ChrisAG]

If I'm not mistaken, firmware implies hardware, i.e. a chip, while the RS232 port in the Marantz allows a software upgrade.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Well you learn something new every day! I didn't know the 8200 was also firmware upgradable. Do you know if it will be free like Rotels? Not to say they won't offer an upgrade but there have been several models in past that were physically capable of being flashed with an upgraded firmware but one was never made available or it was cost probihative. We know that Rotel's already released several free firmwares for its products...again I'm not saying Marantz won't follow though just something to consider.