Marantz SR-6200 review (1 Viewer)

[Charles J P]

I have posted my review of my new Marantz SR-6200 receiver on my website. Visithttp://www.hometheaterfanatic.com
e-mail me: [email protected]
My DVD Profiler
Paradigm Lover

 

[RyanL]

Excellent! Glad you like it, especially while matched with the paradigm speakers. I've been waiting for this review. Thanks.

 

[Lucas Hale]

I'm having trouble accessing your site (browser says "Action Canceled"). Is it down?

 

[Ed_A]

Thanks for the review of the 6200. Any performance comparison comments versus other receivers you auditioned? (Denon 3801/2801, Marantz SR7000/8000)
How much did you pick up the 6200 for?
I haven't seen any retail prices for it...so I have no idea where the pricing even starts.
Thanks,
Ed

 

[Chris S]

The SR-6200 retails for $749.99, but I'm sure that that price can be worked with a little. Chris
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Home Theater: http://www.ig-88.net

 

[Charles J P]

The website should be up, but it may be a firewall deal on your end. Some of my friends can access it from home, but not from work. It is running off my own PC running web server software. Normal will be $750, but I paid $680. They were having $50 off to promote the new line, and then I made them take another $20 off because they had opened the box to show another customer.
The only performance comments I would add would be very subjective. I have heard the SR-7000 and it sounds pretty much the same as the 6200. I think the 7200 is going to combine the 7000 and 8000 features into one, so the 6200 has closer specs to the previous SR-7000 than it does to the SR-5000 (there was not an SR-6000). As far as comparison to the Denon, I never heard it with my own speakers, so I cant comment too much, but I heard it with klipsh speakers and it sounded pretty harsh. This may be the speakers though. I also heard the Onkyo 787 with my speakers. I liked it, but I liked the warmer marantz amps even better. I wont say they sound tube-like because thats way too cliche, but I will say that they are warmer and more laid back but the do not lack any detail either. I think they are not as laid back as the Pioneer Elites, which can lack detail if not used with the right speakers.
I will probably add some of this info to my review on the web too. Try lowering the security settings on your browser temporarily and try the site again. I would be dissapointed to know that many people cannot reach it

Thanks for the comments guys.
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My Website: Link Removed
e-mail me: [email protected]
My DVD Profiler
Paradigm Lover

 

[Lucas Hale]

Could you possibly post the text of the review here for those of us who can't access the review due to web restrictions beyond our control? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

 

[Charles J P]

I wrote first part of this review as I listened to Dave Matthews Band new Everyday CD and the second half after I watched The Perfect Storm on my new Marantz SR-6200 receiver. It seems like as long as I can remember being into home theater Marantz has always produced products that sounded great but have very few features. Well I guess they finally decided to combine the two aspects. Their new line of receivers seems to have all of the latest bells and whistles and from my experience sound great to boot. I opted for the SR-6200 out of the new pool of Marantz receivers trickling into stores late this summer because I wanted to apply what would have been a pretty good price difference between it and the 7200 towards a new Philips Pronto.
I will start out listing the relevant specs and how they affected my opinion of the receiver.
Power: 105 watts X 6 channels – This has to be an understatement. I think a lot of people on my budget aren’t used to a receiver that actually puts out anywhere near what it claims. It becomes clear pretty quickly that this thing has power to spare. It sounds great in two channel source direct mode with my Paradigm Monitor 7s. Bass is strong without a sub, which is a good indication of powerful amps. I’m a little bummed that Marantz isn’t including 7 channel amps, although it is 6.1 and we didn’t see a lot of manufacturers including 6 channel amps on 5.1 receivers. Also, I am pretty sure the amps are beefy enough to drive two speakers off the rear channel. There is only one discrete rear center channel so I guess it’s not really missing anything.
Decoding: DTS-ES discrete, 6.1 channel matrix (DD and DTS compatible), Dolby ProLogic II, SRS Circle Surround, 5/6 channel stereo and a few DSPs like Hall, Stadium etc. – Could you ask for any more decoding power? ProLogic II was worth the wait since May when I graduated from college and have been looking for a new receiver. The jury is still out on the music mode, but the movie mode will bring life to your VHS collection as well as cable TV and DVDs of older movies or TV series. My DVD of the mini-series Merlin with Sam Neil sounds like it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 even though it’s a ProLogic track. All of the rest of the decoding sounds fabulous – clear dialog, great impact and dynamics – but, I am coming off of using a weak DD-ready receiver with decoding done by my Toshiba DVD player so take that for what its worth. I will say that having been waiting since May to make my purchase, I have had time for a lot of demos, and the combination of amps and decoding on this unit is pretty sweet.
Learning remote: This thing is a joke. Sorry, but it’s true. The buttons are laid out in a perfect grid, with all of the buttons spaced evenly and they are all the same shape except the two volume buttons. On top of that there is no back lighting and not even any glow keys. Impossible to use without squinting at the remote to find the right button although I suppose it would get better after you become a little familiar with the layout. On the plus side it has a lot of learning capability. You can basically learn to any button that is not reserved as a constant that you would need to control the amp (Surround mode buttons, etc.)
The ins and outs: Inputs and outputs are plenty for a mid-level system. I believe it has four assignable digital inputs (two of each flavor) and one of each output. I personally can’t imagine needing more inputs, but like I have said, this is my opinion.
Tuner: Pretty good. That is to say, strong stations come in very well and the sound is pretty darn good, but weaker stations are, well… weak. One thing that bugs me about how this is setup, is the way station presets are stored and handled. The first step for storing a new preset and the first step for recalling one are the same. Thus when you push a given preset button on the remote, the receiver doesn’t know if you are going to store a new station to that preset number or if you want it to switch to that station, so it waits three seconds before doing anything. Who the heck thought that up?
All-in-all, this receiver is going to give the new models from Pioneer Elite, Denon, and Onkyo a run for the money. The movies and music I have played with so far have sounded absolutely fantastic. The receiver is easy to setup and use, the price is good, and the quality is top notch. Finally I can give a thumbs-up to Marantz.
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My Website: Link Removed
e-mail me: [email protected]
My DVD Profiler
Paradigm Lover

 

[GregoryK]

Charles
Thanks for your review, it was quite helpful since I am looking at the Marantz receivers to go with my Paradigms as well. I have a feature question for you; it wasn't mentioned in your review and my local dealer didn't know the answer. Maybe you know.
- What video switching capabilities does the 6200 have? i.e., can it upconvert composite input to S-video output? Can it downconvert component input to S-video output?
Thanks for any info you have.
/Greg