Marantz SR-7200 vs SR-7000 (1 Viewer)

[Rob_b]

I currently have the Marantz SR-7000. I am looking to upgrade to the SR-7200 because of DPII and component switching. Has anyone compared the two receivers? I have read on (audioreview.com) that the 7200 does not have the same power as the 7000. Can anyone confirm this? If you own the 7200 can you recommend it?

Thanks

Receiver will be driving the following speakers!

paradigm Ref 80

paradigm Ref CC

paradigm Ref ADP

 

[Tom Morgan]

I have the 7200 and I have not had a problem with it. Do a search here and you will find some bad reviews about the quality. I must have been lucky because I do not have any problems with the s-video or the noise or lack of power or muting problems others have reported. I love the sound and the DPLII and the CS5.1 modes. It sounds real good with DVD-A. For the money I am impressed. I would like to warn you that you should try it at the dealer to check for the problems others have seen. If it is like mine though I think you will be pleased.

 

[John Garcia]

I have an SR-6200 and an SR-4000. I like them both, but I honestly feel the 4000 sounds better for music with 35wpc less. Since the x200 does not have the adjustable DPL-II, I don't really think it's that much of an upgrade. The 6.1 is worth it though. I am not overly impressed DPLII for music, but it is not bad for movies. CS5.1 does a better job than PLII, IMO. I would say to go from a 7000 to a 7200 would not be an extremely worthwhile upgrade for the things you mentioned. With those speakers, I would suggest an 8200 or 9200, because you would then be stepping up in power. If you will use a separate amp, then it probably doesn't matter too much, but I would say the 7000 is already a very nice receiver.

 

[Dalton]

I have owned both of these receivers. The 7000 is the better sounding receiver. The 7200(IMHO) isn't much of an upgrade. I wish i had kept the 7000 for my bedroom system. I would look at the 8200 if you can swing it. The 8200 would be a significant upgrade from the 7000. Also, if you are not going to run a 7.1 setup, then look at adding an outboard amp to your receiver. A good amp will make a HUGE difference. Just check This thread to read what a seperate amp can do for sound quality.
Take Care,
Dalton

 

[John Garcia]

You didn't meniton if 6/7.1 was a requirement. If it is, I would definitely look at the 8200. I'm actually thinking about upgrading to one from my 6200, eventhough the 6200 has plenty of power for my application.

 

[Chris PC]

Refresh my memory, does the SR 8200 have a MAIN-OUT/MAIN-IN loop? For inserting a crossover? I know the SR 8200 is THX right, so it at least has the 80 hz crossover, but that loop would be nice too for setting FRONT=LARGE & SUB=NO and inserting a simple crossover there, routing the low end to the subwoofer at your personally desired frequency.

 

[Fred DeGrandis]

Rob,
I have basically the same setup you have besides for the rears(I have the 20s). I also have a SR7000. You think these sound good now, add a 5 channel power amp! Trust me, I was blown away when I added my Sherbourn 5/1500A to the mix.
A 5 channel power amp doesnt have to be really expensive(if you know where to shop). Drop me an email, and I will be more than happy to help. I wrote a pretty extensive review recently, and I will also be happy to sare that with you as well. Email me at: [email protected]
Just an update for the already happy Sherbourn people:
I spoke with Ron Fone today, and he told me"The new pre/pro/tuner should be available in early May with a retail price of $1500.00. As soon as we have some printed material I will send it to you."
I cant wait for this, as I said before, I am running the Marantz SR7000 as a PRE/PRO until this sucker is released.

 

[John Garcia]

I remember a discussion about the main in/out loop, and I don't remember what came of it. The 5200 and up have full analog preamp ins, and outs, but I don't think that is what you are talking about Chris.

 

[Cary P]

Rob,

I also have owned both of these receivers, and have used both as a pre-pro for my front three channels, with the internal amps driving the surround speakers. The only QC problem I've had with my SR7200 is the S-Video sync issue, but there are a few other quirks with this receiver that make me miss the SR7000 from time to time.

One thing I noticed right away, is that the OSD menus are not readable from the front panel display of the SR7200 as they are on the SR7000. This forces one to use the TV screen for any adjustments, when before I could make adjustments by using just the front display of the SR7000. This is inconvenient if I am listening to music through one of the 7200's surround modes and the TV is off. It is also distracting when I am watching TV and the OSD menu comes up and blocks out the screen. I prefer doing my initial setup with the OSD and making on the fly adjustments using the front panel display, and I can't do that with the SR7200. Does anyone know if the SR8200 works this way as well?

Another inconvenience is that you can't set the channel levels on the SR7200 for individual inputs and surround modes. It seems that the channel levels are set globally on the SR7200 and have to be constantly changed manually to my preferences for different inputs and surround modes. This is a real step back from the functionality of the SR7000, IMO, where I could set a specific surround mode and channel level setting for a given input and forget about it. I can't believe Marantz left this feature out when it existed before. Again, does anyone know if the SR8200 works this way?

I also miss the red lights on the SR7000 indicating the number of channels being processed. The SR7200 does have little indicators that show this, but they are hard to read from much more than about 4 feet away. With the SR7000, I could always tell at a glance if my sound source was in 5.1 or 2.0, or even 1.0.

Sound wise, I feel the SR7200 measures up to the SR7000, but I'm not using it's internal amps for my front channels, so I cannot really judge if the power is lacking in comparison. I think with Paradigm Ref 80's you'd be better off with external amps anyway.

The main reason I upgraded to the SR7200 was to get DPLII and some of the other new surround modes, as well as the sixth amplifier channel, and the 192kHz/24 bit DAC's. But given the quality control issues that have been reported as well as some of the quirks I have described above, you might be better off waiting for something better to come along. I sometimes wonder if I would have been better off upgrading to the SR8200, but I'm not sure if it is worth the extra $700-$800, as I think the 8200 might have some of the same issues - I would like to get some feedback on this. One thing about the 7000/7200 I really like is the remote - I prefer it's look and feel to the touchscreen models on Marantz' upscale receivers.

What I would really like to do is upgrade my SR7200 to an updated version of Marantz' AV9000 pre-pro, but I'm about ready to give up any hope that Marantz' will ever release a new pre-pro (AV9200?) to replace this model.

Cary

 

[Dennis B]

Another inconvenience is that you can't set the channel levels on the SR7200 for individual inputs and surround modes. It seems that the channel levels are set globally on the SR7200 and have to be constantly changed manually to my preferences for different inputs and surround modes.

This is THE major problem I see with my 7200, which fortunately doesn't have any of the other problems. I don't know, it seems that like Microsoft everybody is making their products easier to use by 'automating' them, but that pisses us fanatics off...