Marantz SR-7400 vs HK AVR-7200 (1 Viewer)

[Bernie_A]

I thought I was all set to go with the Marantz but then I found out about the "great" deal with the HK. I have read about the remote on the Marantz being a little more than to be desired and some possibe heat issues as well.

I am leaning towards the HK now because of it's realative bargin price and plan on buying in the next day or 2 so what do you think? I am upgrading from an older Pioneer 810 so what can I look forward to with the upgrade over the Pioneer? Any comment or just BS'ing about this would be great.

 

[ChadLB]

I have not heard the HK but have heard the Marantz. To me the Marantz is laid back and lacks in depth. If it was me I would probably take the HK as it is built like a tank and has almost all the inputs/outputs one would need..not saying the Marantz doesn't.
As others would say buy both if you can and return/sell the one you don't like.

 

[Bernie_A]

I am not sure how ethical this may be but here it goes anyway. Does anyone know of a place on the internet where I can buy the HK for under $800, not have to pay tax AND get free shipping?

 

[AndrewErickson]

None of that matters. Go to www.harmankardon.com and look at their list of authorized e-tailers. Then, you go look at each one and purchase from www.onecall.com because they're the best.

 

[Michael__M]

I got mine from OneCall. They even called me last week to make sure I didn't have any problems and was happy with it. That is probably the best customer service I have ever received. $836 shipped in 2 days.

 

[ericLee]

I would go with the HK, it's in a higer class. You would have to look at the 8300 or 9300 to be a proper comparison. The HK has torridal power, and only the 9300 has this on the marantz. I had a marantz (6200,6300) and I did not like the laid back sound at all. You should relly try it out to see if you like it.

 

[Chris Sherman]

Coming from a Pioneer 810 you should find the upgrade to be huge. The receiver is huge and very heavy, around 60lbs I believe. Your gonna know you have one solidly built piece of gear. The sound should be huge as well and should push your speakers effortlessly and without a hint of strain. I believe you will have also have one huge grin on your face evertime you fire it up. I have the AVR 325 and even though it is all I really need I am very tempted by the incredible bargain on the AVR 7200. Enjoy.

 

[Bernie_A]

Well Chris, I did it and you are right on the spot. It is a HUGH piece of equipment....good thing I didn't buy a rack yet because this thing is a beast.

I totally scored on the price. Fry's....open box (unused...it's obvious whoever bought it returned it because it was HUGH and wouldn't fit in their rack....the remotes and power cord plastic covers were un-opened).....I got it for $749 + tax.....$807 OTD....screamin deal IMO.....

Got it home...barely but I think I have a hernia.....Recabled it from the 810 and now I have some opinions...

Let's just say that there is a HUGH difference in the left to right / front to rear with this..it's sooooo much of a smoother / realistic transition that it's not even funny. The Pioneer is not a bad unit though..trust me....it is a very capable pre-pro and would probably do the trick if you amp'd it and never heard a higher end POE...better than my neighbors Bose 1-2-3-4-5-6-or what ever the hell it is.

HOWEVER!!! That being said....there is absolutely NO COMPARISON on the tightness and clarity of the HK....what a beautifull sound....I was almost ready to give up on my Velodyne CT-100 but it's almost like I have a new sub right now. THe Big_V loves this AVR...I can't even explain how much cleaner the LFE is....with the Pioneer it was VERY BOOMY...now..I am starting....STARTING to get the "in the middle of the chest" hit....can we say SVS with dedicated amp as my next upgrade!!! Still, even all that said it's soo much better it's not even funny.

I easily SOLD it to the wifey when I put in Black Hawk Down (yea...it's only DPL but still....) it was very impressive. Can't wait to do DTS and I especially can't wait until I've passed the honors course on how to use the beast so that I don't embarrass it.....I have truely stole a great pre-pro for the $$$$....

POWER: It's okay on the power end. I have not even begun to push it but I can see where I will have to amp it to really appreciate the movie experience....but.....it's my desire to have BANG-BING-BOOM on the heavy stuff while still having tight clear vocals.....I have said before that I don't know why but I do know GOOD when I hear it and this HK is REALLY CLOSE IMO.....It needs some dedicated amps but man, if you didn't know the difference, it's right there...just needs a little ....umpffff......you know what I mean?!

Thanks again to those who clued us in on the bargin to be had.......

Now, just wait.....I will have about 2000 questions on how to optimize this...what a great hobby.....thanks again!!

Bernie

 

[Bernie_A]

Oh....one more thing. I really feel for those who paid $1799 for this unit. THere are 3 stickers on the box for that price and REALLY....it's not fun to be that guy. I just got a great deal that's all. What a great POE.....

Cheers!

 

[Dennis Gardner]

You must have bought a different 7200 than the rest of us. The amps are what most find is the best feature of this AVR with enough power to not need external amping. What amps did you use on your 810? There should be no comparison between the power level of the two if not using externals.

Maybe I am confused on what makes my 7200 sound good, but I didn't think it was the way that the LFE jack performed?
Could this be better crossovers points?

Don't take my questions wrong I just don't understand what you are hearing unless you don't have it optimized at all.

Dennis

 

[aaron campbell]

Last time I checked Black Hawk Down was DD 5.1

Aaron

 

[Bernie_A]

You are correct...it is DD 5.1. My bad....

As far as the power, I guess what I am trying to say is that while I don't listen to movies REALLY loud, I do like to turn it up a bit to feel it and while watching BHD for a few minutes, I had to turn the HK up to past the 30 db level to get it to sound good. Maybe that's just where the power comes on...I don't know. It was just my first impression that there should be more in reserve beyond the 20 db mark but keep in mind, I unwrapped it, cabled it and put a movie in without setting anything up. For all I know all the channels might be set to negative...I don't know so it is probably something I should have kept to myself for now.

The 810 made the sub sound really boomy and with the HK it just sounds MUCH tighter. Again, it was late (and we had a couple of glasses of wine after dinner) and we only played around for a little while just to get some sound out of it.

I've got the day off today so it's set up and learn day today.

Cheers

 

[Michael__M]

If think the H/K goes up to zero and then another 10 on the other side. You may need more speaker to move your room. What speaker setup are you using? The H/K has a fair amount of power.

 

[Bernie_A]

Wow...if that's the case then I didn't even begin to push it's limits at all. Obviously, this thing has more in reserve than I thought.

I have (all Swans) the 5.2's for fronts, the C3 center and 2.1 surrounds w/ the Velodyne 10" sub. I am reading through the manual right now and already found a few things wrong in my quicky setup. So far I love the remote...very easy to use with the OSD.

Cheers.

 

[John Garcia]

I really like Marantz, but in this case, I'd have to say the 7200 is the better deal. I even recommended to a friend of mine who is looking, to head over to Frys and pick one up ASAP.

 

[Bernie_A]

OKAY...now that I have had the day to play with and configure to the best of my ability, this receiver kicks ass! I was being to easy on it last night so when I had it dialed in, I let it rip and wow.....pretty darn nice piece of equipment.

I am not sure why yet but the sub is awsome now. Maybe it's the bass management or higher amp but man, it hits so nice now without the distorted boominess when it was hooked up the 810.

The wife rolled her eyes when I brought it home but after watching a movie this afternoon she was impressed. This reciever has a built in spl in the remote and uses a proprietary function called EZ-Set which will automatically calibrate either 5-channel or 7-channel set-ups. Very nice and very handy.....no guessing if you don't have the right tools. And with Cat5, anyone wanting to do a HTPC could do so easily.

Very impressive and NO...it's not underpowered.....perfect for my 11x16x10 viewing area.

 

[Dennis Gardner]

I'm glad you had a chance to turn it up and enjoy it! It truly is a solid piece of gear.

With big towers up front and smaller rears, I would calibrate the level of each channel with an spl meter. If you have never done this, I would suggest that you find and Avia disk or Video Essentials for this and learn all you can about how to maximize your setup. With the Swans and HKs best, they really deserve to be dialed in properly. I found that doing it manually was much more accurate than the ezset function.

Again, glad you like it,

Dennis