Review: Marantz SR7300 AV Surround Receiver (2 Viewers)

[Lewis Besze]

The myth about the 7200 is ridiculous, and S&V made a correction in their next issue because of that test unit they received.

I must have missed that issue then, which month was it?

 

[JoeyPalmiotti]

-- Kinda a question for all the owners:

I just got in my Marantz SR7300 and I love it! One problem though, it seems like it doesn't detect the "EX" on my dvds (tried out Star Wars Episode 1 and 2, Fight Club, etc). It might detect it but the light "EX" next to the digital front display does not show up at all, I press the ex/es button on the remote but it doesn't indicate its using the back speaker on the front of the receiver even though I did check and sound is coming out of the surround back. Anything I might be doing wrong?

 

[Gene Chan]

Joey's "problem" sounds like a glitch from my end. If there is an "EX" indicator light on the display then it "should" light up when there is a EX encoded signal. I doubt there is a setting that needs to be enabled first.
Love to hear what you sr7300 owners have to say about this...I'm still in research mode

 

[Lewis Besze]

None of those DVD's are encoded with the "flag",so no receiver will detect it.
It's not the receiver's flaw.Yes the soundtarcks are EX encoded,but they don't "communicate" it to the receiving end if you will.Try Atlantis CE, Minority Report,or Jurasic Park III,all those have "flagged" correctly,and should "trigger" the EX decoding,and/or display.

 

[JoeyPalmiotti]

Thanks a bunch for the information!

 

[Chris S]

None of those DVD's are encoded with the "flag",so no receiver will detect it.

I know, stupid question but I'm curious. Is there a way to manually flip on EX decoding when the flag has not been set properly?

Chris S.

 

[JoeyPalmiotti]

I just press the ex/es button and it works, it doesn't light up but I hear information coming out of the surround back speaker.

 

[Miles]

A question for the Canucks,

Marantz seems to be priced much better in my area than Denon... so I'm looking at the 7300ose or the 7300 receivers. Any idea what prices on these receivers are in Canuck-bucks?

Thanks,

Miles

 

[Steve Winkler]

Sale price at A&B Sound for the weekend of Feb.8th and 9th:

$1197CAN. That's with no haggling, straight out of the flyer. My friend just picked up the Sr 4300 on my recommendation for his first foray into HT. Very nice unit for the money, many more features than most comparable models. I am still researching into the 7300 and due to a deal I may be able to swing, it's the front-runner.


Steve

 

[Jeff D.]

Since this thread came back up, thought I'd highlight to everyone the new SR7300 OSE. OSE stands for Original Special Edition. Marantz was famous for their Special Editions and its nice to see the marque make a return.

Basically, this looks very similar to the SR8000, which was basically a tweaked-up SR7000. The OSE model will feature a copper chassis with thicker bottom plate as well as a beefier power supply which not only increases power output by 5 WPC but should also result in much stiffer power figures.

The SR7000 was rated at 100WPC and with all 5 channels driven it dropped to 75. The SR8000 was rated at 105WPC - hardly any difference, but with all five channels driven it dropped to just 100WPC.

Definitely keep an eye on the OSE...it looks to be a very sweet piece.

/Jeff

 

[Pablo Abularach]

Thanks Jeff for the info,

Do you know if the 7300 OSP is already out?

 

[Gene Chan]

I heard the OSE models aren't due out "for a few months". This was in early January so I took that to mean we won't see the OSE's till March-April. Sounds very interesting if Jeff's specs are right.
Jeff, where did you get that information? Do you work for an audio shop?
Regards!

 

[Jeff D.]

Pablo:

I would expect to see the OSE very shortly. It was shown at CES and from my understanding was basically ready.

Gene:

I do work for an audio shop (and we have some OSE's on order) but you can actually find the info on Marantz's website, as it has been posted.

/Jeff

 

[Gene Chan]

Thanks Jeff! I tried accessing the MarantzUSA site last night be it seems their server was down. I'll try again today...I hope some one does a review of the new OSE receivers soon after they are available. Like to hear some impressions and see some numbers.
Later...

 

[Ed Teng]

Hi Joey,

Regarding your problem with "EX" flag on the SR7300, I had similar problem as well.

My fix was simple: skip forward the chapter (eg. to Chapter 2) on the disc, then skip backward (to Chapter 1). The "EX" flag will turn on. At least, it works all the time for my case.

Hope this helps.

 

[skip marr]

Nice to hear from a Marantz employee...how long have you worked for the company??

 

[Miles]

I got some CDN$ quotes for the 7300 and the 7300ose... The particular store was asking ~$1200 for the 7300 and ~$1500 for the 7300ose. So, that's a pretty major price diff...

Just an FYI

Miles

 

[Gene Chan]

Thanks for the FYI Miles! But I don't wouldn't consider $300.00 Cdn as a "major" price difference. That and those prices are negotiable. Or should be. So in the end I think $300.00 is no biggie. I'd definitely opt for an OSE version over the standard.
Now when will we see the OSE versions for the sr8300/sr9300? Love to know the pricing for those models too...guess we'll have to wait a few more months for those...
Regards.

 

[Jeff D.]

Now when will we see the OSE versions for the sr8300/sr9300?

I doubt we will see those. The 7300 OSE was designed to fill a gap, methinks. In the series before the x200 series, Marantz had the SR7000 at $1K, the SR8000 at $2K and the SR19 at $2800 (all Cdn prices). With the x200 series, a gap was beginning, with the SR7200 at $1500 and then the SR8200 at $2800. Now the 7300 is $1300 and the 8200 still at $2800 (and I assume its replacement will be as well). The OSE was designed to replace the SR8000 and fill in that gap slightly. As I mentioned before, the SR8000 was essentially a tweaked out version of the SR7000.
/Jeff

 

[Gene Chan]

Hello all!
I'm sorry I can't recall exactly where I read it but it was a credible source. Magazine? Online? I'll let everyone know when I come across it again. But it did say there WILL be OSE versions of the sr8300 and sr9300. In the coming months. Let's hope this is true. I would love to see a OSE of the sr9300 as I'd like to buy receiver with 7-ch of amplification for DTS ES (using 2 rear-center surround spkrs...Yes, I do know DTS ES is spec'd as "6.1").
Later ppl!