# Marantz SR6004 impressions



## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

Greetings and Salutations,
I thought I would share some general early impressions of my new toy. I had to look at replacing my high end Proceed AVP pre-amp and didnt want to spend another $5K on something of that magnitude at this time. So I decided a receiver would work for the short term in my family room where my HiFi is currently shoe horned. Eventually, the HiFi will be residing in my living room with a projection system for a dedicated Home Theater/listening room and the receiver will permanently reside in the family room with the Plasma in a theater wall unit.

It should be noted that Im only using the unit's pre-amp outputs and not the internal amps for my system at this time, so I cant comment on the amplifier section. Associated equipment includes;
Linn 5140's run active with Linn 5105 amps for L & R
Linn 5120 center run passive through a Linn LK 100 amp Bi-wired
REL Storm III Subwoofer
JBL Dipole surround speakers
Adcom 6000 amp running the surround & Zone 2 outdoor speakers
Linn Karik CD transport fed via coax digital & analog
Marantz DV-8400 DVD, SACD player fed coax digital & DVI to HDMI 
Pioneer BDP-120 Blue Ray player via HDMI
Panasonic TC-54G10 Plasma TV
Direct TV HD DVR fed via HDMI

The appearance of the new curved face is clean and functional, and a nice departure from the flat, thick aluminum faces of most receivers. It has only a power button and 2 big knobs on the face, one volume, one input selection. There's a flip down cover that hides a row of function buttons, and aux inputs including a USB port. The remote is a backlit learning remote with an LCD screen. My only gripe here is the writing is so small that I have to hunt up the reading glasses so my aging eyes can read the labels. The Japanese people must have great eyes is all I can say. I guess I should have eaten more seafood in the past.

So Ive had SOME time to play with it and tweak it to the room. I chose a receiver for the HDMI in/outputs for the TV as only the expensive Processors have them at this time. First off, hook up is a breeze using digital and HDMI cables. I was amazed at the pile of interconnects I had left over from my Proceed. Then when I had everything hooked up, I went to fire it up and NO remote control. I tried everything I could come up with, to no avail. To make a long story short, it turned out to be the setting on the bluetooth module that disabled the remote control . Since I have no bluetooth equipped devices that I want to play into my system, I unhooked it and left it out.

Initial set up. 
I used the Audessy Multi EQ to set it up to the room. That was easy and brought better results than my own attempts. My local HiFi guru told me that I probably wouldn't like the Audessy settings over my own. That was the case for all but the "flat " settings. I prefered it to my initial adjustments or the other Audessy adjustments. Fortunately, the unit comes with an 9 band digital EQ built in, which makes it easy to check your results or tweak the settings. 

Right off the bat, I have to say Im very impressed with this unit. It sounds really tight, neutral with no added sound of its own and suprisingly close to my old Proceed. I cant say that I could give this an apples for apples test here because the Proceed has NO tone controls at all, damned purest engineers! It plays analog very good and its not half bad at digital processing either. I'm using a Linn Karik as my transport for CD and using the Marantz's Digital conversion proved to sound better than the Kariks's internal conversion, but not as good as the Proceed or a Nuemerik D to A converter. That was the one area where there is no comparison to my Proceed. It has a very good clarity in the upper mid range and treble region without any artificial sheen or sibilance that is so common with bad D to A conversion, but it cant hang with the Proceed in this department. But then again, the AVP was a benchmark product at the time for bringing high end D to A conversion to an affordable processors. It used Mark Levinson D to A chips that were available only in their top of the line pre-amps and stand alone converters back then. Still, it hung in there very well for a unit costing 1/5th the price.

It has the most common Surround formats, and I haven't had the time to check out & tweak each one. It plays stereo playback very well, but Im not sure how much of this is related to the receiver or the active 5140's and the rest of the system. Of the surround modes, I find myself going back to PLII music and NEO 6 modes. Maybe with some tweaking, I will like some of the other modes too.

Video processing and upconversion is very good, although admittedly I have relatively little experience to judge this. But playing DVD's through the unit was a pleasant experience. It brought the picture quality up to a very watchable, albeit inferior picture to Blue Ray. I compared it to a straight feed into my 54" Panasonic Plasma for comparison and was quite pleased with the difference. When I hooked up the Blue Ray player up to the TV directly, I could see no noticeable difference to the signal as compared to being fed through the receiver. My old school Pioneer Laser Disc player finally shot craps, so I couldn't give it the acid test for up conversion. All in all, I've read that some receivers do a slightly better job of upconversion, but this receiver left me with no disappointments in this area.

The receiver features a Zone 2 and 3 feature that met my needs at the time of purchase. But I found one of the compromise for the price point issues here. It seems that Zone 2 will only run using analog inputs, and Zone 3 will use digital inputs, but has no volume control, which I assume is for a straight feed using a dedicated multi room system - too rich for my blood. Since I only need zone 2, it was back to the cable pile for analog cables for the different players I use for outdoor playback. Once I got these hooked in, the 2nd zone worked great with no issues. 

I look forward to getting more time to play with this unit and tweak some of the other settings. I have yet to set up the tuner, although FM in Phoenix is nothing to write home about. The M-DAX feature is said to bring back some of the dynamics lost on XM, Sirius and MP3 formats, which I have yet to play with. I guess you have to hook it up first, HA! As I get older, it gets harder to find the time to sit down and play with my new toys like I used to. 

All in all, I chose Marantz over Denon & Pioneer for their dedication to music reproduction. My belief is that if you get the music reproduction right, film soundtracks are a given. I have owned a couple of different Onkyo receivers in the past, but reliability issues had me leary of looking at them again, although they have received many good reviews as well. But once you've been burned,.... And I have the above Marantz DVD player as well as an older Marantz DVD930 that haven't missed a beat for many, many years. They have sold me on their quality control as well as their musical reproduction. The MSRP of the SR6004 is 1250.00 and is well within the range of a bargain for great sound, category, in my opinion. What else can I say, but I highly recommend this receiver.


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## drocpsu (May 3, 2005)

nice review, thanks for the info! I've always been interested in picking up a Marantz receiver and I like the looks of the new curved faces on them.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

THanks. I bet Ive read at least 100 reviews over the years, but this is my first written review. I wish I had more time to check out the rest of the various features before I wrote it, but time is a tough thing to come by. 

One note of caution if you decide to buy a Marantz product. They are strict on warantee coverage, so buy it authorized. But there are some good authorized discounters on the web that will save you a buck and it'll be covered if something goes wrong. But for sound quality and reliability, its hard to go wrong with Marantz.


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## poochieone (Aug 25, 2005)

Great review!
I must say I agree with your sentiments. I purchased the SR5004 and am extremely happy with it as well. I simply love the speed and functionality of the interface... very user friendly once you read the manual (although these units are known for not having the most features compared to the competition, its still quite a trip to learn how to use so many features). 
regards,
Marco


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## blue150 (Jan 2, 2010)

Great review.....very informative.

I own many Marantz products. The reason for this is as you said they are great for musical reproduction. 

Marantz products I own include:

SR-18 reciever (1999)
SR-8000 reciever (2001)
Marantz 2325 reciever (1976)
cc-3000 5 disc cd player


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

Marantz 2325. Now that brings back memories! I had a 2275 many years ago, wish I would have kept it.


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## blue150 (Jan 2, 2010)

2275 was a great reciever.....I don't think Marantz made a bad reciever or product for that matter....before the 80's anyway. They should never have sold the company.

I came across my 2325 about 7 years ago, cleaned it up and it has been great ever since. You can still find them but they are a little pricey.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

I've had great luck with my Marantz gear over the years. I was a little concerned seeing the Made in China badge on the back, but what can you do these days? Besides, my SACD player has held up great and hopefully, their quality control is good. WIth a 3 year waranty, they must feel comfortable about the Chinese assembly line .


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## blue150 (Jan 2, 2010)

I agree.....As long as the original design is still coming out of Japan and the quality control is carefully taken care of, the product shouldn't suffer. 

My SACD player is a Denon (dvd-2900). I wish I had a Marantz. The Denon is a great product and I have zero complaints about it.....I just like it when my stuff matches. The Denon also gives me DVD-A. 

I would love to get my hands on the new Marantz UD9004 universal player....
But at $6000 I can wait a few years and pick it up used.


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## stoeszilla (Jul 9, 2007)

Speaking of Marantz, is this a good deal:

Marantz® SR3001 Dolby® Digital Surround Sound EX™/DTS® ES Receivers


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

Id love to upgrade to the ud9004 too, but Im too B.D.D. (budget deficiency disease) these days. I do hope to look at the Oppo player soon as its a Blue Ray, SACD, DVD-A ♠combo player too. Reasonably priced and favorably reviewed.

Stoezilla, great find on the SR3001. If you dont want/need HDMI, it should fill the bill nicely.


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## stoeszilla (Jul 9, 2007)

I must admit, my "home theater" set-up uses 10+ year old technology (36" sony tube, 2 ch stereo) but having the HDMI option might be nice (wish I'd thought a little more on the future when I bought that tv, thing still works though)

Drat! the SR3001 is sold out, snooze I looze...


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## blue150 (Jan 2, 2010)

> I must admit, my "home theater" set-up uses 10+ year old technology (36" sony tube, 2 ch stereo) but having the HDMI option might be nice (wish I'd thought a little more on the future when I bought that tv, thing still works though)
> 
> Drat! the SR3001 is sold out, snooze I looze...


Don't do what I did when picking a reciever....Make sure you know what you want first. I am sure you will eventually upgrade some of your old equipment so make sure your reciever will be able to compliment those choices. Good things come to those that wait



> Id love to upgrade to the ud9004 too, but Im too B.D.D. (budget deficiency disease) these days. I do hope to look at the Oppo player soon as its a Blue Ray, SACD, DVD-A ♠combo player too. Reasonably priced and favorably reviewed.
> 
> Stoezilla, great find on the SR3001. If you dont want/need HDMI, it should fill the bill nicely.


I too have heard a lot of good things about that oppo player....I think you can only buy through the internet....not sure. I will probably never even see a ud9004.......owning one is only a wish for me.


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## DS-21 (Apr 16, 2005)

Does it have MultEQ XT or just MultEQ?

I like Marantz gear, too. However, I do have to note that I could not tell any difference at all between my last separates rig (Marantz AV-600 pre/proc, Adcom amps) and a ~$300 Panasonic SA-XR55 receiver.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

The SR6004 has Multi EQ only. It doens't have XT. It does have the Height but not the width speaker configuration. 

As for your comment that you couldn't tell any difference between your seperates gear and a Panny receiver, I'd think the law of diminishing returns comes into play. As technology improves, the gaps between yesterday's high end gear and today's mass market gear gets narrower. I could tell differences in the pre-amp section of the SR6004 and the Proceed, but as I mentioned, the differences were much more subtle than I had expected.


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## DS-21 (Apr 16, 2005)

Height and width are DSX, not MultEQ. The difference between MultEQ and MultEQ XT is that the resolution of the XT room correction is much higher.

And I would hope you could hear a difference between the Marantz and Proceed! Unless your room is basically perfect, the Marantz should be clearly audibly superior due to the Audyssey MultEQ.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

I could heat the difference on analog sources, as you say, due to room correction. Where the Proceed really out shined the Marantz was on D to A conversion. The clarity, transient response and overall dynamics with the Proceed were much better than the SR6004. It was most obvious on areas like this where tonal balance did not come into play.


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## fej (Feb 8, 2006)

Thanks for the review, I have been looking at the 6003 and 6004 to replace my Yamaha 2600 (purchased the year before HDMI became the standard). 

How is the upconverting on the unit? More specifically, does the unit "step on" the 1080P signal or does it leave it alone? I am looking at the Oppo Bluray unit as well, as I love my 981, I just don't want the video signal to take a step down through the receiver. I guess I could just send it audio only if I had to, but I would prefer to send one clean cable out to the TV if I can.

Thanks for the info


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

If there was any video signal degradation, I sure couldn't see it. It may show up on a projection system, but it looked good on my 54" Panasonic plasma. It does HDMI pass through on 1080p signals and I couldn't tell the difference from hdmi fed direct to the TV vs. fed through the receiver. 

I've read that the upconversion from 480i to 1080p was only average compared to other receivers, but it still looked pretty good to my inexperienced eyes. There was a big improvement from the DVI to HDMI (from my DV8400) through the receiver vs. fed direct into the TV on standard DVD's. One thing that I don't like about it is there are no S-video inputs on the back of the receiver, but there is one on the front - go figure. 

There is a review of it in this month's Home Theater magazine if your looking into it. In hind sight, if you don't care about the new face style, 10 more wpc, and bluetooth, the SR6003 should give you all the performance where it counts and save you a few bucks in the process. But I cant emphasize it enough, buy authorized for warranty protection. Otherwise, they will leave you holding the bag if you have a problem.


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