Marantz AV7005 - Page 292

If it ain't broke...

a sad story:

so it seems that Crutchfield has some quirks. UPS tried to deliver my av7005 and left a slip saying that they needed a signature at time of delivery. I realized that there would be no one home tomorrow as well, we work for a living. Cruchfield reports they only require a signature confirmation (note n the door). I looked at the UPS website and found that there was a $5 charge for changing delivery options. I called Crutchfield and they said that they could only have the item sent to a hub which is quite a ways from my house even though there is a UPS store less than a mile from my house. In disgust, I cancelled the transaction and told them to keep the damn thing.

Now buyers remorse kicks in. I can certainly order another, I will be home all week in three weeks and can accept delivery but I keep thinking about the 7701 and its ability to process 4K. Also, the XT32 is reportedly much better than the Audessey on the 7005 but with my ragtag collection of speakers and amps it may not make that much difference.

My screen is a Syntax Olevia 37" (720p) and certainly needs to be replaced but we have other obligations and it will not happen till next spring at the earliest so if I wait a year (6 months further), second generation 4K will be out and I might be able to afford one by then. Decisions! Decisions!

^^^

worrying about 4k is rather pointless...

^^^ Agreed. Can anyone even see the difference between 720p and 1080p? I can't even see it on my 103" projector screen.

I can see the difference sitting 8 feet from my 50" screen.

I've always thought this was over emphasized. I have a projector too and I usually don't know what Hi-def resolution I'm watching without checking. People worrying that they only have 720p on their laptop, small screen, etc. make me scratch my head.

Exactly. So this whole 4k sounds great but is pointless.

My aunt-in-law, who is in her 70s, wants to buy a new 50" flatscreen to watch cable. The people in Best Buy tried to sell her an expensive $1,500 1080p LED model. She ended up after talking to me with a $550 720p plasma.

Finally got ahold of Marantz customer support. The guy knew exactly what was wrong - he told me that the firmware on the networking chip had been corrupted. He gave the procedure to reset the network card (pure direct + up arrow + power) and said if that didn't fix it, the unit would need to be replaced. It didn't fix it. Filling out the RMA form on Amazon now...

Personally, I'd upgrade your display 1st. 720p (768p) or 1080p isn't the issue here. I looked at some of those displays a while back, and their blacks/contrast aren't that great, and the colors aren't accurate either.

And as far as a 4k display goes, what are you going to use for a source? At the moment, there isn't a source that has that high a resolution. IMO, 4k is a marketing gimmick.

Some people are sensitive to the "screen door" effect which can be seen with some projectors and large screens. A 4K projector, if you can afford it, should eliminate that problem. Players, receivers and pre/pros which upscale to 4K or pass it through are readily available. I don't know of any reviews which investigate which devices provide the best upscaling, though.

^^^

selden, the only comparison i saw was on a review of the vpl1000, and the reviewer indicated the 4k processing in the pj was better than that of the onkyo he was using... other than that, i haven't seen much, although i'd imagine there is some commentary in the vpl1000 thread...

for the op... 4k enabled avrs will only become "important" when 4k sources are available... until then, they are completely pointless for people to worry about...

Thanks Kevin but buying a new screen means buying a tv stand as well so if I get a 55 or larger Panny or Samsung, that plus a stand will put me out almost $3K which I cnanot spend right now. I CAN afford a new processor since I just bought a blu-ray player so that is the way I will go. I am just wondering if prices on the 7005 will go down any more now that supplies are starting to dwindle.

well, they will become relevant eventually and we need to consider that it takes several pieces of equipment to accomodate the format. If I get one piece now, then I am partially future proofed.

^^^

heh... trust me on this one... there is no such thing as future proofed, even partially...

and to be completely honest about the relevancy of 4k, it'll never be relevant on a "small screen" (less than 100"), viewed from a relatively close distance*...

buy what you need today.... worry about tomorrow when it comes....

* unless you are a gamer with your nose up against a computer monitor....

I found an authorized dealer in Wisconsin that will sell me the newer 7701 for $1199 after I trade in my av550 which is worth 50 but he is giving me a 150 credit (to get down to 1199). I will pay $25 to ship my old unit to Wisconsin. Awesome!

Do business with Hi Fi heaven- they are offering the av7005 for 1149 and you can haggle. Talk to Jim.

Actually, if you sit close enough you can see it with them too.

If you really want to eliminate SDE, consider getting a Panasonic pj. They have a fantastic technology that they advertise extremely poorly and inaccurately I might add, but boy does it work. "Smooth screen" they call it. You can walk right up to the screen and unless you are like a foot away, you just don't see pixels. I'm on my 4th incarnation of it and I doubt I'll ever abandon the technology which is proprietary to them.

The problem isn't the number of pixels, 1080x1920 is fine for our current sources, the problem is fill factor [the ratio of the pixel area size to the black grid lines which surround each one]. This is a bit off topic but if you'd like a better technical explanation of what it, Smooth Screen does, I can link you to a post I wrote about it which trumps any explanation ever given by Panasonic themselves.
---

Chris is right, 4K is pretty much worthless until the 4K, erm, I mean "Ultra HD" sources arrive, at least with most material.

Ordered my replacement from Amazon (Kraft Street Audio) yesterday and it should arrive on Monday. It wound up being $50 more than I had originally paid for it, but the guys at Kraft Street Audio said they would credit me the difference. Here's hoping the next doesn't have any problems, as it really does sound amazing.

@mz...

i gotta see one of those pannys someday...

post up the link... i think it would be educational to many...

^O.K. Here's what smoothscreen [SS] looks like using one and two pixel wide white lines, photographed just inches away from the projection screen [which is nearly impossible to do without some camera shadow]:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1350410/panasonic-ptae7000-at5000/360#post_20799641

Here's my technical explanation of how they acheive this:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1350410/panasonic-ptae7000-at5000/360#post_20804143

Here's Panasonic's dumbed down explanation with very misleading image graphics [they don't show it happening at the pixel level]:
http://www.panasonic.com/business/projectors/learning_center/lc_ss.asp
Edited by m. zillch - 11/11/12 at 8:52am

^^^

thanks mz... i'll check 'em out...

Here is a serious upgrade to your receivers http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/reference-series/products/xpr5

Then play this and you will see what I mean Iron Maiden "Blood On The Worlds Hands"

wow, 400W per/chan, not bad for the price

I rather have my amp

Received my new AV7005 today and the update went through without a hitch.

yes, I use an A51 as well, love it!

I'm amazed, the AV7005 seems to have received a lot of play on this site, and in many reveiws/articles. Many folks still very interested in this pre-pro unit. Very popular

I'm late to this thread, but if you're still interested in the 7005, I'd check BestBuy clearance. I picked one up for under $900-- with cash back, it's closer to $850. (You can scan clearance in all stores online, though inventory is not always up to date).

I also picked up Aperion's Verus Forte fronts and center to go with the receiver and existing sub and rears.

I did the Audessey set up, but still need to do some tweaking. I noticed that it set my fronts as small. I changed this to large and left crossover set for 60. For movies, it seems that the rear surrounds are at too high a level and center (dialog) is too low. What is the recommended method to correct this? (FWIW- I have a PS3 for cds and blu-ray)

The Verus Forte speakers don't go down low enough to be designated as LARGE, although regardless, even if they were, you would reset them to SMALL as the sub is much more capable of handling the lower level bass. So reset them back to SMALL. Also review the Audyssey 101/FAQ guide linked in my sig as that answers all questions related to Audyssey setup.

yes, I would set fronts, center, and rears to SMALL. Let your sub handle bass. Are you using a sub?

Got a new Av7005 from Outlaw. Hooked er all up, using HDMi for source components, XLR cables to my Outlaw Amp, and a HDMI cable to my Panasonic plasma.

Ran Audessey, it all worked great.

At the end of Audessey it said to remove the mic from the unit. As I was about to remove it, or when I removed it. a somewhat loud buzz started coming from all speakers, except the subwoofer.

After spending 60-90 minutes on the phone with Outlaw (awesome customer service) and doing a LOT of troubleshooting, it seems that if nothing is connected to the 7005 except the XLR cables going to the amp, and then the speaker wires from the amp to the speakers, there is no buzz at the speakers. I turn the 7005 off and connect a HDMI cable to the 7005 (makes no difference if its a rear panel input or either of the two outputs) and there is a very slight buzz. I turn off the 7005 and make another HDMI connection (so now there 2 HDMI cables connected to the rear panel of the 7005) and the buzz is a little louder. I repeat and make a 3rd HDMI connection and the buzz is quite noticeable.

Outlaw had me try a soft reset, and when that did not work, a hard reset. That did not work either. Earlier today I recieved the process to reset the HDMi board. I will be doing that tomorrow.

In the meantime, I am looking for additional support here.....

PS I had an Onkyo PR-SC886 prior to this and everything worked fine.

cp,

Are the pre/pro, amp, TV and all of the input devices plugged into the same power strip?
Making sure they are is one way to avoid noise caused by the different devices being at a different ground potential.

Another possibility is that your cable TV service is improperly grounded.

Unfortunately, I would have expected grounding problems to have caused problems with your Onkyo, too, so there might be something broken in the new pre/pro.