The Official Marantz SR7005 Receiver Page!! - Page 15

A couple of things I've been wondering -- sorry if these are simplistic or have already been answered (I'm having trouble keeping track of which feature/limitation goes with which AVR lately ):


- If I wanted to bi-amp my L/R mains with this amp, how many zones would I be left with?

- Can the zones be fed audio from different sources simultaneously, or do they just repeat the program playing though the main zone?

The manual is annoyingly unclear on this. Essentially, you can use the two channels of the "back surround/amp assign" speaker terminals for one of four purposes:

-7.1 in zone 1
-5.1 in zone 1 and bi-amping your front speakers
-5.1 in zone 1 and power zone 2 speakers
-5.1 in zone 1 and power zone 3 speakers

You have 3 zones no matter what, but it comes down to whether the receiver powers your zone 2/3 speakers or if you use the zone 2/3 analog line-outs with self-powered speakers. I have my SR7005 set to 5.1 in zone 1, power my zone 2 speakers, and line out to a set of self-powered speakers in zone 3. The iPhone app is pretty useful for controlling your other zones when you are in different rooms.

You can play different sources simultaneously on the different zones, but zones 2 and 3 can only use sources from analog or optical inputs. HDMI sources can only be played on zone 1.

BTW, I also use Totem speakers in my setup. I have three Tribe 1's in front and two Mask in-walls for surround with a REL T2 sub. I'm really happy with the sound.

Thanks very much for clearing that up.

I think I can live with those restrictions easily enough as my zones aren't going to be anywhere where people are going to be doing any critical listening; some decent self-powered speakers should be just fine.

You've indirectly brought up another item I've been wondering about: the web/IP control features.

I don't have an iPhone/iTouch, but I do tend to have a computer in any of the main areas of the house (certainly anywhere that would end up being a 'zone'), and my N900 is a computer that's always in my pocket...

How comprehensive is the web app? Is it basically the same interface as Denon has implemented on their AVRs? Does it provide access to all menus/settings? Any annoying limitations?

Any info about that would really be appreciated

The Web app isn't anything to get excited about. Unless you had it on a tablet like an iPad!

Has anybody gotten the media center to work with a fairly large collection?

Care to elaborate?

The Nokia N900 I use is a bit like an iPad in that it's a pocketable computer that would allow me to access the web app from anywhere in my house...

So should I get excited about it or not?

BingleyJoe - Yeah - you'll like it.

Although the remote accomplishes essentially the same thing.

Cool, thanks.

As long as I can control basic functions like source, output and volume over the network, I'm happy -- if the control goes deeper than that, I'll be ecstatic.

Joe - it does go deeper - you can access the Net/USB menu and the iPod menu from the web interface.

That's great!

90% certain I'm going to be buying one of these today -- thanks for all your help, folks

I'll be sure to post my impressions once I've had this beauty in my hands for a bit.

In case people are interested there is a review on the Marantz SR7005 AVR in Home Theater Magazine (Jan 2011, pp.48-50) by Mark Fleischmann.

"Scores":
Performance: 5/5
Features: 5/5
Ergonomics: 4.5/5
Value: 5/5


W/channel @ 8ohms @ 0.1% distortion @ X channels driven continuously:
2 ch = 121.5 W
5 ch = 91.2 W
7 ch = 74.6 W


Mike

^Is there an online version of that? Is it on the newstand now? Do you subscribe to the magazine and just received it in the mail?

Thanks.

Like I said, I replaced a Denon AVR-5803A, and I'm very happy with the Marantz.

Definitely has a Denon "feel", which I consider a good thing.

My only nit is that the remote sensor is sensitive to angles. I had to "aim" my Marantz toward the seating area a little bit. Definitely not a deal breaker, but I wanted you to know about it.

Ok - One more nit - the Media Server function won't work if you have > 10K songs. I got around this by setting up playlists with WMP and accessing the playlists thru the Marantz. Of course, I also have my PC connected via coax digital, so I have full access there.

Interesting.. I have just under 10K songs, so I'll have to keep an eye on things to see if/when it breaks. Hopefully that's a limitation a firmware update can fix.

I went down to buy an SR7005 today, but it appears as though they're out-of-stock on a grand scale -- I'll be waiting at least a week or so to get mine.. probably going to go insane from anticipation

Has anybody hooked up their PC via HDMI sucessfully?

i'd take a wag that it's likely 10,240 songs...

i wouldn't hold my breath for a firmware update to change it...

Me either. I actually have issues when I limit it to a couple thousand songs.

Fortunately, the direct PC hookup OR the trusty XBOX 360 media player both work great.

I was kind of thinking maybe the AirPlay update would sort that out, but I suppose they might not take large libraries into account when testing it (is 10K tracks even considered a large library any more? Most people I know are in that same ballpark).

But I suppose AirPlay traffic goes from the computer to the receiver, not the other way around, so it only needs to be able to handle one track at a time.. unless a requirement of being AirPlay compatible is that devices also look for 'shared' iTunes libraries (does anyone know?). Ah well, I suppose nothing is certain.. still, a boy can dream, can't he

^^^

airplay will work, because the avr doesn't care how big an itunes library is on the source device (it can't care about it, it has no way of "knowing" the itunes library is even there)... it only sees a stream of data (i.e. one track at a time)...

given the way the airtunes protocol works...

- airplay is "passive" on the avr... it responds to the source (data is pushed to it), it doesn't poll them (asks the source constantly if it has data to be delivered)...

- if you use an airport express (or appletv strictly as a streamer) to stream music from itunes to an avr today, you are familiar with this process... you define the ax/atv as a "speaker" in itunes/airtunes, and you push data to it...

- "looking for the shared itunes libraries" would be a function of the sending source, not the avr...

you can think of "airplay" on an avr as simply being an avr with the airport express "built into it"... keep in mind that airplay does not mean "run itunes on the avr".... airplay means "wirelessly stream music from a source running itunes"...

hth...

Yes.

That's all what Airplay is? Big deal... My current solutions work better without that horrible software called iTunes.

What makes 10 * 2^10 a significant number?

AJ

Yup! Works great.

Two quick questions that maybe someone out there might know. First, are the SR7005 and AV7005 the same except that the SR has amplification? It seems like something must have been left out of the receiver for only the $100 price difference.

Second, with the SR7005, can it be configured to run 7.1 with external amps for the front and center and use the internal amps for the sides and surrounds? If it runs in this fashion, can you bridge the amps to provide more power to the other channels?

Keep in mind that airplay devices (i.e. AppleTV, Denon/Marantz receivers) can receive audio not only from iTunes, but you can "push" audio from any iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iTouch). You simply start playing a song in the iPod app or another audio app such as Pandora and there is an icon on the screen to send the audio to the Airplay device instead. You obviously don't need iTunes for this.

Also, you can use the Apple "Remote" application on your iOS device to pull songs from your iTunes library and push them to the receiver/AppleTV. You don't have to physically use iTunes as long as it's running on your pc at the time. Of course, you need an iTunes library in the first place for this.

The third option for sending music to the Airplay device is just what you mentioned - streaming straight from the iTunes software to the Airplay device by clicking an icon to switch the audio from your pc to the Airplay speaker (i.e. your receiver).

I've used all of the above options with the AppleTV and I would expect the Denon/Marantz units to behave the same once the update is made available.

Thanks for the explanation!

I kind of figured that it only worked as a simple 'push' (although the different ways to push that jkozlow3 outlines make it fairly interesting from that regard).

It's a shame though that discovery of shared libraries isn't a component of AirPlay compatibility for devices not running iTunes, but which have the capability of displaying playlists, tracks, album art, etc.. Hopefully they'll broaden the standard at some point to allow for that, since it would be a great feature to have.

The av7005 has XLR outputs.

That reminds me -- how does the 7005 fare as a pre-pro?

Can you turn off the amps like you can in the Denon 4311?

Are the pre-outs always live?


(I probably need to start spending my waiting time with the manual )

It's nice that I can stream directly from my iPhone to my stereo. I use it often. Plus, when my friends come over and want to share some music with me, they can just connect to my system and play music directly. Good stuff.

in and of itself, it's not significant...

but in terms of addressability, it would make sense...