Marantz SR6006 or Yamaha A1010BL both open box?

Hello members,

This past week, I picked up an open box Marantz SR6006 at Best Buy for a pretty good price and set it up using Audyssey Mult-EQ XT and can tell a big difference to the Onkyo 609 I had before. The setup was definitely not as straight forward as I would have liked and the remote is definitely not very user friendly. Anyhow, with help of some AVS members, I was able to calibrate my speakers and sub via the Audyssey 101 guide and feedback. Thanks for that!

Now, I stopped by another BB and they had the Yamaha A1010BL open box and it was 130 bucks cheaper than what I bought the Marantz for. I got home and just tested the A1010 on my downstairs setup, which is 5.1 with a weak sub. I didn't get a chance to set it up where the Marantz is upstairs, with 7.1 front heights. I just wanted to make sure it was working ok. From what I could tell, man the manual setup was much smoother than the Marantz and the remote is very easy to navigate along with the OSD (on screen display).

I did a quick comparison between the 2 AVR's and I'll just list what I saw. I may be missing other items, so if I do, please let me know.

I will use the AVR mostly for watching movies, playing games, and tv. Not too much for music, So about 85% movies and 15% music.

Marantz SR6006

• AirPlay - it's nice to have, but no biggie if it doesn't have it.
• Zone 3 - most likely will never use this zone, or even zone 2 for that matter.
• Look - I like the look alot, but after playing with it for a couple of days, the small display on the front of the AVR may cause some havoc if my wife or other family members use it. I do like how during the movies, you don't have a bunch of bright lights on the front of the AVR, but I guess there is a give and take here.
• Audyssey Mult-EQ XT - this is very good.

Yamaha A1010-BL

• Yamaha iphone remote app - good to have but since I have the remote and Harmony One, I probably won't use this. (Not sure if this model allows streaming music from my iPhone to the receiver or not, but if so, that would cancel out the AirPlay missing feature)
• Setup - much smoother.
• Remote - more user friendly.
• Look - Looks nice, and I actually miss seeing all the info on the display.
• Price - 130 bucks cheaper.
• YPAO - Sorry, I have never had a Yamaha receiver before, but is the YPAO setting on this receiver comparable to the Audyssey MultEQ-XT? Also, I am missing the setup mic. (I can just manually setup the speaker distance, channel level with SPL meter for now, but definitely need the YPAO calibration for sure. Is there a certain mic model for the A1010BL that I need or can I just pick up one from e Bay or elsewhere that is a bit cheaper than most places?)

Both have 110 watts per 7 channels, 2 sub preouts as well as preouts for the other 7 channels as well, Zone 2, so that is a squash there. I will be using the AVR in my game room which is 7.1 setup with Front Highs, so both will work just fine for this. I couldn't see what Yamaha calls their equivalent, I think Front Presence (???), but for Marantz its Front Highs (PLIIz).

In the end, I think both are really good AVR's and seeing how the price for the A1010 is so much cheaper, I may have to stick with the A1010 and return the SR6006.

Can anyone chime in on any issues they've had or heard between the two AVR's because if anything, this might be the deciding factor if the one AVR is more prone to issue, say over heating or HDMI control breaking, or whatever else? Or unless I missed something else above or which I did not mention.

Thanks in advance and really appreciate any and all input!

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I did see that the A1010BL does not have the sub calibration like the SR6006. How much difference would the sub's EQ mic differ from the Audyssey Mult-EQ XT calibrations? The AVR sub EQ is definitely good to have, but if the sub's EQ is good enough, then this may not be too big of an issue. I have the Velodyne EQ-Max10.

There is also the 2113 for the same price as the A1010BL and the 2313CI for about 30 more than the Marantz. I guess you can always save more by buying last year's model. Darn, so many freaking choices, but I think people say that Marantz is really good for music and the A1010BL is a little better for movies. But I would think they both are pretty good in their own right.

Any inputs between the 2 AVR's? I know I need to research more but just wanted to get your feedback.

Thanks!

Actually, I just had a thought. Since I am missing the mic for the Yamaha, can I just take the settings calculated on the SR6006, say for the speaker distance and channel levels and then just set that manually for the Yamaha? This way I can hook the Yamaha up and watch a movie and play some games and then see which one I like more, if I can even tell a difference?

Yeah I like the Marantz as well. It was mainly user error setting it up

Any other feedback from anyone else would be much appreciated!

Does anybody know if this would be enough to compare the 2 AVR's? I know the distance should be fine to bring over, but I assume the channel levels may not translate the same between the 2 AVR's. I also ready and you're only supposed to use the setup mic that came with the receiver, but if I can't find one, I may have to run a test with the Audyssey mic and the Pioneer mic to see how the Yamaha sounds. But I'm thinking the manual settings should be fine as well if I just bring them over from the Marantz settings over to the Yamaha one. If not, I may have to actually use the Radio Shack SPL and calibrate that way, but the only calibration that would be hard to do is the sub.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, that's what I read, but was trying to find an alternative route to setting up the Yamaha w/o the mic, but from what I've researched, and recalibrating the SR6006 last night, the sub calibration is a must have, and the only way to get that with the Yamaha is to buy a separate sub calibration tool like the Anti-Mode 8033 or SMS-1, which would take the cost of the Yamaha way over the price difference it is now. So I'll most likely keep the SR6006 for the game room.

Now I need to decide if I want to keep the Yamaha A1010 or the Denon 2113 for the living room. I know the 2113 does not have pre-outs or same power outage, but it does have the Audyssey Mult-EQ XT, which is a biggie. Both are the same price right now open box. I did have the Onkyo 609 in the game room which is replaced by the SR6006 and I was going to put the 609 in the living room, but when I saw the prices for the Yamaha and Denon, I had to think about replacing the 609. I can sell the 609 or keep it. So many choices. The living room is only 5.1 so all 3 AVR's would do just fine. I have to replace the sub but waiting for black friday to pick up one since I mainly use the game room for movies/tv/games. I know I can keep the 609 even though it doesn't have the sub calibration, but I'm always wanting more. I know silly me.

Now I need to decide how I want to play the downstairs setup, which currently has the Def Tech XTR-50 (C), Pro Monitor 800 (L/R), SR8040 (surround L/R) , and Polk sub. I know those speakers will not need all the power, bi-amp, etc., I'm just thinking about picking up the other AVR's for future needs, or at least that's my story

What to do.....