Marantz AV8003 and MM8003 - Page 73

John, there is a firmware update available through the network connection. According to Marantz it only deals with Network player issues, minor at that. I directed the question to them about possible firmware updates for the remaining functions of the receiver by this method but got a nonsense response so I do not know if it is possible. Several posters have alluded to issues with the capability of the DSPs to handle more than they currently handle so it may be a moot point.
Andrew

Hello all,
Thinking about getting this pre-pro to replace an old TAG-McLaren A32 in my system. My amps are by Bryston (4BSST and 9BSST). Anyone care to comment on this combo? Also, the Bryston's triggers are not a straight DC input phono jack type connector. My dealer is researching how to get this to work. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Just a question regarding Audyssey..

I require Audyssey when watching Blu-Rays and given that this unit is not working when Dolby True HD (DTS HD MA:??) is bitstreamed to it, I have to turn it down unless another solution exists.

My question is would an external Audyssey Pro equaliser module work in conjunction with this unit and HD Formats? Although the extra connections would reduce the sound quality of 2 Channel music...

You could certainly get the Audyssey SEQ, and that would give you room correction for all channels. The A/D and D/A conversions in that unit are quite transparent, from the reports I have heard. That will of course cost you about $3K - why not instead get a Blu-ray player that does internal decoding of those HR formats and outputs PCM, which the Marantz can handle with MultEQ just fine?

Because after extensive testing and reports from others it does not sound as good as bitstreaming. I have a Samsung BD2500 but straight from a user with the Denon 3800 to an Onkyo 866 and the AV8003 bitstreaming is the way to go. Yet I have also done the test at home.

Heard and auditioned 8003 combo yesterday, comparing to S11. Great soundstage and not far behind. Much better than my current setup using 5800 and RedRose Music Affirmation. The point is.....the built quality is rather less premium than I can ever thought off. What happened to Marantz?

My 2nd question will be, does AV8003 support native flac decoding?

The same thing that happened to every other mass-market A/V product. It is made in China.

No flac at this moment. Perhaps in a future firmware update for the Network player, but don't count on it. The only lossless codec supported currently is wav files.

Andrew

What universal remote is everyone using with the Marantz? Have one on order - should be here by next Monday along with the projector replacement! Reading the reviews, most reviewers complain of the lack of direct source selection using the Marantz remote. Can you get around this using a universal? (Considering the Harmony 1 to control this pre-pro, the JVC RS2, Panasonic BD35, and DirecTV HR20). Thanks for the advice.

I'm happy with the H1. The only downside is that the older models of the RS2 don't have a descrete IR code to do vertical stretch. Even if your RS2 does support it, you have to get Logitech to set up the code.

Andrew,

As I am a babe in the woods regarding totally digitized /server playback, can you answer a couple of brief questions and then i will try to take my search to the appropriate thread. I am considering the AV8003. I have an SR8002 now. My thinking is if I am willing to buy a large external hard drive, I could easily transfer all or most of my CD's to the drive. Are .wav files considered as high fidelity as the average CD I'd be backing up or are there higher fidelity lossless formats.? If so, would there be any way to play those back through either my current Marantz or the AV8003? Are there any pre-pros out there that are flac comapaptible? Also, if anyone could direct me to a good thread regarding digital playback via server or hard drive, please let me know. If anyone would chime in on these questions, I'd appreciate it. Thanks amundo!

wav files are an exact copy of the content of the CD. They will sound identical to the CD. Not almost, exactly. The AV8003 supports wav files and will play them back from a DNLA compliant host. Windows media server on a PC will work. If you buy an external hard disk, it will not talk to the Marantz unless the hard drive comes with a media server client which can talk to the Marantz. I use a 4 terabyte network attached server (NAS) that comes with Twonky Media. It will work with the Marantz but not without some hiccups. Marantz does not seem to be willing to talk to the company that makes my NAS box (QNAP) or the company that makes the media server they use (Packet Video) and as such there is no direct support for the Marantz receiver in Twonky Media. There is a work around though that I discovered after a few hours of trial and error.

Flac files are lossless, but compressed files that will not offer superior sound to wav files. However, because of their compression the files will take up less space on your hard drive. Storage is so cheap now that compression schemes to save space are almost a waste of time. More processing power is used to recover the files. There are preamps that will decode flac and also Apple Lossless compression (I believe). Some network receivers will also play back these codecs. Because the head unit in one of my vehicles will play back wav files I use them for both the Marantz AV8003 and the Pioneer head unit.

Andrew

Andrew,
Approx, how many hours of music will fit per terabyte? Also, I have an outdated laptop that I could work in around my HT system. It runs Windows 2000. Would you think that would suffice to plug the hard drive into and run Media Player through, or am I going to need a more updated computer? Thanks again.

Greg

My rough calculations would give 1904 h of music from CD sources per terabyte. More than the number of CD's I own. Looked another way, I have copied 231 CD's, in whole, uncompressed, to 128 GB of space. I still have to copy the remained of my collection over but it takes a considerable amount of time. However, I was also hoping to copy DVD's to the box and play them back through the Marantz as well. That is not working out well so far. I can play them back from my computer and pass the audio to the Marantz and the video directly to the projector, but that is not the route I hoped to go.

You need the latest version of Windows Media Player (11 I think) to link up with the Marantz and you then you need to enable file sharing in WMP to the Marantz. I had trouble with this and my firewall with my set up and it would only work if I disabled the windows firewall. Then it was OK. Other people have not had this problem.
Andrew

Andrew,
Thanks for the insight. That is amazing to me the # of CD's that take up only 128GB!! I will more that likely get my AV8003 mid March. I will see how far Win Med Player can be updated onto the old laptop. I have a recently retired desktop that runs XP, so that might be an option as well. Thanks again. I will add my experiences with this when I get up & running.

ghause,
I was referring to the Marantz AV8003's lack of dedicated input buttons. IIRC in the UAV review & in Michael Fremer's review, they noted that multiple keystrokes on the Marantz remote were needed to change inputs. When I auditioned, I had not read these reviews yet & did not have a chance to play with the Marantz remote. I think the sales person was using a Harmony to control the Marantz and the Pioneer FPJ1(JVC RS2). Sorry about the confusion!

Andrew,
Do you suffer any loss of video quality when playing movies from your HD? Any macroblocking or pixelation? Thanks.
I've been without my pj for the last 2 weeks and am going into withdrawals/DT's waiting for the new stuff to arrive next week!!!!!

The movies played back after being ripped to HD and played back from my computer to the projector look like the original. They were ripped without compression to HD. I can not play back the files via the Marantz for more than half a minute before they stop responding.

By the way, the numeric key pad on the Marantz allows direct input selection with the remote in "Amp" mode. 1 DVD, 2 Satellite, 3 Network Player, etc. No need to flip through the pages on the remote.

Andrew

Ironic - I have a SR8002 myself and have a 8003 on order

I use, and like very much, the URC line of remotes. As a dealer I got a can't pass deal on a MX-980, so I have the previous MX-850 parked for now. I like it, too. PC programmable which I like a lot. And I directly select my sources.

My SR8002 is controlled by my Harmony 880 - no issues at all. Full function to the select the inputs and easy to set up the soft keys to do what you want

Thanks, everyone. T -5.5 days.......

I used CDex 1.7 to convert the CD to wav files and used TVersity as server. However, Marantz can see the files, but can't play at all. The wav files can be played at the computer. If I converted to MP3, those songs could be played by Marantz. Any idea of that tricky things?

Thanks,
chuball

If you just copy the CD straight into the harddrive av WAV files, you will get about 10 MB pr minute.

A normal CD can hold upto 74 minutes of music, and a CD hold normally 700-750 MB of data.

Apparently there are variations of the wav file format. I experienced the same issue with the QNAP NAS box which uses Twonky Media as a DLNA server to the Marantz. The Marantz unit is not specifically supported by Twonky Media (Packet Video). The Generic DLNA clients did not work with the Marantz either (for wav file format). However, after much experimentation I found that one of the devices in their list of supported clients would work with the Marantz and Twonky Media. I configured Twonky Media telling it that the Marantz was a "Netgear Digital Entertainer" and got wav file support plus a support for a variety of other formats. It is too bad Marantz was less than helpful with this situation. They claimed they were DLNA compliant, but failed to mention it was an early version of DLNA they were compliant to. Also, they also fail to address the issue that the AV8003 will not support all variants of the wav file format and that the wav file format is not part of the DLNA standard and therefore they can not guarantee playback of wav files. FYI, I tried burning to wav with both Nero and Windows Media Player 11 with the same results. I assume that TVersity is software you are running from your computer and not a dedicated music server. I did download TVersity to my PC, but really have not tried it to this point in time. QNAP was very helpful to me in trying to sort out my issues. I can not say the same thing for Marantz. It amazes me that I got good, honest, and helpful support from a company that sold me a $580 CDN NAS box and ignored, brushed off, and lied to by a company that sold me $5000 Msrp USD AV seperates.
Andrew

Good taste abounds!

Now that I know someone who is on a similar upgrade path, may I ask you a couple of questions: Did you send your SR8002 in for the fw upgrade to ver H38? I never did, but I might after getting the AV8003. Also, do you already have a separate amp? Are you running it through the SR8002? Have you noticed a difference over using the SR8002 amps? What amp are you using (or plan to use ) with AV8003? Thanks for any insight you can share.

AndersT2

Thank you for the info!

Greg

I never knew about a upgrade. I have had issues with my center channel on the SR - one of the reasons I am doing the upgrade to the AV8003 (or one of the excuses for my wife ) The unit was a refurbished one from Accessories4Less and I really did not realize the center channel was messed up for the past several years. Watching movies we always had problems with dialog with voices. I had M&K speakers hooked up then and I blamed it on the center channel speaker. When I did the pink noise for setting the volume the timbre was always different so I swapped my downstairs speakers and now have the psbs - Dialog was better but not great and then the pink noise was still a issue - then it hit me that the receiver had the problem - I think retirement has affected my problem solving skills



The SR8200 is used for PSB Stratus Golds with my home theater.




Not a pretty setup like many here have. I am getting the MM8003 amp and this will allow me to biamp the psbs finally. I thought hard about the Emotive amps but in the end I got a good deal on the 8003 pair and the matching look is a plus.

I'll look into the firmware update and see if I can send the receiver in for it and what the cost is. I plan to keep the receiver as the sound used for stereo is great.

I've been using the 850 and it's been operating seamlessly with the Marantz. The glitch with enter/select function was corrected by one the of the more knowledgable members of this forum

Scott, how do you like the MX-980 as compared to the MX-850? I know it has a color screen, but it (screen) looked a tad smaller then the 850's...