[billotott]

Hi,

Here's my dilemma. I am ready to upgrade my personal listening system. I consider my needs as about 70% audio and 30% home theater. It appears the new Marantz flagship AV receiver is a contender. However, there seems to be a lot of features I just won't ever use. I plan to use 3.1 for AV and 2.1 for audio. Should I go the separate route. My budget for this piece is $2k to $4k.

I plan to use the system to drive B&W speakers, likely the 803 diamond (perhaps 804s). My musical tastes are varied, but tend towards female vocals (Lana Delrey, Adele, Joni Mitchell etc), Pink Floyd, and probably some classical, generally cello/violin and piano. Probably the only genre I don't actively listen to is Jazz. I have recently entered the Hi Rez fray as well and will continue to buy source material that way and cds. I am not a vinyl guy at this time.

My room size is pretty large, 20x30 with vaulted ceilings.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions.

 

[JHAz]

As generalky demonstrated with the model T, mass producing something yields a cheaper result for everybody than building much fewer of a range of more targeted devices. Near as I can tell a decent multichannel receiver of adequate power will actually perform as well for less cost than something more specifically targeted. Leaving aside the cost of retooling an assembly line, developing a separate design and the several thousands of dollars per jurisdiction for ul or equivalent certification for each separate redesign, simply making more of one thing is cheaper per item because all the design, tooling etc costs get spread out over a greater number of units.

As long as the form factor is okay, just accept that the overkill features actually make your purchase cheaper, and don't hurt anything

 

[virginia bill]

To avoid the ever-increasing "features list" way mass market receivers compete with each other, look at the products of boutique manufacturers -- Anthem, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, NAD. These products are more straightforward than their Pacific rim competition, so they aren't appropriate for some settings. The same is generally true of direct-market gear (Emotiva, Outlaw).

 

[bgtighe23]

+1 to the outlaw.

 

[billotott]

Thanks, will spend some time looking at your suggestions.