Arcam avr350 vs. Marantz sr7005

If you say you 'love' the sound what do you think needs improving? Are you positive the room can't be treated at all?


The thing is the vast majority of people in this forum are heavily into room correction and mass market AVRs, do you expect them to say 'no it doesn't help'? I've not seen any users who have actually move from Arcam to Denon and Marantz (or Onkyo/Pioneer/Yamaha, you get the drift) because of room correction alone. So the chances of finding anyone who has actual user experience from having owned both is slim.


I'm in the definite minority: I have an even older NAD non-HDMI AVR that I'm still using - I'm not convinced room correction alone justifies the upgrade nor that a Denon or Marantz is an upgrade to an Arcam or NAD. People have said, and I don't necessarily disagree with them - I have Arcam stuff, just not their AVRs - that Arcams aren't neutral and for that reason there will likely be a change in sound when you switch brand.


Of course the usual saying is try it for yourself.

I've only recently acquired the CD36 and stereo amplification (in a different room) so I can't really say anything about surround. I notice others who use descriptive terms to describe sound are frowned upon by the regulars here. So I'll just say the sound (combination of player and amp) is not shrill, fatiguing nor base heavy. Mid-tones are detailed.


There may be other reasons to upgrade, like HDMI and HD decoding (both strong reasons), height or wide channels, ipod or net connectivity as well as room correction. Arcam or similar brand owners don't in general go for these bells and whistles. Bear in mind too that room correction isn't the solution to everything, and that different implementations aren't all equal. As I understand it, room correction measures the room as when you run the calibration but if anything in the room changes (more people or things you put in the room) thereafter it may no longer be accurate.


I will give it a try when I upgrade for other reasons but unlike many I don't see it as a sine qua non. What I'm set to do is when I do upgrade I'll still add a stereo integrated amp for the fronts. You can still use the 350 for the fronts. There're other ways to improve sound apart from upgrading AVR.