Marantz SR7500 First Impression and Some Questions

Finally i got my Marantz SR 7500 today after a week of wait. Some of you might remember my earlier post asking help on which reciever to buy. I had shortlisted to the HK 635 and the Marantz 7500. I had auditioned the HK earlier at my home and recieved the Marantz today afternoon. Set it up very excitedly. The reciever didnt look as big or feel as heavy as the HK from the first impression. Its in fact a little less in weight than even my Yamaha HTR 5790. Setup was fairly simple and i ran the auto setup and sat down with a few discs i know well.


I was very impressed with the HK i had auditioned earlier and was wondering how the Marantz would fare against it. Well i wasnt dissapointed to say the least!! First i played Eagles Hotel California DVD-A. The thing i noticed with HK was how good and clear the vocals were and how the guitars literally filled the room, Marantz exhibited almost same quality and probably a little better soundstage. In the song Pretty Maids in a Row i was able to pin point the image of guitar on the left soundstage with the HK(something which the Yamaha never did) but with the Marantz that was even more clear than the HK. Very satisfied with this i popped in LOTR Fellowship and watched a few initial shots, and to my amazement i heard a few sounds and detail which i never heard before with the Yamaha and not even the HK.It feels like a 'Veil' has been lifted from my speakers, literally speaking!!


All in all im very impressed with Marantz,i still have to set up the speaker levels with the SPL meter and im sure its performance will only improve. Though the remote of the unit though a little ugly,it serves its purpose and is more programmable than the HK 635 remote i felt.


Now coming to my gripes - The Reciever doesnt allow PL IIX on top of DTS signals????Pray Why???? When the source is DTS i cant select PL IIX and the reciever displays incompatible message.. i was able to run PL IIX over DTS both on Yamaha and the HK. Wonder why this is so in Marantz. Also am wondering if thats the case then is the Marantz putting out a 7.1 signal still or just the 5.1?? Ill really appreciate if anyone has inputs on this?


Another gripe- when i want to set the individual speaker levels it ALWAYS outputs a test tone.. damn.. how am i supposed to calibrate with my DVE?? If i calibrate with just the test tones ill miss out the factor of DVD player output. Guess ill probably switch back and forth of setting levels and checking with DVE, but thats gonna be a royal pain.


Apart from these 2 factors i totally love the Marantz and how it sounds and am gonna stick with it. My vote for best 1000$ reciever!!