Marantz SR6004 AV Receiver

aldente

I am just wondering if anyone knows whether Marantz SR6004 AV receiver accepts the 4mm banana plug on the speaker terminal of the UK model. If so, does yours require strong force to push one in?

According to the brochure from Marantz Europe website, this receiver appears to have binding posts similar to those found on the banana-plug compatible speakers which have concealing plastic caps for the holes. However, the UK model may differ. The manual available from the website, as most other AV receiver manufacturers, mentions no banana plugs.

I heard on another thread that the previous SR6003 did accept banana plugs, and I am hoping the new one also does.

Thank you in advance for your info.

kuro_man

The nanny state in the UK doesn't like banana plug because they believe people will plug them into a mains sockets!

For this reason, amplifiers have banana sockets bunged up, usually with bit of removeable plastic. Don't know about the Marantz but with my yammy I had to insert a wood screw into the post, give it a half turn to get some grip and yank the bung out.

aldente

kuro_man wrote: »

The nanny state in the UK doesn't like banana plug because they believe people will plug them into a mains sockets!

For this reason, amplifiers have banana sockets bunged up, usually with bit of removeable plastic. Don't know about the Marantz but with my yammy I had to insert a wood screw into the post, give it a half turn to get some grip and yank the bung out.

Hi kuro_man, Thanks for your reply. Yes, I've heard of this before, and in my opinion, the traditional bare copper wire would be potentially more dangerous because they can easily cause a short contact.

I've got my hands on this unit and can confirm that Marantz SR6004 has banana-plug compatible binding posts, which is a sleek and practical design. There is a concealing pin to go in the hole to avoid incorrect connection and keep the hole covered when not in use.

aldente

kao123

aldente wrote: »

Hi kuro_man, Thanks for your reply. Yes, I've heard of this before, and in my opinion, the traditional bare copper wire would be potentially more dangerous because they can easily cause a short contact.

I've got my hands on this unit and can confirm that Marantz SR6004 has banana-plug compatible binding posts, which is a sleek and practical design. There is a concealing pin to go in the hole to avoid incorrect connection and keep the hole covered when not in use.

aldente

Hey Aldente, can I ask where you got ur SR6004 from and how much it cost, I only just saw this topic now, but in a delayed answer to your question I have SR6003 and it does take banana plugs :-) .
I see you've ordered the PM6003 and the DAC from RS, am going to be ordering mine next week so I might be annoying you to to see how you get on with yours......

thanks

aldente

kao123 wrote: »

Hey Aldente, can I ask where you got ur SR6004 from and how much it cost, I only just saw this topic now, but in a delayed answer to your question I have SR6003 and it does take banana plugs :-) .
I see you've ordered the PM6003 and the DAC from RS, am going to be ordering mine next week so I might be annoying you to to see how you get on with yours......

thanks

I got it from RS for £699.95. It's cheaper than any other on-line shop I found that dealt with Marantz, but I had to supplement it by selling whatever items I could sell!! That's Marantz. So I just cannot be disappointed easily. I've been running it in for a short while using my iTunes collection, mainly jazz vocal or piano. My first impression is that there is a notable difference in audio comapred to the first AV receiver I bought. It gives me much better sound stage comparing them at the level of Source Direct. For videos, I've seen one blu-ray title and a couple of SD titles so far. 1080/24p was beautifully produced, which was fine, but I'm more interested in how well it can handle SD videos. This will take some more time before anything can be said.

No problem, you're welcome to ask, and I'll try to do the best I can. Sorry that I jumped at the offer before you, because it was you who mentioned that road, and you deserve to get them first :P I just have the urge to sort out the time consuming task of pairing AV equipment the best way possible for less. You could spend ages in mulling over it before you get to enjoy listening/watching!!

aldente

aldente

I was puzzled about the lack of technical specification of SR6004 available on websites when I was comparing these two to see how different they were before buying it.

Recently it has been found out that SR6004 features the same DSP, DAC, video processor as SR6003, and it made me relieved because I do not like no-brand chips used for main functions for this kind of products and price.

What I like about SR6004 so far apart from sound/picture quality is the neater speaker connectors - banana plug compatible just as SR6003, re-organised smarter input/output on the back. It is also interesting that some buttons on the remote requires two presses, and I suppose it is so designed to reduce the chance of pressing an unwanted button accidentally.

The Bluetooth connection may be something nice to have for some people, but it does not appeal to me at all, and SR6004 could have been lower in price without this feature about which not many seem to be enthusiastic either.

Compared to Pioneer's latest equivalent, one downside is the lack of the feature to display album artwork from the connected iPod. However, this is not much important for me since my iTunes collection is streamed via Devolo powerline and AirportExpress, using iPod Touch Remote.


aldente

kao123

aldente wrote: »

I was puzzled about the lack of technical specification of SR6004 available on websites when I was comparing these two to see how different they were before buying it.

Recently it has been found out that SR6004 features the same DSP, DAC, video processor as SR6003, and it made me relieved because I do not like no-brand chips used for main functions for this kind of products and price.

What I like about SR6004 so far apart from sound/picture quality is the neater speaker connectors - banana plug compatible just as SR6003, re-organised smarter input/output on the back. It is also interesting that some buttons on the remote requires two presses, and I suppose it is so designed to reduce the chance of pressing an unwanted button accidentally.

The Bluetooth connection may be something nice to have for some people, but it does not appeal to me at all, and SR6004 could have been lower in price without this feature about which not many seem to be enthusiastic either.

Compared to Pioneer's latest equivalent, one downside is the lack of the feature to display album artwork from the connected iPod. However, this is not much important for me since my iTunes collection is streamed via Devolo powerline and AirportExpress, using iPod Touch Remote.


aldente

Thanks for the quick review there aldente, makes me feel a bit better about having a now "discontinued" model according to the marantz website, I was almost tempted to sell my SR6003 and go for the 6004 but after a bit of looking online I really don't think I'd see any dramatic increase in performance, even though the 6004 has more watts per channel I doubt I'd ever get the chance to use them.
And as you said the bluetooth is probably a nice to have but it would be nice to know what the quality is like using it to stream some music.

Oh and I agree about the double pressing on the remote it didn't play nice with my harmony remote.

The Dynamic Volume would be nice though especially when watching tv, the volume increase on the ads these days is VERY annoying.

It's a bit surprising that there aren't as many threads dedicated to the marantz av receivers like there are for the Denon's and Pioneer's but I suppose they sell more.

Think I'll hold on to mine for a while longer as I am really liking how it sounds after more and more use.

btw did you get your PM6003 and DAC? I went for the DAC but have to wait until I have a bit more cash to play with before getting the PM6003.

aldente

Hi kao123, thanks for your reply. Yes, the Dynamic Volume is my next feature to try. And yes, that's a good decision, hold on to your SR6003 and enjoy more!

I suppose that Marantz could get more prospective customers interested if they maintain their European website well enough. It is easy to spot inaccurate information as of now for SR6004 there, which looks as though a less-informed contractor just threw in beta-stage technical specs. It is ok if the section is updated appropriately, but alas, it is not featured as a new model in the main AV receiver page after removing SR6003 from the current range (although you can still get to the SR6004 section through a drop-down menu). They are definitely lagging behind Denon, Pioneer, etc. in this sense.

P.S. I am still to have PM6003+DAC delivered...

986s

Hi aldente,

Am considering the marantz amp myself. Previously I had a budget marantz amp many moons ago and loved it, unfortunately I replaced it with a sony amp and have really never bonded with the sony one, especially for music.
I am now updating my speakers to something more substantial (monitor audio RX8 fronts) and feel they would benefit from better amplification. Most of my music is stored as 320kps MP3's on an external hard drive which will be played through the amp from a sonos unit. My question is have you used the marantz amp with MP3's and does the amp do a good job of filling out these MP3's to improve the sound?
Did you consider or audition the Denon 2310 before you purchased the marantz? and if so how did it compare musically with the marantz?- (people over on av forums swear by the Denon whereas the marantz get's a more muted response).

Any help much appreciated.

guinnessdrinker

I'm also considering getting the Marantz SR6004 or the Denon 2310. I will be using the amp with a Monitor Audio speaker setup. I would be interested to know how the Marantz is with music played via dvd and ipod as I intend to use the amp 50/50 with music and movies. Any feedback on the musicality of the Marantz would be great!

kao123

guinnessdrinker wrote: »

I'm also considering getting the Marantz SR6004 or the Denon 2310. I will be using the amp with a Monitor Audio speaker setup. I would be interested to know how the Marantz is with music played via dvd and ipod as I intend to use the amp 50/50 with music and movies. Any feedback on the musicality of the Marantz would be great!

I have the SR6003 and I have the Monitor Audio R90 H10 speaker sysem with it and use a denon 1940 dvd player for cd's and a HTPC for WAV, Flac and mp3's and I am really impressed with the sound quality from the amp just for music alone.
I am not a firm believer (not wanting to start a debate) in burn in times and the merits of this type of speaker cable over that type of speaker cable but I do have to admit that over time the sound quality really has improved with my setup.
There are lots of different settings in the amp for EQ, 2 channel, multi channel music but I usually leave it on 2 channel stereo when using the PC and I use direct source for the denon.
I have been using Marantz amps for quite a while now and I suppose I am partial to their sound, but I have heard a friends DENON AVR-3808A with the KEF 3005SE's and while it sounds very very good, I still prefer the warmth of my Marantz.
Again this is the SR6003 and not the SR6004 but am fairly sure that they are pretty similar in technology , but hopefully Aldente can give us a review of his SR6004.

Hope this helps.

aldente

Hi there,

My system is made up of Marantz SR6004, paired with Focal Chorus 806V for front speakers, and Monitor Audio Radius 90HD, 180HD, 370 subwoofer to form the surround system. The front bookshelf speakers were chosen to be a bit larger than R90HD (not a tall-boy though) because I wanted to make no compromise in stereo music.

I mostly leave it source direct. I tend to get bored with fancy sound options after trying them out for a while. However, Dolby 5.1 coming from satellite TV channels is also great sometimes.

With AAC 256kbps from iTunes, and CDs, the music output is, in my preference, brilliant bass, clear vocal tones, and the combination of SR6004 and 806V delivers a vivid, but not overwhelming, background noise of a bar counter in a piano jazz session. The high tones could be a little bit brighter I feel, but that is all right to me. I have noticed that any music CDs from early days (manufactured in 80's and early 90's) may not sound with a punch no matter what AV receiver or encoded file type it is.

In response to your question, 986s and guinnessdrinker, I find SR6004 to be a very musical AV receiver a month after running it in. I am not using the EQ (Audyssey EQ and Dynamic Volume) yet, just to get my hands on the basics first. Well, my main focus is source direct 2-channel stereo, so the debate in some other threads on Audyssey EQ between SR6004 and Denon hardly concerns me.

For video, I am happy with the picture quality of DVD SD and Blu-ray on my Sony Bravia HD LCD. The picture is set to be scaled to 1080p. Comparing a SD version of Die Hard 2 to a Blu-ray version of Die Hard 2 I rented, the SD one stood quite good. Considering the year the film was released, you have to allow for the filming equipment originally used and I reckon the remastering for the HD could not be better than that. A more recent film called The Black Book on Blu-ray did show off the extent of Blu-ray quality, which was superb on SR6004.

I have to tell you SR6004 was my choice after auditoning Chorus 806V and R90HD speakers, but mulling over several AV receivers based on specifications without an audition... I have no idea of where you can have an audition for Marantz and Denon in Ireland. Does anyone know?

Reviews say that whilst SR6004 and Denon 2310/1910 are all-rounders, Marantz is geared for musicality and Denon is for video quality. That may be true, but also be just a critics' translation of what the specifications read. So far SR6004 is doing well on both for me.

That's it for now.

aldente

986s

Many thanks folks for taking the time to reply.
Marantz it is so! Have always liked Marantz products so all I have to do now is to convince the financial controller to replace the recently acquired Sony amp with the Marantz one.

Many thanks again

M00lers

I'm sure ye probably know already but as far as i know the Marantz cannot decode the hd sound formats and run audyessy at the same time.
(or something like that)
Not sure if you consider this a problem or not but just to let ye know.