Onkyo related to Marantz?

[stereophonicfan]

Who has better Integrated amps?
Who has better A/V receivers?

Or does it come down to taste, speaker-choice. In short: personal preference?

thanks!

[Mr Peabody]

On A/V receivers, it would be a trade off in my opinion with Marantz having an edge on overall clarity and sound, where Onkyo would have the edge on slam and being able to drive more difficult speaker loads.

With integrated amps either would be a mistake. You would get much better value from an integrated from the likes of Arcam or Creek. I don't know what Onkyo has to offer in integrated but our Marantz dealer was disappointed in the Marantz and has never carried them. I have heard pretty good things about the Marantz monoblocks and they are priced pretty good for monoblocks.

[RGA]

Well Marantz just released a "statement" integrated amplifier in the UK which is may very well be the best amplifier by any of the conglomorate receiver makers. Marantz way back in the 1970s made some very impressive units and this new integrated amp hails to those yesteryear componants.

It's not particularly expensive and is a 25 watt class A / AB design. In other words you can listen in class A or flip the switch and it will turn into a higher watt class A/B amp. Depending on the speakers Class A would be best.

But I have never seen it in North America and it may only be geared to the more discerning Euro market.

Beyond this I would agree with Mr. Peabody - integrateds from Arcam, Creek, Sugden, Roksan, Quad, Musical Fidelity, NAD, Audio Refinement as a start would be ahead of the receiver makers concerned with features over sound.

Receivers are like All in one printers...they do everything but nothing really well. The Yamaha/Denon/Marantz/Onkyo's you may as well flip a coin. Marantz and Denon are owned by the same company and I personally think Denon is grossly overpriced for what you get.

Go witht he one that has the most features you like in the budget...all use the same kind of power supplies - I personally wanted one with preouts to add an external amp. I chose a Marantz because it is the only one with the feature for the money and it has the best warranty - 1-2 years more than the others and is heavier.

The preouts are useful to upgrade receivers lousy power supplies and it saves the receiver from doing a lot of work.