This receiver?

[johnny p]

can someone tell me the positives, and negatives of this unit. I'm just looking for something to connect my 5.1 up to, my audio needs are mostly for CD/Movies

Marantz SR5001

thanks,

[johnny p]

also, if there is something more suitable for my needs in or below this price range.... I like the option of 7.1 in the future.... (as I eye the DS3's)

[bobsticks]

Hey johnny p,

A friend got one on the cheap off of ebay (Accessories4less, I believe) and seems to be happy with it. I've heard it twice, both times from a player through a coax input. The internal DACs of the Marantz sounded good and it's got some balls. To my knowledge there's really not any 7.1 sources yet but you could use the extra channels to run another room, the porch, the deck, etc.

Really, my only concern would be that it's an HDMI 1.1 machine. This could potentially lead to some digital handshake issues with newer players. Clearly I am not an expert on this piece but that would be an area that I would investigate before I took the plunge.

Other than that my impression was that it seemed like a very solid, well-built, good sounding receiver.

Good luck

[johnny p]

thanks for the help... I'm not even sure of the 1.1, 1.3 etc. differences are.

[nightflier]

Regarding HDMI, here's a good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

P.S. I am borrowing a Marantz PM7001 from a friend who had upgraded and I have to say that is one sweet sounding integrated. It's been my first Marantz amp in over decade, but I must say it's a very nice sounding unit and can easily drive my more demanding speakers. If it's anything like yours then I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[frenchmon]

Regarding HDMI, here's a good place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

P.S. I am borrowing a Marantz PM7001 from a friend who had upgraded and I have to say that is one sweet sounding integrated. It's been my first Marantz amp in over decade, but I must say it's a very nice sounding unit and can easily drive my more demanding speakers. If it's anything like yours then I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I've always wondered about the PM7001. I hear its almost noise free.

I,ve heard nothing but good things about the Onkyo A9555 intergrated aswell. I wish some one would do a side by side test of them together.

frenchmon

[gman086]

I'm using an SR8001 and can tell you I DID have handshake issues with the HDMI 1.1 version so... my advice would be to pass unless your HDTV has multiple HDMI inputs and you can bypass the receiver's switching. You'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding receiver for that price point tho.

Have FUN!

G MAN

[johnny p]

are there fixes for this Handshake issue????

[kelsci]

My brother was with his friend in a store a few days ago and happened to audition a 5001 versus some model Onkyo and Harmon Kardon. Both favored the 5001. If you are only interested in listening to cds and movies and you can get a good price on this unit, you should be a-ok. As some of the other members have suggested, if you have a high definition tv and planning to run a hdmi cable from the current blue ray and/or high def players through the receiver, the hdmi 1.1 rating could give you what is known as a handshake problem. If I owned a blue ray player such as the Sony BDS-300, I would go for the Marantz 5002 because running a hdmi cable from that player to that receiver which is hdmi 1.2 compliant carries multi-channel lpcm which is found on many blue ray discs so that receiver can reproduce that high defintion audio. If this is of no concern for you, the 5001 could be a very good buy to suit the needs that you stated.There may not be a fix for the handshake issue on the 5001 other than going for a receiver in the 1.2 and 1.3 area.

[L.J.]

When auditioning AVR's, I went through units that supported HDMI 1.1,1.2 & 1.3. I had no issues with 1.1(Yamaha 661, Denon 2807) or 1.2(Yamaha 2700). It was 1.3, from Onkyo 805 & Pioneer Elite 91 that gave me problems. Complete drops in picture and sound for a second or two during movies.

[nightflier]

Just a note: the Marantz SR5002 is 1.3 compliant an will support multi-channel audio over the HDMI connection (no need to add digital coax or optical cables).

L.J., are you sure the problem wasn't with something else? I've read of quite a few handshake issues, but they always involved a mis-pairing of HDMI versions. Since your problem also involved different brands, there's a lot of issues that could have contributed such as firmware updates.

[L.J.]

Just a note: the Marantz SR5002 is 1.3 compliant an will support multi-channel audio over the HDMI connection (no need to add digital coax or optical cables).

L.J., are you sure the problem wasn't with something else? I've read of quite a few handshake issues, but they always involved a mis-pairing of HDMI versions. Since your problem also involved different brands, there's a lot of issues that could have contributed such as firmware updates.

PS3 was used with all the units. It's possible this was the cause and not the units themselves. Kinda weird that only HDMI 1.3 units had a problem during playback. One firmware upgrade on the PS3, about 6 months ago, caused skipping on BR playback so ya never know. I've had no problems with my 2700 using my PS3 or A2.

[Rich-n-Texas]

The Elite 91 is on my short list. I'll be watching and listening carefully for that problem.

[gman086]

are there fixes for this Handshake issue????

Yeah, get a SIMPLAY certified source with HDMI 1.3a and it is guaranteed to work. I ended up buying a new Blu-ray (Sony BDP-S500) with that version and ran it thru the receiver and works just fine. The SR8001 receiver's input is rated HDMI 1.2 while the output is 1.1. The first setup I'd tried was with a Marantz DV7001 Universal player with 1.1 output and it was NOT compatible thru the receiver, only directly to the HDTV (1.1 to 1.2 to 1.1 and back - reads copyright info both ways) was the prob if you ask me. And if you go Blu-ray I'd go for the SR5002 because the player's HD audio decoder sends thru PCM and that simply doesn't sound as good as decoding it at the receiver getting the direct bitstream from HDMI (been there, done that comparison).

Have FUN!

G MAN

PS - Beautiful "like new" Marantz DV7001 4 SALE!!! $600 :cornut:

[Rich-n-Texas]

When auditioning AVR's, I went through units that supported HDMI 1.1,1.2 & 1.3. I had no issues with 1.1(Yamaha 661, Denon 2807) or 1.2(Yamaha 2700). It was 1.3, from Onkyo 805 & Pioneer Elite 91 that gave me problems. Complete drops in picture and sound for a second or two during movies.
When you were *borrowing* these units, did you tell the CC sales people that you were just auditioning them or did you buy then return?

[L.J.]

When you were *borrowing* these units, did you tell the CC sales people that you were just auditioning them or did you buy then return?

I just purchased and returned. I did get some funny looks when I came in to purchase my 3rd Onkyo.