Marantz Customer Service

[emaidel]

In a word, it stinks. I've posted many times how thoroughly delighted I've been with my Marantz SA-8001 SACD player, and how it has made me a "true believer" in the SACD format, not for multi-channel effects, but for better fidelity in 2-channel operation.

Like that of other owners, my 8001 often won't play an SACD. The readout simply says, "No Disc," and that's that. After fiddling around, giving the unit a series of different loading commands, and even turning it off and then back on again, I'm always able to get it to play, but it's often quite a PIA to do so.

I wrote an email to Marantz in the middle of December asking what to do. After two weeks of no answer, I sent another one. Still no answer. Then I called, and waited on hold for what seemed like an eternity, when someone finally did answer. I was told to send the unit in for repair to a shop in Atlanta, GA, as it is the closest to where I live (Moore, SC - halfway between Greenville and Spartanburg). I called the shop and was told that the turnaround time is 21 days. Fortunately, I still have the invoice to prove that the unit is under warranty, so I won't have to pay for repairs as the unit has a 3-year warranty.

Then, last week, I received a response from the first email. It basically said that I had to have the unit fixed, and gave me an address for a repair facility in New York. Yesterday, I received an answer from the second email. It said that the unit "won't play hybrid discs." WHAT??? The reason I purchased the unit in the first place was to play SACD's in 2-channel mode, as opposed to multi-channel, and I've been using it for that purpose now for almost a year.

I think the writer of that email was trying to say that if the hybrid disc has only a multi-channel SACD layer and a CD layer, it won't play the disc as an SACD. Frankly, I know of no such discs, though I suspect early ones may have been made that way.

The player is still one of the best pieces of audio equipment I've ever purchased. I'm still amazed at its remarkable performance, especially so at its price point. Unfortunately, the "brains" at the Marantz facility in New Jersey need to screw their thinking caps on a bit more tightly.

Once the unit simply refuses to play SACD's no matter the tinkering I do, I'll send it in for repair. Then we'll see how competent "authorized" service centers are. Hopefully, more than the individuals at Marantz, Inc.

[Ajani]

Sorry to hear about the bad customer service... I was under the impression that the 8001 was a far less error prone player than the 8260 it replaced... but based on the problems you described, it sounds like Marantz needs to put a lot more work into making these players more reliable... I really hate when I come across gear that sounds fantastic when it works, but is seriously unreliable...

[emaidel]

Emaidel I am currently listening to a Hybrid Multichannel sacd that works well in my SA8001. Are you having trouble with all Hybrids or just a few? I am listening to the LSO live series of Sibelius "Kullervo".

The problem occurs with all SACD's regardless of brand. Even the exclusively 2-channel Telarc SACD's remastered from the original Soundstream recordings often won't play. The problem seems to appear after having played a number of CD's, and then inserting an SACD. It's not that the player reverts to the CD layer: the window reads, "No Disc" and the unit just sits.

It seems that the soution is to just turn off the player, and then turn it back on. I tried it a short while ago, and had no difficulty at all loading and playing a hybrid disc. Once the player loads an SACD, everything's fine. If turning it on and off is the answer to this problem, I can live with that.

Still, taking an entire month to reply to an email, and to provide ludicrous information (i.e. - "won't play hybrid discs") is inexcusable for any company.

[emaidel]

I will keep my thoughts to myself.

No need for that - your input is always useful and interesting. Hope you don't experience the troubles I have, though so far, the unit's been playing for a couple of hours with no trouble at all. Maybe the on/off "trick" is all that's needed.

Right now, it's Beethoven's 8th on BIS by the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska. Stunning. Just stunning.

[blackraven]

Emaidel, the Marantz should play hybrid SACD's. My 8001 and my 8003 both played hybrid disc's.

[Feanor]

....

Like that of other owners, my 8001 often won't play an SACD. The readout simply says, "No Disc," and that's that. After fiddling around, giving the unit a series of different loading commands, and even turning it off and then back on again, I'm always able to get it to play, but it's often quite a PIA to do so.

...

My crummy old Sony SCD-CE775 reads any and all SACDs without any hesitation.

[emaidel]

Emaidel, the Marantz should play hybrid SACD's. My 8001 and my 8003 both played hybrid disc's.

Of course it should. And, it did until recently. As I've stated, it's not that it doesn't play certain SACD's, or is in any way selective as to which SACD it will or will not play, but rather, often will just not load any SACD, and simply read out, "No Disc." I cannot imagine why someone from Marantz would suggest that the unit "doesn't play hybrid discs," when that's what the unit was designed to play in the first place.

[emaidel]

My crummy old Sony SCD-CE775 reads any and all SACDs without any hesitation.

That's kinda like my experience with my car. I drive a Mercedes E-class, which, aside from being a wonderful car, is far and away the worst car I've ever owned when it comes to driving in snow. It might as well be a sled with four slicks instead of an automobile with "M+S" tires. My 1968 Mustang and 1972 Camaro (both rear wheel drive cars with the bulk of the weight in the front) were much better in snow. But then, what should you expect for a car priced over $54,000?

[StevenSurprenant]

This is from a member of AVS Forum

Just wanted to put a plug in for Oppo. I was an idiot and loaded the wrong firmware on the dvd which made the player useless. I called Oppo and they shipped it both ways and fixed it for free. I have never done business with a company like Oppo!! Thanks very much.

Here's some more...

"What a pleasure to deal with... they answer emails with actual usable information usually in less than 30 minutes." - resellerratings.com

"I was very pleased with their customer support - they are very responsive and really caring, which is hard to find nowadays. I e-mailed them a couple of times to check on the status of my package (holidays shipping - you know...) And they were very professional again, even had sent me a second remote while the first one was delayed in the mail." - amazon.com

"...Oppo's customer service is fantastic. even though I bought my player at Amazon, I asked them if they could send me a dvi-hdmi cable (some Amazon units don't ship with one) and all I had to do was forward them my confirmation email." - bensbargains.net

And another from AVS...

I was comparing models on the Oppo website, when I came across a warning that said the Oppo 981HD and 971H models require "careful calibration" on DLP HDTVs. I emailed Oppo to get the details...please see dialogue with Oppo customer service:

Question to OPPO Customer Service

Hi, I just bought a Mitsubishi WD-57831 DLP Diamond Series 1080p HDTV and was interested in combining it with the OPPO 981. I have a concern, as the website mentions that DLP TVs require careful calibration. Could you expand on this, why is it different than LCD or Plasma? Do I need to calibrate the TV or DVD&and what particular setting? Do you still recommend this model for my TV type. Thanks for the input!

Reply from OPPO Customer Service

DLP technology is particularly susceptible to macroblocking, due to the low bit-depth and contrast and brightness ratios. DLP displays primarily use 8-bit processing and an 8-bit PWM scheme on the DMD mirrors, and out of box, most DLPs do not fully utilize their entire range of digital bits (steps between black and white). For this reason, without proper calibration using professional grade calibration discs such as AVIA or DVE, DLP displays will enhance macroblocking and false-contouring errors.

Because DLP displays are macroblock enhancing, we would not recommend the use of the OPDV971H or DV-981HD on DLP displays, as the OPDV971H and DV-981HD will macroblock enhance as well. We would recommend the DV-970HD for DLP displays as it will produce a very good picture and will not produce macroblocking errors.

Oppo never ceases to amaze me with the quality of their components and the honesty with which they represent their products.


__________________________________________________ ______
My experiance is...

I sent them an email on Sunday a received a response in about an hour.

I bought their 980h and on Monday they sent the tracking information with a one click link to track it. In addition, they requested FEDX to send me an email and FEDX sent the email.

I've heard nothing but good about this company.

They're coming out with a Blueray player soon. Keep in mind that their units play DVD, CD, SACD, DVDA, HDCD, and more. I bought their low end player for $169 and it does all the above. Everything except Blueray.

There are other great companies, I thought that this deserved mention after your experiance with Marantz.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Good to hear Steven. I just connected up my new Oppo 980 and so far I'm happy with this tiny little 3 pound box. I had a problem last night though where, after playing an SACD/CD disk, I started up another one but got no sound. The OSD showed it was in Play mode, and the minute counter was counting. I had to shut off the unit, power back up and then the audio was present again. A have a few more things to check but I'll probably be in touch with them soon.

I'd rank Oppo right up there with Emotiva from a customer satisfaction POV.

[Duds]

The majority of customer service sucks these days.

Also, my Denon 2910 doesnt play a lot of those Dual-disc cds, for whatever reason.

[blackraven]

There still are companies with good customer service. Bluejeans cables is excellent as is Van Alstine, Music Hall, Parasound, Cambridge Audio, Velodyne and Niles Audio.

I bought a Nies Audio auto sensing amp and speaker switcher off ebay. It was missing the 16VDC power supply so I called Niles Audio to buy one and they are sending me one for free!

[Luvin Da Blues]

Good to hear Steven. I just connected up my new Oppo 980 and so far I'm happy with this tiny little 3 pound box. I had a problem last night though where, after playing an SACD/CD disk, I started up another one but got no sound. The OSD showed it was in Play mode, and the minute counter was counting. I had to shut off the unit, power back up and then the audio was present again. A have a few more things to check but I'll probably be in touch with them soon.

I'd rank Oppo right up there with Emotiva from a customer satisfaction POV.

I have to "reboot" my 981 very very occasionally too. This happens so little that I forgot about it. Anyone else?