How is Marantz 8003 pre power combo?

[ashishkesarwani]

Has anyone in this forum heard the Marantz 8003 pre and power combo? How is it rated and would it be good for both Movies and Music. Also is there any other option in the same catogory. I meant in the price bracket of 200K.

8003 Pre Specification Page:
Marantz America | AV8003 Networking AV Preamp/Processor

8003 Power Specification Page:
Marantz America | MM8003 8 Channel Power Amplifier

Any help in this regard would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Sumit]

Ashish!!

Denon has a similar combo. You may want to check their site. I am not sure of price though.

Sumit

 

[afj]

Has anyone in this forum heard the Marantz 8003 pre and power combo? How is it rated and would it be good for both Movies and Music. Also is there any other option in the same catogory. I meant in the price bracket of 200K.

8003 Pre Specification Page:
Marantz America | AV8003 Networking AV Preamp/Processor

8003 Power Specification Page:
Marantz America | MM8003 8 Channel Power Amplifier

Any help in this regard would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.

in that price range theres a whole bunch to choose from. whats the rest of your set up. also what sort of music do you listen to

 

[marsilians]

Has anyone in this forum heard the Marantz 8003 pre and power combo? How is it rated and would it be good for both Movies and Music. Also is there any other option in the same catogory. I meant in the price bracket of 200K.

For that kind of budget, there are tons of options - auditioning is the best approach. Some brands to think of are :

Sunfire
Parasound
Aragon
Rotel
Bryston
ATI
...

 

[ashishkesarwani]

Ashish!!

Denon has a similar combo. You may want to check their site. I am not sure of price though.

Sumit

Denon is way out of the price range mentioned i.e 200K whereas Denon is around 900K.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

in that price range theres a whole bunch to choose from. whats the rest of your set up. also what sort of music do you listen to

My setup includes Polk RTiA series speakers. RTIA7, towers, CSIA6 Center, FXIA6 Surrounds, RtIA3 rear surrounds, Polk DSW Pro 600 Sub, Panasonic PT AE1000E Projector, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Tata Sky+ set-top Box,Onkyo Ipod Dock with 60GB IPOD and 16GB Iphone (Contains apple lossless format music), Oppo BDP83 (Ordered with multi region hardware MOD), Onkyo Nr905 AVR. Sonodyne's Power Amp 2 Channel SPA202,APC 1.5 KVA UPS, Microtec 1KVA UPS for projector,QED 15m HDMI Cable, QED Power Cord, DAC Power Cord, DAC Spike guard, DAC 12AWG speaker cables,Monster Analog Interconnectors.
I will be using this setup in a dedicated theatre room size of 22x30. Recently I thought of upgrading my AVR with the PRE and Power Combo of Marantz mentioned in my question and I am getting the same for 180K in New Delhi.
As you see my setup is more for movies than Music but I do ocassionally listen to music through my ipod connected to my setup in pure direct mode.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

For that kind of budget, there are tons of options - auditioning is the best approach. Some brands to think of are :

Sunfire
Parasound
Aragon
Rotel
Bryston
ATI
...

Price and Avaliability? I would Prefer New Delhi so that I could audition them with my speakers before buying. Rotel is beyond the budget i have mentioned and I also didn't like the attitude of their dealers in new delhi i.e A2V.

 

[afj]

My setup includes Polk RTiA series speakers. RTIA7, towers, CSIA6 Center, FXIA6 Surrounds, RtIA3 rear surrounds, Polk DSW Pro 600 Sub, Panasonic PT AE1000E Projector, Sony PS3, Nintendo Wii, Tata Sky+ set-top Box,Onkyo Ipod Dock with 60GB IPOD and 16GB Iphone (Contains apple lossless format music), Oppo BDP83 (Ordered with multi region hardware MOD), Onkyo Nr905 AVR. Sonodyne's Power Amp 2 Channel SPA202,APC 1.5 KVA UPS, Microtec 1KVA UPS for projector,QED 15m HDMI Cable, QED Power Cord, DAC Power Cord, DAC Spike guard, DAC 12AWG speaker cables,Monster Analog Interconnectors.
I will be using this setup in a dedicated theatre room size of 22x30. Recently I thought of upgrading my AVR with the PRE and Power Combo of Marantz mentioned in my question and I am getting the same for 180K in New Delhi.
As you see my setup is more for movies than Music but I do ocassionally listen to music through my ipod connected to my setup in pure direct mode.

imo youre over specing the amp for the polk set up. im not a big fan of polk. if you put in an amp that costs 200k the polk will be quite a weak link in your system. it will never keep up. perhaps you could look at selling the polk fronts, and buying another set of fronts (monitor audios for instance) and you'll still have around 150k for an amp which will increase the sq of your system way more than just changing your amp, esp on stereo music

 

[Sumit]

I strongly agree with afj here. Pre-power will be 'over-x times' kill for the polk.
If you are satisfied with Polk then please get a decent avr like yam-863 which shall more than suffice.

Also, I see that you have a huge room. I am not sure if these polk shall be sufficent for this room. You might wanna chk that first.

Sumit

imo youre over specing the amp for the polk set up. im not a big fan of polk. if you put in an amp that costs 200k the polk will be quite a weak link in your system. it will never keep up. perhaps you could look at selling the polk fronts, and buying another set of fronts (monitor audios for instance) and you'll still have around 150k for an amp which will increase the sq of your system way more than just changing your amp, esp on stereo music

 

[ashishkesarwani]

imo youre over specing the amp for the polk set up. im not a big fan of polk. if you put in an amp that costs 200k the polk will be quite a weak link in your system. it will never keep up. perhaps you could look at selling the polk fronts, and buying another set of fronts (monitor audios for instance) and you'll still have around 150k for an amp which will increase the sq of your system way more than just changing your amp, esp on stereo music

To me the Polk sounds great with my existing setup and I am writing this after auditioning comparatable brands at their showroom, with the likes of MS Mezzo series, Klipch Reference speakers, Wharfedale 9.6, Dali Ikon 6, B&W 685. I need to change my AVR as it has some problems with the EPROM and HDMI. I wouldn't want to change my fronts here with a different brand because then I would have the problem of timbre matching of each speakers. Also Monitor Audio is not avaliable in Delhi.

 

[ashishkesarwani]

I strongly agree with afj here. Pre-power will be 'over-x times' kill for the polk.
If you are satisfied with Polk then please get a decent avr like yam-863 which shall more than suffice.

Also, I see that you have a huge room. I am not sure if these polk shall be sufficent for this room. You might wanna chk that first.

Sumit

Yamaha won't be able to handle the power requirement of RTI A7 and I have seen this with my earlier experience with Onkyo 705 which I had before 905.
Polk would be more than sufficient with the room size as that of mine, I am not talking Monitor series of Polk here, as in comparison with RtiA series the Monitor Series sounded dull.
Since a pre and power combo of this calibre would be a long term investment so in future I might change my Polk Speakers setup when the finances would permit.

 

[afj]

To me the Polk sounds great with my existing setup and I am writing this after auditioning comparatable brands at their showroom, with the likes of MS Mezzo series, Klipch Reference speakers, Wharfedale 9.6, Dali Ikon 6, B&W 685. I need to change my AVR as it has some problems with the EPROM and HDMI. I wouldn't want to change my fronts here with a different brand because then I would have the problem of timbre matching of each speakers. Also Monitor Audio is not avaliable in Delhi.

while comparing the polks in the same category im sure it would match up. what im saying is that for that speaker an amp costing 200k would just be too much. you can instead go for an onkyo for about 30-40k. if you really want to spend that much then you have to upgrade your speakers as well

 

[ashishkesarwani]

while comparing the polks in the same category im sure it would match up. what im saying is that for that speaker an amp costing 200k would just be too much. you can instead go for an onkyo for about 30-40k. if you really want to spend that much then you have to upgrade your speakers as well

Inventually I would upgrade my speakers when the time and finances would permit. As I have just sold my Onkyo 705 so I am not looking to go back to the same route again. This would be a one time investment.

 

[afj]

Yamaha won't be able to handle the power requirement of RTI A7 and I have seen this with my earlier experience with Onkyo 705 which I had before 905.
Polk would be more than sufficient with the room size as that of mine, I am not talking Monitor series of Polk here, as in comparison with RtiA series the Monitor Series sounded dull.
Since a pre and power combo of this calibre would be a long term investment so in future I might change my Polk Speakers setup when the finances would permit.

i guess if you like the polk so much you should stick with it (i was talking about the monitor audio silver series). i would still say though that if you werent happy with the likes of a onkyo you could max try with cambridge or nad or marantz avrs. i dont think there is need for going separates. imo the polks are still the weakest link. listen to floorstander speakers that sell in the range of 75k rupees and you'll understand what we're talking about. you should have the dali ikons in delhi

 

[anm]

but you already have a 905 onkyo? Or did you sell that as well?

 

[ashishkesarwani]

but you already have a 905 onkyo? Or did you sell that as well?

I still have 905 but its lying at Onkyo's delhi service center from last 1 month.
Actually I had performed a software upgrade on that bcause of which its started giving me E2PROM error and all the memory gets wiped out i.e speaker settings, distance, audessey etc, and the set comes back to factory default settings after an hour of the operation, also when I gave it to the service center they fiddeled with the HDMI board and so there is no audio out from speakers from all HDMI sources.

 

[Sumit]

ashish!!

I think the 705 had pre-outs. What u could have done was to buy a 2ch power amp and route the fronts vide the same. This would have reduced the load on the 705 and maybe you would have liked the combo. Alas, you have sold it now. So, we shall consider a workaround.

I would again say that you buy a yam 863. But, since u are sceptical about the power- buy a power amp as well. See how it works for you.

I shall give u my example. I have marantz SR5001 AVR. This lies somewhere in the middle of the AVR chain of marantz there are two models below it and perhaps 3 above it. Time and again I have mentioned in the forum that marantz is not great for multichannel sound but it is super for 2 channel.
the problem I was facing was with the sonic signature of marantz for movies AND power output at the same time. Sometimes the AVR used to clip at "loud explosions" etc.

Recently, I bought a NAD pre/power. The NAD 214 power block is conseratively rated at 80W. I am using the pre-out of Marantz into the NAD pre and from there to the NAD power. The front speakers are connected to the NAD power.

Result: There has never been any clipping since. The performance of Marantz has increased. The base is more tight.

In your case, you can just buy a power amp and connect it to your AVR directly. I believe this could satisfy you.

Cheers!!

Sumit

 

[ashishkesarwani]

ashish!!

I think the 705 had pre-outs. What u could have done was to buy a 2ch power amp and route the fronts vide the same. This would have reduced the load on the 705 and maybe you would have liked the combo. Alas, you have sold it now. So, we shall consider a workaround.

I would again say that you buy a yam 863. But, since u are sceptical about the power- buy a power amp as well. See how it works for you.

I shall give u my example. I have marantz SR5001 AVR. This lies somewhere in the middle of the AVR chain of marantz there are two models below it and perhaps 3 above it. Time and again I have mentioned in the forum that marantz is not great for multichannel sound but it is super for 2 channel.
the problem I was facing was with the sonic signature of marantz for movies AND power output at the same time. Sometimes the AVR used to clip at "loud explosions" etc.

Recently, I bought a NAD pre/power. The NAD 214 power block is conseratively rated at 80W. I am using the pre-out of Marantz into the NAD pre and from there to the NAD power. The front speakers are connected to the NAD power.

Result: There has never been any clipping since. The performance of Marantz has increased. The base is more tight.

In your case, you can just buy a power amp and connect it to your AVR directly. I believe this could satisfy you.

Cheers!!

Sumit

After buying 905 and listining to it I didn't like the SQ of the 705 and in stand alone mode it use to clip with my speakers at higher volume,wheras 905 is of a different league altogether (its a beast of an amplifier at this price point)with massive power supply and amazing video processing courtesy Reon HQV processor. As I have mentioned in my earlier thread I already have a 2 channel power amp, which I am using to power my fronts and I am fully satisfied with the sound quality of my existing setup, but due to unfortunate circumstances I am looking to change my AVR or buy a new one. Been using 905 I have been used to the feature count and the sound signature of the Onkyo high end models, so from hereon in I could either try similar products in the Yahama stable like AVR 3900 and defenitely not 863.
Since I am constantly repeating that it would be long term investment so money upto 200 K is no problem, but as you have highlighted that Marantz is not good for multichannel sound separation, here I would like to know that is it the same for their higher end model and in this case a separate.

 

[vishanv]

I still have 905 but its lying at Onkyo's delhi service center from last 1 month.
Actually I had performed a software upgrade on that bcause of which its started giving me E2PROM error and all the memory gets wiped out i.e speaker settings, distance, audessey etc, and the set comes back to factory default settings after an hour of the operation, also when I gave it to the service center they fiddeled with the HDMI board and so there is no audio out from speakers from all HDMI sources.

From the earlier posts, I'm not sure, what you are expecting from a pre/pro - Power combo.

I have seen & heard the Marantz combo you mentioned, for audio , yes the pre-pro will compete with other top performers. personally I see the DSD decoding feature as a plus. But I feel the video upscaling section is only so so. I cant comment on the power amp much because it was a very brief listening session. I believe that all well designed amps sound good. Marantz makes pretty good products, so I dont think its a big concern.

If Video upscaling is as important to you as Audio, look elsewhere.

BTW, is this the price for Marantz combo in India? or you just converted the US price into INR?

 

[Sumit]

After buying 905 and listining to it I didn't like the SQ of the 705 and in stand alone mode it use to clip with my speakers at higher volume,wheras 905 is of a different league altogether (its a beast of an amplifier at this price point)with massive power supply and amazing video processing courtesy Reon HQV processor. As I have mentioned in my earlier thread I already have a 2 channel power amp, which I am using to power my fronts and I am fully satisfied with the sound quality of my existing setup, but due to unfortunate circumstances I am looking to change my AVR or buy a new one. Been using 905 I have been used to the feature count and the sound signature of the Onkyo high end models, so from hereon in I could either try similar products in the Yahama stable like AVR 3900 and defenitely not 863.
Since I am constantly repeating that it would be long term investment so money upto 200 K is no problem, but as you have highlighted that Marantz is not good for multichannel sound separation, here I would like to know that is it the same for their higher end model and in this case a separate.

I am not sure of the Marantz higher end models.I have never auditioned them. I see your point of long term investment. I suggest you ask the pro acoustics people to bring the marantz to your house and test it on your set-up. This shall give you a fairly good idea of the marantz.

However, I firmly believe in 'relativity'. You will be in a better position to judge the quality of Marantz if you have your 905 alongside for comparison. I suggest pressurize the Onkyo people to repair the same at the earliest and then call the Marantz guys.

Also, ask the pro acoustics people if they are willing to buy-back the onkyo for 8003 combo. I don't think they'll do, but its worth a try.

How much did you pay for the 905?

Sumit.