[Urgent (kind of)] Yamaha RX-V581, or Marantz NR-1605 / 1606?

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efernand1 said:
@ theseeker,

Which AVR did you finally pick?
Click to expand...



none yet. though sights are still set on v581 / denon x1300w, looks like i have postponed the purchase, as some other things in my to-buy list have moved up ahead of the avr (a GPU & a phone). that local v581 seller essentially played spoilsport! plus an avr purchase-process will take a longer time factoring in other things like speakers to go with it, a rack to accommodate it, & setting everything up, so thought of getting over with the 'smaller' things first.
 
hello everyone!
bumping this thread up...

i have to buy an AVR by dec. end now. seeking suggestions from members regarding, yamaha rx-v581, v/s denon x1300w...do we have users of the latter here? pls suggest. also, how is denon x2300w or x2200w different from x1300w? solely in wattage?

thanks.
 
Hi

There are differences in some technical aspects and features....at the end of the day, you need to take a call and decide what is it you want to use in an AVR and how much are you willing to spend.

Any decent AVR which can deliver 50watts RMS of continous power @ 8 ohms load is good enough for small to medium listening areas etc....of course most AVRs come with the latest features which makes the competition tougher in the market.

I got a friend in Mumbai who is struggling to get his RX V471 power circuit fixed.....the repairer (another trusted person for years) is trying his best to obtain the parts....so as Yamaha claims of better after sales service...i don't think they live up to their reputation.

Similarly other brands too have their pros and cons......if i was you and had a specific budget and need to fulfill, i would look at a pre owned AVR and use it for some time and later upgrade....

There are some AVRs on Hifiads.com available .....should you need to consider....

All the best.....hope you get something nice which lives up to your needs and expectations.
 
am now considering marantz nr1606 too...however, the power specification of marantz is something am considered about - 50W/ch. my room-size is about 8ft (W) x 12ft (L) x 8ft (H)...and i have two floorstanders to be driven with the AVR (currently connected to a DNM Audio A-777 stereo amp) alongwith other speakers & sub in the whole surround sound setup. would the marantz AVR prove to be underpowered?
 
Hi

The 1606 should suffice for that area....if you are gonna use a 5.1 or 5.2 setup, you can Bi Amp the floor standing speakers.

Each channel has its own discrete amplifier circuit so same amount of power is outputted at 8 ohms....it delivers 70 watts at 6 ohms load.

After running audyssey, you can manually adjust the levels of the speakers and source input to your expectations.
 
The Yamaha will have more drive. The marantz will be more refined. If you want to play loud go with the Yamaha. If you want refinement go with the Marantz. I would go with the yamaha because movies have a high dynamic range. So you usually turn up the volume to hear dialogue and then when an action scene takes place you feel like your ears are dying cause the amp is distorting and can't deliver power. Ideally save up and go with the Yamaha 600 series. Gives you best of both worlds. Don't use very big speakers with any of these amps though. Satellites or bookshelfs only to be used.
 
audiopro said:
The Yamaha will have more drive. The marantz will be more refined. If you want to play loud go with the Yamaha. If you want refinement go with the Marantz. I would go with the yamaha because movies have a high dynamic range. So you usually turn up the volume to hear dialogue and then when an action scene takes place you feel like your ears are dying cause the amp is distorting and can't deliver power. Ideally save up and go with the Yamaha 600 series. Gives you best of both worlds. Don't use very big speakers with any of these amps though. Satellites or bookshelfs only to be used.
Click to expand...

yes, in my demos of marantz, i did feel the lack of the 'attacking' sound in marantz.
why the 600 series may i know? i checked this page & seems most differences between v581 & v681 pertain to the no. of input ports:
RX-V681 Compared to the RX-V581 - RX-V681 - RX-V - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual

the only big speakers would be the front ones, which are floorstanders. rest will be bookshelves or sats.
 
y'day i came to know that alliance4 doesnt give any demo. they are only into consultation & installation. seemed weird to me but that was what i was told over the phone.

heading to profx centres today (hopefully they have something of my use).
 
From experience the Yamaha 500 series is closer to the 400 and the 600 has always been a stepup. Usually it will have a bigger power supply and hence better drive.

Infact the specs reflect it too.

1. The 681 is 5lbs heaver than the 581. Just adding inputs wont do that. It usually means it has a better transformer or caps.

2. The output power is also about 10-15% higher. The dynamic power is also higher which means it will be able to deal with difficult speakers compared to the 581.

RX-V681 - RX-V - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

RX-V581 - RX-V - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha United States

3. If you look at the weight of the 400 and 500 you will see that it is identical. Usually this would indicate that the basic circuit and power supply is the same.

The 600 and 700 series weight is almost the same with a difference of 1lb. This would indicate that the 700 series is actually based on the 600 series with maybe an input or so here and there.

This is from experience. Have been playing with this line since 25 years and have noticed that when you move from one model to another the change is sometimes incremental and then again sometimes it makes a big jump. So try and demo the 600 vs the 500 and see if you feel there is a difference. The 600 typically doesn't loose control as easily as the 400 or 500 but demo it and see. Make sure the settings are all the same though like front size, crossover, etc.




TheSeeker said:
yes, in my demos of marantz, i did feel the lack of the 'attacking' sound in marantz.
why the 600 series may i know? i checked this page & seems most differences between v581 & v681 pertain to the no. of input ports:
RX-V681 Compared to the RX-V581 - RX-V681 - RX-V - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual

the only big speakers would be the front ones, which are floorstanders. rest will be bookshelves or sats.
Click to expand...
 
hello all,

some updates...

AVR:

last weekend had a demo of Yamaha & Denon AVRs at ProFX, Atria mall, Worli. initially had gone to their Kurla centre (Phoenix Mall), but found that it had been closed.

the demo at ProFX was given using the Atmos demo disc. they didnt have speakers setup in the Atmos configuration though. the demo-room is small, but atleast they have one, and its good enough. the salesperson (Mr. Jadhav) was polite & courteous all through the session. i was accompanied by my brother and a colleague.

watched the clip of the bombing scene from the movie 'unbroken', first on Denon x1200w, plus some music. this was then replaced with Yamaha RXV581, fortunately the same AVR i was after. played the same clip. as soon as the action broke out, my brother's face more than indicated that the sound was harsh. it was indeed! too bright. IDK how earlier in the HT room of The Shop @andheri, i liked its sound when a clip from 'the jungle book' was played. even the music that was played (an orchestral soundtrack) was quite bright/harsh to listen. instantly struck off Yamaha from my options then & there (though after confirming 3-4 times with my brother & taking brother's & colleague's feedback)! Denon sounded well softer & easier on the ears.

(speakers were Polk 50 FS, Polk satellites for rears, cant recall the sub).

my options-list included Denon x1300w (successor to x1200w), which they didnt have ready in stock, but could have been made available. MRP quoted was ~55k. we thanked Mr. Jadhav and came out.


SPEAKERS:

for these, my options were those from SMDaudio, then BIC america DV32 from a seller/user located in Bandra, & then the ones from Taga. since i had discussed with SMDaudio about my requirements first beforehand, went to the owner's place y'day.

had a thorough demo of an array of speakers there. impressive they were! after discussing with him for quite some time and getting clear explanations, realised that DV32 would've been quite small for my hall & usage. so decided on the speakers there itself.

so have decided to bite the bullet now!


AVR - Marantz NR1606

i wanted Atmos & DTS:X, & thus a future-proof purchase...some have observed that Atmos sounds similar to 7.1...however to me Atmos felt more impressive than 7.1 during a couple of demos (as well as affirmed by some folks with the same observation...plus, an Atmos-enabled receiver could anyway be used for 7.1 too, so decided to invest in it). there was/is an offer for an NR1605 from the same user from Bandra, for 43-45k, but since the price of NR1606 has reduced on HiFiMart, & keeping in view my requirements, have decided to go for NR1606.
further, the lowest quote i could find for Denon x1300w was ~55k, across a couple of stores, while NR1606's price seems to be varying wildly in stores (from 60-70k to 82k!). alfa too has no stock of Denon receivers. Marantz NR1606 is for 55k there IIRC).

so keeping all these factors in mind (and that Denon & Marantz sound similar while Marantz is said to be more musical), the best price i was/am getting, is for the NR1606. what more could i have asked for!


Speakers:

- a pair of 2-way 4 drivers bipolars for the rears
- 2-way 5 drivers center channel speaker
- a pair of micro swivel satellites (very small, but very big in sound!) or a pair of ceiling speakers - these, for ceiling (Atmos config)
- for fronts, i already have a pair of floorstanders (custom, drivers installed by SMDaudio some years back)...
- on sub i'll take a call later

the total cost of the whole 'project' then comes out to be 90-95k. and to think of it, i had started this hunt with a budget of 30k (or 40k max) aiming for only used items in mind! as always, repetition of the same old story whenever i have to buy a rather big ticket item. :rolleyes:

from initially disliking Marantz to swooning over Yamaha (RXV581), i seem to have come in a full circle in my hunt! thanks be to everyone who contributed & assisted me in this (including the 1605 owner from Bandra), & esp. a big thanks & shout-out to FM efernand1! :signthankspin:

P.S. - i will share pics of the devices later. also, after everything's set-up, FMs are welcome to come for a dekho & demo, esp. those who are in or will climb similar boat as mine, so that it helps them a bit to decide what they want to finally buy. this is because during this whole process i used to feel bad going to stores for demo, while i was finally going to buy either from forum or HFM. while sellers outside of the forum insist that you first decide that you will buy from us, then you can come for a demo. hence i thought why not start from myself & invite community-members for a demo if that'll help them arrive to a conclusion or atleast familiarise themselves with the unexperienced & the unlistened to. :)
 
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a couple of points i forgot to add...

1. my decision to go with Marantz instead of Denon was really appreciated by one. his experience with the service of his Denon receiver had been terrible. over here too, i have read members encouraging buyers to go with Marantz as against Denon when build-quality, reliability and service are concerned.

2. about some stores:

- ProFX at Kurla has shut down. is operating at Atria Mall, Worli. dont have Marantz receivers, but good inventory of Yamaha & Denon ones, as well as of speakers.

- The Den at Worli too dont stock Marantz receivers readily, but can make them available for demo or purchase. the person i spoke to was polite, courteous and helpful. but pricing of Marantz receivers was roof-shattering (NR1606 for ~82k!)

- The Shop at Andheri, again, dont stock Marantz receivers, but they have a very good HT-room! its separate from the shop. just beside it. acoustically treated proper HT-room. again, courteous fellows.

- a few blocks ahead of The Shop is Viola. they thankfully HAVE Marantz receivers for demo. but there's no separate demo-room, but the main floor itself, which is cluttered with speakers. the owner seemed a laidback fellow, but wasnt rude or anything. had good knowledge esp. of the business-side i felt.

- Cinebels at Bandra too stock Marantz & Denon receivers (but not Yamaha), and have a good HT room, almost like The Shop's, & perhaps a tad longer or even slightly better, but not darker). but they stock only high-end Marantz receivers, coupled with Klipsch reference series speakers. in their groundfloor space they have a small but good demo-room, where they've kept Denon x1300w for playback/demo. the demo-giver, one Mr. Thakur, was a young and energetic fellow with good knowledge and eloquence like Mr. Jadhav of ProFX, but was kind of insisting for Denon x1300w for me, perhaps because they didnt have Marantz receiver in the segment i wanted to. but i confess that sound of Denon in music-playback pleased my ears more than of Marantz (former being a bit brighter). may be speakers attached too made a difference, or the most diffference.

- Lakozy at chowpatty i didnt visit. IIRC they didnt have either Denon or Marantz, one of the two.

- Alliance4 at Goregaon told me over the phone that they dont give demos, only consultations & installations. seemed strange to me.

- Soundtech at Thane have shifted to a tiny office, from earlier big store at Viviana Mall. there separate demo-room is under-construction that'd take 2-3 months for completion i was told.

- Audiomaxx (warehouse direct) are presently not giving demos. could hear properly as the voice was choppy, but i discerned that its because they are doing some renovation/construction-work, after which from Jan onwards demo could be had. the owner Mr. Sanjay definitely seemed a bit pushy. earlier i was told by a staff-worker that Mr. Sanjay at times comes to the shop at times doesnt, so i will have to talk to him later on, prior coming. when i started discussing further about brands & models i was looking for, suddenly Mr. Sanjay arrived from somewhere. he said having a demo was not much of use as "even if i blindfold you, you wont be able to understand difference in sound". not sure what he wanted to convey, but i thought it to be weird-talk. he said this twice-thrice in a row. also said that the collection he has cannot be found anywhere in Mumbai, as well as the prices. i had already gotten to know from FM efernand1 that he's reported to be selling pre-owned pieces too, so i thought thats understandable (ie, low prices). anyway, i had already read about him on forum & elsewhere on the web, and moreover wasnt to buy from him, so was not concerned. i kept insisting on a demo & finally we both said 'than you' to each other & disconnected from the 'hotline'. :)

- JS Enterprises at Bandra deals only in Yamaha, so didnt go there.

- there used to be one store at Mulund on LBS road, named 'music' something, long back. the owner was said to be a fellow passionate about all these stuff and hence a knowledgeable and reasonable person. dont know where did that shop shift to or whether it got closed.
 
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That is a great choice. Marantz NR1606 is loaded with future proof functionalities and VFM. :)

I am a Marantz NR1606 owner too. Bought it from MZ Audio in Mumbai. You could give it a try too.

I am being a little optimistic and saying this, Welcome to Marantz Owner Group! :) (There is a separate thread for Marantz Owners too which you go and have a visit.)

Cheers!
 
balzac said:
That is a great choice. Marantz NR1606 is loaded with future proof functionalities and VFM. :)

I am a Marantz NR1606 owner too. Bought it from MZ Audio in Mumbai. You could give it a try too.

I am being a little optimistic and saying this, Welcome to Marantz Owner Group! :) (There is a separate thread for Marantz Owners too which you go and have a visit.)

Cheers!
Click to expand...

thanks. i went through your thread (purchase-suggestions thread). :)
 
congrats.

so from where did you buy it? how much?

how much are the SMDaudio ceiling speakers you are planning to buy?
 
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