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• J. Hunter says:

  March 17, 2016 at 1:11 am

  43 of 45 people found the following review helpful

  
  HDMI issues plague an otherwise awesome receiver, January 6, 2014

  By 

  J. Hunter –
  
    

  Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

  This review is from: Marantz SR5008 7.2-Channel 1080P and 4K Ultra HD Pass Through, Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay (Discontinued by Manufacturer) (Electronics)

  Ah, receivers. They go obsolete so quickly. A few years ago, I settled down with a Yamaha (with 4 HDMI ports). Alas, in 2014, we have non-backwards-compatible game consoles, 3D, 4k, HDMI version 1.whatever-a. What does this mean? The average consumer has tons of HDMI-compatible devices and needs a receiver that is capable of routing all of those signals to our TVs/Projectors and speakers. With so many requirements around video signals, it’s almost like audio has taken a backseat (7.1/9.1, anyone? didn’t think so!).

  So, given my old Yamaha went obsolete in a mere 5 years (on account of lack of HDMI ports and lack of 3D support), I wanted to be very careful about selecting my new receiver. After much research, I decided to settle on the Marantz 5008. Coming from a Yamaha, I was very pleased with the Marantz’ Audyssey features, rear input layout and overall sound quality. The on screen interface was also pretty user-friendly (compared to Yamahas and Onkyos).

  One minor gripe is that the LCD display on the unit is tiny. With 20/20 vision, I couldn’t read the display at about 14 feet. I don’t understand why the product developers made such a design choice given every other receiver on the market has a much larger LCD display. Apple syndrome, anyone? Also, build quality was only decent (when compared to my previous Yamaha). The volume and input knobs had a certain “looseness” to them.

  Unfortunately, audio is only half the battle with today’s receivers. On the other side of the coin, we have video processing. And, that’s where this model really falls short. Here were the issues that I noticed in 45 days of ownership:

  1. Video Lag. When you pass your HDMI cable through the receiver into your TV, the receiver likes to “take over” the signal by imprinting things like their on-screen settings and volume control. This is actually an awesome feature for most users because you can see all of the receiver controls right on your screen. Unfortunately, the cost for this feature is additional video processing that happens within the receiver, meaning, there’s a slight lag introduced in your video signal. I ran some tests and the delay is about 50 milliseconds when the on-screen controls are enabled. To combat this issue, Marantz has an “audio sync” feature which delays the audio to sync with the delayed video signal. So, for most users the video lag introduced by the on-screen settings will not be an issue. If, however, you want to play twitch-reflex video games (e.g., Rock Band, Call of Duty, etc.), your gaming performance will suffer as a result of this lag. In Rock Band, for example, there is a very noticeable delay between singing into the mic and then hearing the actual sound through your speakers. Marantz does allow you to disable the on-screen controls so that you can directly pass the video signal through (thus, eliminating the delay); however, you lose the cool on-screen controls and are required to use Marantz’ tiny LCD to read the volume and input values.

  2. Non-syncing. On about 3 occasions (over the 45 days), I would turn on the receiver and it would not detect a signal from the source. This was a relatively minor issue as I would simply need to turn the receiver on and then off again; however, my 5-year old Yamaha never had such issues.

  3. Signal dropouts with Apple TV. For some reason, the signal would drop/flicker when using Apple TV. This was due to a poor handshake between the Apple TV and the receiver. For some reason, the Apple TV was getting confused by which type of signal the receiver wanted (bouncing between 60hz and other frequencies). This happened with two separate apple TVs so it was definitely a compatibility problem with the receiver. Luckily, Apple has an advanced setting where you can lock the signal at 1080p/60hz – this resolved the issue for me. However, you have to wonder if the receiver may have similar issues with other devices in the future.

  4. Degraded video quality. Even when you disable all of the on-screen controls, there were minor issues with the HDMI signal. When watching scenes that involved panning, you would see small streaks across the screen (like spaghetti). In other cases, frames would get dropped creating a stutter-effect (probably the biggest annoyance of the four issues). I could understand how you might see similar issues with the on-screen controls enabled; however, I’m scratching my head as to why the receiver is degrading what should be a straight pass-through. It’s possible that my video board was defective but I’m guessing it’s just not a super-high-quality board and that these issues will go unnoticed by the average customer.

  In conclusion, after 10 years of HDMI technology, you’d expect a $900 receiver to have no video/HDMI issues whatsoever. Sadly, I can’t say that for this receiver. If you will be using your…

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• Michael Birman says:

  March 17, 2016 at 1:48 am

  17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

  
  An excellent home theater receiver, August 25, 2013

  By 

  Michael Birman (Brooklyn, New York USA) –
  
    

  This review is from: Marantz SR5008 7.2-Channel 1080P and 4K Ultra HD Pass Through, Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay (Discontinued by Manufacturer) (Electronics)

  Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What’s this?)

  Similarly priced home theater receivers, regardless of brand name, tend to have similar features. Choosing between them is essentially a matter of comparing which receivers most closely match your exact requirements. In my case, I require a healthy number of HDMI inputs, build reliability so that I can be confident that my receiver will function without issues, a generous warranty in case it doesn’t, home networking/peripheral connectivity that really works, good multi-channel sound and solid high definition video. The Marantz SR5008 7.2 channel home theater receiver is nearly identical to similarly priced Yamaha and Denon receivers. It seems that the 2013 models are following a template of sorts with Apple compatibility a key requirement. All of the aforementioned comparably priced full-featured models offer Apple Airplay for streaming from an iPhone or iPad, home network connectivity that allows iTunes content to be streamed from a PC or Mac, free remote apps for smartphone control, generous internet radio availability, USB and DLNA connectivity, multiple HDMI slots, 1080p upconversion and 3D/4K Ultra HD compatibility.

  What distinguishes the Marantz SR5008 is its beautifully nuanced sound, courtesy of the easy to use Audyssey MultiEQ XT set-up protocol and the included Audyssey Dynamic EQ which provides real-time acoustic compensation that yields a very natural tonal balance regardless of your listening level (this is a very significant feature for apartment dwellers who would rather not face angry neighbors). Music sounds rich and full with a solid soundstage that isn’t attenuated by multi-channel audio, a frequent complaint about receivers without the ability to compensate for the additional channels. While a Yamaha receiver (which uses the proprietary YPAO acoustic set-up protocol) can occasionally sound overly bright and even harsh, the Marantz has a smoother sound signature that is warm with a slightly fuller and deeper sound stage. The Marantz SR5008 also features their proprietary HDAM technology (the least expensive Marantz A/V receiver ever to do so) which combines a very fast slew rate with a broad dynamic range so that high resolution audio formats are optimized. Hi-def audio (on discs such as DVD-Audio and SACDs as well as high-definition music files) sounds especially rich and realistic with none of the digital coldness that can afflict some receivers when playing high-resolution music. Although similarly priced receivers do have comparable features, the Marantz offers slightly superior sound and very good video up-conversion. The SR5008 also features 7 X 100 Watts per channel, more than enough power to preclude distortion during highly dynamic (and sonically stressful) musical passages, and 7 HDMI slots for very good connectivity to a multitude of peripherals. This is an excellent home theater receiver from a company long renowned for its high-end audio equipment.

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• Pablo says:

  March 17, 2016 at 2:30 am

  11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

  
  Simple, classic front panel. Outstanding audio quality with intuitive setup, September 19, 2013

  By 

  Pablo (SF Bay Area, CA) –

  This review is from: Marantz SR5008 7.2-Channel 1080P and 4K Ultra HD Pass Through, Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay (Discontinued by Manufacturer) (Electronics)

  Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What’s this?)

  I’ve been very happy with the SR5008. It’s my third AV Receiver purchase in the last few years. They’ve all been Denon or Marantz and this makes it my second Marantz. Marantz and Denon are part of the same company and they have equivalent models at almost every price point. Marantz tends to focus a bit more on the higher end and the designs of the front panels tend to be simpler. If you’re looking for flashier displays or don’t like porthole display that Marantz is known for then go for a Denon instead.

  So here’s my pro and con list starting with the Pros:

  + Great sound and video quality. When you get into this price range I really think it’s hard to tell the difference between units unless you’re auditioning them side by side. The room acoustics, speakers, tv, and source all seem to be much more important.
  + Wonderful and simple design. Even when the display is on while watching a movie it doesn’t get in the way. This porthole display is really a Marantz trademark but if you don’t like it you’ll find it annoying
  + Great calibration system to automatically setup your speakers (Audyssey)
  + HDMI Pass through so you don’t have to turn on the receiver if you don’t need it
  + Support for Pandora, Spotify, etc. but I really prefer to use my Roku or TV for that
  + Available Apps for iOS (I haven’t looked for Android but they’re probably there)
  + Great build quality. This unit does not feel cheap in any way.
  + Apple Airplay support but it won’t take the place of that Apple TV for video since only Audio is supported
  + Networkable but only hardwired.

  Cons
  – Although the design is simple and the display is minimal it does make it kind of useless. I don’t remember the last time I even bothered looking at the display on the unit. There are some settings to turn it off and that’s what I did. But if you depend on that display you’ll be disappointed..
  – No built in wifi
  – If you’ve got a lot of old devices it only has 3 composite in
  – There’s also only one HDMI out. Probably not a problem for most people but you’ll have to may more if you want a model with 2 simultaneous out
  – The remote is rather simple but not a problem for someone like me who uses a universal harmony remote

  That’s about it! So overall a great quality receive from Marantz. If you like the simple look that just blends in and outstanding sound quality this is the one for you!

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