Marantz SR 4300 Personal Review (Initial)
(Sorry for not being technical.)
Just bought a Marantz SR 4300 from the HomeTheater last Saturday for my sister.
Technical Pros:
The cheapest DTS-ES, DD-EX, 6-channel Amps available locally.
Easy to set up.
Has 6.1 preouts
4 Digital Inputs and 2 Digital Outputs
Powerful enough @ 80 watts/channel; it drives well my custom-made (by me) 165 watts speaker.
Very good in Stereo - two-thumbs up
PLII does really enhanced stereo sources if you prefer listening music in 5.1/6.1 mode.
Cons:
No OSD - bearable
SR (System Remote) cannot control other A/V equipment - (!)
Generic Remote
No component video ins/outs
User manual is a piece of junk.
I tested first the receiver with my current set-up (my sister does not have speakers yet), with Yamaha center speaker, locally custom-made (by me) main speaker, MB Acoustic Surround Speakers, SAST DVD Player, 80-watts dual 8” active subwoofer (55 Hertz cute-off freq.), Regular RCA cable (worth Php 15.00) to connect the Receiver via coaxial digital.
(Please do not comment on my set-up.)Marantz SR4300 is very good in stereo mode; you can really hear the clarity (not bright) and the warmness of the sound. Not as boomy like Pioneer and Sakura (well, these two are known for their boomieness), so you really need to add subwoofer. Great sound separations, there is no distortions even at high levels. The sound improve dramatically especially in music. Concerts DVDs are superb. Did I say this unit is superb in stereo mode?
While in movie mode, I did not notice much difference, I'm using Pioneer ProLogic Receiver (Sakura Prologic then), although as I’ve mentioned, clarity is defined especially in the Center channel. Marantz are not as boomy as Pioneer and Sakura, most movies contains LFE sound so, if you are going to use Marantz for HT purposes, subwoofer is a must.
Things to clarify:
In the Marantz USA site, the SR 4300 is equiped with 96kHz/24 bit D/A Converters as showed here:
http://www.marantz.com/p_product.cfm?id=2353&cont=u&line=rcv&cat=hf&series=heHowever, in the Europen Site it is indicated that it has 192/24-bit D/A Conversion for All Channels and has A/D Converter of 96/24:
http://www.marantz.com/p_prod_specnew.cfm?id=1816&cont=e&line=avrCan anyone verify or explain this?
Verdict:
Since my speaker systems is just a so – so (tonal, which is very important, are not match because I am not using the same type/driver of a speakers), I must admit that I should not expect gradual, huge and dramatic difference compared to my Pioneer set-up. My audio connection is poor; of course I will get a hi-grade coaxial and/or optical cables (no time to get one yet), and will post the findings later. I haven’t tested yet the surround back, I don’t have a speaker for such.
I haven't done much tweaking with the SR 4300, but I could see it has potential, power and capabilities.
Anyway, if budget permits, we’ll be going to invest for Mission speakers.
Just my opinion....