chagaris

I've Can either get the Marantz SR-4200 for about 360 Shipped or the Denon AVR 1802 for about the same. FWIW, the Marantz is from an authorized dealor (HiFi.com), the Denon is not (AMDV.COM). This will be used primarily for Home Theatre and every once in a while, I might play music on it. They both have Dolby Pro Logic II. I'm really torn by this. I'm leaning towards Marantz though.

Please, if anyone can give me some perspective, I would love to hear it.

ngp

Both are very good but the Denon is far superior! However, if price is the big issue than Marantz is much lower typically.

Check out the Denon 3802 if you haven't already.

Michael T Hudson

I have a 3801 and would very much lean towards the 3802 or the 1802. You may want to check out the hometheater forum as well, some crazy stories about buying from un authorized dealers.

nekobus

Have you considered the Denon 1602? It's very similar to the Marantz 4200 and should be around the same price from an authorised Denon dealer.

Outlaw

I have a Denon 1801 (which is virtually the same thing, maybe just lacks a couple features from the 1802) and I am very pleased with it. It was my first purchase into home theater equipment, and while I'm not a hardcore audiophile (I'm more of a gamer) it is more than adequet for DVD's and games, in fact a lot of my friends who are into home theater are pretty jealous that I have it . I listened to the Marantz too but I went with the Denon as I got it cheaper for $320 shipped from uBid.com and I have had no problems at all.

The choice is really up to you, you should go listen to them at a local store and find out which one you like better, thats what I did, its a tough call because they are both awesome though. I like Denon because it "calms down" my Klipsch speakers and adds a more rich sound to them. I've had some friends over who can't stand horns and didn't even know they were listening to klipsch speakers until I told them after the movie was over hehe, you can imagine how shocked they were. Good luck!

chagaris

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I decided to go with the Marantz even though the Denon is better. I'm so pissed at the local authorized Denon dealer. I had the bright Idea to buy the receiver locally at their jacked up prices and then use my Amex Blue to pricematch it to the price at AMDV.com. Anyways, the dealor here only had 1801s, he said he didn't even know if they would stock 1802. I said I really wanted the 1802 because of the DPL II, so he started to trash talk DPL II and say that the 5 channel stereo on the Denon 1801 was better. Of course he couldn't prove it because they didn't have a single one connected to speakers.. I don't know why a high-end manufacturer would allow an authorized dealor to not have their equipment set up properly.

He said one thing that made me doubt him as well, he told me that Dolby Pro-Logic could decode 4 channels from dolby surround and regular 2 channel stereo. I said I was new to this, but it wasn't my experience that it did. Is this true?

stevevt

Yes. That's pretty much what DPL does.

1) Front Left
2) Center
3) Front Right
4) One surround channel (limited bandwidth, and typically shared between 2 speakers)

gdjohnson

I upgraded to the Marantz SR5200 last month when they were released and so far I love it. The pro-logic II was one of the features that helped me decide to upgrade. The pro-logic II has a music and a movie setting, compared to the old pro-logic it's amazing. Here's an example, I watched the new Star Trek series run through the 5200 with the pro-logic set to movie. During the engine room scene the voices came out of the center channel and front mains as needed for placement and the engine throb came from the surrounds. It was very good considering it was just broadcast TV signal to start with. The 5200 also has a 6 channel stereo feature, I'm not able to use a rear center because of room issues so I can't comment. I beliave you will be pleased with your Marantz.
Greg

chagaris

I finally got it all set up yesterday. Smething I hope to not do again for a long long time. This is funny though, the first time I turned it on, the volume was set to -58 or something. Cool, I thought, this is just like my old Kenwood, where it starts negative and goes to 0. So I turn slowly mine up and I hear nothing, finnally at around -20, I hear something, then at about -10 the Amp goes into protection mode and shuts off. I call tech support and they say that means I got a speaker wired up backwards. SO i checked and found one speaker wired incorrectly. I fixed it, then tried it again, I turned it up to -20, and started hearing something about as loud as a whisper. I'm thinking something isn't right, My kenwood was really loud at -20. So I called HiFi again, and they insist I recheck the speakers again. So I do, and find no problems. I unhook everything anyways and connect just one speaker. Then retry, again at -20 I hear barely some sound. I call HiFi one more time, and they say reconnect all the speakers, you can't tell volume from just one speaker. So I Hook them all back up again and turn up the volume again at -20 it wasn't very loud at all, and I'm feeling discouraged. I turn it up some more, but I'm nervous that the Amp might shut off. At -10 it is louder, but I realize hey the AMp didn't shut down. All of a sudden, a lightbulb goes on over my head : "Maybe it goes past Zero!" So I slowly turned itup to 0, then 10, 20, 30 and Finnally I was getting the sound I paid for. I felt like such a Jack Ass.

mjlukich

chagaris: Tell us a little more about the new Marantz SR-4200 after you get settled in with it. I had my eye on this one as well; did you use the $50 off promotion Hifi.com is running?

Would like to hear in particular what you think of the Pro Logic II feature.

Bubba67

Go for an OUTLAW 1050.

Same features as above, $499 price factory direct. Since you avoid all the middle men you are actually getting a $1100 value for half price. Extremely reliable.

http://www.epinions.com/elec-Audio-C...law_Model_1050

http://www.audaud.com/audaud/OCT00/E...law1OCT00.html

http://www.goodsound.com/equipment/o...0_receiver.htm

nekobus

No DPL II on the Outlaw 1050, so if that feature is something someone wants, it knocks the Outlaw off the list.

JsphOfArimethia

Just incase anyone else is thinking about getting a Denon from AMDV I'll add that I bought my Denon AVR-5800 from AMDV last year and have no complaints. Just be wary the CSR who will call you and ask if you want the extended warranty. They shipped UPS and I got my receiver Christmas Eve, which was so cool.

mjduda

get the Dennon

RavenTwo

I have the Denon AVR-5800 also, an outstanding choice for a receiver, but heavier than most. No complaints

skar

Heavy is good. I would avoid a light receiver.

chagaris

I really love this receiver. Dobly Pro-logic II is amazing. I played Star Wars from VHS. It was the first Digitally Remastered version, not he one that came after with the additonal footage. DPL II was a very significant improvement over DPL I. I could clearly hear some seperation between the two rear speakers, whereas with DPL I, there was no seperation.

I don't regret not buying the Denon. Keep in mind though that I never actually listened to one. The Denon authorized dealor here did not even have them set up for demo purposes. I can't imagine Denon would be happy with that.

synovia18

I got my denon avr-1802 a couple days ago...so far, it does everything i need, and more....I am 100 % satisfied...I dont have much experience with marantz, but my vote is denon all the way

discostu1337

probably quite late here but denon sucks
its becomming cheap internet crap, marantz is far superior. marantz also has the best warranties, and faster service time, as opposed to denon. I know becuase all i do is work in a store and send things to be repaired. probably helps i can get the sr4200 for about $200 heh

BEC

Internet crap? Both companies are readily available on the internet .

I've been really pleased w/last-year's Marantz sr8000 which has a good amplifier section. As much as I like Marantz, I'm not so sure how good their build quality is in general.

The recent S&V test results for the sr7200 show 29W for 5 chanels driven for a "100W" receiver, w/a rather high noise floor. As I recall, the sr7000 was slightly under spec as well (measured 75w, when claimed 100w). My sr8000 had to be repaired for a dead amplifier section which was traced to a poorly soldered binding post.

Although Denon has had its fair share of quality control problems as well (e.g.3300 fan squeal), with this years models I'd favor Denon. They've been closer to their claimed specs.