Marantz 5200

[Ashers]

I'm just in the process of buying my first DVD player and AV amp. I was thinking about the Marantz 4200 as its had rave reviews, but the guy in shop was trying to persuade me to get the 5200 (has DTS ES, 6.1 I think). I've only managed to find one comment about it which was in the 'Home Entertainment' mag which just said 'we love it!'. Has anyone got the Marantz 5200? Is it worth the extra?

Cheers

Phil

[jon smith]

If you want 6.1 it'll be worth the extra, sound quality will be much the same. The current crop of Marantz receivers look very good. May be worth the extra in case you want 6.1 later on.

[Tony Keats]

I have a Marantz 4200 and would strongly recommend it to anyone else.

I had a Digitheatre DTS, but was always troubled by the tinny delivery and lack of versatility. Needless to say, the Marantz amp (and cinema 6-pack) completely blows the Videologic stuff away.

It's not just the improved performance you get out of 5.1 material either. My (2.0 only) copy of Darkman now sounds terrific using the "5 sound" option (which is a kind of quasi-5.1). Dolby Pro-Logic 2 isn't as tremendous as advertised, but still a disernable improvement over standard PL (and a mammoth leap over the Digitheatre's rendition of same).

I originally wanted a 5200 myself, but because 1) I couldn't get hold of it, and 2) I decided I didn't need 6.1 anyway, I went for the (surprisingly inexpensive) 4200. I got it from Upgrade-heaven and it was delivered immediately. I'd recommend them too.

Basically though, exactly how many DVD's have 6.1 tracks exactly? I have about 4 in total (and they sound fantastic in 5.1 anyway). Coupling that with the fact that I didn't want the extra hassle of ANOTHER speaker to buy and MORE room to find, I don't think it's as desirable as some would have us believe. Either way, I'm incredibly pleased with the results and endorse the 4200 amp unreservedly.

[Ashers]

Many thanks for the info. I must admit, of the DVD's I've looked at so far, none have been 5.1 and some are, as you say, still 2.0. Other thing about 5200 is that it has separate 6.1 (or is it 5.1) inputs so that its "DVD-A ready". Though, showing my complete techincal ignorance in this area :confused:, I've never worked out why they can't pipe DVD-A data digitally and get the AV amp to do the processing. Seems a bit of a waste to have an additional analogue stage for what is meant to be state of the art digital audio. Anyway, as the DVD I've ordered is not DVD-A (its a Pioneer DV-444 - also ordered it from UpgradeHeaven because I've heard many good things about them on this forum), that's less of an issue. Though 5200 is still tempting if 6.1 and DVD-A do take off.

[Boink!]

I have the SR5200 and it is superb.
I am even impressed with the "signal direct" fuction which disconnects all the 6.1 gubbins and chucks out the 2 channel audio better than my old hi-fi amp.

In fact I'm going through my CD collection again and cranking it up. It does warrant you actually read the manual as I was made to look a fool after complaining the red "power off" button didn't work. ;)

Boink!:cool: