I thought I just want to share something with you all. My cousin bought the Marantz SR7011 av receiver recently from Magnolia and was not satisfied with the audio performance for both 2ch music and movies (surrounds) especially for music. The SR7011 is a flagship Marantz av receiver and retails for $2200 new. Since my cousin has developed a great relationships with this particular Magnolia store so they are kind enough to let him take home their only Rotel RAP-1580 av reeiver and is a brand new unit as the RAP-1580 just came out this year. The RAP-1580 is Rotel's flagship av receiver and retails for $4k. And this thing is massive huge and weighs around 53 lbs whereas the Marantz SR7011 weighs only around 31 lbs. My cousin uses his av receiver for both music and movies.
Anyways, so he took the Rotel RAP-1580 home as a home demo and we compared it up against his Marantz SR7011 receiver. No contest, the improvements in audio performances for both music and movies are huge going from the SR7011 to the Rotel RAP-1580. Totally different leagues. It's like nights and days. Especially for 2ch music, where the SR7011 is lacking in musicality in comparison to the Rotel RAP-1580. The music flows more naturally with better pace, rhytm and timing through the Rotel. It was more fluid.
I guess it isn't really fair to compare between these two units as the Rotel RAP-1580 retails twice as much as the Marantz SR7011.
He has the B&W CM10 front speakers with the CMC2 S2 center, 2 pairs of B&W CM5 for surrounds and back surrounds, and some B&W in-ceiling and on-wall speakers for Atmos setup.
The Rotel RAP-1580 has much more dynamic prowess than the SR7011, with greater clarity details slam and punch and authority that the Marantz simply could not match. The Rotel has much cleaner fuller smoother and much more transparent sound with rich tonal and full bodied sound and not mentioning the power and level of authority than the SR7011. The RAP-1580 was capable of producing a level of bottom end grunt and authority that the SR7011 can't match. The Rotel did a great job in reproducing the mid-bass and bass performances and got a good grip of his B&W CM10 woofers really well and the bass was very well controlled and firm. The Marantz could not achieve these, not at the same level as the Rotel RAP-1580. The inner musical details came through nicely through the Rotel RAP-1580, where the SR7011 was lacking in this area.
The Rotel was able to produce a much cleaner power with much larger and deeper soundstage with very focus and precise imaging than the Marantz SR7011. The musical aura came through much quiter and blacker backgrounds through the RAP-1580. This was done in 2ch when listening to music without room EQ. Overall, the Rotel made the Marantz sound somewhat obscure in comparison and lack if focus. Everything were much more pronounced and the soundstage was more open through the RAP-1580.
The RAP-1580 is surprisingly very musical sounding for 2ch music, especially coming from an av receiver. It took me by surprise. Especially in comparison to the Marantz SR7011. The Marantz distorted and sounding harsh congested and compressed when pushed and would sometimes clipped when driving his B&W CM10 full range at high volumes. The Rotel RAP-1580 never sounded distorted harsh compressed or congested and maintained its smooth fullsome sound when pushed and never runs out of steam when driving his B&W CM10 full range at high volumes. Unlike the Marantz SR7011, the Rotel drove his B&W CM10 speakers full range with ease even when pushed real hard at very high volume levels.
When used for surround (home theater) the Rotel lacks auto room EQ and provides manual PEQ instead whereas the Marants is equipped with Audyssey xt32 and is easier to calibrate when used for surrounds (home theater).
I did help my cousin perform manual calibration using its manual PEQ. I've had some experiences in this area just by owning the Classe SSP 800 pre pro, which also lacks auto room EQ and has manual PEQ instead, just like the Rotel.
We downloaded XTZ Room Analyzer software from the computer and did calculations and some measurements based on that. I did the same thing with my Classe SSP 800 pre pro. I also helped him installing some acoustical treatment panels and stuff. When set up and calibrated properly the Rotel RAP-1580 performed and sounded really good for surround sound movies and was better than the Marantz SR7011 with its Audyssey xt32 engaged.
Movies were much more engaging and sounding much more dynamic through the Rotel.
So my cousin ended up returning the Marantz SR7011 and bought the Rotel RAP-1580 instead.
The Rotel RAP-1580 is equipped with an oversized huge toroidal transformer main power supply.
I would highly recommend the Rotel RAP-1580 for those looking to buy an av receiver and prioritize or main focus is on sound quality and audio performances, not features or bells & whistles.
The Marantz is loaded with features and bells & whistles whereas the Rotel RAP-1580 is pretty barebone. The Rotel lacks am/fm radio, hd radio, Sirius Radio/ satellite radio, airplay, Bluetooth, Pandora, Spotify, etc. The Marantz is equipped with all these features and apps. The GUI on the Marantz is much better than the Rotel RAP-1580.
While Rotel prefers to call the RAP-1580 a surround amplifier processor but it is basically an av receiver without built-in radio/tuner. I think in order to be qualified to be called as a receiver it has to have a built-in radio/tuner. And the RAP-1580 does not have a radio/tuner.
While we were at the store we had a chance to compare the Rotel RAP-1580 up against the Marantz AV7702 pre pro + Marantz MM8077 amp combo and the Rotel RAP-1580 receiver was better in all areas especially for music, dynamic clean power and musicality, etc. Yup, the RAP-1580 rivals and even better than some av separates.
I thought I just want to share something with you all. My cousin bought the Marantz SR7011 av receiver recently from Magnolia and was not satisfied with the audio performance for both 2ch music and movies (surrounds) especially for music. The SR7011 is a flagship Marantz av receiver and retails for $2200 new. Since my cousin has developed a great relationships with this particular Magnolia store so they are kind enough to let him take home their only Rotel RAP-1580 av reeiver and is a brand new unit as the RAP-1580 just came out this year. The RAP-1580 is Rotel's flagship av receiver and retails for $4k. And this thing is massive huge and weighs around 53 lbs whereas the Marantz SR7011 weighs only around 31 lbs. My cousin uses his av receiver for both music and movies.
Anyways, so he took the Rotel RAP-1580 home as a home demo and we compared it up against his Marantz SR7011 receiver. No contest, the improvements in audio performances for both music and movies are huge going from the SR7011 to the Rotel RAP-1580. Totally different leagues. It's like nights and days. Especially for 2ch music, where the SR7011 is lacking in musicality in comparison to the Rotel RAP-1580. The music flows more naturally with better pace, rhytm and timing through the Rotel. It was more fluid.
I guess it isn't really fair to compare between these two units as the Rotel RAP-1580 retails twice as much as the Marantz SR7011.
He has the B&W CM10 front speakers with the CMC2 S2 center, 2 pairs of B&W CM5 for surrounds and back surrounds, and some B&W in-ceiling and on-wall speakers for Atmos setup.
The Rotel RAP-1580 has much more dynamic prowess than the SR7011, with greater clarity details slam and punch and authority that the Marantz simply could not match. The Rotel has much cleaner fuller smoother and much more transparent sound with rich tonal and full bodied sound and not mentioning the power and level of authority than the SR7011. The RAP-1580 was capable of producing a level of bottom end grunt and authority that the SR7011 can't match. The Rotel did a great job in reproducing the mid-bass and bass performances and got a good grip of his B&W CM10 woofers really well and the bass was very well controlled and firm. The Marantz could not achieve these, not at the same level as the Rotel RAP-1580. The inner musical details came through nicely through the Rotel RAP-1580, where the SR7011 was lacking in this area.
The Rotel was able to produce a much cleaner power with much larger and deeper soundstage with very focus and precise imaging than the Marantz SR7011. The musical aura came through much quiter and blacker backgrounds through the RAP-1580. This was done in 2ch when listening to music without room EQ. Overall, the Rotel made the Marantz sound somewhat obscure in comparison and lack if focus. Everything were much more pronounced and the soundstage was more open through the RAP-1580.
The RAP-1580 is surprisingly very musical sounding for 2ch music, especially coming from an av receiver. It took me by surprise. Especially in comparison to the Marantz SR7011. The Marantz distorted and sounding harsh congested and compressed when pushed and would sometimes clipped when driving his B&W CM10 full range at high volumes. The Rotel RAP-1580 never sounded distorted harsh compressed or congested and maintained its smooth fullsome sound when pushed and never runs out of steam when driving his B&W CM10 full range at high volumes. Unlike the Marantz SR7011, the Rotel drove his B&W CM10 speakers full range with ease even when pushed real hard at very high volume levels.
When used for surround (home theater) the Rotel lacks auto room EQ and provides manual PEQ instead whereas the Marants is equipped with Audyssey xt32 and is easier to calibrate when used for surrounds (home theater).
I did help my cousin perform manual calibration using its manual PEQ. I've had some experiences in this area just by owning the Classe SSP 800 pre pro, which also lacks auto room EQ and has manual PEQ instead, just like the Rotel.
We downloaded XTZ Room Analyzer software from the computer and did calculations and some measurements based on that. I did the same thing with my Classe SSP 800 pre pro. I also helped him installing some acoustical treatment panels and stuff. When set up and calibrated properly the Rotel RAP-1580 performed and sounded really good for surround sound movies and was better than the Marantz SR7011 with its Audyssey xt32 engaged.
Movies were much more engaging and sounding much more dynamic through the Rotel.
So my cousin ended up returning the Marantz SR7011 and bought the Rotel RAP-1580 instead.
The Rotel RAP-1580 is equipped with an oversized huge toroidal transformer main power supply.
I would highly recommend the Rotel RAP-1580 for those looking to buy an av receiver and prioritize or main focus is on sound quality and audio performances, not features or bells & whistles.
The Marantz is loaded with features and bells & whistles whereas the Rotel RAP-1580 is pretty barebone. The Rotel lacks am/fm radio, hd radio, Sirius Radio/ satellite radio, airplay, Bluetooth, Pandora, Spotify, etc. The Marantz is equipped with all these features and apps. The GUI on the Marantz is much better than the Rotel RAP-1580.
While Rotel prefers to call the RAP-1580 a surround amplifier processor but it is basically an av receiver without built-in radio/tuner. I think in order to be qualified to be called as a receiver it has to have a built-in radio/tuner. And the RAP-1580 does not have a radio/tuner.
While we were at the store we had a chance to compare the Rotel RAP-1580 up against the Marantz AV7702 pre pro + Marantz MM8077 amp combo and the Rotel RAP-1580 receiver was better in all areas especially for music, dynamic clean power and musicality, etc. Yup, the RAP-1580 rivals and even better than some av separates.