I am in the process of building a new home theatre. Here is where I am at thus far:
- Sunfire HRSs with a Sunfire HRS 12 Sub.
- Marantz MM8003 Power Amp, 8 Channels at 140w.
- I have a Carver CD Player that I may replace and will be getting a Pro-Ject debut III or Expression turntable.
The system is split, approximately 50% for music in 2.1 and 50% for video in 7.1, I am looking for a processor that can do both.
My plan was to get a Marantz AV7005 as the reviews are great and it appears to be an outstanding value at ~$1500. I have not been able to find a dealer that has the AV7005 to listen to and have had to demo the SR7005 which is the receiver. I liked it enough to roll the dice and order it from Crutchfield so I had the optimal return policy. However, Marantz had issues due to the earthquake in Japan and is out of stock for 45-60 days. This delay is giving me time to think.
The critical things I am looking for are decoding of lossless audio like Dolby True HD, balanced outputs, and the ability to handle Sirius.
For example, I looked at the Sunfire TGP-401 but that unit seems to be a bit dated and lacks several of these features. I auditioned the NAD T 175 and it sounded great. However, it is at the high end of my budget, supports XM, not Sirius and does not have balanced outputs.
Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.
I am in the process of building a new home theatre. Here is where I am at thus far:
- Sunfire HRSs with a Sunfire HRS 12 Sub.
- Marantz MM8003 Power Amp, 8 Channels at 140w.
- I have a Carver CD Player that I may replace and will be getting a Pro-Ject debut III or Expression turntable.
The system is split, approximately 50% for music in 2.1 and 50% for video in 7.1, I am looking for a processor that can do both.
My plan was to get a Marantz AV7005 as the reviews are great and it appears to be an outstanding value at ~$1500. I have not been able to find a dealer that has the AV7005 to listen to and have had to demo the SR7005 which is the receiver. I liked it enough to roll the dice and order it from Crutchfield so I had the optimal return policy. However, Marantz had issues due to the earthquake in Japan and is out of stock for 45-60 days. This delay is giving me time to think.
The critical things I am looking for are decoding of lossless audio like Dolby True HD, balanced outputs, and the ability to handle Sirius.
For example, I looked at the Sunfire TGP-401 but that unit seems to be a bit dated and lacks several of these features. I auditioned the NAD T 175 and it sounded great. However, it is at the high end of my budget, supports XM, not Sirius and does not have balanced outputs.
Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.