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  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Long Island, New York
    Posts
    482

    Marantz SR7009 review

    This is really part one of a two part review of the Marantz SR 7009. This will stress setup and operation and in a month I’ll post a deeper performance evaluation.

    I would have this directly compete with my main media room, with units mentioned below in my signature. This is going into our “upstairs” room where we more causally listen to music and watch TV, often just before bed. The room has an LG55EC9300 OLED TV, an Oppo 95 Blu Ray player and B and W in wall speakers. This unit will be replacing the 8 year old Marantz 8002, which served us well.

    I bought this first because I got a great price from our dealer, Dan at Suffolk AV on Long Island and Dan would do his usually immaculate job helping me set this up. Also, I can get a good “trade in” price from another dealer, if I can’t sell it first. (If that is a bit confusing I’ll explain later).

    It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to remove the old unit and put this in. Then it took about 30 minutes to configure and, over a couple of days, I went through the 40 or so full size pages on the settings. This allowed me to learn what the unit does and how it does it. That took about 30 minutes too. If you add 45 minutes for programming my remote, the whole thing took about three hours.

    The external connections were: an HDMI inputs for the Cable and Blu Ray; Digital input for the LG TV (I get over the air channels); a 25 foot long cable that goes to my Sonos* in the living room; An outdoor FM antenna; an internet cable (for the internet radio and updates); two Bluetooth and Wi Fi antennas that come with the unit and an internal AM antenna that still give me NO AM reception.

    My six speakers and subwoofer were attached as well as an HDMI came going into the TV.

    The unit “begs” you to use its automatic set up and we did and it worked simply and perfectly. It “assigned” the right inputs to settings such as “TV” and “Blu Ray” and even allowed me to change the names of the inputs. It came with a microphone that set up speaker quantity, distance and levels. That part took about 15 minutes.

    *This comes with an internet radio, but I did NOT know if I would need to set up (and pay for) another Sirius package. The answer was I did not have to, BUT it told me that I MUST have my Sonos off in order for me to get Sirius on this. (Yep, it knew!) Like the Sonos, you need to download an app to use the internet radio. Perhaps not as intuitive as the Sonos, it’s fine.

    The picture is really good, the controls are easier to use than the 8002 but this comes with one remote, the 8002 had a second remote for an additional zone. No matter, I use the URC 850 for the whole system. While watching TV last night, I went through the settings section and that was a bit time consuming but real easy. And, for me, a bit of fun. So much of this is pre-set but changeable, but I would up changing very little.

    Two interesting functions:
    First, if you choose an audio function (CD, radio, internet radio) you can choose an external and separate video function. You could not do that on the 8002. So you can watch Baseball and listen to music.

    Second, even with the unit off, there is an HDMI passthrough that will allow to watch and hear your cable stations on your TV.

    The sound is good and the midrange and detail is especially better than the 8002, but the 8002 is still very good. The surround seems to be a bit better two, but let me listen more.

    Quite frankly, it takes me a while to just watch a TV show or listen to music when I get a unit. I am listening t the new receiver, not the music. But, very quickly this unit, after I went through the setting became invisible and impressive. I saw my FIRST 3D cable movies (I have seen them on my Blu Ray) and it was amazing. I saw “Maleficent” - and a bit of the “300” movie. Really it looked and sounded wonderful.
    Barry
    Controller: Krell 707 3D; Amp: (center) Krell 400e; Fronts Krell 600e; SACD: Krell Cipher; FM: Day Sequerra Reference; Blu-Ray: Oppo 105; Speakers: Revel Ultima Salon 2; Center: RevelVoice 2; Rear/Back: Thiel Powerplanes/Krell S1500 amp Subs: 2 SVS SB-13 Ultra; Turntable: VPI 19 Mk 4 w/Tonearm SME 309 & Audioquest 401i; HDTV Receiver: Verizon; Projector: JVC DLA-RS66U; Screen: Vue Tech 108; Internet Radio: Sonos; Remote: MX850; Pioneer Elite LDS-2 Laser Disc Player

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Long Island, New York
    Posts
    482

    Re: Marantz SR7009 review

    Some time ago I put up some very nice things about first getting my Marantz receiver. I’ve now had it for a period of time and surprisingly, my conclusion is that I would not buy this unit again.

    First the good, it sounds better than my 8002 especially when I am using the FM, digital FM and Internet radio. The controls are easy to use and set up far easier than my previous unit. The surround sound modes work very well and I get more separation than I did before.

    Now the bad:


    1. When watching a regular TV over my cable box I frequently loose the sound. It can happen when I’m changing channels or what his station comes out of commercial. I have to either change the channel and change it back or hit the mute button. This has occasionally have been on all my surround sound system but very infrequently. Here it happens a few times every night.
    2. Jitter: that is the jerking of motion while watching television. I was surprised to find how much I got once I connected the new unit. At first I even thought it was a cable box. But then I connected the cable box directly to the TV to the HDMI, and then connected the sound to the Marantz unit using a Toslink. I got no jitter. I went through all the settings and everything and now I have left my TV directly connected to my cable box bypassing the receiver. On my own Marantz unit I had no trouble with this whatsoever.
    3. Finally, using my Internet radio I connected to my subscription in Sirus XM. at first it sounded great . However the unit kept changing channels without me changing channels. That is I would turn on channel 4 on XM and it would change the channel 7 then 9 then 11. The other part of the Internet radio sounded fine and I used its iPad app easily to get to the stations.


    Sadly for those three items I would not read by this unit and would cautiously recommend people to be careful if they are going to use it for regular TV watching
    Barry
    Controller: Krell 707 3D; Amp: (center) Krell 400e; Fronts Krell 600e; SACD: Krell Cipher; FM: Day Sequerra Reference; Blu-Ray: Oppo 105; Speakers: Revel Ultima Salon 2; Center: RevelVoice 2; Rear/Back: Thiel Powerplanes/Krell S1500 amp Subs: 2 SVS SB-13 Ultra; Turntable: VPI 19 Mk 4 w/Tonearm SME 309 & Audioquest 401i; HDTV Receiver: Verizon; Projector: JVC DLA-RS66U; Screen: Vue Tech 108; Internet Radio: Sonos; Remote: MX850; Pioneer Elite LDS-2 Laser Disc Player

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Marantz SR7009 review

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