Arcam or Marantz?


I can purchase a new Arcam AVR300 or second-hand Marantz SR-9300 receiver for about the same money. Does anyone have any views on the particular merits of these two units, particularly for two-channel music? I would be particularly interested in comments on each receiver's preamp sections, and on the quality of the internal amps.

Surround sound/home theater is less important to me, but still a consideration, so any opinions on the receivers' capabilities in this area would also be interesting. Thanks.
baileyincanberra
At least to my ears, the AVR300 is much better than the Marantz sonically, especially for 2 channel. In fact, I've found the Arcam to completely smoke any HT receiver I've auditioned, even those at twice the price. You would have to buy much $$$ more expensive separates to equal or surpass its performance IMO.

The pre/pro section is outstanding, much better than the Marantz - in fact it's as good as many high end separate processors. The amps are excellent and should power most speakers just fine. I found the Arcam more spacious, open and dynamic than the Marantz, with more clarity and resolution - this is key for music listening. It may be due to the preamp section, the power supplies, the spearation, the amps - or more likely - a little but of all of them.

The set up is very easy for music/HT as well. The processing has many cool, user-friedly features. The tuner is just OK, and that is true of virtually every HT receiver I've heard.

If you care as much or more about about music as you do about HT, the Arcam is a no brainer. Nothing comes close at its price, new or used. The Marantzes and Denons (of which I've owned two each) don't really stack up.
Marantz receivers start out as Pioneer units. Marantz tweaks the audio stages for better sound and dresses up the face plates. I can't compare with Arcam, but I would choose Marantz over Pioneer.
Acording to widescreen review the Arcam AVR300 is on par or better with seperates in the upper area of the dollar figures.(EAD, Lexicon,Theta,Krell). Also said that the analog section and the amplifiers are superb.

There is a new Pre/pro from arcam being released pretty soon based on technology of this reciever(AVR700). I might even sell my Ead and buy this one myself.(ugly equipment though).