Marantz vs. Arcam

@mswale In case you haven’t heard of it, accessories4less.com has very good prices on refurbished gear (with full or even extended warranties) and has a good reputation — worth keeping in mind for future purchases as it could make getting a great deal even easier. Here’s their current list of Marantz AVRs just fyi, and congrats on your new AVR and hope it gives you many years of trouble-free performance.

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html

I got to compare their top AVRs about five years ago with B&W 805D3s with my reference recordings, and the Marantz was warmer and fuller sounding but with less treble detail and air while the Arcam was overall more clear and neutral so they were quite different sounding. My favorite by a good margin, and much to my surprise, was the Yamaha Aventage that had the neutrality of the Arcam but was even more transparent and produced a much clearer and more dimensional 3D soundstage with more distinct imaging — like the proverbial veil was lifted, and in that way it reminded me much more of my significantly pricier separates at home. The additional benefit of Yamaha is they have a better reliability track record than the others as well. Anyway, that’s what I heard five years ago FWIW.