2. home-theater
  3. 185970-20253

Marantz vs. Oppo or Theta

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry for the weird comparisons.  I'm thinking of getting a Marantz 7706 because of the manual EQ features (that's right, not looking for room correction). 

My biggest issues with processors and HT receivers in the past  is that some of them just sounded like garbage.  Really really thin, like AM radios.  Several Japanese brands and Emotiva were brands I could not really listen to for long.

My question is how the Marantz compares say to the Oppo BD players, which were excellent, or say a Theta from a decade ago.  I'm not looking for perfection, but robust and transparent.

 

Thank you,

 

Erik

erik_squires

Showing 6 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

@big_greg

Thanks!! Honestly I thought the Oppo sounded really good for movies, I just don't want to get anything significantly worse.

Best,

 

Erik

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

@big_greg  Thanks for that.  My biggest issue last time I went looking was that the two brands I evaluated, Emotiva and Onkyo had really thin sounding preamp sections.  Music was terrible and movies were not convincing.  They made my speakers sound really small. 

I certainly can't afford a Theta today, but I also don't want to go in the direction I experimented with before.

 

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

It doesn’t make sense to compare a Casablanca with any other “comparable” AV unit because there aren’t any. The Casablanca is custom in the way an Aston Martin Valkyrie is.

@jmeyers  I wasn't trying to offend your brand loyalty.  I just have experienced that there are some HT processors which are at least enjoyable to listen to and some that are just really not.

I thought maybe someone with experience listening to the same gear I have could give me a recommendation in the range I could afford.  Clearly that wasn't something you felt comfortable doing.

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

Hi @soix I had the Casanova and it was outstanding. The reasons I'm not seriously considering Theta right now is many-fold. First, they were SO far behind in getting HDMI working, plus of course the massive cost of a unit today. Lastly, they are not an enthusiast brand.  They are a uber-high end billion dollar mansion builder brand.  I'm not their target market/customer at all, especially not if I want to configure everything myself.

I’m also not sure Theta has the manual EQ features I’m looking for.

@nwres Yes, the Marantz would be HT only, using a Luxman stereo to handle music. My concern is just that the mass-market Japanese HT brands were just ... really so bad that I’m afraid of going back to a Japanese brand for HT.

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

Hey @alan_a  Well sad to say I have no SACD's at all here.  I am strictly looking for a good sounding 4k/8k HT processor with MANUAL EQ settings.

erik_squires OP
15,791 posts
 

PS - Part of why I am hesitant is I listened to a Marantz streamer, or SACD player and it was .... harsh.

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