I have to say it… I’ve been running the same Marantz AVP for nearly a decade, and it’s done everything that I’ve asked it to every single time, and with Audyssey XT32 it sounds great. It even does 2-channel very well, but there was talk of it only putting 2 V out from XLR, and Benchmark actually did an article on one very similar to mine, saying that it was not capable to drive one of their amplifiers like the LA4 was.
I know the Marantz gets flamed around here but it just works, and even with the new ones with the SINAD of 93 I doubt we’re hearing the difference between that one and one with a SINAD of 100. My point is you can hardly go wrong with the Denon or the Marantz, but it has to be XLR out for me, and the Marantz had an XLR input also. There has been talk of mine converting the XLR to single-ended, but it sounds great to me. I even put my Marantz on a Nobsound XLR switcher along with the Benchmark LA4 that I have, and switching back and forth they were virtually undistinguishable. It was sighted but it convinced me that I’d never be able to pick one over the other. Maybe the Benchmark sounded a little better up top… maybe.
So for me a stable AVR/AVP is the most important, and the only thing that has ever gone wrong with mine since early 2013 is one of the HDMI inputs don’t work.
Don’t get me wrong the LA4 is amazing, and I’ll keep that forever.
So what would I replace my Marantz with? The anthem avm 70? Lots of problems with anthem not doing what they say they’re going to do from what I understand. Personally I’m waiting for Marantz to get their act together a little better, and I would not mind having a SINAD of 100+ IMO it’s time to get rid of the hdams and do a complete overhaul.
JBL just showed how not to make an AVR, and it’s time for them and others to step up to the plate by making a good and STABLE mid-priced AVR/AVP
Edit;
By the way when I compared my Marantz with the benchmark, I had Audyssey disengaged.
I also acknowledge and agree with the fact that I did not do the test properly, so I’m going to have the wife come down one day and have her do the switching for me. I doubt she’ll go for being blindfolded lol.