With the objective to be prepared for DTS:X arrival this quarter, I necessarily had to replace my receiver as my Onkyo TX-NR1030 was not going to receive any firmware upgrade to support the new format.
After evaluation and comparing models, I selected the Marantz SR7010, which represents the first time I try a model from Denon & Marantz group. It is also the first time I try Audyssey as a room correction software.
The Marantz SR7010 offers amplification for 9 channels and supports the addition of a two channel amplifier for a total of 11 channels processed. This allows for a Dolby Atmos (and soon DTS:X) 7.1.4 configuration which is what I have in my home theater.
One important thing to know, as it was reported before, the D+M models of this year do not allow Dolby Surround (the upscaler that comes with Dolby Atmos) to be applied to any of the DTS formats. It’s a limitation for now, but it can be bypassed by asking your Blu-ray player to send decoded PCM sound instead of Bitstream (a change you need to revert to get Atmos working). It will be less of a limitation early March when the DTS:X update arrives and allow to apply DTS Neural:X to DTS soundtracks.
The Marantz comes with a strong support of HDMI with 8 inputs all compatible with HDCP 2.2 and HDR through HDMI 2.0a. They all support the full bandwidth of the spec at 18 Gbps. There is also a secondary output that can be used if you want to bring the signal at the same time to a projector and a television for instance.
I need to begin my impressions by the fact that I am very pleasantly surprised by the results of applying Audyssey MultEQ XT32 in my room. There is a real impact on sound quality produced by the receiver when Audyssey is enabled which makes the rendering of movies and music more dynamic than before. The sound when Audyssey is disabled sounds flat and not engaging. The calibration process, with 8 different recording points is well done and is surprisingly quick considering that it still needs to generate roughly a hundred of test sweeps.
I also really appreciate the menu system of the receiver, it is quick, efficient and modern looking. Configuration of the audio, video, network and other options is really efficient.
The music playback is totally satisfying, but I need to say that I dislike the fact that the all channel stereo mode does not enable the height speakers, which should be really easy to implement. I gotta admit it does not make a huge difference to have them on or not, but as long as they are there why not use them.
Finally and most importantly, The Dolby Atmos performance of the receiver in 7.1.4 is really impressive and engaging with a true enveloping effect. I’m looking forward to see what DTS:X will sound like, my guess is that it will be very similar to Atmos as it’s what we’ve been hearing from the demos made at CEDIA and other events. I’ll be updating the blog once of course as soon as I can test it early March.
hi steve
you have any experience or knowledge about 9.1.2/4 configuration perhaps? atmos has such a choice of setup i have seen on the dolby site. any thoughts maybe?
kind regards
Hi Brad,
So let’s start by 9.1.4 because this one is obvious as it is not possible with the typical receivers on the market. To do more than 11 channels total, you need to go to something like a Trinnov Altitude 32 pre-processor, which is 20k$ on the market.
You can indeed do 9.1.2 with the Marantz SR7010 and most 11 channels receivers / pre-processors on the market right now. Dolby Atmos soundtracks will use the front wides in rendering, and from what I read they are used a lot. The Dolby Surround upmixer will not use Front Wides so it would result in a 7.1.2 setup when using it.
With DTS:X, things are less clear right now as the firmware is not out. Reports on different forums say that DTS:X could be limited to 7.1.2/4 at release which would mean Front Wides would not be used on those soundtracks. It seems to be a limitation tied with the coding issues that DTS is having right now with DTS:X and should be fixed at some point. No word yet on what Neural:X will support at release.
I hope this helps.
Steve
hi steve,
very beautifull! thx for making this crystalclear. this is actually great news cause trinitov isnt a option because of the price but i like the idea of 9 ground channels… its all about options with atmos and dts:x, thats makes it so cool! you can go as many speakers you want up to 32 or go for the basic 11. this is one of the greatest invention since ambisonics audio!
Yeah, I do wish I could try front wides too, but I am under the impression that there is more advantage to having 4 height channels for directional effects up there. Is is a great invention, not yet made to 100% of it’s possibility with home theater devices, but we’ll ge there.
if i could i would take 6 height channels and 7 or more ground channels but 4 height should be standard.
by not yet 100% of its potential you mean more speakers? or is uhd atmos different from bluray atmos?
And it all depends on the room size I guess. I sadly don’t have a big enough room for 6 height channels.
Yeah I meant the number of speakers supported by typical receivers. UHD Blu-ray Atmos will be the same technical implementation than Blu-ray.
thats good to hear that it remains the same or we could be buying another gear like the old 4k vs new ones. did you ever went to the theatre with atmos and did you then heard it in your HT? i have not been that lucky yet.
Sadly I did not experience Atmos at all in theaters. There’s one Atmos theater here where I live and it’s always translated movies in French (I’m in Quebec), so I’m not a big fan…
that’s not funny at all, we have in belgium a theater with 2 rooms barco 4k laser & atmos fully equiped for around 750 seatings and i didnt even went there! because no one wants to go that far and i dont wanna watch alone . thats also a sad story like yours…
Nice work Steve,
What do you think about 2 channel stereo performance between sr7010 and you previous tx-nr1030? I want to hook-up sr7010 but onkyo tx-nr1030 and 3030 really on bargain now.
Hi Ian, honestly, I really loved the stereo performance of the Onkyo, my first impression are comparable with the SR7010. No clean winner in my opinion.
The 1030 and 3030 are on bargain but they won’t support DTS:X, if it’s something you can concede then you’ll be more than happy with them, but if you want DTS:X better go with the Marantz or something else.
I really, really tried to like this receiver, but unfortunately, it does not play well with the Samsung Hu8550series/Sek 3500u one connect box. Also had issues running a PC input through HDMI (although it worked fine on my Onkyo 838). D&M has traditionally been finicky with their inputs, so can’t say I’m surprised, but still..
When it worked though, it was glorious! Audessey worked as described and had my speakers singing like never before. Moving over to a Yamaha 3050, hoping for better luck with that.
I wished it will work better for you with the Yamaha, sad to see those connectivity issues. I don’t use a HTPC on this son I cannot confirm, but I’m not really surprised to hear this either.
I have been looking around at this receiver and am finding a lot of open boxes or customer returns in a lot of stores on line. Does this receiver have a problem?
Thanks
I have not read major issues anywhere, Marantz does have a B-stock program so that may explain why. I’m really happy with the receiver on my side.
Hi having problem passing 4K from my Samsung through the Marantz 7010. Any suggestions.
Can you describe a bit more your problem ? What’s your target device ? What are the symptoms ?