Steever Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) With the possibility of a new house and furniture on the horizon, I'm having to look at new AVR options that are slim so that they'll fit with the PC into the new low line entertainment unit. System is a Windows 7 PC for 5.1 DVD playback via Windows Media Centre, Apple lossless playback of music via iTunes, Denon's cheapest AVR with HDMI in/out, Canton CD10 sat/sub system and eventually a bigger panel tv of some kind. The Denon is pretty basic and it's just too big physically. We like movies quite a bit, and music is more just for back ground listening on this system. We also have the radio on from time to time. I've narrowed down the choice of AVRs to either Pioneer's VSX-S500 or Marantz's NR1402. Both are about the same spec in most aspects (but the Marantz is twice the mass of the Pioneer, at 8.2kg - better power supply?) but I was keen to see if anyone thought one was significantly better than the other for sound AND video for movies first, then music. Cheers for the help. Edited September 12, 2012 by Winno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveC Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 No idea about the Pioneer. I have the NR1602 which is similar. Main reason I went for it is the extra power and the Airplay feature. Otherwise I think they are same. Picture quality is excellent and the HDMI pass thru all works well. I use it with Usher s520s for all movies and TV and it sounds great. I'm not too keen on their remote as the buttons are all the same and it should light up for an AVR remote. I can hear that Marantz warm house sound but I think its suited to a general purpose AVR. There are many options like making movies more dynamic or pure 2 channel direct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steever Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 (edited) Cheers guitarsteve. I've looked into things a little more and the fact that Pioneer uses Class D vs Marantz's Class A/B with discrete components puts the Marantz ahead already even without listening. The Marantz is also rated for the whole 20Hz - 20kHz too. Not sure if I'll be able to directly compare before buying but the Marantz looks to be ahead by a nose at least at this stage... Edited September 13, 2012 by Winno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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