Deciding between Yamaha or Marantz

I owned the Pass Labs XP-20 for over 2 years of time. I have over 3 years of experience with Audyssey. With my way of measurement with Audyssey pro I beat my old XP-20 with my Pass Labs poweramp. The Onkyo PR-SC5509 with Audyssey pro is stunning. I have to admit that I measure totally different than Audyssey does. I use Audyssey Pro from a highend perspective. People with very expensive pre amps don't understand why an Onkyo beats there expensive stereo pre amp. Hearing is believing. Without Audyssey the Onkyo is not that special. With the Marantz the same thing. Audyssey is not an easy system to use.

Integra DHC-80.3 is the same as Onkyo PR-SC5509.

BTW Marantz uses Audyssey MultEQXT32, and I agree with Bob_Reynolds as far as the Marantz, it does sound smooth, I've had some of the higher end Yamahas the Marantz sounds better to me.

The Marantz has the option to use Audyssey pro as well. The difference between XT32 and our way of Audyssey Pro is so big. Like you bought an amp which is 2-3 the amount. It is so much more natural sounding, like you bought a class A amp. There is so much more drive and also resolution compared to XT32.