Marantz SR5008 vs Cambridge Audio AZUR 650R

You have a mighty fine 5.1 speaker set up, can you demo the Cambridge? There are things about the Cambridge that you may not like: very revealing AVR, meaning all the stuff you thought sounded great, may now sound shrill and bright. All the stuff you thought sounded muddy and muted, will now sound fantastic. Cambridge set up/user menus are a pain. You will want to run 7.1 out of the universal player (quality player will have analogue outs).

Personally I love the Cambridge sound, especially for SACD play-back (7.1 analog in from player) but have since decided to go with seperates.

I do not know the Marantz sound, but judging from the retail price, you will be doing your speakers a dis-service by going with it. It just does not match up price wise.

A very simple rule of thumb is that your AVR should cost about 40-50% of you total system cost.

You have not received any other responses perhaps because:

1) Need your room dimensions LxHxW - to determine cubic feet (used to determine if subwoofer, amplification is enough for the space)
2) Mainly for music or for movies (80%music/20%movie) or something
3) Action movies or Drama
4)Hip hop or Classical
5) what are your sources (brand, model of blu-ray player)

We love getting this type of detail in questions

Good luck!

Yes just looking at price alone, the Marantz SR5008 has a current list price of $899.00 and I believe the Cambridge Audio AZUR 650R had a list price in 2011 at approx $1799.00 per some on-line articles. So that alone should raise a flag. Just because power ratings are published the same doesn't mean they are equal in quality and if they are hand selected, etc. Marantz makes great products and I have a Marantz Blu-ray DVD/SACD universal player and love it. But their power ratings are somewhat misleading. I agree with Bobnegi to go with the Cambridge unit if you can swing it. You're going to have it for a long time. Yes knowing what your listening room size is LWH is important and what kind of furnishings are in the room.

You have a mighty fine 5.1 speaker set up, can you demo the Cambridge? There are things about the Cambridge that you may not like: very revealing AVR, meaning all the stuff you thought sounded great, may now sound shrill and bright. All the stuff you thought sounded muddy and muted, will now sound fantastic. Cambridge set up/user menus are a pain. You will want to run 7.1 out of the universal player (quality player will have analogue outs).

Personally I love the Cambridge sound, especially for SACD play-back (7.1 analog in from player) but have since decided to go with seperates.

I do not know the Marantz sound, but judging from the retail price, you will be doing your speakers a dis-service by going with it. It just does not match up price wise.

A very simple rule of thumb is that your AVR should cost about 40-50% of you total system cost.

You have not received any other responses perhaps because:

1) Need your room dimensions LxHxW - to determine cubic feet (used to determine if subwoofer, amplification is enough for the space)
2) Mainly for music or for movies (80%music/20%movie) or something
3) Action movies or Drama
4)Hip hop or Classical
5) what are your sources (brand, model of blu-ray player)

We love getting this type of detail in questions

Good luck!