Any thoughts on the new Marantz HT separates?

Yes; the Denon and Marantz are basically the same player; like Ford and Mercury putting different lables on the same car...Question: What do you think you gain by spending $2k for BD player? They don't perform CD and regular DVD play as well as other quality non-BD players? How many BD discs do you watch; and are you happy with the catalogue of titles? Why is it worth double what the new Sony 550 will do? Yes; I agree the new HD audio codecs look promising; I'm waiting until after the CEDIA show to see what the big boys are planning to release for the holiday sales freenzy.

I have heard many great things about the new AV 8003 - Mine is still sitting in its box waiting for me to purchase power - I opted not to get the Marantz Power - my speakers are 4 ohm, add to that long speaker wire to the rears and I believe the Marantz would cook - looking for a krell or Theta -
Google AV TALK and check out the review by uncle Eric.

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I bought the BD-8002 Blu Ray player. It is outstanding. Great on-screen image for both Blu Ray and upconverted standard def discs.

My prepro doesn't decode the new hi-def codecs, but the Marantz does thru it 7.1 analog outputs. It sounds outstanding.

It is also a great cd player.

An exceptional machine.
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I was using a pioneer elite 94 receiver as a prepro, I sold it and went with the marantz 8003, it was a signifigent improvement on sound quality, I used to think that using a receiver as a prepro was as good as a seperate prepro, but the marantz proved me very wrong,

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I pulled the trigger on a Marantz 8003 pre/pro....I sold a 4 month old Sunfire TG5 to get it.

...very nice.
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