Denon or Marantz? Home theater beginner.

sold both brands for years. Denon....

I had Onkyo and HK AVR85 . I thought the HK was the bomb. I ended up buying a Hafler Dh200 to power the HK front channels. Everything was ok. Then to make matters worse I bought an old Lexicon CP3 just for kicks. OMG. The difference was staggering. It brought tears to my eyes how good this thing sounded. Now keep in mind that the Lexicon did not support DD. It didn't matter. It beat out that HK by huge margins in every sense. Never even thought about a receiver again. But in the end that upgrade fever cost me about $18,000

For most bells and whistles, Onkyo or Denon is way to go. For some bells and whistles and superior 2 channel performance, Marantz SR8002 is a better choice.

Bill

Those choices Denon w/ B&W

I used center, mains and surrounds, in my previous 5.1 system and have since replaced them with seven identical speakers and a modern 7.1 HDMI receiver with room correction. The difference in balance and the surround effect is simply stunning. With two subs tower speakers aren't needed.

Paradigm front ported Titans show up in component picks year after year. My pick for a linear amplified receiver would be the Integra DTR 30.1 which uses the Audyssey room correction. For a switching amplified receiver it would be Pioneer Elite SC-05 which uses a Pioneer graphic /parametric room corretion. Both of these have comparable choices in Onkyo and Pioneer with lesser parts quality.

With room correction you can run 7.1 in small rooms.