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Marantz vs. Oppo or Theta

Hi everyone,

 

Sorry for the weird comparisons.  I'm thinking of getting a Marantz 7706 because of the manual EQ features (that's right, not looking for room correction). 

My biggest issues with processors and HT receivers in the past  is that some of them just sounded like garbage.  Really really thin, like AM radios.  Several Japanese brands and Emotiva were brands I could not really listen to for long.

My question is how the Marantz compares say to the Oppo BD players, which were excellent, or say a Theta from a decade ago.  I'm not looking for perfection, but robust and transparent.

 

Thank you,

 

Erik

erik_squires
alan_a
8 posts
 

I still use an Oppo 105 for Blue Ray and Dvd's which it does a nice job with but if I recall correctly the one time I tried to play an SACD I could only output it through the OPPO's analogue output.  Could not output it digitally and into my external Dac, it had to go through the Oppo's Dac.  

erik_squires OP
16,037 posts
 

Hey @alan_a  Well sad to say I have no SACD's at all here.  I am strictly looking for a good sounding 4k/8k HT processor with MANUAL EQ settings.

soix
9,456 posts
 

I dunno Erik so take this for what it’s worth, but those Theta Casablancas seem to be held in really high regard, even as stereo preamps, to this day.  So, if I’m going for absolute sound quality and the Theta has the connections/features you’re looking for I’d have a hard time picking either of the other two over it.  But that’s just a dumb guess FWIW.  Plus, owning a Theta would be kinda cool, so there’s that. 

nwres's avatar
nwres
223 posts
 

For HT duty only, the Marantz will be great. Had one and now a Denon for HT. Same company, similar HT performance. And all the modern software/firmware to manage modern HT sound decoding is a plus.

erik_squires OP
16,037 posts
 

Hi @soix I had the Casanova and it was outstanding. The reasons I'm not seriously considering Theta right now is many-fold. First, they were SO far behind in getting HDMI working, plus of course the massive cost of a unit today. Lastly, they are not an enthusiast brand.  They are a uber-high end billion dollar mansion builder brand.  I'm not their target market/customer at all, especially not if I want to configure everything myself.

I’m also not sure Theta has the manual EQ features I’m looking for.

@nwres Yes, the Marantz would be HT only, using a Luxman stereo to handle music. My concern is just that the mass-market Japanese HT brands were just ... really so bad that I’m afraid of going back to a Japanese brand for HT.

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