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your Thoughts on AV8801?

Hi all,

I am very excited as my wife said i could finally update my old Pre/Pro my Yamaha Rx-z7 Receiver i was using as a pre/pro with my parasound A52 and 2125 amps along with my Def Tech 7002, CLR 2500 and Infinity rears and rear center along with Def TEch Trinity Sub..Sounded great..and i liked some of the DSP modes but not all of them.. But i always felt i could increase the sound quality with a true peamp processor and get better sound on music especially while still getting the same or better sound with movies.. i have read alot of reviews on both the marantz av8801 and the new Yamha CX-a5000 pre/pro.. and i had always owned Yamaha in the past including some of their older flagship receievrs..(the Marantz is actually made in Japan, impressive for newer stuff nowadays! its a rarity) I strongly considered the cx-a5000 against the 8801.. i decided to buy the 8801 and i got a smokin deal on it brand new from auth dealer with full warranty for 2399.00... it will be here by UPS on tuesday..as i figured i would try something different.... i have no need for atmos at this time so those were the only two i was considering.. The marantz actually reminded me more of the old Yamaha flagship recivers i have bought in the past in regards to its build qulaity etc HDAM's.. it looks like the newer Yammie's are stripped down.. even the new pre-amp looks like it is somewhat stripped down inside the chassis... anyway.. looking forward to other Marantz 8801 owners on how much they like their Marantz 8801... I am sure the new Yammie cx-a5000 is great as well...hopefully i won't miss the DSP's very much as i feel the Marantz's more musical sound will obviate the need for it ... what a fun hobby we have comparing all of this stuff....
audiomike1
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
As you may know, Dolby Atmos along with HDMI2.0 18Gbps full bandwidth and HDCP 2.2 encryption are current buzzwords.

I have the 8801 and it is a good system but if I had to buy something now, I'd either go for the new 7702 - which appears to match the 8801 in most of the feature support PLUS handles HDMI 2.0 and Atmos. HDCP2.2 is not supported.

The 8802 is being released in Dec and there is an upgrade path (~700 bucks? IIRC) to get it to HDCP 2.2 compliance.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,649 posts
 
" i have no need for atmos at this time so those were the only two i was considering.."

Same here and both are quite good. I have used both and kept the Marantz for two reasons: 1. I have no use for all the Yamaha's DSP modes and 2. Marantz' Audyssey XT32 was more effective and reliable than Yamaha's YPAO.

I could live with either.
kalbi23
58 posts
 
I was in your shoes as well. Lucky for me, I was able to do a side by side comparison for about a week with the cxa5000 and 8801. I felt the 8801 was more dynamic for movies and cxa5000 better in 2 channel. Two factors made me decide on the cxa5000 over the 8801, the yam ran a lot cooler and you can do HDMI switching without having the unit on. But, both are very good units, can't go wrong with either.
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