Marantz vs. Oppo or Theta

The Marantz "house sound" leans toward slightly warm.  Oppo is more neutral.  I have a Marantz 7704 and before that an 8801.  The 7704 has been bulletproof so far and sounds great for home theater.  I've also owned Marantz CD players including the KI-Pearl. 

They were anything but harsh.  If anything, they were not great at detail retrieval, much like the Oppo, which is a jack of all trades and master of none.  Once you compare a decent disc spinner to an Oppo you'll realize that it is very middle of the road. 

In short, if a person is happy with the sound quality of an Oppo and wants a HT processor that is easy to listen to and not "thin" sounding, then Marantz should fit the bill. 

They don't appear to have any at the moment, but if you keep an eye on accessories4less they often have factory refurbished units at a significant discount that come with a 3 year warranty.

@big_greg  Thanks for that.  My biggest issue last time I went looking was that the two brands I evaluated, Emotiva and Onkyo had really thin sounding preamp sections.  Music was terrible and movies were not convincing.  They made my speakers sound really small. 

I certainly can't afford a Theta today, but I also don't want to go in the direction I experimented with before.

I've had a couple of Onkyo pieces and think the Marantz units are built better and sound better.

@big_greg

Thanks!! Honestly I thought the Oppo sounded really good for movies, I just don't want to get anything significantly worse.

Best,

Erik

I have an Oppo 205 and my Keb Mo UDSACD 2054 sounds amazing , as well as my other SACDs. My Analogue Productions DSOTM SACD is my favorite version of this album through the Oppo, while having many versions, including the original SACD and different vinyl versions. I also use it for movies. it's hard to find anything better that can do so much and that is built so well.