Marantz SR7200 Surround Receiver

Marantz SR7200 Surround Receiver

Bringing Music and Movies to Life

By Grant Clauser

What’s not to like about a home theater product that includes all the newest features, is easy to use, makes the rest of your system virtually glow and looks good as well? I’m talking about Marantz’s new SR7200 surround sound receiver which bustles with 105 watts of get-up-and-go poured into 6.1 channels (that’s six, not five) plus support for the new Dolby Pro Logic II processing and multi-zone capability.

Marantz is a name that has drawn much respect from audio lovers ever since Saul Marantz first built the Model 1 in the 1950s. Since then of course the company has moved into the digital and home theater realms. While not the company’s flagship product, the SR7200 demonstrates that Marantz still has a firm command of audio processing.

At 32 pounds, the SR7200 is a weighty product, but not the monolith some receivers these days have become, so it will fit nicely into most users’ racks or cabinets. Strictly from a feature standpoint, the SR7200 wins my applause. As a Dolby Digital and DTS receiver, it can handle 5.1 audio as well as the less common 6.1 channel formats. In addition to the aforementioned Dolby Pro Logic II processing, it includes SRS Labs stereo-to-multi-channel mode, Circle Surround. It does component video switching (two sets), in addition to the standard composite and S-Video. Digital audio inputs include two optical and three coaxial; there’s also a full set of analog audio inputs, making the product fully compatible for DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and SACD (Super Audio CD) players.

The SR7200 comes with a real charmer of a remote. Not only is it a programmable universal remote, but it’s learning-capable and sports an LCD panel. The LCD panel is not a touch screen like the Marantz RC500i remote, but it gives you info about what mode or device you’re controlling at the time. The remote can be a bit intimidating to master, but the instructions do a good job of guiding you through the learning process. Backlit buttons would have been nice, otherwise it’s superior to many remotes for receivers in this class. Finding a full learning remote in a receiver priced under a grand is a treat, considering such remotes cost $200 and up by themselves.

Setting up the receiver was fairly straightforward. The first menu walks you through system set up for your signal sources and speakers. The product includes TV Auto On/Off which will turn the receiver off after one to five minutes of detecting no video signal. This is handy, but if you plug your video sources directly into your display then make sure you have this feature turned off or else the receiver will keep shutting off whenever you have it set to TV. I set the speakers to small, identified the inputs for the different sources and balanced all the speakers with test tones and a sound level meter.

Once I had the receiver all set up for my room and my equipment, I started right in on my listening tests. For music, in either standard two channel, Dolby Digital 5.1 or one of the two available stereo surround formats, this receiver impressed me. I started out my evaluation with some Latin jazz tracks from Pink Martini’s CD Sympathique then moved on to some classic Beatles.

In stereo, the SR7200 created a marvelous sense of space. The opening vocals of Amado Mio, when China Forbes launches into a 30-second full-throat howl, were rendered with extraordinary precision. Stereo created a very pleasing full soundstage, but nothing compared to the two multi-channel modes: Pro Logic II and Circle Surround.

Circle Surround mode was noticeably louder than Pro Logic II when playing the same tracks, and in fact measured 6 to 10 decibels higher. I initially attributed the clearer sound the higher volume but when I played the track again in Pro Logic II and raised the level to that of the track in CS mode, I felt the CS was still superior. Marantz’s CS made more effective and convincing use of the surround channels especially in the tracks No Hay Problema and Donde Estas Yolanda. In Donde Estas Yolanda the bongos set up quite nicely in the rear channels while maintaining a presence in the overall presentation. There was no unreal distance between any of the instruments, each blending smoothly for a pleasing image. If I owned this receiver I’d probably never listen to music in regular stereo again, the CS mode was that impressive.

Mostly I was impressed with the sheer force of the music. Every note seemed larger, reproduced with a fullness and vibrancy I hadn’t heard from the selections before. The well defined low end gave all music, particularly jazz and classical, a pronounced rich, totally life-like character. The cello in Pink Martini’s rendition of Ravel’s Bolero was particularly spacious. Musically, this receiver was an outstanding performer, bringing emotion out of my Infinity speakers I hadn’t heard before, even from more expensive receivers. Additionally there was absolutely no distortion when played at extremely high levels, though my neighbors clearly didn’t appreciate the performance as much as I did.

For multi-channel music I played the Dolby Digital tracks from a Venice Underground SACD. On the track Back Seat special effects danced around my listening position. Vocals by the female vocalist Little Green Girl held my attention from the front speakers while Peter DiStefano’s guitar took on an eerie, mobile presence.

As a home theater receiver, the SR7200 performed equally well on movie sound tracks. On Vertigo’s very subtle 5.1 track the receiver delivered surround effects perfectly without overwhelming. On the disc, the rear channels in Vertigo get very little attention, but background noises such as waves around San Francisco Bay or birds chirping around the old Spanish Mission were clear and realistic. For more sensational surround tracks I played the plane crash segment from Fight Club and the meteor shower from Dinosaur. During the plane crash the sounds were so powerful I needed to listen only once before being convinced of the receiver’s might. During the Jurassic meteor shower the flames, explosions and general mayhem at no point overwhelmed the Marantz.

Being that many people will be using their home theater receiver for more than just multi-channel DVDs, I hooked it up with an optical cable to an RCA UltimateTV DirecTV receiver to see how the Marantz’s Pro Logic II and Circle Surround modes handled stereo tracks in movies or video programs. Interestingly I found myself favoring the CS mode over Pro Logic II again. Pro Logic II did fill the room better than Pro Logic I, but CS seemed to have a firmer grasp of how the rear channels should be used. During an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, phaser shots rolled behind my shoulders and environmental noise stayed subtly in the background. CS is just better for home theater.

For both music and video, the SR7200 was clearly a star A/V receiver. Its Circle Surround mode added new life to CDs. The ability to easily go multi-room, plus the impressive remote make this one heck of a package that anyone can appreciate.