[Mark Hodgkinson]

Marantz says some people just don’t want big boxes filling up their living room and they're right. They're usually called 'the other half' so they've created a slim design AV Receiver line that they promise packs the same punch as its bigger brothers in the new £549.90 NR1603 and £349.90 NR1403 AVR's

As a five-channel slim-line AV receiver, the NR1403 offers a host of connectivity options including a front panel HDMI input for easy and instant video and music enjoyment. The 250W output can be used for a simple stereo set-up but is also powerful enough to run a full 5.1 system. In addition, the NR1403 has separate on-board decoders for both standard and high-definition audio such as DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, while its total of six HDMI inputs (one at the front) should keep most happy.

The seven-channel NR1603 offers even more intelligent features, making it a slightly more grown-up AV hub. It hosts a variety of networking facilities for audio streaming, Internet radio, AirPlay from your iPhone, iPad or iPod, as well as incorporating an iPod-digital-compatible USB input and an M-DAX2 to get the most out of compressed audio. There's a new (and obligatory) Marantz Remote App for iDevices available too.

The six HDMI inputs all support 3D video and ARC (Audio Return Channel) from ARC-compatible TV sets, while all analogue video signals can be scaled up to 1080p.

The NR1603 and NR1403 are available now in black and silver-gold.

[vkvedam]

Hi Mark

How different is it from the last year's NR1602 a part from the two additional HDMI inputs?

Thanks

[Digger]

Aye I'd like to know that too, having a boxed 1602 sitting at home for months now!! It seems identical apart from the hdmi and front facia. Weight & dimensions are identical.

[tintin jones]

Any reviews for these? Seem to be very rare (or not many people are going for them)