Marantz SR7013 AV Receiver Review

One small step for Marantz...

by Phil Hinton
MSRP: £1,749.00

What is the Marantz SR7013?

The Marantz SR7013 is the latest 9.2 channel high-powered AV Receiver, which is available in black, or silvergold finishes. While it has nine channels of amplification on board the SR7013 actually has 11.2 channels of audio processing and pre-outs for all those channels, as well as two subwoofer outs. This means that you can add a second two-channel power amplifier to the SR7013 that will allow you to have the full on 11.2 experience.

With nine channels of good quality amplification that use Marantz's Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Modules (HDAM) circuit and pre-amp, the SR7013 can deliver a decent amount of power to drive even the hardest speaker loads.

The Receiver also offers an up to date feature set of all the current immersive audio formats and is also IMAX Enhanced, which promises further audio expansion with compatible source material. Included is decoding for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro 3D, which will have all your bases covered for that immersive audio experience.

For room correction, you also have the most advanced suite of Audyssey MultEQ XT32/LFC with Sub EQ HT and Dynamic Volume and EQ to make sure that the SR7013 is giving you every inch of audio performance. There may be better systems now available on the market, but the full Audyssey system available here is still very good.

High-performance AKM AK4458 192kHz/32bit D/A converters are also used for all channels with additional Marantz sound tuning that is claimed to help the musicality of the SR7013. The company have certainly made a point over the years that good home cinema doesn’t mean poor stereo performance, and indeed the brand is well known for its musical sound quality in the home cinema line-up.

The Marantz SR7013 is also one of the most up to date AV Receivers on the market with advanced video switching and compatibility with all the current videos standards. With 8 HDMI inputs and 3 outputs this AVR is fully compatible with the latest HDMI standards accepting a full 18Gbps 4K video signal at 4:4:4 60P and with BT2020 colour. There is also full high dynamic range (HDR) support with HDR10, HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) and Dolby Vision pass-through on all HDMI ports. Plus, the SR7013 is also eARC ready providing full-enhanced ARC for the latest lossless audio codecs.

Multiroom audio is also supported with full HEOS compatibility built-in, which allows you to connect with additional HEOS devices. There is also AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Internet Radio, Spotify Connect, Napster, Amazon Music, TIDAL, Deezer and more online music sources that include high quality streaming with gapless playback.

Of course, there is also support for high-resolution audio playback with compatibility with DSD (2.8/5.6MHz), FLAC, ALAC and WAV support. There is also control with the free to use HEOS app as well as Alexa support.

The Marantz SR7013 certainly appears to mean business with its future proof approach to the latest standards and with all the immersive audio formats on-board, including the latest IMAX Enhanced standard.

So, just how well does it perform and is it a step up on previous models in the range? Watch our video review below to find out.

Marantz SR7013 Video Review

Watch our video for the full in-depth review of the SR7013.

Conclusion

The Good

  • Excellent sound quality
  • 9.2 channels of amplification
  • 11.2 channel processing
  • Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro 3D immersive audio formats
  • Auro 3D is now free
  • IMAX Enhanced compatible
  • 7.1 channel inputs
  • 11.2 channel pre outs
  • HEOS Multi-room
  • Audyssey XT32/LFC with Sub HT EQ systems

The Bad

  • Remote is cluttered
  • Menus need updating
  • Does it move the game on from previous models?

Marantz SR7013 AV Receiver Review

We lived with the SR7013 for around a month and feel like we only really scratched the surface of what this AV Receiver is capable of. We used the calibrated and uncalibrated sound modes for multi-channel audio as well as stereo testing – and enjoyed every minute of it.

We tested the Marantz in our reference system with a good mix of movies in 5.1, 7.1 and immersive formats, as well as a mix of streaming music and it performed extremely well.

The room is a dedicated cinema room, which is 19 feet long by 16 feet wide and with a 9 foot ceiling - with some treated surfaces at the front and sides - and a more reflective, live sound to the rear of the room.

What is immediately apparent with SR7013 is the headroom we have available, even when driving tricky loads like our MK speakers. With busy multichannel soundtracks where all the speakers are in use, there is an excellent dynamic range and weight to the sound, where you never feel like it is starting to run out of steam, even at silly volume levels. Fast transients are also excellent with instant power available for large volume shifts and dynamics.

Dialogue is always rooted at the centre of the mix and intelligible, even with busy sound mixes, and voices have a nice weight and realism.

While it’s bread and butter is action, sci-fi and fantasy soundtracks with big bombastic sound designs, the SR7013 is also a very musical AVR and is equally at home with sweep jazz scores like La La Land with excellent reproduction of the jazz brass and biting snare of the drummer. Sweeping strings are never sibilant and again vocals are handled with excellent realism and power.

Processing performance is also superb with excellent effects and sound placement within the immersive sound stage of the opening race in Ready Player One. There is no score, so the soundstage is entirely generated from scratch. Well-known sound effects of the T-Rex, Kong and the DeLorean are mixed effortlessly with familiar video game effects as well as environment, engines and explosions that pull you straight into the action.

Sadly, there is a lack of IMAX Enhanced titles available, especially movie titles, so it was difficult to notice any real difference with the format using the demo discs currently on sale. The receiver certainly does pick up the IMAX flag and sets the DTS:X codec support for the extra layer promised with such soundtracks, but we couldn’t really tell any difference and it is still early days for the format.

Overall, the Marantz SR7013 introduces minimal upgrades over the outgoing SR7012, but that is no bad thing. The performance is first rate with all source content and you also have a degree of future proofing with the latest video and audio formats on offer. Although published power figures are never accurate, the SR7013 has excellent headroom and control which you would expect at the price point. We had no complaints with the performance in the 4 weeks we lived with the Receiver.

Add in the value for money, build quality, feature set and performance, we still think Marantz has the goods when it comes to musical home cinema and the SR7013 gets our Highly Recommended badge.

Scores

Sound Quality

.
9

Features

.
9

Connectivity

.
9

Build Quality

.
9

Value For Money

.
.
8

Verdict

.
9
9
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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