606 will it live up to the standards of my Marantz amp???

Lowres

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I have been reading up on the 606 as a replacement for my rather aged Marantz SR5000, which is sdaly on it's last legs, the surround processor is on it's way out, which results in the audio cutting out momentarily at random intervals.

My purchase of the Marantz, was a remarkably good one and the amp has served me very well indeed.

ONe of the best thigns about the amp was the sound quality, marantz has long since been known for producing great sounding equipment, and this amp got great reviews which mentioned how good it was for music as well as delivering great sound for films.

Having read reviews of the 605 and the 606 now, I am a little worried as to whether the 606 would be able to live up to the quality of the Marantz.

One review of the 605 mentioned that when watching films, in really busy parts (they were talking about the big battles in 300) the amp showed it's budget limitations, with the bass never reaching thunderous levels, and the highs getting a little jarring at times, particularly if you have slightly excited speakers. The Marantz has always sounded beautiful with big powerful bass and smooth top end, it has never sounded in any way harsh.

The review I've read of the 606 mentioned that it has the same power as the 605, with the same amp and internals etc, so I'ma little worried that this amp will not live up to my current amp.

Also, they mentioned that the 606 is not great for music, Nowe I know they can be rather snobbish about multichannel amps not living up to a comparably priced 2 channel amp etc etc, but I was wondering if the sopund from the 606 might be a little harsh etc?

Has anyone gone from a Marantz to a 605 or 606 and might be able to comment to allay my worries?

What are peoples thoughts on the sound quality of the 606? Is it harsh sounding?

Any other comments?

For info I am running a pair of KEF q35s upfront, Q95 centre and a pair of Q85s for my rears, )with a pair of Q15s waiting in the wings for when have somewhere with enough room for them ;o).

dvd player: Wharfdale DVD750 (getting on a bit now but still a marvelous machine!!!)

CD Player: Marantz CD6000OSE

Any help or comments very much appreciated. I will ofcourse be having a good listen before I purchase anything but at the moment I'm in the initial research stages while I save enough money!!!

Valve
 
Wow, still no replies..... am I to take it that no one has actually listened to this amp to know what it sounds like... or is everyone just scared to tell me that it won't sound as nice as my Marantz??? ;o) lol

Any comments about the soudn of the amp would be much appreciated.

Valve
 
Wow, still no replies..... am I to take it that no one has actually listened to this amp to know what it sounds like... or is everyone just scared to tell me that it won't sound as nice as my Marantz??? ;o) lol

Any comments about the soudn of the amp would be much appreciated.

Valve

It could be that no one has experience of Onkyo and Marantz. I used to be a NAD fan, my first amp was a NAD 3020 and I still have it in the loft. It comes down occasionally for odd events. It is very basic by today's standards but still sounds good. More recently I used a NAD receiver (I forget the model). I also have a Denon receiver in the bedroom. When shopping for an AV receiver, my short list came down to the 605 and a couple of Denons. I was suspicious of the Onkyo since my mental image was that there were a cheap and nasty brand. I spent a long time comparing the Onkyo and one of the Denons in SuperFi. It was very hard to separate the two on sound quality and the Onkyo won on features I have been happy with it since. We tried a few movies in the comparison but the most serious listening was with music. When reviewing sound equipment, my primary concern is the performance with classical music. To my surprise, I thought that the Onkyo was slightly ahead on classical and the Denon maybe slightly ahead on rock. The difference was slight in both cases and even if it had been the other way around, it may not have been enough to override the attraction of the features of the Onkyo. As it was, it helped the choice.

Why not get a demo and hear for yourself?
 
Thanks for your reply, I realise I was being rather specific but was also hoping at least some one mught be able to say yay, it's good with music or no it's a bit rubbish, was surprised to not hear anything. lol

I fully intend to have a good listen when the time comes (currrently having a bit of a save to get the money together...) but just wanted to get some other peoples thoughts on the sound quality before I did so.

Think it's likely that the 606 will be featuring on my audition list cos what people have been saying has been positive so seems like it's a good one to try out at very least.

Valve
 
Thanks for your reply, I realise I was being rather specific but was also hoping at least some one mught be able to say yay, it's good with music or no it's a bit rubbish, was surprised to not hear anything. lol

I fully intend to have a good listen when the time comes (currrently having a bit of a save to get the money together...) but just wanted to get some other peoples thoughts on the sound quality before I did so.

Think it's likely that the 606 will be featuring on my audition list cos what people have been saying has been positive so seems like it's a good one to try out at very least.

Valve

Glad to help. I know almost nothing about Marantz, not even what price bracket they are in. However, the Onkyos seem to fare well against Denons of a similar price so if you know Denon then that may help. I would have liked a NAD but any model with sufficient features was beyond my budget.
 
My Marantz was about £500 back when got it (about 8 years ago) was reviewed alongside various other amps at about £1000 - £1500 and faired extremely well, iirc it actually won out in the group test cos of it's wonderful sound.

It sounds really warm, rich and smooth.
 
Only your ear will give you the right answer :) .

I've found my Onkyo to be less soft sounding than my previous Denon, so you may find the sound brighter and/or harder than the Marantz. Given the range of features and at that price point, it was worth changing. A small and fairly insignificant sacrifice (to me).

For what it's worth the bass output from my 605 to my Sunfire HRS8 is excellent, it was however a little fickle in the setup and you'll need to mess with the crossover and levels once Audessy has done its work. There's a scene early on in XMEN 3 in the training simulator which is very busy with explosions, gunfire and dialogue. All are handled comfortably, and with the volume cranked up to -50 enough bass to rattle the sofa.

Musically it's never going to compete with a 2ch amp, but it equals my old Denon and that suits me fine.
 

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