Alternatives to Marantz 1602 For Music

[supo]

Hi all,
I am looking for a slim AV receiver for listening to music mainly.

I know I could just buy a stereo amplifier, but I will like the connectivity on an AV receiver, especially networking to link it to a NAS which stores my music as mainly MP3s.

I already know the Marantz 1602, 1402 and Pioneer VSX 300 and 500 are options.

Are there better other ones, with good stereo decoding?

My budget is <£500, and I don't mind used ones.

It needs to be slim or slimmer than usual AV receivers (<12mm height, 10mm preferably)

 

[supo]

Or to flip things over - Is there a good stereo amplifier with extra connectivity like HDMI, networking etc?
Sorry if the question sound stupid, I am a newbie!

 

[davepuma]

No. If you want HDMI (video) then you will need an AV receiver. That's the whole point in an AV receiver, it will act as an AV hub. There are options such as the NaimUnity that has networking and built-in amplification etc. Unfortuntely it's a little over your budget.

If you can forgo the HDMI connections, a stereo amp and music streaming device e.g. Squeezebox Touch might be the way to go. What exactly do you have to connect?

Ultimately slim AV receivers aren't common and you have all the available options on your shortlist.

 

[supo]

Thank you for your response. The NaimUnity is certainly over my budget by a long way. I merely want to connect a PS3, a network attached storage drive, a CD drive, and possibly a way to access the AV receiver from my computer once in a while

 

[Don Dadda]

Cambridge audio has just released the 551 RAV which is slim in comparison to most - 11cm
I can't find any prices on them but will proably be around the £500 mark.

Cambridge Audio 551RAV Summary





If these are as good as the predecessor 540R's music side, then i think you will be very happy with it.

EDIT: Just found the price - £700 - So maybe not

CEDIA EXPO 2011: Cambridge Audio Blu-ray player and AV receiver: prices and release dates

 

[Osamede]

Will be interesting to see how that unit tests out. The 540R V1 was good, V2 better ( I have that one), but Cambridge succumbed to the general trend by gutting the 540R V3.

Slim midrange AVR with good music performance remains an untapped market . Shouldn't be THAT hard hard to do, particularly with advancements in digital amps.

Personally I'd pay 700 quid for sonething like that if it was good. You can easily find generic standard AVRs for more that deviate not one iota from the standard Chinese-contract-manufactured-AVR box that is huge, too light, over loaded with long redundant I/O ports and full of air.

 

[jacobmorrison]

The CA551 does look really interesting, not least because of the clever faroujda scaler that's bypassable for individual HDMI inputs. It's a less is more approach but they have left out the room eq processing that is often really beneficial. Having audyssey xt in the package would make the £700 a no brainier, assuming it sounded as good as it looked.

 

[Don Dadda]

I had the 540R V3 and with the exception of the Marantz SR7005, I haven't heard an av as musical yet.

Osamede - what do you meant by 'general trend by gutting the 540R V3'
I've not had the pleasure of hearing the V1 or 2 so cannot compare.

Besdies the hdmi connections on the V3, what else was different?

 

[Osamede]

If I recall correctly, the tested performance of 540R V3 amplification was down from the benchmark that the 540R v2 had. From what I can see this new model is about where the 540Rv3 was. By today's standards this should be better than most midrange receivers.

Still, I dont know why Cambridge and the others are making their specialty slim receivers with class A/B in this day and age. Class D is tailor made for this type of design. Honest performance of even say real life 50 WPC class D would be enough to sound great at allow them to start doing more interesting things with the designs.

 

[Don Dadda]

Hmmm, Interesting

Cheers for that

 

[supo]

What about Cambridge Audio Azur 651BD ? For music mainly

 

[supo]

Or the Marantz 1602, for music?

 

[supo]

Is the CA 551 out yet? I can't find any prices on the internet

 

[Don Dadda]

It should of been out around November or early December for around £700.

If you contact Richersounds they should know when, as they (and maybe 1 or 2 others) will most probably be the only guys selling them in the UK.

The 651BD is only a Bluray player. If you already know that then apologies.

As nice as the 1602 is, i doubt very much it will it can compete with the 551R with music. Going by past experience with the 540R and SR6003, I think you will need to step up to the SR6005 to be in the same musical ball park as the 551R. However, the SR6005 is not exactly a slim Jim.

 

[supo]

Thanks. I went for the Marantz 1602. Will report back after a week about how I assess it. If I am unhappy, will sell it , and move on