T
Test005
Guest
I've never been a patient man and waiting for the Marantz X300 series failed totally when my brand new speakers were sitting at home waiting for a power source.
Yesterday I picked up a Marantz sr-4200 as my first receiver ever.
Here's a first impression review from me, a total newbie with no previous experience of HiFi stuff.
Some technical words are also substituted by easier, less describing ones since I'm not a native English speaker and lack some of the techie lingo.
Equip:
Marantz 4200
B&W 602 S3
B&W 601 S3
B&W LCR60 S3
crap DVD
30-40 DVD movies
Digital cable box, subscribing on movie channels sending in DD.
Setup:
The sr-4200 so far seems like a good choice for me. The setup is extremely easy and what I read about lacking of OSD is no problems. Perhaps it gets more crucial when you have a more advanced model with many settings.
Remote:
The remote is OK, Lot's of complaints on it around the board, but hey! I put a movie on, adjust volume and leave it alone for 2 hours. How good does it need to be? (I'm not turning my back on a model because of the remote)
Manual:
I've also heard about people flaming the manual. This is a simple receiver with very basic functions, the manual lists what you need to know to set it up and use all functions. IMHO the manual is good enough!
(I've never seen a receiver up close before, and I had it connected and working in 30 minutes.)
Power:
5*70w. Since this is my first receiver and I haven't been much around hifi equippment I really don't know what this is about.
Many says that you should get a powerfull receiver to get the speakers at top performance. I guess it has to do with sound quality, and not how loud you can play?
With my setup I can play loud enough, and what comes out from the loudspeakers sounds good to me.
Sound:
Again: This is nothing scientifical due to my unexperience, but I caught myself smiling when watching some movies in 3.0.
The voices are so crisp from the center and movie music plays with good punch and detail.
Base is good I think, but everybody seems to use a subwofer, so I'm also getting one just to be on the safe side.
Looks:
Wow, I have wooden floor in my appartment and the B&W sorrento color goes perfect with it. I have them on silver stands from some Danish company (expensive like ****, 170)
The yellow "round playing thingie" (don't know the English word) also looks great. Clean and classy, looks expensive and high quality.
I'm really happy with the looks and hope I can share some pictures soon.
I have only tested with the front 602 S3:s and center so far, I will connect the surrounds tomorrow.
I have connected it all with Tara Labs cabling and have a good coax cable to my DVD.
DVD is utter crap and will be taken outside and shot as soon as budget allows a new one.
B&W subwofer is also on the purchase list for next month.
Yesterday I picked up a Marantz sr-4200 as my first receiver ever.
Here's a first impression review from me, a total newbie with no previous experience of HiFi stuff.
Some technical words are also substituted by easier, less describing ones since I'm not a native English speaker and lack some of the techie lingo.
Equip:
Marantz 4200
B&W 602 S3
B&W 601 S3
B&W LCR60 S3
crap DVD
30-40 DVD movies
Digital cable box, subscribing on movie channels sending in DD.
Setup:
The sr-4200 so far seems like a good choice for me. The setup is extremely easy and what I read about lacking of OSD is no problems. Perhaps it gets more crucial when you have a more advanced model with many settings.
Remote:
The remote is OK, Lot's of complaints on it around the board, but hey! I put a movie on, adjust volume and leave it alone for 2 hours. How good does it need to be? (I'm not turning my back on a model because of the remote)
Manual:
I've also heard about people flaming the manual. This is a simple receiver with very basic functions, the manual lists what you need to know to set it up and use all functions. IMHO the manual is good enough!
(I've never seen a receiver up close before, and I had it connected and working in 30 minutes.)
Power:
5*70w. Since this is my first receiver and I haven't been much around hifi equippment I really don't know what this is about.
Many says that you should get a powerfull receiver to get the speakers at top performance. I guess it has to do with sound quality, and not how loud you can play?
With my setup I can play loud enough, and what comes out from the loudspeakers sounds good to me.
Sound:
Again: This is nothing scientifical due to my unexperience, but I caught myself smiling when watching some movies in 3.0.
The voices are so crisp from the center and movie music plays with good punch and detail.
Base is good I think, but everybody seems to use a subwofer, so I'm also getting one just to be on the safe side.
Looks:
Wow, I have wooden floor in my appartment and the B&W sorrento color goes perfect with it. I have them on silver stands from some Danish company (expensive like ****, 170)
The yellow "round playing thingie" (don't know the English word) also looks great. Clean and classy, looks expensive and high quality.
I'm really happy with the looks and hope I can share some pictures soon.
I have only tested with the front 602 S3:s and center so far, I will connect the surrounds tomorrow.
I have connected it all with Tara Labs cabling and have a good coax cable to my DVD.
DVD is utter crap and will be taken outside and shot as soon as budget allows a new one.
B&W subwofer is also on the purchase list for next month.