Just moved from an Arcam AVR550 to this Marantz SR7013, and
@Phil Hinton is definitely partly responsible for this step up/sideways because of this review! Amazing video review too, thanks so much for very obviously taking days to prepare that.
Initial impressions are very very good. Installation was simplicity itself. I'm still learning and attempting to extract the best from it. So far I think the Arcam's amplification is superior, but surround steering seems better, all after a 6-point Audyssey calibration.
Has anyone played with the Audyssey Pro app? £20 seems quite punchy when other very well experienced people have said it ought to be included. Personally I think the Marantz offers terrific value and I have no problem with spending a little extra to be able to tune the settings for a very awkward open plan space. This includes the ability to set thresholds on the upper frequency (same as DIRAC) so sound above this value does not get processed, allowing the speakers' characteristics to come through.
My biggest problem is slow/rollercoaster bass right now. You all know why that would be annoying to me (check my avatar)! So I'm hoping spending some time in the app will help here, however we're waiting for a
huge curtain to arrive that will go across the reveal of a sliding door, so that will change the in-room response somewhat.
If anyone would like to know more about the SR7013 in particular (I know some people have very similar models, let's face it, it doesn't change much over time normally), fire away or catch me in a PM.
Thanks.