I have auditioned both of these recievers, and fankly I like them both. I listened only to stereo music and one DVD (LOTR) and once tuned for the room I could hardly tell them apart.
The only thing I noticed is that the Marantz seems to have a beefer power supply held up longer as things got loud.
I also have ADCOM seperates in my stereo room, and I am way out of school with AV stuff.
I am leaning toward the Marantz because it seems to have a great reputation. Am I missing anything by not going with the 3805?
I am a relative newbe to AV but a hifi/stereo fanatic.
Does anyone have any experience with these two receivers?
I have all home made speakers: 2 x 1.5 cu. ft MTMs front (on the warm side of bright) 4 x 5-1/2" +1" silk dome bookshelves for side and rear center channel is with 4 x 4" high end full range drivers and one 1" silky dome. I have a 5th order powered (500 watt) 12" sub.
All of the speakers are tried and true, and sound excellent in my stereo listening room.
I am now turning my bonus room into a home theater complete with projector.
Thanks for any guidance. I have also considered NAD, but I really want all my video sources to be stepped up to componenet, otherwise I would probably go NAD.
I heard the 3805 and I preferered the Marantz 7400 (cheaper and previous generation) in musical duties. Many people told the same. In Home cinema the 3805 had a slight edge over the 7400.
That means... I would prefer the SR8500 to the AVR3805. Or a Rotel/Arcam...
I also like the Marantz much more than the Denon but if you like the Denon I suggest you look at the Denon 2805. It will do most anything the 3805 does only about $300 less. For almost any situation I see no reason to go above the 2805 as it is so full featured and has very good power specs.
I just ordered (my dealer is out of stock on both units) my Denon 3805S along with a DVD-2910S, and here is why.
I have just picked up couple of DVD-A discs and I already had a few SACDs.
Since I planned on buying a DVD (rather universal disc) player to go with the receiver (sorry I did not mention that earlier) I had narrowed my choice s to these (mostly to stay in budget).
AVR-3805/DVD-2910 SR-7500/DV-6500
I have a great dealer here and he let me home audition all four pieces for a week.
What sold me on the Denon combo (mostly the DVD) in the end was its performance with DVD-A and SACD. Simply brilliant. It made the marantz seems mediocre at best. Still the Marantz was very very good at stereo music coming very close to my adcom combo in my stereo room where I took it for a head to head test. Still, I did the same test with the 3805 and heard almost no difference (and I do have a trained ear) the only thing I can point to is a very slight brightness at low volume, this was easily factored out by the very good (I wish my ADCOM was as easy to use) parametric equalizer.
The only thing I can tell that might give the Denon combo the edge in hi-res audio is that they seem to have really tweaked the D/A converters for SACD/DVD-A, and now that I have watched a half dozen movies on the Denon I can say I have been sold.
One other important not, at the price range I wanted the Denon combo (DVD) was the only one that could give me digital video output (DVD-D and HDMI). You have to go the next model up with marantz to get that, and that is significantly more expense.
I spent less then $1500 for the pair, and I feel like I got a bargain.
With a setup like this I may spend more time in the AV room then the listening room.
I did look at the 2805, but I wanted the burr brown units, and yes the 3805 has much better power supply setup (four discrete PSs with a larger transformer/caps to the 2805s one withe smaller trans/caps). I did look under the hood.
In the end, I really enjoyed both units, and until I tested the recievers with SACD,DVD-A, and figured out that I really wanted the DVD player to provide HDMI out I was leaning toward Marantz. If I wanted to spend more money I would still look at Marantz.
Sorry for the horrible spelling earlier(and likely here), I was in a huge hurry to post.
Just curious, did you try pairing the Denon 2910 with the Marantz SR7500?
I believe the difference you heard on SACD/DVD-A sources was due primarily to the 2910 as this player is universally acclaimed for its playback of hi-rez music. I actually think the 2910 + SR7500 would sound better than the 2910 + AVR3805.
Just for interest sake and I am not knocking the Denon combo as I have not heard both the receiver and universal player paired together, but I have a Denon DVD-2900 paired with a Marantz SR-7300 and the hi-res formats sound sublime - just my 2c worth.
Congrats on your purchase, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
Yes, I did try the 7500 with the 2910 and the 3805 with the 6500.
I had all four units at my home at the same time.
I did like the 7500/2910 combo very much. It is a truly sweet sounding reciever.
Here is why I did not go that route:
1) When you use pure stereo on the marantz you lose your sub output. Ick This should be configurable. I know you can do stereo with the sub, but you have to leave the processing circuit on, and set your fronts to small. Not a great solution, and the 3805 simply handles this better.
2) In multi channel playback for movies once tuned for the room I could not tell the difference between the two units (yes, I am very critical) so I went with the one with more features/qualities I liked better.
3) The 3805 has one brilliant feature which I really enjoy, that is the ability to bi-amp the fronts by using one of the amps for the rears, which still gives you 5.1 surround!! This gives you 240 Watts to play with. I tested with configuartion and I could not wipe the smile off my face for like a week. Setting it up is simple.
Bottom line, I reviewed a lot of recievers (NAD, HK, Pioneer, and Yamaha included) and I solidly put the 7500 and the 3805 at the top of the heap for my application.
I wanted a reciever that could do equal duty on Stereo music/Hi-rez stero/Hi-rez multi-channel/and 5.1-7.1 movies all with authority.
Both recievers can do this, but as far of the universal DVDs players clearly the 6500 is not on par with the 2910.
A couple other nitpicky notes: Most of my newer components (and all of them in my AV room where these units are going) are silver. The marantz only comes in black right now. The remote for the 3805 is more to my liking the the marantz remote, but I am also somewhat techie and I have heard other complain its too complex. I don't think its too complex at all.
I am sure anyone with a 7500 and 2910 would like the combo.
You picked a really great combo, Denon on these threads don't seem to make a good impression (not too sure why), but all the reviews are in the 3805 is a steal and it matches perfectly with the 2910. enjoy
I also at one point listened to Denon 3805 directly versus the Marantz 7400 and 8400...To my ears the Denon sounded more sophisticated, smooth and effortless.
I understand your point about 2x120 not necessarily being extactly 240 continuous power, but its a heck of a lot better than 1x100
Truly the same could be said even for seperate amps unless you are using multiple AC circuits and have a really good main line In home use even seperate AMPs (well big ones anyway) are usually limited by available power from the plug. That is why I have 3 independant 20 amp circuits running into my studio/stereo room. Still you are limited by the main.
I could did not know of a local Arcam dealer, so no I did not try Arcam, but I have heard/read they are good. In any case my search is over, and I am quite happy with the fruit of my labor.
But, if I see/hear an Arcam I will give it a critical listen. There are truly many good recievers in the price range of the 3805, but I really think the 3805 stands out. Now that I have also read some the AV magazines I can see they also agree its a keeper.
The Denons seem to split opinions. Some like them best, while some prefer other brands, even like H/K, Yamaha in AB-c. Also the reviewers are in two categories, some like the whole package, while some few have been slightly dissapointed by the sound.
I was planning to get an AVR1905/2105 as secondary amp, but the lack of 2nd-room, 7.1-in and 30Mhz component of the European versions made me back off.
This should be configurable. I know you can do stereo with the sub, but you have to leave the processing circuit on, and set your fronts to small. Not a great solution, and the 3805 simply handles this better.