Marantz NR1504 Slim Line 5.1 Channel Home Theater Network AV Receiver with AirPlay

Seems like the hardest sell to upgrade ones audio and video is with the wife. Maybe I'm just the one off but nothing makes her roll her eyes and push back faster than that. So when I say after hearing and using the new A/V system she approved of the upgrade, that is saying a lot. I last owned a Marantz in the late 70's, like many GI's overseas I came back with high-end audio and I liked it. Long story short, life moves on, kids, costs, etc, all that was shelved until empty nest days. Did the pre-HDMI A/V upgrade and it was ok but I needed the next step. After a move damaged two of my Klisch 5.1 speakers (which you cannot individually replace). I was able to get permission to upgrade. I purchased a pair of Klipsch Synergy B-20 speakers to replace the damaged ones and put them in the front. Took the two good 5.1 put them to the back, kept the center and woofer. Purchased the Marantz NR1504 to replace the Onkyo. What a difference a day of setup and wiring make. To make great audio you need great components and the Marantz A/V system didn't disappoint. Sound reproduction is subjective to the listener, given a room and listeners the same playback will result in different tonal qualities if they are allowed to make adjustments. The wife and I have very different control setting for bass and treble in the car, the home stereo was no different. Enter the Marantz with Audyssey. Initially I thought gimmick, but figured I get it a try. Easy to follow on screen instructions (also read about it in the online manuals) – Didn't take as long as it said it would. Started to do some critical listening. The only thing I changed was during the testing, it pointed out I had a speaker wire pair reversed (wow). I ran my gamut of audio and video and didn't find anything I felt needed tweaking. Pink Floyd DVD, perfect. Eagles CD, perfect. Classical CD, perfect. Avatar BD, perfect. I just didn't find anything I felt like I needed to walk over and tweak. Adele Live 2016, wife didn't like to listen to this DVD on the old system, said it didn't sound right, now she enjoys listening to it. Take note, we agreed on the same audio settings! Now there were was a speaker upgrade to this and I can't say enough about having those new Klipsch's speakers in the front but, I just get the feeling it wouldn't be the same without the Marantz. I purchased this unit refurbished from an “Authorized Marantz Repair” dealer so I paid way less then new, it came boxed well with all the original parts that would have been included and with a limited warranty. If I run into unresolved issues later I'll update. Had to update the firmware to get Sirius to work (updates to firmware on a working device always makes me nervous) and that came off without a hitch. They could have provided a better or upgrade-able interface for Sirius but what is there is functional and works. All in all, I'm very pleased with my upgrade, the delivery, the results. Don't shy away from Marantz because of the sticker shock, pay it or look for other purchase options like I did, its worth the extra time and money.

I needed to upgrade my audio experience and the TIB I had was not doing it.I needed a reciever that was good looking and also delivered high quality sounds.Most avs are rather bulky and thus do not look so good. When marantz introduced their slim line style, I thought this was the right time to buy one. However I was put off by the lack of bluetooth connectivityand so I put off the purchase. When they announced that they had an accessory that could enable blue tooth connectivity,I took the plungeand ordred the 1504 unit.My first impressions when connecting the speaker wires was that this part was not very user friendly but since you only do this once, I could overlook that. The rest of the set up was straight forward and when finished with the tweeking, I sat down to enjoy myself. It was great and I was hoping my neighbours could bear with me.I use my systems mostly for listening to music. I thus was listening to my music files on my phone using the bluetooth accessory. However after 10 minutes there was suddenly no sound. I dicovered that changing the sound mode from say music to movie that the sound came back.But this was briefly for a few seconds before that also went mute. Trying to adjust the settings (I tried plenty) did not improve the situation.I went to the reviews and I found that somebody else had pointed out this problem.As the other reviews were full of praise for this product, I thought maybe, it was my unit that was defective and if I got a replacement, this problem could not resurface. Amazon were great in response and today I got the replacement. I exchanged the two units and sat down to enjoy my music. After 3 hours of uninterrupted music, I thought my problems w ere over. Then suddenly the sound went mute.The same problem has resurfaced.As a consumer , I should not have to go through this and tomorrow I intend to call the Marantz guys and if they dont have a answer to why this is happening and a lasting solution, I guess I will have to return this product and look for another different brand,Update: When I talked to the tech guys, they asked me whether I had connected the inputs for the reciever . As I had diconnected some of the inputs the tech guy told me to call back when I had connected them so that we could troubleshoot the problem.When reconnecting the inputs, I realized there was one input into the analog that ended in an audio jack that I had been using in my former system.I wondered whether maybe that was causing the muting effect.When I unplugged it, I decided to see wheter it had any effect. Apparently that was the problem for there no longer was the muting and I have now been using the reciever for 2 weeks without any problem.