Looking at a couple receivers. I'm not a huge audiophile or anything, but have some functional things I'm looking for (Zone 2, phono, network control, Bluetooth transmission would be nice). I tend to hang on to this stuff for a while, so 8K would be nice so I don't need to buy a receiver if/when the day comes that I get a new TV (Sharp 1080p sorta-smart TV still going strong 12 years in!)
Anyway, I'm down to two receivers:
- Denon AVR-X1700H (new at Costco)
- Marantz NR1711 (used on Facebook, includes some nice speakers I could probably resell if needed)
On paper, the Denon has a little more power and a few more 8k HDMI ports but otherwise similar. Since they're both run by the same company behind the scenes, I suspect most components inside are identical.
In practice, I know the Marantz is supposed to be the better brand... but it seems conceivable that a lower-end slimline, slightly older Marantz could probably be beaten by a midrange Denon, yeah?
For what it's worth, this is replacing an Onkyo TX-NR709 I've had for about 14 years. It's been a workhorse but I really want proper Zone 2 functionality and it's been giving me troubles there (no HDMI sources work, even with the "source" mode)
I went with Onkyo's tx-nr7100. It has the zone 2 and is 9.2 with dirac live. The only thing its missing is the preouts for an additional amp. I wasn't willing to pay 600$ more to get that. Still no regrets. I almost went with the denon you listed but have always had Onkyo's and stuck to the familiar. Accessories4less has very good deals on all these receivers. Give them a look if you haven't yet.
That does seem like a pretty good unit for the money as well. I'm just not sure my receiver has been good enough to stick to the brand, but I guess I'm not sure it isn't, either. One worthless advantage is that my speakers are Onkyo, so at least they'd match!
I paired this up with Klipsch 5.1.2 speakers which adorama has on sale often for 750$... Then added 2 more in ceiling Atmos speakers. Pretty nice setup for the price.