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Replacing my Marantz AVR -- Klipsch RF7-III


Alx

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Hi guys,

 

I've been living a very happy life with my RF7-III lately. They're now nicely broken in, and it could've been a "happily ever after" for me.

 

But two weeks ago, my Marantz SR7009 died on me. Apparently, one of the CPUs fried and the estimate is north of €500 for the board alone...

 

This is not good news, as I'm not bathing in money at the moment... Upgrading my amp would've been on the table in a year or two, but now is really not the perfect time. So, I'm torn between different options, money being definitely a factor:

 

1) Replace my AVR with a new Marantz SR7012 for approx. €1000 (I can't find pre-loved Marantz SR70** for less than €600-€700, so the price difference is not worth going second-hand). It seems like the most sensible/reasonnable solution (I kinda liked my Marantz), but I'll basically have the same system as before and be one grand poorer, which I find pretty frustrating

 

2) Upgrade to the Marantz SR8012, which looks like a very nice toy. But they're freakishly expensive (the best price I could find was around €2800) and I'll have to be VERY convincing with my S.O. for it to happen...

 

3) The Emotiva BASX line seems interesting. I don't know if they would go well with the RF7-III, but maybe something like a pre emotiva MC-700 + a power BASX A-500 (or another nice second-hand power amp, maybe a marantz MM7055 ?) could do the trick. It would be a bit more expensive than the SR7012 but still a lot less money than the SR8012 for perhaps similar (or better?) performance.

 

What do you think? Please take into account that I've only had Marantz AVRs for the last 20 years, so I might be a bit too used to this sound signature ?

 

Thanks for your help; I'm feeling a bit depressed right now...

Edited by Alx
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The Marantz 7012 would be an excellent choice.  Likewise the flagship 8012.  They are both well known for working well with Klipsch.

 

I don't know first hand about the BasX but from what I've read they are highly rated.  Let's see if we can get our Emo guru @teaman to weigh in.

 

I own the Marantz 6011.  It has more features than I can use for my 5.1 setup.  It boasts 125 wpc and I have an Onkyo 717 AVR which also is rated at 125 wpc.  The Marantz is MUCH stronger in terms of power, in my opinion.

 

If it were me I'd grab that 7012.  It's in a good price range and you probably don't need 11 channels of amplification the 8012 would offer.

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No reason to be depressed my man! Personally, one of my happier moments is when i'm online looking for new and exciting A/V gear. 

Were I you, I'd go for the SR7012. Seeing as you only run stereo, the SR8012 seems a bit much in my mind for your needs and what little it can bring that trumps(hehe) the SR7012.

 

Both Marantz and Emotiva are brands that are known to work well with klipsch speakers. Because you've just lost your sr7009,  I guess it would be quite infuriating buying an Emotiva and get "buyers remorse" because you didn't like the Emotiva amps after all... So sticking with a Marantz AVR for now would be overall the best. However, do not buy those glorified pieces of bs Marantz calls power amps! Compared to any Emotiva, the Marantz power amps are scrapyard junk.   

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38 minutes ago, Alx said:

I've been living a very happy life with my RF7-III lately.

 

Are you running a stereo only setup?  If not, do you plan to upgrade later to a multi-speaker setup?

 

What I'm getting at is if you only need a two-channel amp, consider an integrated amp, buying just what you need and not paying for what you don't need.

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My personal experience with RF7-iii's is the more clean power you feed them the better they sound.  I started with an avr and felt something was lacking, in the end I settled on an

Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3 amp. 300 wrms/channel @ 8ohms both channels driven really woke the RF7-iii's up and showed what they can do.

The xpa-2 is also modular so you can add channels later if you want to go 5.1.  30 day trial and a 5 yr transferable warranty  also nice.

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59 minutes ago, wvu80 said:

 

Are you running a stereo only setup?  If not, do you plan to upgrade later to a multi-speaker setup?

 

What I'm getting at is if you only need a two-channel amp, consider an integrated amp, buying just what you need and not paying for what you don't need.

 

Actually, I'm running a 5.1 system (I should've mentionned that...) : RF7-III * 2 + RC35 (was saving for the RC64...) + RS52*2

 

Anyway, thanks for the first opinions, that seem to point towards the SR7012, which is also at this point my first option. But I'm not excluding buying second-hand, if it's economically sound : I've just spotted a Emotiva UMC200+ UPA700 for just €500, which limits the risk in case I happen not to like the emotiva sound. Tough choices ahead 😉

Edited by Alx
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11 minutes ago, Alx said:

Actually, I'm running a 5.1 system

I'm also running a 5.1 on my 6011.  By not using the full nine internal amps the other channels have more punch.

 

The 7012 would give you the 5.1 you currently have and the options to try other things like Atmos or Neural-X in the future.

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The Emotiva UMC-200 + UPA-700 is sold... 

 

I've also found a cheap-ish Nuforce set : AVP18 pre/pro + MCA18 power amp, but I can't find much information about those, and if they'd go well with Klipsch speakers ?  🧐

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