Hi there. I have been on a long journey. I have had tried many receivers by denon, the x2700h, x3800h, x4700h, and the Cinema 50 by Marantz. The Denon x4700h was ok, out of the Denon’s, but felt clunky and slow, and not like it was a new receiver. It just acted old. And the Denon’s just didn’t sound right turned all the way up. The x4700h was the best for the Denon’s at high volume, the x3800h was terrible. So I went back to the drawing board, decided to change brands, and I moved on to the Marantz Cinema 50. I didn’t know there was a Cinema 40 at the time. I loved the sound that came with the highs with the Cinema 50, but the one problem I was having with the cinema 50 was the bass. It just wasn’t to my tuning. It was lacking. Maybe you could describe it a no deep deep rich bass sound, there was definitely plenty bass, just bass that wasn’t up to par in sound to me. So I went back to the drawing board again and did a lot of studying on the Cinema 40 by Marantz. I found it was better with the separate pcb boards and amplifier, and better parts, but everyone said they would sound the same. At the time you had to order it to store. So finally got it. Hooked it up and could immediately hear the music difference in everything including the bass. They didn’t sound the same at all. I did add 3 Panamax M8 AV PRO power conditioners with high capacity outlets, one for amp and two for two subs and boy the bass jumped even higher. I could t believe how much, and how different the cinema 50 and Cinema 40 with music. I am running a Kef Q750 in front, Kef Q650c in center, 2 pairs of Kef Q150 for surround and rear heights. I have RP500SA Dolby Atmos for front heights, and 2 svs PB1000Pro subs placed in front and back corner of the room. Handles all kinds of music for rap, rock, all the kinds of bass, even computer generated bass, sounds great. Kendrick Lamar’s Swimming Pools sounds great. The Cinema 40 receiver has been my favorite of all out of the denon and Marantz receivers. It is very well built, and not as buggy like with setup with the Marantz Cinema 50. Maybe they have the calibration on the Cinema 50 has improved since update, but had all types of trouble with the setup of the Marantz Cinema 50. The Marantz Cinema 40 sounds better, is made with better parts, and I feel is the one to get, at least for me, over the Cinema 50 if you want true good sound, get the Cinema 40. Absolutely love the Marantz Cinema 40. The bass is even set at -8.5db on the Cinema 40 for both subwoofers, and the Cinema 40 has that certain sound the cinema 50 does not have with the Cinema 50 with both of my subwoofers set to 0db. I haven’t gotten Best Buy to come calibrate the Cinema 40, but did have them come out and calibrate the Cinema 50, and it just didn’t work for me. The Cinema 50 is a good receiver, but no where near the Cinema 40. They knocked it out of the park with the Marantz Cinema 40. The Denon’s don’t even compare to the cinema 40. With the Cinema 50 the bass is better on the Denon’s, but the high’s sound better on the Cinema 50. I love the Hdam SA 2 on the Cinema 40. If you want a inside look there is a training video with Marantz people on the cinema 40 on YouTube is about a 1 hr long. The first half hour is all about the upgrades, then there is just a thing on audyssey, you’ll learn but the good parts are the beginning and end, and there is Q&A at the end that really tell you about the cinema 40 and all of its features. I hope this helps you decide what you might like and for your system. As for me it is Marantz Cinema 40 all the way. It is a total Night and day difference between the Marantz Cinema 40 and the Marantz Cinema 50. It is totally worth the extra $1000, without a doubt. It has been the sound I have been searching for with the Marantz Cinema 40. I feel my journey is done. Even when the Cinema 30 comes out soon, I will stick to this, can’t sound better spouse to compare to the sound of the SR8015. I have all the power I need now, and if I go up to Kef reference series, I can just add a additional amp, and adding a amp is spouse to make the new Marantz Cinema line sound even better. The bass in the in the Cinema 40 though I feel can not be matched with the Cinema 50 at all or even the Denon’s with my setup. Saving up for the new Dirac. Spouse to make it sound like the best of audyssey setup, but 10x better if I understand. Really like my Marantz Cinema 40. Is the best receiver right now out of all of the receivers I have had. The Cinema 40 is better than all of the receivers I heard at Best Buy. I have been using Tidal as a music streaming service through heos. Tried Amazon unlimited, but wasn’t as good. I love my new Marantz Cinema 40. Sounds great.

I did a LOT of research before I completed this purchase. It comes with a hefty price tag so I wanted to get the finest AVR for my system that I could afford. I had been looking at lower end receivers with higher (and lower) power outputs, but then I went to Best Buy to their sound design room (terribly loud of a design room) and listened to my top two choices. This one was noticeably better sounding than the Cinema 50 (my other choice) especially when paired with the Bowers and Wilkins 700 series speakers. It was also noticeably better than its counterpart, the Denon line. This AVR comes with everything I needed including inputs for TV (eARC), cd, iPod, and especially my AR turntable. The output (125w/channel) was plenty big for my smallish living room and it has the capabilities for two more zones as well as a full surround-sound. (We won't be installing the surround-sound b/c it would create too much sound for my wife :-).) The setup/install was complicated but with the on-screen setup guide it turned out easy to complete. The microphone that is provided for calibrating the speakers worked quite well and I can reuse it at any time to re-calibrate if needed. I am pleased that I did the research as well as took the time to listen to several different system pairings - it was quite apparent which had the best sound with which speakers. I would highly recommend this AVR if you have the budget for it.

This is a great step forward for the Marantz SR line. If you’re a fan of their classic warm sound, easy setup and extremely high build quality you’ll be very pleased. With a beautiful upgrade to the design, Marantz maintains its classic aesthetic while delivering an updated, elegant look that commands center stage of your home theatre setup. The user-interface has also been updated as well as all the new standards in HDMI, video processing and audio formats. As “future-proofed” as you could hope for in this day and age! Truly an excellent piece of equipment that will take your home theatre to new levels today and for many years to come.