Marantz - CINEMA60 S2 100W 7.2 Channel A/V Home Theater Receiver - Black

📦 UNBOXING: Inside the box you’ll find the receiver and remote control, the calibration microphone and a paper tripod that you can assemble, antennas for WiFi & Bluetooth, as well as antennas for AM & FM Radio. You’ll also get some documentation, a quick start guide, and a sheet of sticker labels you can peel off to apply to your wires. The packaging was well done, and everything was shipped without damage. Not a big fan of using styrofoam molds, but it wasn’t messy. 💪 BUILD: The receiver itself is well-built. It doesn’t feel cheap, and it doesn’t look cheap. But it also doesn’t try to boast some premium materials that have no functional use. The front of the receiver has a functional status display, an input knob and volume knob, a 3.5mm input for the calibration microphone, a USB port, a quarter inch headphone jack, and a series of buttons for controlling various aspects of the receiver. The power cable and antennas are all detachable, so you can easily replace them should something go awry. 🔌 PORTS & CONNECTIVITY: As you would expect, there is a lot happening on the rear of the receiver. It has 3x 4k@60Hz HDMI inputs and 3x 8k@60Hz (4k@120Hz) HDMI inputs. For output, it has 2x 8k HDMI ports—one of which supports eARC/ARC while the other output does not. The latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles support 4k@120Hz via HDMI 2.1 with VRR, and Switch 2 supports 4k@60Hz without color compression via a partial implementation of HDMI 2.1, so this receiver can support passthrough of the full capabilities of these consoles. Moreover, it supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision pass-through so your compatible media device and display can deliver the full experience. It supports 7.2 surround sound with 100w per channel. This means stereo front sound + center channel (3), surround left & right (2), surround rear left & rear right (2), and pre-outs for dual subwoofers (.2). And it uses 5-way binding posts to support all common speaker connectors. The pre-out section supports all 7.2 channels for use with powered speakers which will disable the internal amplifiers while getting all the benefit of the DAC and volume controls. So complex setups that have powered floor-standing speakers can still integrate it with the Cinema 60 Series 2. It also supports WiFi and ethernet connectivity for the lowest possible network latency for music streaming across a number of platforms, as well as coax, optical and phono inputs to integrate with other external devices. And you can even use Bluetooth for music playback. 🛠️ SETUP & ROOM CALIBRATION: The setup process for the Cinema 60 Series 2 can take some time to dial-in depending on your speaker configuration, but the onboard interactive setup assistant makes it very beginner-friendly. It asks you what speakers you have (front, channel, surround, rear, ceiling, etc), and does a good job communicating where the speakers need to be connected on the rear of the receiver with diagrams and animations. And for safety purposes, the amplifiers remain disabled during the setup assistant process so you don’t need to worry about electrical current passing through. Once you have all of your speakers connected, it’ll have you confirm that each one is working via audible cues, and then it’ll proceed through the calibration process using the included setup calibration mic. The room calibration requires you to have a quiet environment for the best results. You’ll configure the included paper tripod following the instructions in the box, or you can use your own tripod if you prefer. Following the instructions on screen, you’ll place the included setup microphone onto the tripod and position it at ear-level across a number of different listening positions. Each listening position will play test tones out of each speaker in your setup, so a 7.2 setup will require more time versus a 5.1 setup. It requires calibration for at least 3 listening positions, but reaches a maximum of 8. You can stop at any point after the first 3, which might be necessary if one of the later traditional listening positions is unavailable/obstructed. Once your measurements are completed, it will analyze and create a room correction profile for your configuration. This setup and calibration process is a vital procedure for any home theater setup, and I felt that Marantz has delivered a great setup and calibration experience that yields performance I’m very happy with. 📺 ON-SCREEN DISPLAY: For all devices connected to the Cinema 60 Series 2, the on-screen menu can overlay video and audio signal information over your content just by pressing “info” on the remote. This is very useful for those who want to be sure they’re leveraging the full capabilities of their hardware. It’s easy to use the remote to switch between inputs and sound modes with visual feedback so you can be sure that you’re obtaining the desired outcome of each action. 📱 APP & STREAMING (HEOS): If you are in the HEOS ecosystem, the HEOS app allows you to configure multiple HEOS-enable devices to have multi-room whole-home listening experiences. So whether you’re hosting a party or simply want music across the house, you can play the same song in sync across your home or even create zones to play different songs. Maybe the basement has a separate vibe than your living room, and HEOS can make that achievable. You can use storage over USB or a NAS, or streaming apps like TIDAL, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, Amazon Music and more. Alternatively, it does support audio via Apple Airplay 2, which makes it very easy to stream audio without the need for additional apps. 🔊 AUDIO PERFORMANCE: While the audio performance will be directly tied to your speaker configuration, the Cinema 60 Series 2 brings a lot of character and immersion to my surround sound setup. Because of its excellent calibration via Audyssey MultEQ XT, positional audio feels much more accurate, immersive, and dynamic. While it supports 7.2 channel audio, it is also perfectly viable for simpler setups. I also appreciate the quick-select sound modes on the remote (Movie, Music, Game,Pure) that are available to choose the sound mode that is best for the type of content. Each sound mode allows you to select amongst different options applicable to that mode in combination with the signals sent by your device. So make sure that your connected devices are configured to output your desired codec, then configure the sound mode on the receiver. So my PlayStation 5 is configured for Dolby Atmos under Game, my Nintendo Switch 2 is configured for Multi Ch In + Dolby Surround, and music over AirPlay is configured to Multi Ch Stereo. 🧐 CONCLUSION: The Marantz Cinema 60 Series 2 is a versatile receiver that delivers features that matter for anybody looking to set up a home theater. With its comprehensive port selection, support for modern game consoles, and beginner-friendly Audyssey room calibration, it seamlessly integrates into a wide variety of setups. Whether you are building a full 7.2 surround system or streaming multi-room audio via HEOS and AirPlay 2, the receiver’s 100W amplifiers deliver a clean signal to each speaker. And with the dynamic sound modes and an intuitive user experience, it offers a well-rounded balance of features that make it a great choice to power your home theater.

The Marantz Cinema 60 is one of those upgrades where I initially wondered how much difference I would actually hear. My previous 8K receiver was already quite good, and none of the speakers in my home theater changed when I installed the Marantz. Yet after spending time with the Cinema 60, the difference has been surprisingly noticeable. More than anything, the entire soundstage feels more cohesive. Individual speakers blend together extremely well, and movies, television, games, and music all benefit from a presentation that sounds balanced and polished. The difference was noticeable enough that even my wife, who has no interest in being an audiophile, commented on it. I wondered whether the receiver would live up to its reputation, and for me, the answer was yes. Marantz has put together an exceptionally polished package. The Cinema 60 looks great and, more importantly, sounds great. Unboxing and Setup: Marantz includes the receiver, remote, calibration microphone, detachable power cord, and a cardboard tripod for positioning the microphone during setup. Setup was relatively straightforward, and Audyssey does much of the heavy lifting when configuring the speakers for the room. As with any automated calibration, I still found some room for personal adjustment. In my case, I raised the center channel level by a few decibels to bring dialogue forward to where I preferred it. I also found some of the crossover settings a little ambitious. Audyssey set my front speakers to full range, while several of the other speakers were assigned slightly lower crossover points than I would normally choose. Even with those adjustments, Audyssey produced an impressively balanced starting point. Speaker transitions feel natural, bass integrates well with the rest of the system, and no individual channel seems excessively prominent. Experience: Sound quality has been the highlight of my time with the Cinema 60. With Audyssey and the receiver’s various processing options engaged, the resulting sound field is spacious, balanced, and remarkably cohesive. Rather than constantly noticing sound coming from individual speakers, they work together as a unified system. That has been particularly apparent with surround and height effects. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X material can create an excellent sense of space, and I have also enjoyed experimenting with Atmos and DTS:X up mixing for music. Depending on the recording, the result can be a surprisingly convincing room-filling presentation without making the individual channels feel disconnected from one another. I have several Blu-ray music releases with dedicated Atmos mixes, and in some cases I found the receiver’s up mixing of the stereo version nearly as enjoyable, and occasionally even more engaging, than the dedicated Atmos mix. What surprised me even more was that the Cinema 60 continues to sound exceptionally good when much of that processing is taken out of the equation. Using a Pure listening mode made it clear that I was not simply hearing the results of aggressive EQ or room correction. The underlying presentation remains clean, detailed, and enjoyable. I was not expecting a major audible difference compared with the 8K receiver I had previously been using. Both receivers sound good, but the Marantz has nevertheless been noticeably better with my Klipsch Reference Series speaker system. There is a polish and cohesiveness to the presentation that is difficult to reduce to a single setting or specification. The included remote is also quite good. It feels solid in the hand, and I particularly appreciate the dedicated backlight button. It is, however, fairly large and takes up more space than I would prefer. I also would not consider it a true universal remote, although that matters less than it once did. With HDMI control, basic functions such as volume and mute can often be handled directly from the TV remote, so I do not necessarily need the Marantz remote in hand every time I use the system. The software side has also been a positive experience. The Marantz app has worked well for adjusting and controlling the receiver, while HEOS integration makes streaming audio easy to access. Together, they help the Cinema 60 feel like a modern networked audio component rather than simply an HDMI switcher with amplification. My primary complaint is surprisingly mundane: the minimalist front display. I like its appearance, but I wish Marantz provided more control over what it shows. I would gladly trade the persistent source name and volume information for the ability to see the incoming audio format at a glance. When playing a disc or streaming a movie, I would rather immediately see Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, PCM, DTS:X, or DTS-HD than simply be reminded which input I selected. Conclusion: The Marantz Cinema 60 has been an unexpectedly meaningful upgrade to my home theater. Audyssey provides an excellent foundation, the available processing and adjustment options leave plenty of room for fine-tuning, and the receiver does an impressive job of making the speakers sound like parts of one cohesive system rather than a collection of individual channels. Just as importantly, that quality does not disappear when much of the processing is removed. The Cinema 60 simply sounds good. The minimalist display could provide more useful information, and the remote is larger than it needs to be, but those are minor complaints. My experience with the Cinema 60 has been overwhelmingly positive. Between its sound quality, surround performance, Audyssey calibration, app support, HEOS integration, and overall usability, it has proven to be a polished and capable centerpiece for a home theater. 5/5 Recommended

SETUP / INSTALLATION The setup was surprisingly simple with the guided step-by-step onscreen setup guide. I also used the app, which gave a detailed connection guide and made the process easy to follow. I connected it using eARC so I could control the volume and TV power through the same TV remote. It is much easier because I do not have to keep switching between remotes just to turn things on or adjust the volume. The setup asks how many speakers you have and actually shows you a diagram of what speakers go where. I have a 5.1 speaker system, and it pretty much guided me through the speaker placement. The included microphone was easy to use, and the Audyssey feature allowed multiple viewing positions to be customized and adjusted for sound. For someone who has set up receivers before, this was pretty simple. For someone new to receivers, there are still a lot of wires and settings, but the guide does a nice job walking you through it. BUILD / FEEL The receiver has a very premium look and feel. The front face is clean, simple, and modern, and it complements the TV stand and television instead of standing out in a bad way. I genuinely love the circular display window. It gives the receiver a high-end look without being too flashy. The finish has a matte-like appearance that looks expensive and clean. The weight is solid enough to feel like a quality product, but it is not so heavy that moving it becomes a hassle. The receiver is also the right size. It does not feel too bulky or cumbersome, and it fits nicely into the entertainment setup. Overall, it looks and feels like a premium receiver. MOVIE / TV SOUND I already had a nice receiver before this one, so I was not sure what kind of difference to expect. Once I calibrated the Marantz through Audyssey, the sound was noticeably better. The audio sounds crisp, clean, and powerful. Even regular TV shows sound better. The bass is more robust, dialogue is clear, and the overall sound feels fuller. Action movies are where this receiver really shines. It does a great job separating the different sound effects in a movie. A knock on the door can genuinely make you think someone is at your actual front door. Explosions, background noise, music, and dialogue all feel better placed instead of everything blending together. The surround sound is very immersive, and it gives the room more of a theater feel. It is sharp without sounding harsh and powerful without feeling messy. MUSIC / STREAMING My last receiver did not have internet radio, so HEOS was a nice addition. I played around with the different radio stations, and the convenience of getting music without ad breaks, annoying DJs, and random interruptions is a nice bonus. Choosing internet radio is easy. You can click through the channels and find dedicated stations by music genre. It makes the receiver useful even when you are not watching movies or gaming. Music sounds full and balanced through my speakers. Bass comes through strong without sounding muddy, and vocals sound clear. I still think movies and surround sound are the biggest strengths of this receiver, but the music features are a nice bonus. GAMING / HDMI PERFORMANCE I have an Xbox Series X and PS5, and both look and sound amazing going through the receiver. I did not notice any lag, and the audio stayed synced with the picture. Gaming feels much more immersive with full surround sound. The customized sound makes games feel bigger, especially when you hear background effects, explosions, or directional sounds around the room. For someone gaming on a large 98inch TV with surround sound, this receiver helps make the whole setup feel more complete. It is not just about the picture. The sound adds a lot to the experience. APP / SMART FEATURES The Wi-Fi setup was very simple, and I have not had buffering issues when listening to internet radio or music apps. The receiver also updated its software in under five minutes, so the connection was fast enough and reliable. Navigating through the settings is also pretty simple. The menus are intuitive, and I did not have trouble finding or adjusting settings. The remote is a little overwhelming with all the buttons. The HEOS features, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and app controls are useful without making the receiver feel too complicated. That matters because receivers can get frustrating fast when basic settings are hard to find. So far, this one has been easy to manage. HONEST NEGATIVE The only real negative I can think of is that I wish it came with a better universal remote option to control the other devices I own. Between the TV, game systems, streaming devices, and receiver, it would be nice to cut down on all the remotes. At this price point I would have liked a better remote control that wasn’t overwhelming with all the buttons. Other than that, I really have not found any major negatives at this point. The receiver is the right size and weight, it is not bulky, setup was straightforward, and the sound has been excellent. OVERALL Overall, the Marantz CINEMA 60 S2 is an amazing workhorse receiver with a lot of high-end qualities. It has plenty of connections, enough watts to power my 5.1 speaker system, and most importantly, amazing sound. The audio is crisp, immersive, and powerful. Movies feel more theater-like, gaming feels more engaging, and music streaming is easy and convenient. The receiver also looks premium. The clean front design, circular display, and matte-like finish make it feel like a quality piece of home theater equipment instead of just another black box on the shelf. I would recommend this receiver to someone who wants a premium all-around home theater receiver for movies, TV, gaming, and music. It is especially good for someone who wants strong sound, simple setup, modern streaming features, and a clean design that complements the room. Overall, this receiver delivers exactly what I wanted: crisp immersive sound, plenty of useful features, and a premium look that fits perfectly into a home theater setup.

The Marantz CINEMA 60 Series 2 is one of the company’s newest AV Receivers for 2026 supporting surround sound systems up to 7.2 or 5.2.2 speaker configurations. Setting it up was easy. I only needed to connect my speakers, my HDMI inputs (an Xbox and Apple TV) and run the initial setup and room calibration using Audyssey software. The initial setup was a lot better than my old receiver, with a modern GUI which was fast and responsive. It walks you through everything from connecting your speakers, inputs and outputs to testing each speaker and finally performing the room correction using the included Audyssey microphone. What impressed me most was that it could connect to my home Wifi simply by downloading the HEOS app to my phone, saving me from having to type in the Wifi password. Marantz does a good job of making a fairly complicated piece of equipment approachable. The back of an AV receiver can look daunting to most folks, but almost every screen in the setup interface has easy-to-understand pictures showing you how to connect the right cables to the right ports. While there are a lot of settings available, the guided setup process means even those less familiar with home theater setup can achieve a great sounding system. I am very pleased with the CINEMA 60 Series 2 in my 5.1.2 setup. One of the first things that impressed me was how accurately Audyssey measured the distance between my speakers and the primary listening position. I have run Audyssey multiple times on my previous receivers, so I’m very familiar with it and it has never been this accurate. This time, the measurements seemed to be spot on. I’m not sure if this was due to improvements in the software, hardware, or both. Audyssey also did an accurate job of determining the appropriate crossovers for my speakers. After calibration, I did not have to make many changes. I bumped up the center channel a few decibels to give dialogue a little more presence and I raised the subwoofer level slightly to better suit my taste for harder hits during action sequences. One feature I absolutely love is having three HDMI inputs that support 8K and 4K/120hz. My old receiver only has one, which forced me to use a three-to-one 8K HDMI switcher that never quite worked right. With the CINEMA 60 Series 2, I can connect both my Xbox and PS5 directly to the receiver and enjoy 4K/120hz on my projector. HDMI-CEC works as expected. Turning on either my Xbox or Apple TV automatically turns on my projector and the receiver switches to the correct input. Turning the system off works just as expected as well. In everyday use, this means I barely need the Marantz remote. Dolby Atmos worked great with my single pair of height speakers. Channel separation was as good as I could ask for, with effects moving naturally between the front, surround, and height channels. I think some of that is a testament to how well the room correction worked. It also supports Dirac Live room correction, although it requires an additional license purchase and a compatible microphone, which I don’t have. I am also not sure how much improvement Dirac Live would provide in my particular setup as my system is installed in a dedicated media room with properly placed speakers. However, the biggest disadvantage is that it only supports seven channels of processing. Meaning if I want to upgrade to two pairs of height speakers, I’m out of luck. Unfortunately, adding an external amplifier is not a solution, as the CINEMA 60 can only process seven channels total. The major difference between this model and the next model up, the CINEMA 50 Series 2, is that it has nine amplified channels and can process up to 11.4 channels, but at a higher cost. It also doesn’t support the IMAX Enhanced format, while the more expensive model does. While Dolby Atmos and DTS are supported, IMAX Enhanced is something widely used on Disney+ content. Pros: - Excellent for movies and music - Easy setup with clean user interface. - 100W per channel up to 7.2 or 5.2.2 speaker configurations - Three 8K/60Hz or 4K/120Hz inputs - Support for variable refresh rate and AMD FreeSync - Built-in Airplay 2, Spotify, Tidal, and HEOS - Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding - Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction Cons: - Only seven processing channels limiting expansion - No IMAX Enhanced - Dirac Live requires an additional paid license Overall – This is a premium AV receiver from Marantz that I’d recommend to anyone except those who have or will eventually upgrade to a system requiring more than seven processed speaker channels, such as 5.1.4 or 7.2.4, as it simply cannot support it.

For the past twenty years, I’ve been using Sonos for everything. I was a 5.1 wired home theater guy for a long time but at some point in around 2005 I got caught in between “too old to have wires running all over the place” (this is not a dorm room!) and “too young to be able to afford hardwiring my stereo system.” When I redid my basement a few months ago, I had the ceiling removed, so I thought it was a perfect time to send cat6, HDMI, and speaker wiring to my man cave, where I have a pair of older Sony towers and up to my den, where I’ve had a Sonos Arc, Sub, and Five surrounds for the past few years. I bought a Klipsch 5.1 speaker setup with a powered woofer and hid the sub below my bar, put the surround wires through the wall, and put jack terminals for my fronts and surrounds behind my media center. All of the cabling went down into my basement, where I parked the Marantz. I ran an HDMI cable from one of the Marantz HDMI outs to a keystone jack plate in the den and plugged ann HDMI cable from that into the eARC port of my Samsung 77” OLED. I then realized that to use the Audyssey room setup mic, I’d have to drag the whole thing upstairs and plug my speakers in upstairs. Don’t make this mistake! So much effort… After getting everything calibrated, which took me around 15 minutes after unhooking and reconnecting, I dragged the receiver back downstairs and hooked everything up. WOW!!! I thought Sonos was good enough for so long. I can’t believe what I was missing. The sound feels so much more “deep and warm” although I’m no professional. It felt like I used to feel back in high school hearing 5.1 for the first time watching The Matrix DVD on my super modest 5.1 system before we got spoiled with all of these “virtual” 5.1 speakers. We, as a society, gave up on awesome home theater setups a long time ago in exchange for soundbars but having my first real theater system in two decades was a revelation and I’m not sure I can go back in my main viewing room. It almost makes me feel like my 77” Samsung OLED is too small! As I said, I’m no audiophile but I can clearly hear more “depth?” And quality in the sound (even as a huge fan of Sonos) and I assume that using a mic for room tuning random sounds seems like it has to be better than echoing random tones off a wall. My only complaints are that I can’t control my TiVo with the RF remote from downstairs, so I have to use my phone until I can route an IT blaster wire. And I have to figure out how to get my Xbox controller to reach downstairs. In the meantime, those devices are hooked up to my TV up here. In my perfect world, I want everything downstairs so I can eliminate my media cabinet, but that’s a project for another month. Other notes: this gets REALLY loud with my Klipsch speaker setup. The app seems kind of basic. Spotify Connect works perfectly with this bad boy, as does AirPlay. But in reality, everything just works with my TV. Whatever audio I hear matches what I see on my screen. The other cool thing I did was use the extra two audio outputs to connect to my old Sony tower speakers. It’s basically my zone 2 and I can mirror sports audio to my man cave, which is really nice. I plan to use the 2nd HDMI output (which mirrors whatever is coming out of the 1st output) to my man cave, so I can get rid of an extra Apple TV and TiVo cablecard subscription. I’m so happy I got back into this. My middle-aged eyes and ears went on a nostalgia trip after some effort.. every minute worth it!