Customer Reviews

Marantz SR6004 Audio/Video Receiver (Black)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have owned five Marantz SR6004s, only one of which is still working today. All were purchased from an authorized dealer and were brand new or A stock. I bought two units - one for my study utilizing a 5.1 setup plus heights and one for my bedroom - 5.1 setup with two in ceiling speakers in each bathroom configured as a second zone.

The four units that died all died in less than 30 days. The quickest died after 8 days, the longest made it about 26 days. The death always included a pop or thud from all speakers and then the Marantz entering into protect mode. Once in protect mode, it cannot be revived - even by leaving it unplugged overnight or trying to reset it via the front panel. It is completely fried.

In both rooms, all of my speaker connections are without isssue; the Marantzs have replaced Onkyos and a Denon that have operated in the same setup for over two years. The Marantz was well surge-protected in both rooms - even to the point i surge protected the coaxial feed from the cable box.

The failures occurred without warning or symptom of a problem. Of the four failures, three occurred while watching college football on a saturday, one occurred one evening with the tuner on only.

The surving unit is still working without issue in the same setup. Earlier this week I torture-tested it, left it on for three days straight without issue or excessive heat.

It is my contention there is either a faulty part or faulty design that causes catastrophic failure to these units. One other has reported an identical death to mine on his SR5004.

Marantz categorically denies a problem.

I would hold off on buying this unit despite my true affection for its sound. There is something wrong with some of these units.

If you do buy one, buy it from an authorized dealer who has a generous 30 day return policy (and will pay for return shipping costs if online). These units have generally died within two to four weeks of use, but I have not made it too far past 30 days with my working unit.

I really like this receiver and have been more than persistent and attempted to trouble-shoot the issues with Marantz. They were of no help at all and continued to insist the problem was only in my setup.

it's a great receiver when working. I can only hope that Marantz addresses the catastrophic failure affecting these units and issues a recall to those affected.

Purchased this receiver on recommendation from a custom home theater dealer/installer. When it works, it sounds fantastic. The bluetooth feature works great with my iPhone. Its great to sit down on the couch with iPhone in hand listen through the receiver.

HOWEVER the unit is currently not compatible with my Tivo HD DVR and it appears numerous other DVRs and cable boxes. Occasionally after pausing, changing channels, FF, or RW a recording or live show, there is a loud pop in the speakers and unit shuts down and goes into a protect mode. Apparently some receivers have been fried but mine is able to be reset.

Marantz CS is no help, insisting there is no problem and that it is an isolated incident.

The receiver and my entire home theater setup was professionally installed. There is nothing wrong with my Tivo. My TV doesn't have any problem processing the audio signal directly and my old $400 dollar receiver had no problems either. Marantz's response to this was that their receiver "processes the audio signal differently."

Bottom line: if you have a DVR or cable box in your home theater setup, I would look elsewhere.

All these reviews of these receivers going bad are TRUE. The same thing happened to me, I've gone through two of these units and finally returned it for a Denon 3310ci. Just because your unit did not go bad does not mean we are liars, all it means you got lucky with a good unit. Why would so many people make up the same story? Think about it! Do you honestly think we are all out to get Marantz? LOL The sad truth is there is a significant batch of these units that have a design flaw where there is a HDMI voltage issue when used with a cable receiver. My dealer spoke with Marantz and after some teeth pulling they finally admitted there is a REAL issue. Unfortunately Marantz is not handling it with class and is telling just about everyone that calls that they have never heard of this issue before. They need to stop trying to downsize the problem and come forward with a recall. This is pissing off alot of people and they are losing alot of customers including myself.

BTW the Denon 3310ci is an awesome receiver, sounds just as good if not better than this and the video processing kills this not to mention it's network and internet radio capable. So if anyone is considering this receiver dont take your chances. Fork up another $200 and get the 3310ci, you will not be dissapointed.

To start off, for those of you that don't know, Marantz and Denon are sister companies under the same umbrella (D&M) sharing some of the same technology, directly competing against each other. That being said, I own both a Denon 3800 series and the Marantz SR6004. Both are very solid performers, performing well above their price points. For my tastes the Marantz is sonically superior to the Denon - barely. The Marantz setup is pretty straightforward and its handling of content is wonderful, although not as flexible as many of the receivers in this catagory, the person that buys the Marantz is looking for sound quality at an exceptional price point, not gagdetry. The Marantz also does a superb job with video as well, doing an excellent job with non-BD as well as BD material, colors just popped whether through my Sharp 52" LED TV or my Panasonic PT-AE4000U 1080p projector. The one issue I am currently struggling with though is the second HDMI out. Does not seem to flow any data through. Have contacted Marantz and am currently waiting for an answer. I suspect the owners having larger problems with their receiver may have bought from or may have inadvertently received a gray market item. Marantz as well as Denon both have had reputations for building solid products for years, seems odd that the SR5004 and SR6004 would stray given the pedigree of the companies under the D&M umbrella.

This unit and the SR5004 ( Marantz SR5004 Audio/video Receiver (Black)) are to avoid: I bought one in France in November and unfortunately the unit fails as described here: [...]

Issue description: the unit switches off randomly approximately 10 times a week. It requires a complex combination of keys to be restarted. The issue happens even with very simple setups (1 SPDIF input,no HDMI, 192K stereo) , at very low volume...

As many owner experiencing the issue I sent the unit back to RMA, it came back one month later with the issue unsolved, a note saying "check the setup".
Marantz is not dealing with the issue or communicating on it, which I interpret as a fantastic contempt for their consumers. Especially for a brand building its sales speech on quality...

Conclusion: the sound quality is not worth the headache 1. dealing with the unit instability 2. dealing with Marantz to try to fix it.

Had a flagship Marantz SR18 back years ago went to protective mode and stays there. I thought issue will be solved by now. Guess what? NO!!! I bought this unit and ended up the same way in less then two months. Customer service tech is no better help then myself. I totally gave up on this brand.

Much like the others, after only 9 days it ceased to work. The magazine and online reviews were good, but clearly the build quality is poor.

all I can say is stay away. do a search online and follow links to forums of all the people who purchased. i bought mine last week and 70 minutes after install it got it's first POD (pop of death). apparently over 40% of people are having these issues. Try calling them directly and get a response that suggests it is "your setup". don't take my word for it do a search and go to the forums. STAY AWAY.

This is the second Marantz receiver I have owned and both have died within months of purchase. I was very leery of buying another Marantz receiver, but an endorsement from a local home theater store as well as a glowing review in a home theater magazine convinced me to give Marantz another try. I will never make that mistake again. The SR 6004 worked for less than four months. It has now been in the shop for more than two months awaiting replacement parts from Marantz that have gone on back order followed by extended back order. I would strongly advise you to avoid Marantz products.

I have only owned the Marantz sr6004 for a week and I must say that I was a bit nervous about this purchase. The only other review on Amazon about the 6004 was a bad one, but after careful research online as well as visiting a few A/V pro shops I decided to take the plunge and "what a difference". I replaced a Sony A/V receiver that did not have hdmi or the ability to deliver the new codec. The additional power was needed in order to bring out the quality of my B&W speakers. Much brighter with a cleaner sound and the separation between the 5.1 channels is so much better. An audiophile I am not but I know what sounds good to me and this is it. I also ordered (from Amazon) the new Oppo BD83 bluray player and that is another great addition to our home theater. You can't find a bad review about the 83. Anyway, A real fine experience and maybe my rating will change to 5 star after I have lived with the 6004 for awhile.