Unstable - Useless RMA process from Marantz - Stay Away!
This unit and the SR6004 (Marantz SR6004 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.

Great Sound, Great Look, Full Featured
This is my second Marantz AV receiver and I am very happy with the brand, sound, look, features and quality. I have been buying Marantz because they seem to do a better job on music than other brands and I AM an audiophile hobbyist. I want my home theater to reproduce music respectably, and this unit does.

A surprise bonus - BluRay movie discs have a new audio format that when played via this receiver using HDMI sounds flat out spectacular.

There seems to be a rule of thumb in the industry that it is not worth going with BluRay for the image upgrade unless your TV is high def and larger than X inches (where X varies from 32 to 42 depending on taste). Well, IMHO, the sound quality alone of BluRay justifies the upgrade - and also it is just very elegant to use HDMI rather than a gaggle of interconnects. Caveat: Perhaps not all BluRay discs utilize the new audio format, I have not tested enough discs to know.

Thumbs up on the receiver.
Art

Excellent receiver
Great receiver with all the bells/whistles you would need for a mid-priced home theater. I was comparing this with its Denon counterpart (pricewise compares to AVR-2310, which has more power -105w/ch and a few additional HDMI inputs). This one has 3 in which my opinion are more than enough. I was a bit concerned with the low power, but after setting it up it was a non-issue. You will pay more than a comparable Denon or an Onkyo, but then you are getting a Marantz!
Easy to setup. Menus have a lot of options and i have not explored all. And it looks fantastic on the shelf. The remote is supposedly great but i have a RF remote so dont use it.

Absolutely amazing sound
I have had a number of av receivers (Onkyo, Yamaha, Harmon Kardon, JVC) and nothing compares to the sound of this receiver. I have it matched in my home theater with Paradigm 5.1 speakers which are able to use the power of this receiver. The distinctive sound from each speaker is really highlighted by this SR5004 from Marantz. If you really want a sound experience, connect a blu-ray dvd player with HDMI to this receiver and listen to TrueHD. You will not be satisfied with anything less. This Marantz truly has an "amazing sound."

Marantz SR5004 Review - It Is Awesome
It is obvious that WDH (a.k.a Winston from AVS Forums) purchased his Marantz Receivers from a "grey-market source" because no authorized dealer would allow someone to return and repurchase the same Marantz Product five times in a row! Frankly, I believe that people should keep their absurd comments to themselves when they buy electronics from non-authorized dealers to save a few bucks. Only an idiot would buy the same receiver five times and then complain all over the internet that is doesn't work right! Marantz is a quality brand with decades of experience making highly regarded products, especially receivers. Marantz is also known for quickly resolving "real issues" with their products and have a long warranty period (3 Years).


Anyway, I have owned a Marantz SR5004 since October 2009 - it sounds great and I have had zero problems with it! The legendary Marantz Sound, which is smooth and refined, is definitely in the SR5004. I highly recommend the SR5004 when purchased from an authorized dealer, such as, Amazon, Crutchfield, etc. Don't buy from eBay or from a guy out of a white van in a dark alley (grin). By the way, I also have a SR6004, which has been running fine for about a month now and sounds awesome too!

Enjoy the Music!