New 8K Lineup from Marantz

Several weeks ago, Denon announced its new line of Audio Receivers and this week Marantz followed suit with their new 2020 AVR lineup. The company launched four new receivers and they all feature 8k/60Hz and 4k/120Hz pass through. Here’s what you need to know.

SR5015

Starting it off is the smallest of the new lineup. The SR5015 is a 7.2 receiver with the capabilities of both types of 3D immersive audio. The SR5015 has a price tag of MSRP $1,100 USD. The 5015 will also be capable of supporting the new HDR options that are out there. The 4K/120Hz pass-through is ideal for the gamer in your household. Here are the Key specs:

• 7.2 Channel @ 100W per channel with 2 channels driven
• 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through with upscaling capabilities in all 6 HDMI ports
• Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Atmos Virtualization, and DTS Virtual:X
• Full eARC support
• HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, 4:4:4 colour resolution and BT.2020 and dynamic contrast
• (VRR) Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency Mode and Quick Frame Transport for increased gaming capabilities
• Hi-Resolution Audio for compatible devices.
• Lossless ALAC, FLAC, and WAV files fo up to 24-bit/195-kHz for audio decoding
• Stream from Spotify, Pandora, TIDAL, and more via AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and HEOS® Built-in. 

SR6015

The SR6015 takes your experience to another level. Running 9.2 channels at an MSRP of $1,600 USD this AVR packs a punch. You get all the same features as the SR0515 except you get a bump in power and 2 extra channels as well as IMAX Enhanced processing. This allows you to configure an Atmos setup of 5.2.4 or 7.2.2. This means you can have 5 surround speakers and 4 height speakers or 7 surrounds and 2 height. The 6015 also gets you my favourite feature of Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room calibration. Here are the key specs:

• 9.2 Channel @ 110W per channel with 2 channels driven
• 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through with upscaling capabilities in all 7 HDMI ports
• Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Atmos Virtualization, and DTS Virtual:X and IMAX Enhanced processing
• Full eARC support
• HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, 4:4:4 color resolution and BT.2020 and dynamic Contrast
• (VRR) Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency Mode and Quick Fram Transport for increased gaming capabilities
• Hi-Resolution Audio for compatible devices.
• Stream from Spotify, Pandora, TIDAL, and more via AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and HEOS® Built-in. 
• Upgraded components including HDAM circuit boards, Current Feedback circuitry, AKM AK4458 32-bit D/A converters, and Hybrid PLL Clock Jitter Reducer for more detailed, dynamic sound.

SR7015

At MSRP $2,300 USD the Marantz SR7015 takes your home theatre to another level. This 9.2 Channel AVR bumps your power to 125W per channel. The reason to look at 7015 is it gives you the capability to process 11.2 channels of audio. 9 of these channels are powered by the unit and the other two are there should you wish to add an external amplifier and go to a full 11 channel Atmos system. Here are the Key Specs

• 9.2 Channel @ 125 per channel with 2 channels driven, optional 11 channel processing
• 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through with upscaling capabilities in all 8 HDMI ports
• Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Atmos Virtualization, and DTS Virtual:X, IMAX Enhanced processing and Auro-3D® processing 
• Full eARC support
• HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, 4:4:4 color resolution and BT.2020 and dynamic Contrast
• (VRR) Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency Mode and Quick Frame Transport for increased gaming capabilities
• Hi-Resolution Audio for compatible devices.
• Stream from Spotify, Pandora, TIDAL, and more via AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and HEOS® Built-in. 
• Upgraded components including HDAM circuit boards, Current Feedback circuitry, AKM AK4458 32-bit D/A converters, and Hybrid PLL Clock Jitter Reducer for more detailed, dynamic sound.

SR8015

Last but not least, coming in at MSRP $3,200 USD the SR8015. This behemoth is a full functioning 11.2 AVR. This configuration allows you to run 7.2.4 and is the closest you can get on the consumer market to an actual theatre in your house. The SR8015 will even be able to decode DTS:X Pro when it becomes available. DTSX: Pro will have the capability of supporting up to 32 speakers (which seems ridiculous and amazing at the same time). Here are the key specs:

• 11.2 Channel @ 140 per channel with 2 channels driven, optional 13 channel processing
• 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through with upscaling capabilities in all 8 HDMI ports
• Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS:X Pro, Atmos Virtualization and DTS Virtual:X, IMAX Enhanced processing and Auro-3D® processing
• DTS:X firmware update will be able to process the 13 channels of audio
• Full eARC support
• HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, 4:4:4 color resolution and BT.2020 and dynamic Contrast
• (VRR) Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency Mode and Quick Fram Transport for increased gaming capabilities
• Hi-Resolution Audio for compatible devices.
• Stream from Spotify, Pandora, TIDAL, and more via AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and HEOS® Built-in. 

Conclusion

With a similar heritage to Denon, there is no doubt that I am beyond excited to see these hit the market. Audyssey room calibration is outstanding and I love that they have made all the AVRs full-featured through the lineup. IMAX Enhanced will be a hot topic in home theatre over the next 18 months so if I was picking one of these up I would make sure it has this. The question I have is on DTS:X Pro. With these technologies being object-based instead of channel (speaker) driven, will Pro give the listener even more points for objects to be able to hear? Or do you need to run an insane number of speakers to get the benefit?