Marantz or Denon: Which AVR to buy?

[linger63]

Originally Posted by Maggot

I have an older non-HDMI $2000 Marantz receiver and I'm looking to replace it. After looking at Marantz's website, it seems they are a little behind on their selections. The AVR I want is the $2000 SR8002 with it's 125Wx7, but it's an older receiver and amazingly hasn't been updated. Marantz has updated the 5000/6000 line, but not the 7000/8000. I think the 5000/6000 line is a little underpowered. Then I go over to the Denon site and they seem to offer more AVR's in general and they seem to be updated more, even models with more power. The AVR-4310CI seems like a great choice. How is the sound of Denon vs Marantz? I find Marantz very clean and musical, but have never heard Denon.

Do you really need HDMI?

If your current receiver has multichannel ins and you have a Blu ray player with onboard decoding you can still get lossless audio via the analog outs AND use the players' HDMI connection for a straight HD video hookup to your (hopefully HDMI capable) display.

If your stuff fits the above criteria the total cost will be about 1/10th of your budget just for some decent cables!!!