General Asylum: REVIEW: Marantz SR-4002 Receiver by Biff

Model:	SR-4002
Category:	Receiver
Suggested Retail Price:	$499?
Description:	7.1 channel home theater receiver
Manufacturer URL:	Marantz

Review by Biff on July 09, 2009 at 06:49:46
IP Address: 207.109.69.9 Add Your Review
for the SR-4002

I've owned this unit for about 8 months. In the last 2 months, it's begun to make a popping sound when muting and unmuting, and also sometimes between chapters during a DVD (not skipping chapters, just letting the DVD play).

I've gone round and round with Marantz and the service center. Last communication - this behavior is "not abnormal" (which made me laugh out loud - what does that mean?). I guess they don't want to say "normal" because that's perilously close to "they all do that." "Not abnormal" implies that some units may do this, at least to me.

I'm still battling with them to get a replacement. So, keep this in mind if you get a defective unit. You'll be going round and round for a while. Thank god it didn't cost $1000 or I'd be down there with a .45 in hand.

I expected a little "warmer" sound than the Technics SA-DA10 I was using (luckily I kept that one). To be honest, I think the Technics sounds better but it's difficult to quantify. It's certainly not as bright as the Marantz. I don't watch a lot of movies so I can't really comment on that, other than the sound was acceptable.

Bottom line - I wouldn't buy another after dealing with the support people.

Product Weakness:	Popping noise described above; double-speaking support personnel; remote requires pushing input buttons twice to enable functions. For instance, if you want to switch to tuner, you must press the "tuner" button twice. A little annoying.
Product Strengths:	Decent sound (aside from popping) for both movies and music, really good tuner section. Runs cool (virtually the entire case is vented). Lots of inputs and various configurations. Setup is pretty straightforward. Bass and treble can be adjusted from remote.

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: none
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Bellari
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Technics SL-1600, NAD C542
Speakers: Magnepan SMGa
Cables/Interconnects: Audioquest
Music Used (Genre/Selections): All sorts of music
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	none
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Bellari
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Technics SL-1600, NAD C542
Speakers:	Magnepan SMGa
Cables/Interconnects:	Audioquest
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	All sorts of music
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner