New Member, About to Purchase

[thattomhall]

Hey there, upgrading my home theater after 30 years! My old Phase Technology / Definitive speakers sound decent, but after getting Wharfedale EVO 4.1s + KEF sub for my office, I was struck by the sound clarity and presence, which led me down an audiophile/home theater path to here.

My plan (which I will try to talk to Martin Logan about next week, and purchase through a local dealer):

2	Martin Logan F100s
1	ML C100 center
2	Surround ML MP10s
2	Rear ML B100s
2	ML AFX Height Speakers pair
1	Marantz Cinema 30
2	Hsu VTF-TN1 Subs

I am down to this so far after chatting with folks on AVSForum. Will ask folks here about this setup too.

My day job, game designer for 37 years.

Hello!

 

[Robert D]

Hey there, upgrading my home theater after 30 years! My old Phase Technology / Definitive speakers sound decent, but after getting Wharfedale EVO 4.1s + KEF sub for my office, I was struck by the sound clarity and presence, which led me down an audiophile/home theater path to here.

My plan (which I will try to talk to Martin Logan about next week, and purchase through a local dealer):

2	Martin Logan F100s
1	ML C100 center
2	Surround ML MP10s
2	Rear ML B100s
2	ML AFX Height Speakers pair
1	Marantz Cinema 30
2	Hsu VTF-TN1 Subs

I am down to this so far after chatting with folks on AVSForum. Will ask folks here about this setup too.

My day job, game designer for 37 years.

Hello!

Looks like a good setup to me. My only question is the atmos speakers. I guess you can't get speakers in the ceiling? I had someone come out and install 4 Martin Logans. It sounds great. I've read that some folks weren't too happy with the sound you get from atmos speakers not in the ceiling. Martin Logan has some nice in walls too. My 2 pairs of in walls aren't Martin Logan but sound good.

 

[Robert D]

Hey there, upgrading my home theater after 30 years! My old Phase Technology / Definitive speakers sound decent, but after getting Wharfedale EVO 4.1s + KEF sub for my office, I was struck by the sound clarity and presence, which led me down an audiophile/home theater path to here.

My plan (which I will try to talk to Martin Logan about next week, and purchase through a local dealer):

2	Martin Logan F100s
1	ML C100 center
2	Surround ML MP10s
2	Rear ML B100s
2	ML AFX Height Speakers pair
1	Marantz Cinema 30
2	Hsu VTF-TN1 Subs

I am down to this so far after chatting with folks on AVSForum. Will ask folks here about this setup too.

My day job, game designer for 37 years.

Hello!

Do you work for a major gaming company? I'm big into pc gaming. Great job you have! Right now I'm playing Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising. It's much like Zelda.

 

[thattomhall]

Looks like a good setup to me. My only question is the atmos speakers. I guess you can't get speakers in the ceiling? I had someone come out and install 4 Martin Logans. It sounds great. I've read that some folks weren't too happy with the sound you get from atmos speakers not in the ceiling. Martin Logan has some nice in walls too. My 2 pairs of in walls aren't Martin Logan but sound good.

Yeah, I am renting and moving to ANOTHER rental, but realized my rental has SLOPED ceilings, so these won't even work. May get Definitive DM95s or SVS Prime Elevations instead.

Wife isn't keen on wires up the wall, which I get, but after set up maybe... MLs would work where I am now until August.

Also Hsus are out of stock, so if I can't get those in time, will get SVS ported subs or something.

Considering Anthem 1140 (since sister company) but Marantz seems pretty great...?

 

[thattomhall]

Do you work for a major gaming company? I'm big into pc gaming. Great job you have! Right now I'm playing Ubisoft's Immortals Fenyx Rising. It's much like Zelda.

Company and project is unannounced for now, heh.

 

[Robert D]

Yeah, I am renting and moving to ANOTHER rental, but realized my rental has SLOPED ceilings, so these won't even work. May get Definitive DM95s or SVS Prime Elevations instead.

Wife isn't keen on wires up the wall, which I get, but after set up maybe... MLs would work where I am now until August.

Also Hsus are out of stock, so if I can't get those in time, will get SVS ported subs or something.

Considering Anthem 1140 (since sister company) but Marantz seems pretty great...?

Ive owned 2 Marantz receivers and my first one died after not a lot of use. It was in the basement as my 2ndary setup because I bought a new one with Atmos. The front left and right channels would fade in and out on it. Thankfully my newer Atmos receiver is ok for now. I kinda dont trust Marantz too much now. The original Atmos receiver I bought was bad right out of the box! I had to take it back to the store and they sent me a new one in the mail. i was nervous about that model so I bought the most expensive one they had. So far its been ok. I dont think I will buy another Marantz. When I bought the new one, the old one was still working and so I had a good impression of them. Now I am leary after one going bad when it was fairly young and one bad right out of the box.
I have bought two Yamaha receivers and have good experiences with them. One for my gaming PC setup and another for my daughter's home theater. They have their own DSP system and it seems to work pretty good. Marantz uses Audyssey. Its ok too. Im not sure which is better, both seem to do a good job.

 

[thattomhall]

Okay, thanks for the heads up! That was the shop's recommendation but will check out reviews....

 

[Robert D]

Okay, thanks for the heads up! That was the shop's recommendation but will check out reviews....

Look into Marantz reliability.

 

[thattomhall]

Did, seems like classic Marantz were great, then they had a rough period, but seem to have bounced back -- not seeing a plague of reliability issues with Cinema 30/40 so far...?

Also, the Cinema 30 seeeems to be getting glowing reviews...

 

[Robert D]

Did, seems like classic Marantz were great, then they had a rough period, but seem to have bounced back -- not seeing a plague of reliability issues with Cinema 30/40 so far...?

Also, the Cinema 30 seeeems to be getting glowing reviews...

A lot of companies had trouble with their tech products during Covid because parts had to be sourced from not the usual source. Some parts were apparently not so great. Martin Logan even had some brief issues then.
The Marantz receivers I bought were before Covid though, so the problems I had were before the parts problems of Covid. My newest receiver is still going strong, hopefully it holds up. I bought it before 2019, can't remember exactly when.

 

[Robert D]

Did, seems like classic Marantz were great, then they had a rough period, but seem to have bounced back -- not seeing a plague of reliability issues with Cinema 30/40 so far...?

Also, the Cinema 30 seeeems to be getting glowing reviews...

Maybe if other members have had problems they will comment here.

 

[thattomhall]

The problem period I was talking about was they got bought and traded in on their good name with lesser product... now they seem back in the groove, but will definitely like to hear all experiences from folks to see if that impression is wrong... thanks much!

 

[Russr]

Might have a look at the Anthem MRX series. Same parent company as ML. They DO sometimes have issues... decent warranty. BUT they are a smallr company than Marantz/Denon, Sony, etc., so they can't throw their weight around when it comes to things like eARC, CEC, and other "standards" out there.