New AV amp setup hell !!

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Decided i wanted a slimmer amp , so spotting there was only pioneer and marantz and after a bit of research and the fact the 2012 model is being replaced i picked up a bargain . Configuring the thing is not exactly plug and play (not that any av amp i have had is totally straight foward but the new breed when coupled with an ARC compatible tv and then running hdmi control on top of that its a sure way to screw your head .
It looks like i am going to hook up the network capability (was going to leave that till last ) as its fully configurable from a web browser and that actually looks infinitely easier.

Nice tablet and phone app to control it too which means easy playlists for parties etc , for network music playback .....

once its all running i will stick my good old sony (which still punches well above its weight) in the parts for sale , someone else can also snatch a bargain .

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/news/article/marantz-nr1603-review/14974

 

[Al_G]

I've got the 1602 which I bought a year ago.

Great AMP.

 

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has it got browser capability for setup ,and now i have my head round the setup i am loving it as its made things so much tidier unde the tv as we have a media pc there and sky box

 

[Al_G]

has it got browser capability for setup ,and now i have my head round the setup i am loving it as its made things so much tidier unde the tv as we have a media pc there and sky box

When you say browser I guess you mean setup GUI? Yes it has, bit clunky but works ok.

I think the main difference between the 1603 and 1602 is that you've got one extra HDMI until, other than that they are very similar.

Did you use Audyssey to setup your surround sound?

I'm a big fan of AirPlay connectivity.

 

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Yes i did use Audyssey , but will have to do it all over again as i am now going 7.1 with twin subs ,

When i said browser i actually mean't remote web browser , the gui comes up on the tv , but what you might not realise (and often we only scrape the surface of setup and what these amps can do ) is if you network connect it you can log in from any pc on your network to configure it and the more advanced config settings are easy to then find (they are a pain from the gui)

going to use this so mine is set up to fully control the blueray and tv via HDMI CEC , and when i decide to run xmbc on the media pc i can control that too ...... hdmi cec is brilliant , press one power button and they all power up and shut down together . and you can use one remote without all the faff of a universal . , auto switching of sources too



also nice phone/tablet remote app now
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dmholdings.marantzremoteapp&hl=en