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Rated Power, 8-Ohm Loads: Main channels, 110 watts/channel at 0.05% THD, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, two channels driven; center channel, 110 watts, 40 Hz to 20 kHz; surround channels, 90 watts/channel, 40 Hz to 20 kHz.
Dimensions: 17 1/4 in. W x 6 1/4 in. H x 18 in. D (43.9 cm x 15.8 cm x 45.8 cm).
Weight: 31.7 lbs. (14.4 kg).
Price: $1,499.99.
Company Address: 440 Medinah Rd., Roselle, Ill. 60172; 800/654-6633.
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I find it interesting to ob serve how products evolve. A little over a year ago (March 1995), when I reviewed the Marantz SR-92 Mk II A/V receiver, I had reservations about it. For one thing, you had to manually adjust input level and balance for each program source when using Dolby Pro Logic decoding. The SR-92 had relatively few video in puts. And it allocated somewhat more power to the front left/right speakers than to the center (and considerably more power to the front than to the back). However, the SR-92 was far from alone in these respects at the time, so my review was quite positive.
Marantz's new SR-96 A/V receiver ad dresses the concerns I raised about the SR-92 Mk II-and goes a good deal further. Al though power in the front left/right channels remains 110 watts per side into 8-ohm loads, the center channel has been boosted from 75 watts to 110 watts and the surround channels from 35 watts per side to 90 watts each. The number of video in puts has been increased from four to five ("TV/DBS," "LD," and two VCRs on the back plus an "AUX" input on the front), and input level and balance are now automatically corrected by a DSP-based Dolby Pro Logic decoder. The SR-96 also has a second digital signal processor for Home THX post-processing, THX-certified power amplifiers, and a six-channel audio input for an outboard Dolby Digital (AC-3) or other discrete-channel surround decoder. I'd certainly say that the SR-96 can justify the 30% price premium it commands over the SR-92 Mk II.
I'm also happy to say that nothing of great importance has been left out of the SR-96. True, it has neither a phono input nor selectable IF bandwidth in its FM tuner section, as the SR-92 Mk II had. On the other hand, few LP lovers cotton to A/V receivers, which makes the lack of a phono preamp of negligible concern, and the SR-96's tuner proved as remarkable on the bench and in use as did the SR-92 Mk II's.
The new receiver's facilities for multiroom operation are, if anything, a bit more extensive than the earlier model's, in that you can use more than one Marantz IR-92 sensor kit or use third-party remote-control inter faces (such as the Xantech 794-50).
All video inputs and outputs, including those for recording on two VCRs, are carried on S-video and composite-video links. With the exception of the pair used for remote-control daisy-chaining to other Marantz components, all RCA phono jacks are gold-plated. And there are plenty of these jacks, since the input for each of the five internal power amps is externally linked to its corresponding preamp out put; this lets you reconfigure preamp and amp connections at will and add multi channel home theater equalizers or other signal processors.
One pair of color-coded multiway binding posts, spaced to accept double-banana plugs, is provided for each power amp's output. Although not the heavy-duty types used on many high-end power amps, they're about as good as you can expect to find on an A/V receiver and far more secure than the spring-loaded connectors on many receivers.
The rear panel also carries two convenience outlets, one switched and one unswitched, each rated at 120 watts. Spring clips are used to connect the supplied AM loop antenna. The FM antenna input is a 75-ohm "F" connector. A balun (balanced/unbalanced) transformer is included for use with a 300-ohm antenna.
In addition to the internal AM/FM stereo tuner (which has 30 station presets, each of which can be "labeled" with a station name on the receiver's display), the SR-96 accepts three external audio sources: a CD player and two tape decks. (In a valiant effort to breathe life into a dead format, one of these is labeled "DCC," but any recorder or other source can be used here.) Two "Copy" buttons determine which program is recorded on the two audio decks and, separately, on VCR 1. The "Tape Copy" but ton cycles between "Source," "Tuner," "CD," and "DCC." The "VCR 1 Copy" but ton selects among "Source," "TV," "LD," "VCR 2," and "AUX." This arrangement enables you to dub from VCR 2 to VCR 1 while you're watching a different source or to copy the program you're watching onto both VCRs simultaneously. (VCR 2 automatically receives whatever signal you're watching.)
The supplied RC-96SR remote control operates virtually all of the SR-96's functions, with the notable exceptions of the two "Copy" buttons and the bass, treble, and balance controls. The 67-button remote is preprogrammed with the RC-5 command set used by Marantz D-BUS components and can "learn" the control codes of other manufacturers' products.
When the remote is set to transmit the commands it has learned, it transmits RC-5 commands for any button that has not been re programmed. As usual for A/V receivers, it's easiest to control the SR-96 from the remote. It's the only way to work a few features (including "Mute," which is total) and to perform setup.
As with most A/V receivers, command menus are nested. The SR-96's panel display gives you an idea of where you are within these menus, but the on-screen displays (which are generated only as composite-video signals) are much more detailed and easier to follow.
From the remote or the front panel, you can independently select audio and video sources for listening, viewing, and recording. A "Multi Room" button lets you choose programs to route to other rooms and adjust volume levels there.
Surround options include "THX Cinema," "Pro Logic," "Movie," "3CH Logic," "Hall," and "Matrix" processing as well as "Stereo" or "Mono" operation.
Surround-channel delay is adjustable: In Pro Logic and THX modes, it ranges from 15 to 30 milliseconds in 5-millisecond steps; in "Movie," "Hall," and "Matrix" the range is 10 to 90 milliseconds. "Test Tone" (only on the remote) routes test signals to your speakers so that you can adjust their levels to achieve proper balance.
The "Set Up" menus are nested two deep.
The first level sets the center-channel mode ("Large" speaker, "Small" speaker, or "None") and informs the system whether or not a subwoofer is being used. Together, these choices determine which range of frequencies (if any) is stripped from the center and main channels and routed to the sub-woofer (or from center to main if a subwoofer is not used). On the second level, you determine whether the "Multi RM" output level is to be variable or fixed and then set that level. With the second-level menu, you can also lock in all setup choices.
Another menu option activates and adjusts a sleep timer. It can turn the receiver off in 10 to 60 minutes (adjustable in 10-minute increments) or after 90 minutes.
The on-screen display can be activated at any time by tapping the remote's "OSD" pad. Whenever a button is pressed while the on screen function is active, information associated with that control is displayed on your TV screen for a few seconds.
Measurements
Fig. 1-Quieting characteristics and separation, FM tuner section.
Fig. 2-Frequency response and crosstalk, FM tuner.
Fig. 3-THD + N vs. frequency, FM tuner.
Fig. 4-Frequency response at 1 watt out, amp section.
Fig. 5-Tone-control range and response of subwoofer crossover, amp section.
Fig. 6-Noise spectrum, amp section.
Fig. 7-THD + N vs. output power into 8 ohms (A) and 4 ohms (B).
All that distinguishes an A/V receiver from an A/V amplifier is the presence of a tuner section. And al though the tuners in receivers seem mostly to be getting worse from year to year, the Marantz SR-96's FM section was definitely up to snuff-spectacular, in fact, com pared to those in average receivers.
Its quieting curves (Fig. 1) are steep, its frequency response (Fig. 2) reasonably flat, its channel balance virtually perfect, and its channel separation (also Fig. 2) unusually good.
As you can see in Fig. 1, the SR-96's FM tuner attains 50-dB quieting with an input of about 18 dBf on a mono broadcast and about 40 dBf on a stereo broadcast. Unfortunately, you must choose whether to receive in stereo or mono. If you set the tuner for stereo, it mutes stereo broadcasts below 34 dBf instead of switching to mono; with stereo switched off, the SR-96 receives every station in mono. However, you can switch between mono and stereo from the remote.
With a 65-dBf FM signal, the tuner section's signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) approaches 75 dB in mono and 70 dB in stereo; at higher input levels, stereo S/N improves a bit further. Selectivity (especially adjacent-channel selectivity) was far better than average, yet capture ratio was unusually low--i.e., also good. (You don't usually get good selectivity without sacrificing capture ratio, and vice versa.) Moreover, AM rejection was above average. These test results suggest that the SR-96's tuner will perform far better than average in the presence of multipath, that it has sufficient selectivity to be used in urban areas, and that it has sufficient sensitivity (and low capture ratio) to perform well in rural areas. The tuner section's image rejection did not set any record, but image-reception problems rarely occur except near airports. You can see from Fig. 3 that the tuner's total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD + N) is fairly low in FM, especially at high frequencies in mono. The tuner also did a far better job than average of suppressing stereo pilot and subcarrier signals.
Although the SR-96 doesn't have a tone-control defeat switch, its amp section's frequency response in stereo, with the tone controls at their detents, is reasonably smooth through the audio band. The results in "Measured Data" were taken on the right front channel, which was the poorer of the main channels by a slight margin.
The curves are presented in Fig. 4; as you can see, channel balance is very good. Figure 5 shows the tone-control range and the subwoofer-crossover characteristics. The bass control affords a wider spread than the treble (more than I'd care to use, in any event); both controls are quite well balanced between maximum boost and maximum cut. The SR-96 receiver's subwoofer crossover points and slopes are pretty close to those called for in Home THX specifications.
Figure 6, a third-octave analysis of the SR-96's noise spectrum, reveals power-line-related components at 60, 120, and 180 Hz; above 200 Hz the noise is relatively "white." The A-weighted noise was within the nor mal range for an A/V receiver. Sensitivity was a bit below average, but the input-over load point was quite high and the input impedance more than adequate. Channel separation was quite good at low frequencies and decreased at about 5 dB per octave as frequency increased. Worst-case, it was still better than 45 dB from 100 Hz to 10 kHz.
Levels and impedance at the recording out put were fine.
Although Marantz's preliminary specification sheet suggested a power rating of 165 watts/channel into 4 ohms, the owner's manual for the SR-96 didn't list a 4-ohm spec. After plotting THD + N versus output at 20 Hz, 1 kHz, and 20 kHz with 8-ohm loads (Fig. 7A) and 4-ohm loads (Fig. 7B), I "assigned" the SR-96 a 4-ohm rating of 150 watts/channel, which was 1 dB below clip ping with a 1-kHz test tone.
As you can see from Fig. 7, this receiver's THD + N decreases with increasing output level in classic fashion out to about 10 or 20 watts, above which it slowly rises to the clipping point. The curve shapes suggest that noise dominates distortion below 10 to 20 watts; distortion increases gradually above 20 watts. This gradual rise in distortion is reminiscent of tube amp behavior.
In Fig. 8, I plotted the amp section's worst-case THD + N versus frequency at 10 watts and at "rated" power (110 watts/channel with 8-ohm loads and my as signed rating of 150 watts/channel with 4-ohm loads). The results aren't remarkable, but they're decent enough. (Marantz doesn't list FTC power ratings in the manual, so it's difficult to relate my test results to the manufacturer's.) With 8-ohm loads, the SR-96 had 1 dB of dynamic headroom. As I mentioned, Marantz didn't provide a spec for 4-ohm loads, so I couldn't compute dynamic headroom for that impedance. How ever, the SR-96's amplifiers delivered 220 watts per channel on tone bursts with 4-ohm loads. The damping factor was high; furthermore, output impedance remained low across the audio band-unusual for a receiver, although it's one of Lucasfilm's requirements for Home THX certification.
Figure 9 shows the receiver's THD + N versus output at 1 kHz in Dolby Pro Logic mode with 8-ohm loads. (Although I measured each main and surround channel, I've included only the poorer of each pair.) The main and surround channels cleared their ratings by approximately 0.5 dB; the center channel cleared its spec by 1.2 dB, reflecting the reduced drain on the power supply when only the center is driven. The shapes of the main- and center-channel curves are quite similar to the curve shapes taken in stereo mode (Fig. 7); interestingly, the shape of the surround-channel curve is more like that of typical transistor amplifiers, with THD + N decreasing continuously right up to clipping.
This can also be seen in Fig. 10, which plots THD + N versus frequency at rated power in Pro Logic Mode. Note that in the midband, THD + N in the surround channel is less than that in the front channels, a most unusual result.
On the whole, my distortion measurements on the SR-96's digital Dolby Pro Logic decoder suggest excellent performance. How ever, these results are not directly comparable to my past tests of dig ital decoders because I've changed my procedure. I now use a narrower bandwidth in my distortion analyzer, to suppress the ultrasonic cross-modulation products often produced by digital decoders, which don't occur with analog processing. They should be inaudible, however, so I hope the change will reflect performance more realistically and put all processors on a more equal footing from here on.
Frequency response of the receiver's various channels is shown with the processor set for "Pro Logic" (Fig. 11A) and for "THX Cinema" (Fig. 11B). The latter reveals the effect of Home THX's front-channel re-equalization and surround-channel timbre-matching.
Overall, the curves are quite good.
Front-channel response in Pro Logic mode is flat within +0.1,-1.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, the center channel rolls off below 100 Hz in "Normal" mode (as it should), and the surrounds roll off rapidly above 7.8 kHz (as they should). I did not include curves for center-channel response in "Wide" mode, because they were virtually the same as those for the main channels.
In Pro Logic mode, the amp section's A-weighted noise was very good,-78 dBW or below in all channels. Steady-state channel separation was excellent, ranging from a low of 53 dB (surround to right front) to a high of 77 dB (center to surround).
Fig. 8-THD + N vs. frequency into 8 ohms and 4 ohms, amp section.
Fig. 9-THD + N vs. amplifier output into 8 ohms, Dolby Pro Logic mode.
Fig. 10-THD + N vs. frequency at rated output, Dolby Pro Logic mode.
Fig. 11-Frequency response in Dolby Pro Logic mode (A) and Home THX mode (B).
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MEASURED DATA
FM TUNER SECTION:
Sensitivity: IHF usable sensitivity, 15.2 dBf in mono; 50-dB quieting sensitivity, 17.8 dBf in mono and 39.8 dBf in stereo.
S/N Ratio, 65-dBf Signal Input: Mono, 74.6 dB; stereo, 69.3 dB.
Frequency Response, Stereo: 20 Hz to 15 kHz, +0.22,-0.75 dB.
Channel Balance: ±0.03 dB.
Channel Separation, 100 Hz to 10 kHz:
Greater than 30.3 dB.
THD + N at 65 dBf, 100%
Modulation:
Mono, 0.27% at 100 Hz, 0.20% at 1 kHz, and 0.10% at 6 kHz; stereo, 0.20% at 100 Hz, 0.15% at 1 kHz, and 0.73% at 6 kHz.
Capture Ratio at 45 dBf: 0.6 dB.
Selectivity: Adjacent-channel, 8.0 dB; alternate-channel, 63.5 dB.
Image Rejection: 52.7 dB.
AM Rejection: 62.4 dB.
Stereo Pilot Rejection: 63 dB.
Stereo Subcarrier Rejection: 80 dB.
AMP SECTION, MAIN CHANNELS, STEREO MODE:
Output Power at Clipping (1% THD at kHz): 8-ohm loads, 125 watts/channel (21.0 dBW); 4-ohm loads, 190 watts/channel (22.8 dBW).
Dynamic Output Power: 8-ohm loads, 138 watts/channel (21.4 dBW); 4-ohm loads, 220 watts/channel (23.4 dBW).
Dynamic Headroom re 8-Ohm Rating: 1 dB.
THD + N, 20 Hz to 20 kHz: 8-ohm loads, less than 0.092% at rated output and less than 0.021% at 10 watts/ channel out; 4-ohm loads, less than 0.177% at 150 watts/channel out and less than 0.035% at 10 watts/ channel out.
Damping Factor re 8-Ohm Loads: 205 at 50 Hz.
Output Impedance: 39 milliohms at 1 kHz, 45 milliohms at 5 kHz, 54 milliohms at 10 kHz, and 57 milliohms at 20 kHz.
Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz, +0.08,-0.48 dB;-3 dB below 10 Hz and at 34.6 kHz.
Tone-Control Range: Bass, +11.4,-11.6 dB at 100 Hz; treble, +10.2, -10.5 dB at 10 kHz.
Subwoofer Crossover: High-pass, -3 dB at 79 Hz and -6 dB at 55 Hz, 12 dB/octave; low-pass,-3 dB at 73 Hz and-6 dB at 89 Hz, 24 dB/octave.
Sensitivity: 26 mV for 0 dBW out and 275 mV for full rated output.
A-Weighted Noise:-81.6 dBW.
Input Impedance: 46 kilohms.
Input Overload (1% THD at 1 kHz): 8.3 V.
Channel Separation, 100 Hz to 10 kHz:
Greater than 45 dB.
Channel Balance: ±0.03 dB.
Recording Output Level: 480 mV for 500-mV signal at CD input; 765 mV for 1-kHz, 100%-modulated FM signal at tuner.
Recording Output Impedance: 1.5 kilohms.
AMP SECTION, DOLBY PRO LOGIC MODE:
Output Power at Clipping, 8-Ohm Loads: Main, 125 watts/channel (21.0 dBW); center, 145 watts (21.6 dBW); surround, 100 watts/channel (20.0 dBW).
THD + N at Rated Output, 8-Ohm Loads: Main, less than 0.135%, 20 Hz to 20 kHz; center, less than 0.120%, 20 Hz to 20 kHz; surround, less than 0.05%, 100 Hz to 10 kHz.
Frequency Response: Main, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, +0.1, -1.5 dB and -3 dB below 10 Hz and at 20.87 kHz; center ("Wide" mode), 20 Hz to 20 kHz, +0.1, -1.6 dB and -3 dB below 10 Hz and at 20.81 kHz; center ("Normal" mode), 100 Hz to 20.81 kHz, +0.1, -3.0 dB; surround, below 10 Hz to 7.82 kHz, +0.0, -3.0 dB.
A-Weighted Noise: Main, -78.0 dBW; center ("Wide" mode), -78.5 dBW; surround, -78.4 dBW.
Channel Separation at 1 kHz: 53 dB or greater.
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Use and Listening Tests
I did most of my listening in my home theater, although I did use the Marantz SR-96 briefly in my reference system as a standard audio receiver. As I stated earlier, its tuner section's performance was well above average, almost on a par, in fact, with some separates. I did miss having a tone-defeat switch; I seldom use tone controls, and I think the Marantz's sound might have been a tad cleaner and smoother had I been able to bypass them.
Nonetheless, it's probably unfair of me to compare an A/V receiver with an ensemble of carefully chosen separate components, each of which costs as much as or more than the SR-96 does.
In my home theater, the Marantz SR-96 strutted its stuff quite well.
The Dolby Pro Logic processor was exemplary, and, with a little more than 500 total watts available from the Marantz's five channels, I had no problem running my system at Home THX standard operating levels. In the "THX Cinema" mode, the re-equalization and timbre-matching were apparent and welcome, but the surround channels did not seem as well decorrelated as I would have expected. They seemed more "Pro Logic-like" than "THX-like" and called attention to themselves more than is usual with Home THX post-processing.
What constitutes good ergonomics is a personal opinion. I found the Marantz SR-96 simple to use. I never got lost in its menu structure, and I could always figure out what to do without referring to the manual.
Although the remote is not illuminated and most of its keys are the same size and laid out similarly, all controls are clearly labeled.
For me, legible labels are very important; I've never been able to successfully operate a remote by touch unless it had very few keys.
By the time you read this, Marantz should be shipping its DP-870 Dolby Digital decoder ($699.99). This decoder will en able the SR-96 to accept the RF outputs from Dolby Digital AC-3 laserdisc players as well as digital bitstream AC-3 from satellite decoder boxes or DVD players. Because the DP-870 was not available in time for this review, I can't comment on its performance or operation; you'll have to check it out for yourself. I encourage you to do so, although the Marantz SR-96 deserves serious consideration in its own right. Fleshed out with the DP-870, it might be your ticket to home cinema nirvana.
- EDWARD J. FOSTER
(Audio magazine, Aug. 1996)
Also see:
Marantz Model 4400 Stereo/4-Channel Receiver (Equip. Profile, Sept. 1974)
Marantz Model 2500 Stereo FM/AM Receiver (Equip. Profile, Feb. 1978)
Marantz Model Nineteen FM Stereophonic Receiver (Equip. Profile, Mar. 1971)
Marantz Model 250 Stereo Power Amplifier (Jun. 1972)
Marantz Model 22 AM/FM Receiver (Apr. 1970)
Marantz Model 1150D Stereo Control Amplifier (Mar. 1976)
Marantz PM-94 Integrated Amplifier (Dec. 1988)
Marantz SM-5 Amp and SC-5 Preamp (Jan. 1996)
Marantz Model 50308 Stereo Cassette Deck (Dec. 1978)
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