Hi,

I've had a Marantz SR8000 for over ten years. It was my first real receiver (5 channel, happy with it) and I've since had an NAD C370 (2 channel, a little disappointing) and very recently the Outlaw RR2150 (2 channel, very happy with it).

My Marantz cuts in and out which is kind of annoying, so I'm putting a new receiver onto my wish list for next year. My question is, does anyone have experience with the three products listed in the title and can make a recommendation? If I am used to the RR2150 and SR8000; would I probably find the SR5005 to be markedly inferior? Do I need to save up for something else to replace the SR8000?

Thanks for any input.

Tai

p.s. I am currently driving Paradigm mini monitors with the RR2150 and Paradigm monitor 7's with a CC350 center channel (no rears) on the Marantz... speakers are on the wishlist too, I could get better ones for the Outlaw and restore the Paradigm set as the mini's used to be rears, and ultimately if my Marantz replacement warranted it I would move the Paradigms to a different room and get something better for the surround system too...I'm pretty satisfied with both systems but if I replace the Marantz I'd rather go up than down - and I feel the mini's may be selling the Outlaw short. Any thoughts appreciated!

For what it's worth, a friend of mine recently replaced a Rotel RSP-1068 and RMB-1075 combo with an SR5005, triggered by an intermittent fault in the 1068, and both he and his wife found the SR5005 to sound better than the 1068. I was also pleased with how it sounded when I went over to help get it dialed in. It's a very different animal from the RR2150, as things like DAC and DSP both contribute heavily to how it sounds while the RR2150 is an analog-only beast. Still, the fact that the SR5005 (with benefit of more modern DAC's, DSP, and Audyssey) had an overall good enough performance (including amplification) to not only match up with but even beat a set of 2004-vintage home theater separates impressed me - especially since the price was a lot lower for the SR5005. It suggests to me that the SR5005 could pull a similar trick when matched up against a 10+ year old Marantz receiver like your 8000.

I also recently did some speaker auditioning with one of my wife's co-workers, and ended up getting a listen to some current Paradigm Monitors. I owned some Paradigm Studios for many years and really enjoyed them, but I was still pleased at how good the Mini-Monitors sounded when powered by a fairly unremarkable older Sony surround receiver (list price of around $500 in a dealer showroom). I do think that the RR2150 could, if paired with a good analog source, do more than the Mini Monitors can do justice to, but the Monitor 7's and CC350 are still a pretty nice front sound stage for a surround system. And for what it's worth, my RR2150 has been very happy paired with a pair of Outlaw Bookshelves and an OPPO Digital BDP-83SE. Lots of fun...

Thanks for the input, Gonk. Maybe I will plan on the SR5005 and ultimately giving it all the Paradigms while picking up something else for the RR2150 - either some Outlaw bookshelves or maybe some massive towers

Tai