Marantz DV7600 Universal Player

butch -- Fri, 10/14/2005 - 15:33

This is my first attempt at using a forum to gain information so gimme some slack, OK?

I purchased a Marantz DV7600 universal DVD/SACD/CD player recently and was wondering, "Am I the only person who thinks this thing is not very user friendly?"

I've been thoroughly pleased with the video upconversion and SACD sound, but feel that DVD-A could use improvement. My main beef is that you must get into the setup menus in order to switch from one format to another. Are all universal players like this?

ESV1955 -- Wed, 11/02/2005 - 18:49

I recently subscribed to The absolute sound and found this site exploring the on-line AVGuide thay sent me. It seems to be new and a bit of a secret so far.

Anyway, I have a NAD DVD T-533 player that plays DVD-Audio. I also have to set the format through the televison for DVD-Audio athough not for stardard CD's. The sound is great but I too wish I could do the menu through the DVD player or the remote. However the menu for enhanced stereo seems to be item 2 on all the discs. It may be possible to just hit 2 then play without the TV engaged.

Until the forum becomes more known you may wish to visit the Sound and Vision magazine forums www.Sound&visionmag.com. They have some members with a great deal of knowedge of the new formats. Also, they are quite tolerant of us neophytes and seem to enjoy answering questions. If you're more a vinyl and DBT type, try sterophile.com.

For what it's worth I really like the way this forum is laid out. I hope it becomes popular.

Retgards, ED 8)

Bryston 2BLP Parasound Halo p-3
Infinity Kappa 400 M&K MX-70
NAD T-533 Yamaha MCX-1000
Thorens TD-185 Monarchy 33

tmartin2 -- Wed, 11/02/2005 - 20:05

To my knowledge, the designers of the DVD-A format assumed that everyone would have a television hooked up to the player and that an on-screen menu would be easiest. This is clearly incorrect for many people, but that's the way it is designed. The discs are a bit of a nightmare, too, in that some discs do not specify what encoding is present on what track. My advice: stick with SACD for high res music if you don't want to connect a TV to your audio system.

Chris Martens -- Wed, 01/25/2006 - 16:45

Like Thomas, I think that the typical menu structure of DVD-Audio discs is the culprit--not the player per se.

My take on DVD-Audio: At its best, sound quality is fabulous, and if you have a display connected to your system the format can be very user friendly. But a without a display hooked up... you're in for a rough ride.

Still, the sound quality of DVD-Audio is so compelling that I love the format, warts and all...

Chris Martens
Editor, Avguide.com/Playback/The Perfect Vision