Blog

A Flagship Duo Built for Audio & Cinematic Perfection

Are you loving Marantz’ flagship AV 10 audio/video processor and AMP10 separates, built in their Shirakawa, Japan plant. . . but you haven’t pulled the trigger and purchased them, because they aren’t in your budget? Marantz has just introduced AV 20 and AMP 20. At Gramophone we see them as great additions to Marantz’ home theater line-up, and maybe they are right for you. 

AV 20 and AMP 20 offer a price/performance bridge in between the AV 10 and Amp10 separates, and their Cinema 30 flagship AV receiver. Cinema 30 sounds and looks great, at about 1/3rd the price of AV 10 and AMP 10 combo. 

What’s so cool about this? You have lots of mix n match options. Example: use Cinema 30 or Cinema 40 as your preamp processor, go preamp out to AMP 20 for more power. Or use AV 10, their best sounding preamp, to match with AMP 20 if you have 12 or less channels. Or AV 20 with twin AMP 20, bridged. 

The new AV 20 preamp processor supports up to 13.4 channel systems; AV 10 supports 15.4 channels. AMP 20 has 12 channels @ 200 watts per channel into 8-ohm loads, 400 watts into 4 ohms; AMP 10 has 16 channels, same power. All four sub-outs can be calibrated independently, which is perfect for asymmetrical subwoofer placement in your listening room.

AMP 20 has BTL (bridged) mode; flip a switch, and bridge 2 channels into one. Imagine a 9.4 system with 6 channels bridged to 3, running your L/C/R speakers. You’ll have 400 watts into 8 ohms for L/C/R, and your 6 surround, height, rear channels each have 200 watts per channel - plenty of power for most surrounds.  

AV 20 and AMP 20 are Marantz products, so think durability, reliability, good customer service if there is an issue, and a long history of great-sounding audio. Marantz is a big company that can take advantage of economies of scale when they build. 

Marantz is also vertically integrated, so they make parts that can be used in multiple products, keeping costs lower. AV 20 and AMP 20 from a small brand might easily cost 15 or 30 per cent more. 

Here are some AMP 20 details: first, you may find the bi-amp feature useful. That lets you independently drive the bass and treble sections of your speakers, if they are bi-amp capable, for clearer bass notes and smoother midrange.  

Cinema 30 has one large toroidal transformer for all channels. AMP 20 on the other hand has a separate toroid for each pair of channels, six in total, plus one additional large, separate power supply for the rest of the amplifier’s electronics. You hear cleaner sound, especially when big musical crescendos happen.

AMP 20’s six amplifiers each feature Marantz Hi-Level HDAM, their proprietary, discrete circuit board technology, part of why it sounds so good. These are discrete circuits; faster, with lower noise and less distortion than off-the-shelf, chip-based op-amps. 

AMP 20 uses Ice Edge digital modules, a more efficient amp than class A/B amps - a good thing!  A home theater Atmos system can provide truly immersive sound, like your local cinema. But with so many amplifier channels (9, 11 or more) an A/B power amp would be far bigger, absorbing rack space, and run hotter. Heat is the enemy of long life for your electronics.  

We should also comment on AV 20 and AMP 20’s visual aesthetic. Today’s Marantz units are some of the best-looking AV electronics around, with dimmable, soft-glow side lights on the front panel; a fold-down front panel door to conceal the set-up buttons, for a clean look; and a textured look to the front panel. You can even defeat the front panel VU meter if it’s not your thing.

Let’s look at the even more important half of this duo; AV 20 preamp / processor with Dolby Atmos. It is a 13.4 channel, fully balanced A/V preamplifier, loaded with inputs and outputs.  There are 7 each HDMI inputs, plus 3 HDMI outputs. All support 8K / 60Hz.  HDMI eArc seamlessly interacts with your display device, so your TV shows and streaming movies sound terrific - and it is easy to control the TV sound with your existing TV remote. 

The AV 20’s processor section can upscale native 1080p / 4k signals to 8K quality.  Even ballgames and other events that are not filmed in 8K will look really good. Marantz also has room in this chassis for legacy composite video and component connections, a feature that AV 10 doesn’t offer, as the two fewer channels in AV 20 create extra room for the legacy connections. 

AV 20 has a beefy toroidal power transformer, low-level HDAM-S3 design, to keep everything inside the chassis quiet.  The multiple video processing options include Dolby Atmos, DTS:X Pro, Imax Enhanced, Auro 3D, and a host of others.  AV 20 also features HDCP 2.3, the latest copy protection standards. The products are made in Shirakawa Audio Works, Japan

AV 20 offers you a sophisticated approach to bass management.  It starts with the 4 subwoofer outs, which can be calibrated independently, a fine way to smooth out your room’s bass response. With one subwoofer, you may have solid bass at your seated listening position, but the person sitting next to you is in a null relative to that subwoofer, and hearing very little bass.  Calibrating multiple subwoofers independently helps cure that. 

Your room may be the most overlooked component in your system, arguably one of the most important. A poorly set up room, especially if it is a single subwoofer system, may have swings of as much as 20 - 30 dB in the amount of bass energy from one seated listening position to the next.  Some folks obsess about 1 10th of 1% distortion in their amplifier… but overlook the room. 

No room correction is perfect, but AV/20 has on-board the full suite of Audyssey MultEQ XT 32, with a microphone supplied for you. Optional are all the Dirac technologies such as Dirac Live and Dirac Bass Control. You can also run DIRAC ART or active room treatment, their most sophisticated room treatment. The bottom line is that in some rooms, these technologies can make a massive upgrade in how clear your music and movies sound.

What happened when we listened to these great components? We had prototype samples for a short time, so we simply connected in 2 channel mode with a terrific pair of Sonus faber Maxima Amator floor-standing speakers.

Here’s what we heard: 

1. Chris Stapleton’s Say Something: solid bass notes sounded great, both full and tight. The bass did not interfere at all with vocals, hand-claps, snapping fingers and other midrange. 

2. The Eagle’s Hotel California (acoustic live): about as good as we’ve ever heard it. The acoustic guitars were chimey and clear; stereo imaging was high, wide and deep. Vocals sat very naturally in the mix.

3. Georgy Porgy from Toto: Jeff Porcaro’s drums sounded so good. Our salesperson Mark commented that the snare drum sounded like a real snare drum, with snap and force, but not overly bright. David Hungate’s bass sat perfectly in the mix with the drums; both came through clearly.

4. Dire Straits’ You and Your Friend: the soundstage or stereo image was great; electric lead guitar on the right, acoustic guitar on the left, Mark Knopfler’s voice right in the middle.

Marantz AV/20 and AMP 20 are state of the art solutions, if you seek quality close to the AV 10 / AMP 10 level, but don’t need so many channels. These offer mix ‘n’ match options to fill your specific needs. To learn more about Marantz and all our fine brands, visit Gramophone.com, and shop SKY by Gramophone for fast, free shipping, straight to your door. Thanks for supporting Gramophone! We hope to see you soon.