Sometimes a big bulky A/V receiver just doesn't cut it. Whether you're trying to fit your home theater control center into a small space or you just don't like the look of a big black box, it's nice to have a full-featured receiver in a compact package. And with this in mind, Marantz is fattening up its SlimLine receiver product offering. The company just announced plans to ship the 7.1-channel NR1603 receiver and the 5.1-channel NR1403 receiver this spring.
Our very own Joe Lozito and Beth McCabe both use Marantz slimline receivers in their systems so that should tell you something.
As part of the SlimLine line, each new Marantz receiver has a chassis that's just four inches high. Both receivers feature a front-panel HDMI input and a complete suite of Audyssey enhancements. The latter includes MultEQ calibration, Dynamic Volume, and Dynamic EQ. The NR1603 throws in a 1080 i/p video scaler, which promises a bump in video quality from all sources.
That 7.1-channel NR1603 is the cream of the crop, with support for Apple AirPlay. That little perk allows users to stream audio wirelessly to the NR1603 from any networked Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. If you'd rather have a direct connection, the NR1603 can oblige via a front-panel USB input, which supports iPod Digital Direct.
The NR1603 has plenty of other networking features, including access to web radio, Pandora, and Sirius-XM (subscriptions and/or fees may apply). Other NR1603 features include DLNA 1.5 compliance, Marantz's new graphical GUI, six HDMI inputs and one HDMI output.
The 5.1-channel NR1403 receiver features 50 watts per channel, M-DAX2 circuitry, and the new Graphical User Interface. It also has a rear-panel M-XPort that can be combined with the optional RX-101 Bluetooth receiver for wireless streaming from Bluetooth-enabled devices. The NR1403 also has an auto power off feature, six HDMI inputs and one HDMI output.
When both models ship this spring, Marantz says to expect a $649.99 MSRP for the 7.1-channel NR1603, with the 5.1-channel NR1403 priced at $399.99.
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