Entered CNET Catalog: 09/04/2001
SKU: SR-4200
Manufacturer: Marantz America Inc.
Manufacturer description
The Marantz SR4200 is powered to excite with an outstanding combination of home theater receiver performance, features and flexibility - along with legendary Marantz sound quality. It is the ultimate choice for a wide variety of high-performance 5.1-channel home theater systems, offering compatibility with Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS decoding. Experience the true excitement of a movie soundtrack through 96kHz/24-bit audio D/A conversion and cherish the ultimate functionality of having a wide variety of analog and digital video and audio inputs, outputs and switching facilities, including S-video switching. You're in control if the SR4200 drives your entertainment system. Hear perfection.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 09/05/2001
The $430 SR4200 is a joy to use. We found the 5.1-speaker-setup rigmarole easier to navigate than most, even though the SR4200 lacks an onscreen display. The programmable remote's button count is high (56), but the regularly used buttons fall easily under your fingers.
The ins and outs
The SR4200's suite of connectors is perfectly respectable for the price. While the receiver lacks component video and DVD-Audio/Super Audio CD (SACD) 5.1 analog inputs, it does sport a rather complete digital audio complement: four inputs (two optical, two coaxial), and two outputs (one optical and one coaxial). Video connections are modest by today's standards: one pair each of S-Video ins and outs and four composite video inputs and two outs. The seven analog audio connections are plentiful enough for all but the most complex systems. Finally, if the SR4200's modest 70 watts of power per channel ever starts to cramp your style, you can hook up a mondo multichannel amp to the receiver's 5.1-channel preamp outputs.
Cruising with the SR4200
The SR4200 has Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and something brand-new--Dolby Pro Logic II. This surround format comes in two forms: one for movies and one for music. We found the Pro Logic II-generated surround effects on older stereo DVD soundtracks, such as Cube and The Madness of King George, to be a vast improvement over those of the original Pro Logic. We heard a greater sense of spaciousness, and the dialogue was cleaner and more articulate. Pro Logic II's gains on Nirvana's Unplugged CD weren't as decisive; the processed sound seemed, well, processed. We actually preferred the original stereo sound, but the Pro Logic II sound was bigger and filled our listening room more completely.
Quirks? Yes, this receiver, like so many others, muted the first fraction of a second of sound whenever we skipped DVD chapters and muted the sound on and off when we played a CD right after finishing a DVD.
The SR4200 is Marantz's least expensive home-theater model, but the sound is more than decent. In our tests, the CDs sounded full bodied, and well-recorded DVDs, such as Men in Black and Fight Club, were excellent. Their wide dynamic ranges were fully intact, and their spatial presentation sounded like that of higher-priced receivers. We pushed our inefficient speakers (Dynaudio Contours) pretty hard, but the SR4200's 70 watts per channel didn't run out of gas.
The SR4200's connectivity shortage may reduce its appeal to die-hard home-theater fans. Nevertheless, we were mightily impressed with its sound quality and friendly demeanor. We heartily recommend this receiver.
User opinions
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User Rating: 
10/10
Sweet sound with a punch. Fantastic build quality.
Pros: Packs a punch and very sweet warm sound the high-quality standards from Marantz have won again. I've used amps costing twice this price that haven't sounded as good.
Cons: Nothing so far
User Rating: 10/10
Loved this amp, it's the best one I've used to date.
Pros: Really good value, built like a tank, the sound comes alive with classica, dynamic for rock music.
Cons: None so far!
Films come alive, very transparent. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a reliable and exciting receiver.
User Rating: 
7/10
A lot of Amp for the money
Pros: I'm a bit puzzled by those who have given this unit the thumbs down because it represents excellent value for money. I'm perhaps fortunate that I don't actually use the unit for Video inputs as the absence of component inputs might be a drawback but there
Cons: For some, the absence of component video inputs and for me the continuous volume control which has to be wound a lot for small gains.
User Rating: 10/10
The Best of the Bunch!!!
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User Rating: 
9/10
Good Gear!
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User Rating: 7/10
great for the money u pay
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User Rating: 7/10
a bargain at £270!!!
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User Rating: 9/10
Beats Sony - Hands Down!
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User Rating: 
5/10
miss the mark in feature !
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User Rating: 10/10
Positively outstandingly excellent
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User Rating: 10/10
Every movie comes to life!
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User Rating: 
8/10
Amazing sound in Home Theater
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User Rating: 10/10
The BEST!!!
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User Rating: 10/10
Absolutely unbeatable
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User Rating: 9/10
Amazinf sound from cheap receiver
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User Rating: 9/10
cool as!!!
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User Rating: 
3/10
Get what you pay for.
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User Rating: 9/10
At Last a Musical Cinema system
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User Rating: 9/10
High quality bang for the buck
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User Rating: 
2/10
Don't buy this Receiver
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