Marantz SR8015 11CH 8K DTS:X Pro AV Receiver Review

About two years ago we reviewed the SR8012 11CH flagship AV receiver for Marantz and found it to offer benchmark performance in almost every measurable category along with class-leading features. It was one of the few AVR's on the market that supported all three immersive surround formats and came packed with a meaty 11CH amplification section on board as well as supporting HDMI 2.0 with a host of streaming options, including their proprietary HEOS music management system. For $3k, that was quite a value proposition that had many enthusiasts questioning the need to go the separates route.

We had a few criticisms noted in that review that the engineers at Marantz took seriously enough to address in that model’s successor: the SR8015. Most notable was the preamp output rise in distortion when the unused power amps clipped above a 1.4Vrms input voltage signal. Note, this is a problem that isn't unique to Marantz, since most AVR's we've measured produce similar results.

 

Marantz SR8012 Preamp Output FFT at 2Vrms

Note the 3rd harmonic is only -80dB below the fundamental when the preamp out is driven to 2Vrms. While this is likely inaudible for normal program material, it's still not SOTA performance we'd expect from a flagship Marantz product. With the new SR8015 in hand, we wanted to see if Marantz addressed this issue while also checking out what other improvements they've made along the way.

Marantz SR8015 11CH AV Receiver Unboxing Overview

Key New Features for the Marantz SR8015:

• 13CH of processing vs. 11CH of SR8012.
• Preamp Disconnect for purest output when connecting to external amplification.
• Improvements to HDAM SA2 proprietary circuit, which Marantz says improves noise floor and soundstage.

• Dual Speaker Presets - allows full independent configurability of bass management and EQ settings and speaker assignments.

• Front wide channel support.
• Auro 3D supports up to 13.1 channel including Center Height and Top Surround i/o 10.1 channel on the SR8012. “Channel Expansion” will allow users to play audio from all connected speakers, which is new for the SR8015.
• Web interface for full remote PC configuration.

Some of these new features like DTS:X Pro and Roon compatibility will be revisited in a future article but for now, let's get this puppy on the bench and then hooked into my family room system to see how she performs.

Setup

I swapped out my SR8012 but noticed some of the input assignments changed on the back panel for the SR8015, which forced me to remap the input table to compensate. I was surprised to find the IP driver from Control4 for the SR8012 didn't work for the SR8015 so I had to import the new driver to get the SR8015 integrated into my home automation system. Once everything was mapped out, I was good to go and simply plugged in my speaker configuration, distances and levels from the SR8012.

One thing I failed to mention in my SR8012 review was the fact that you can literally configure most of the entire receiver without using the GUI. The front panel display provides enough guidance when using the remote to take you through the setup menus. The SR8015 operates in similar manner, which is quite handy if you just want to do a quick audio setup before even having your display connected up or if the receiver is in a different room and you don't have GUI access. This is an uncommon but welcome trait in most of today's AVRs.

 

Marantz SR8015 Web Interface

If you want to configure your SR8015 like a pro, you can access their web interface, a feature that wasn't available on the SR8012. This gives you full access to ALL configuration options for your SR8015 from a laptop or PC on the same network. All you have to do is type: http://ipaddress and you're in. This is quite a handy tool for anyone who wishes to do remote configuration if the receiver is located in a different room than the speakers and display.

Of course the same backlit remote from the SR8012 carries over to the SR8015. It's pretty Spartan but it’s functional.

Speaker/Amp Assignments

Like the SR8012 before it, the SR8015 has some of the most flexible speaker and amplifier assignments of any current AV receiver on the market. The SR8015 takes it to the next level by adding speaker level front wide support. Preamp mode physically disconnects the entire 11CH amp section from the preamp for the purest possible performance, which should be used ONLY if you plan on converting the SR8015 to a dedicated preamp to use with external amplification.  The SR8015 will still do the preamp disconnect on two channels of your choice depending on how you arrange the speaker assignments. The 13.1CH amp configuration lets you select between 2 preouts: mains or wides, or mains or top middles depending on how you  do the speaker assignments. You can even do a bi-amp mode to biamp all 5 main channels if you so desire. If you want to run a full 13CH speaker system on this receiver, you will need an external 2CH amplifier as previously mentioned. However, you can still connect 13 speakers and switch between front wides or top middles, for example, depending on what surround format you are using. Alternate speaker configurations and calibrations can be stored in the two presets, which is a new feature on all 2020 Marantz models.

 

Marantz SR8015 Speaker/Amp Assign

RIP Dolby Center Spread

As mentioned in Dolby Eliminates Key Feature for Enhancing 2CH Audio, Center Spread is NO longer a feature in new AV receivers that also incorporate Dolby Height Virtualization. This is a pet peeve of mine since I really feel having this feature is the only way to make the DSU palatable when upmixing 2CH music sources. The workaround is to either turn off your center channel when listening to 2CH music with the DSU, or configure a speaker preset with center channel turned off or at a reduced volume to compensate. Alternatively you can forgo the DSU all together and use Auromatic 2D, though I found that mode also blasts the center channel a bit too loud for 2CH sources for my liking.

Note: Marantz doesn't allow Auro 3D engagement for tops. They have to be configured as front/back height channels.

Video Input Assignments

The SR8015 carries over the flexible input assignability from the SR8012 but with a refresh based on the updated connections and an input mode for easier toggling between connection types. I renamed a few of my inputs to correspond to what I was actually connecting. Unlike many competitor products, you can actually assign analog and digital ports to ANY input instead of having prescribed HDMI ports assigned for specific inputs. This came in handy when I was integrating and configuring my Control4 home automation system.

 

Marantz SR8015  Input Assign

Upconversion Considerations

I did run into one unexpected operational hiccup when trying to play my old Nintendo Wii.  I got a component video conversion error that I assumed was a result of me mucking up my connections. However, after twice checking that my corrections were correct the error still persisted, So, I emailed the folks at Marantz to get their thoughts. I was informed that the SR8015 and ALL 2020 Denon/Marantz products are limited to 480i and 576i resolution for HDMI upconversion.

See: Marantz Note

Bummer, but the solution would be either to reduce the resolution of the Wii to 480i via component outputs or just use composite. Not a big deal, but something worth noting for any vintage gamers out there like me. I'm likely a minority of end users still rocking a Wii in a modern home theater system featuring a SOTA AVR like this.

The Latest in HDMI 2.1

Marantz armed the SR8015 with the latest HDMI 2.1 technology making your system ready for next generation 8K 48Gbps content.  I've seen criticism online for the SR8015 only having one 8K HDMI input, but the best answer to that is to attached your 8K sources to your 8K display and rely on eARC to transmit multi-channel audio back to the receiver. With HDMI 2.1, you can send lossless audio back to your display meaning you will retain full resolution for Dolby Atmos if the source device transmits it over Dolby TrueHD. 

For more information, see: HDMI 2.1 Definitive Guide

The SR8015 has various picture mode settings to optimize picture quality depending on the source (i.e. streaming, ISF Day/Night, Vivid, Custom).  Custom allows you to adjust contrast, brightness, saturation, noise reduction and enhancer. There is even a game mode for low latency to ensure you will take full advantage of your cat-like reflexes so you won't be at a disadvantage when going up against a 12-yr-old boy online playing Fortnite.

Pro installers will appreciate the HDMI diagnostic mode that ALL of the latest Marantz and Denon receivers offer. This is a great tool that will let you test every HDMI cable you connect to the SR8015 to ensure it will pass an 8K signal. We discuss how to access this mode on our Patreon channel.

Connectivity - The Sky is the Limit

 

Marantz SR8015 Back Panel

The Marantz SR8015 still supports a host of legacy connections including composite and component video. There are 8 HDMI inputs (one is 8K) and 3 outputs (one can be reassigned to another zone while the other can be used for dual display purposes).

The SR8015 has 13 speaker connections but only 11CH of amplification as previously mentioned. You can switch between speaker assignments depending on the surround format. But, if you want all 13 speakers working simultaneously, you'll need a 2CH external amplifier. I'm not a big fan of horizontal speaker connections since adjacent + - terminals can be easily shorted with bare wire connections. I recommend using banana plugs on all of your speaker wires and pay extra attention to the polarity when making your connections. The detachable power cord is always a welcome convenience but beware of some dealers trying to sell you after-market snake oil power cables. You don't need them.

Speaker & Auto-EQ Setup

I did my initial setup of bass management, speaker levels and delays manually and stored them into the speaker preset #1. I also saved the setup configuration of the SR8015 on an external USB drive, which I highly recommend doing once you have your receiver fully configured to your liking. This is a very cool and often forgotten feature by most end users.

I used my phone to run the Audyssey Editor App feature, which allows you to custom tailor the response and/or limit the frequency bandwidth of correction. The Audyssey Editor App is a bit of a hot mess. It's painfully slow to upload the results into the AVR. But as Benjamin Franklin used to say, "No pain, no gain". Editing the curve is next to impossible via your phone. I wasn't able to use this App on my iPad since my daughter took possession of it so I tried my best to do it on my Samsung S20+ 5G, which has a fairly large screen.

I don't have much faith in auto-setup systems to get the bass management right and sure enough, Audyssey didn't fail to disappoint. It set my small bookshelf speakers cutoff frequency to 40Hz and my top in-ceiling speakers to large. I went in and set all speakers to small and 80Hz crossover except the in-ceiling speakers, which I set to 100Hz. The delays were spot on and the channel trims were close, though I like to boost the center channel 1-2dB to taste. I also noticed since Audyssey sets the subwoofer way too low, so again, I tweaked that to taste after I measured the response to make sure they were properly integrated to my main speakers. I limited the correction to 500Hz for ALL speakers. Note: You have to go to each channel group to do this. Why didn't they have a "change all" setting so this could be applied to all speakers is beyond me. Full bandwidth correction can be problematic since it tends to muck up a good speaker response and really doesn't fix a bad one either. For further explanation, please watch our two YouTube videos on this very topic.

My advice regarding full bandwidth room correction is to trust your ears. If you like the calibration results, especially when comparing it for 2CH music, then enjoy. If not, you have the ability to limit the bandwidth of correction via the Audyssey editor app like I did.

 

If this message doesn't appear on your display, you're NOT using the Audyssey Editor App

Note: You MUST load the app and let it find your SR8015 on your network so you'll be able to edit the calibration results. If you instead plug the mic in first to do the calibration, it will bypass the Audyssey editor App all together.

Audyssey initial bass calibration was less than optimal in the 50-80Hz region, as you can see in the comparison graph with it on (purple) vs. off (green).

Note: I only show the primary seat for simplicity but it's important to get the best bass integration for your entire listening area by first optimizing subwoofer placement and delays.

 

Audyssey (purple) vs. no EQ (green) - Initial Setup Front Speakers with Subs

After tweaking the distance settings for the subs, I managed to get better integration while still using the Audyssey EQ filters. The yellow trace is Audyssey without Dynamic EQ.  I found Dynamic EQ 10dB setting to be most palatable while wanting more impact for movies or music without excessively boosting the subs to annoying loud levels.

 

Audyssey Optimized -  Aud - yellow; Dynamic EQ 0dB - green; Dynamic EQ 10dB - purple

Note:  If you plan on engaging Dynamic EQ, you may actually wish to use the default subwoofer levels Audyssey determines during setup, otherwise you may get overloaded with bass when engaging this option.

Marantz SR8015 Inside View - Note the dual heatsinks and 4 cooling fans

Power Section Carried Over

The SR8015 shares a similar power section to the SR8012 including the 835VA transformer, 2x 22,000uF 81V power supply capacitors and dual rows of heatsinks and 4 low noise cooling fans with 11 channels of amplification in monolithic construction. The same 140 watts/ch power rating (2CH driven) is given across 11 channels with Marantz's 70% power guarantee for up to 5 channels driven but our bench tests actually revealed a nice surprise.

Marantz SR8015 Measurements & Conclusion

All measurements were conducted using our Audio Precision APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer.  The Marantz SR8015 was defaulted to high-impedance mode (8-ohms or more).

For more information about how we measure power amplifiers, please see: Basic Amplifier Measurement Techniques

Marantz SR8015 11CH AV Receiver Bench Test Results

Marantz SR8015 Preamplifier Measurements

The SR8015 is capable of outputting > 4Vrms unclipped from the multi-ch preamp outputs which is more than 2X voltage drive needed to make most external amplifiers reach full unclipped power.

Editorial Note about Preamp Mode:
Based on my feedback for the SR8012, Marantz now offers preamp mode for ALL new 2020 AVR's that have multi-ch preouts. This allows the preamp to physically disconnect from the power amp stage and thus avoids having the unloaded amplifiers clip when input levels exceed 1.4Vrms. If you're planning on using the SR8015 with external amplification for ALL channels, you'll want to engage preamp mode for best performance.

 

Marantz SR8015 Preamp Out FFT Distortion Analysis @ 2Vrms

Marantz has made great strides in improving preamp output performance on the SR8015. Even with this unit NOT engaged in preamp mode, I measured -20dB lower 3rd harmonics at 2Vrms compared to the SR8012! This is a really good measurement that most dedicated preamp/processors can't beat. Let's see what happens with preamp mode engaged.

 

Marantz SR8015 Preamp Out FFT Distortion Analysis @ 2Vrms Preamp Mode

Preamp mode lowers the harmonics very little, meaning you don't really need to engage this mode to still achieve excellent drive for external amplification. I'm quite happy with the fact that Marantz's HDAM redesign provides the necessary isolation at all times to keep the preamp outputs clean. The SR8015 will serve as an excellent preamp/processor with the bonus of also having some stout amplifiers on board in case you wish to use them to power your surround channels or other zones of audio.

 

Marantz SR8015 Preamp Out THD vs. Frequency Response @ 2Vrms Preamp Mode

When driven to 2Vrms, the SR8015 exhibited excellent distortion results via the preamp output. THD+N was below .003% for the entire audio band and I saw similar results even when driving the preouts to 3Vrms. This is a clean preamp with plenty of output drive.

 

Marantz SR8015 Frequency Response - Pure Direct Preamp Mode

The -3dB point of SR8012 preout outputs is 63kHz, which is plenty wide for high resolution but not too wide to allow excessive noise ingress.  CH-CH deviation was excellent at +- 0.06dB from 20Hz to 20kHz for all channels.

 

Marantz SR8015 Signal to Noise Ratio (2Vrms) - Pure Direct Preamp Mode

The SR8015 preamp output exhibited excellent low noise floor (101dB @ 2Vrms about 2dB better than I measured with the SR8012). Using A-wt, I measured in the same fashion as Marantz and got about 2dB less SNR than their report (112dB vs. 110dB @ 82.5dB vol). The measurement was the same regardless if it was engaged in preamp mode or normal, or pure direct.

Bass Management

Denon and Marantz have always offered excellent bass management on all of their AV receivers, and the SR8015 is no exception.  Like the SR8012, the SR8015 offers dual independent subwoofer outputs with separate level and trim controls, which is really handy for properly tuning multi-sub installations. There is also a separate setting for LFE crossover. We usually recommend leaving the LFE x-o at 120Hz to not truncate the LFE soundtrack of Blu-ray or DVD mixes, which can have content above 80Hz that would otherwise be lost if you set the LFE crossover lower.  You can have independent crossover settings per channel groupings as well.

Marantz SR8015 Bass Management

I measured the HPF and LPF responses of the bass management circuits and observed exactly 24dB/oct slope of the LPF and 12dB/oct slope of the HPF at the selected 80Hz crossover frequency.  Don't forget to set up your bass management for 2CH listening if you have your mains set large and you also wish to enable your subwoofers.

 

Marantz SR8015 Preamp Output Squarewave Response (2Vrms)

I've been asked by several audioholics to start including square wave response curves in our measurements. Ideally there'd be no overshoot or ringing like we are seeing in the curve above. BUT Marantz confirmed this was a deliberate design attribute due to the short delay, slow roll-off DAC filter curve employed on ALL Marantz products to help better preserve high frequency phase response.

For more info, read: Why Amplifiers Can Sound Different

Power Measurements
Using our Audio Precision APx585 8-channel HDMI analyzer, we conducted a full barrage of multi-channel amplifier tests on Marantz SR8015 per our Amplifier Measurement Protocol. We tested power using three methods all of which were taken at < 0.1% THD + N:

• Continuous Full Power Bandwidth (CFP-BW) - from 20Hz to 20kHz into 8 and 4-ohm loads (up to two-channels)

• 1kHz Power Sweep vs. Distortion (1kHz PSweep) - popularized by the print magazines, this is an instantaneous power vs. distortion test at 1kHz. The problem with this test is it often masks slew-related and/or frequency response problems some amplifiers exhibit at the frequency extremes, and thus inflates the measured power results. It does provide an instant gratification number for consumers to argue over on the forums, so we are now incorporating this test to please the masses.

• Dynamic PWR (1kHz CEA-2006 Burst Method testing) - This is a dynamic power measurement adopted from the car industry similar to IHF method only a bit more difficult for an amplifier and more representative of real musical content.

Keep in mind most review publications don't do continuous power measurements and they usually publish power measurements into clipping at 1% THD + N. Our measurements are very conservative as we use a dedicated 20A line with no Variac to regulate line voltage.  We constantly monitor the line to ensure it never drops more than 2Vrms from nominal, which in our case was 120Vrms. 

For more info on amplifier measurements, see:  The All Channels Driven (ACD) Test

Marantz SR8015 CFP-BW (2CH) Power Test - 8 ohms

With two-channels driven, the 140 watt/ch rated SR8015 delivered >150 watts/ch for full bandwidth 20Hz to 20kHz at < 1% THD for 8 ohm loads and 220 watts/ch for 4 ohm loads. These are similar power figures I got when I tested the SR8012.

Marantz SR8015 1kHz ACD (7CH) Power Test - 8 ohms

The SR8015 was able to muster and impressive 101 watts/ch at 1% THD and 92 watts/ch at 0.1% THD with 7CH driven. Marantz guarantees 70% of rated 2CH driven (98 watts/ch) for up to 5 channels but this receiver clearly met that goal for 7CH driven. Impressive! This should be plenty of power for all but the largest and most demanding home theaters. The higher distortion before clipping I saw on some channels was a bit puzzling but I believe it has something to do with the Auto Eco switching which I left on during these power tests.

 

Marantz SR8015 Power Test Eco On vs. Eco Auto  - 1CH, 4 ohms

As I've stated numerous times in prior reviews of receivers that offer an "Eco" mode, NEVER use "Eco On" if you're planning on using the internal amplifiers. "Eco On" neutered the power of the SR8012 to a mere 30 watts/ch and that was with just 1CH driven!  "Eco Auto" vs. disable produced similar power output results so I would safely recommend using "Eco Auto" if you want to be a little more energy efficient and cut down operational heat without losing output power.

Editorial Note: Impedance Selector Switch - No matter how tempted you may be to do so, DO NOT change the default "8 ohm min" impedance setting of ANY AV receiver.  All this does is starve your speakers of power, simply so Marantz could get 4-ohm certification (at a reduced power level) without making the receiver get too hot during their power tests. We have tested this 'feature' on virtually every receiver that offered it in the past and the results were always the same: the low impedance setting robs your speakers of power. 

For more information, see:  Setting the AV Receiver Impedance Switch

 

Marantz SR8015 Dynamic (2CH) Power Test - 4 ohms

The SR8015 performed well for CEA 2006 short dynamic burst tests by delivering about 330 watts/ch with 2CH driven at 4 ohms and over 177 watts/ch with 7CH driven at 8 ohms.

# of CH	Test Type	Power	Load	THD + N
2	CFP-BW	155 watts	8-ohms	1%
2	CFP-BW	220 watts	4-ohms	1%
1	1kHz Psweep	200 watts	8-ohms	1%
1	1kHz Psweep	189 watts	8-ohms	0.1%
2	1kHz Psweep	167 watts	8-ohms	1%
2	1kHz Psweep	151 watts	8-ohms	0.1%
1	1kHz Psweep	281 watts	4-ohms	1%
1	1kHz Psweep	244 watts	4-ohms	0.1%
2	1kHz Psweep	251 watts	4-ohms	1%
2	1kHz Psweep	229 watts	4-ohms	0.1%
5	1kHz Psweep	122 watts	8-ohms	1%
5	1kHz Psweep	114 watts	8-ohms	0.1%
7	1kHz Psweep	101 watts	8-ohms	1%
7	1kHz Psweep	93 watts	8-ohms	0.1%
1	Dynamic PWR	220 watts	8-ohms	1%
1	Dynamic PWR	354 watts	4-ohms	1%
2	Dynamic PWR	210 watts	8-ohms	1%
2	Dynamic PWR	330 watts	4-ohms	1%
7	Dynamic PWR	177 watts	8-ohms	1%

Marantz SR8015 Power Measurement Table

Despite the power section of the SR8015 being very similar to the SR8012, I decided to retest the entire unit to see what it could do when plugged into my dedicated 20A line. I was pleasantly surprised with the power output that the SR8015 was able to muster. These figures should give any skeptics cause to rethink their preconceptions that receivers can't have stout amplifiers.

 

Marantz SR8015 FFT Distortion Analysis (1 watt, 8 ohms)

The FFT at 1 watt for the SR8015 looks similar to what I saw from this model’s predecessor, which was very good.  The 2nd order harmonic residual dominates and is about 95dB below the 1kHz fundamental.

 

Marantz SR8015 CH-CH Crosstalk (1CH, Undriven) @ 1 watt

The channel-channel crosstalk was excellent for a multi-ch receiver, especially one packing 11 channels of amplification. With ACD except for the one under test, the SR8015 provided > -60dB of CH-CH isolation.

Listening Tests

I will keep this section brief as I wrote very favorable about my listening experience of the SR8012 in that review. Much of what I heard in that receiver I heard here as well - excellent clarity, dynamics, low noise, and great immersive effects in my 5.2.4 RBH Sound/JL Audio speaker setup.

One demo that I particularly enjoyed was Yello the Eye streamed from Tidal. This was a reference album of one of our former reviewers, Tom Andry, for years but I never took the time for a listen until recently. This album is quite a treasure in electronic style music with gobs of deep sustained bass and excellent fidelity. Planet Dada is an eargasm to bass heads like me. My JL Audio E112s loved the workout this track provided and I was particularly impressed with how the DSU upmixed the computer generated effects that sounded like an old Commodore 64 game called Raid over Bungeling Bay.  Of course I had to knock the center channel down 6dB since the center spread feature is now gone for maximum enjoyment.

I streamed the first 4 episodes of the Umbrella Academy on Netflix with my wife and daughter and I really enjoyed the immersive bubble I was hearing from the DSU upmixing the native 5.1 soundtrack. I noticed during quiet passages, the speakers were dead silent, as they should be. The SR8015 proved to have a vanishingly low noise floor both on the test bench and in practice.

The Downside

There is little to criticize about the Marantz SR8015. It's a benchmark product offering the latest HD audio and video decoding and more features than I'm able to write about in this review without turning it into a dissertation. However, let me pick a couple of nits so this review is not all roses.

Why the hell are they still rolling with manual GEQ? This is just a dumb feature that needs to die. Manual GEQ is pretty useless for any sort of optimization due to fixed bands and fixed Q. PEQ would be far more useful for fine tuning performance, especially at bass frequencies. I've been railing Denon and Marantz to update this, especially since their closest competitor, Yamaha, has had manual PEQ for over a decade now!

While we are on the subject of EQ and calibration, in my opinion, Denon and Marantz are missing the opportunity to calibrate Auto-EQ from IP control and PC when receiver is in a different location than the speakers. Some of their competitors like Anthem and NAD already do this via ARC Genesis and Dirac, respectively. When I move into my new home, I will find it very difficult to use Audyssey since my SR8015 will be in a centralized rack upstairs while it powers my family room 5.2.4 speaker system on the first floor.  The Audyssey Editor App needs to be replaced by web control to bring this room correction system into the 21st century and make it a useful tool for integrators and serious calibrators like myself.

Conclusion

Marantz took an already excellent AVR and made it better. In fact, as far as 11CH receivers go, I'd say the SR8015 is king of the hill at the moment. It has a solid amplification section that would make most separates enthusiasts think twice.  The preamp section is among the best I've ever measured from an AV receiver and the SR8015 comes armed with one of the best and most up to date HDMI 2.1 platforms in the business. The fact that the SR8015 has virtually every current surround format and post processing covered and plans for future updates (DTS:X Pro) should give skeptics worries about obsolescence some security so they can rest well at night that this product will be in their reference system for many years to come.

The Marantz SR8015 is a wonderful sounding, high performance one box separates-like solution that will satiate the audiophile and home theater enthusiast alike. It will also ensure gamers have a platform that will keep up with the latest tech and not be a bottleneck in the years to come thanks to its low latency gaming mode and inclusion of eARC for high resolution audio streaming from the display to the receiver when more 8K sources become readily available. The SR8015 is high on our list for product of the year award and is certainly the best AV receiver we've tested for 2020.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Frequency Response Linearity
SNR
Measured Power (8-ohms)
Measured Power (4-ohms)
Multi-channel Audio Performance
Two-channel Audio Performance
Network Features
Video Processing
Bass Management
Build Quality
Fit and Finish
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup
Remote Control
Performance
Value