Marantz Cinema 40 Review – Powerful And Refined

Marantz Cinema 40
Marantz Cinema 40 Review

Product Name: Marantz Cinema 40

Overall
93
  • DESIGN - 95
  • FEATURES - 95
  • CONNECTIVITY - 94
  • SOUND QUALITY - 95
  • VALUE - 87

Summary

An almost perfect receiver with a powerful refined sound, great features, and unlimited connectivity options but at a premium price.

Pros

  • Visually pleasing, slim-line design and superior build quality
  • Flexible and adaptive surround format
  • 4 subwoofer output
  • Superb smart home integration and control features
  • Dirac Live Room Correction update
  • Immersive Auro-3D compatibility
  • 8K pass-through support and upscaling

Cons

  • The soundstage could have been better
  • No front-wide channel support

Marantz Cinema 40 Review

Marantz Cinema 40 Review

Marantz AV receivers are highly renowned for their inimitable style and performance. AV enthusiasts look up to the newly-launched model, Marantz Cinema 40 with a lot of expectations. Does Marantz offer the most advanced features with this product? Can you expect a visual refresh and a striking reworking of what is under the hood? Is it a redefined version of SR7015? Can this model be described as a top-end all-in-one receiver? This Marantz Cinema 40 review explores to find the pros and cons of this home theater receiver.

Marantz Cinema 40 – Build and Design

Marantz retains all design elements that worked well for the previous models like SR5015, 6015, and 7015. You can see the typical, august porthole display on the front panel of this model. It also comes with symmetrical, large knobs for volume and input. Impressive curves and lines make the elegant slim line design incredibly visually pleasing.

The flip-down door covers buttons to provide an uncluttered look. Beautiful white lights on the sides highlight the contours perfectly. The classy design of this model evokes a vintage look. The remote looks clean and beautiful. Marantz uses premium materials to maintain the build quality at higher levels.

The manufacturer offers a full 5-year part and labor warranty for users. The aluminum front panel comes with a cool new look. This product is built to last for many years. Overall, you can find a perfect blend of the modern expression of timeless design concepts and superior build quality.

Marantz Cinema 40

Marantz Cinema 40 – Features

Smooth Home Integration and Control

If you are looking for a receiver with excellent smart home integration and control features, Cinema 40 is an ideal option. You can use Google Voice Assistant, Apple HomePod, and Alexa to operate this device. There are also Marantz AVR Remote App and HEOS app to ensure smooth and fast integration.

Video Capabilities

Does this model enhance your viewing experience? Cinema 40 supports the most refined formats like HDR10+ and Dolby Vision to deliver an immersive viewing environment. It also comes with analog to HDMI video conversion and scaling features. You can expect 8K signal pass-through at 60Hz and 4K pass-through at 120Hz. The 8K upscaling capability of this product takes the video quality to the next level. Other prominent video features of this model include Dynamic HDR, BT.2020, and HLG.

Excellent Multi-room Features

If you want to buy an AV receiver that perfectly works as the center of your home media system, you can choose Cinema 40. Equipped with an extra set of terminals, each multichannel receiver lets you connect the second set of speakers effortlessly. Extra audio space in Zone 2 or 3 can be created easily when using this device. The 2016 AVR Remote and the HEOS app allow you to control the multi-room features with precision and comfort.

High-Quality Multichannel Surround Sound

This home theater receiver comes with an Auro-3D feature. The Dolby compatibility of this model includes Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization, Digital Plus, Surround, and True HD. If you look at the DTS compatibility of Cinema 40, you can find it compatible with DTS: X, Neural: X, Virtual: X, and HD Master.

Features like IMAX Enhanced and Multichannel stereo also add to the efficiency of this model tremendously. You can create highly immersive and enjoyable multichannel surround sound with the help of this feature-rich AV receiver.

High Flexibility and Scalability

This home theater receiver has onboard processing for 11 channels. Moreover, it comes with 4 independent subwoofer channels. It is a well-known fact that multiple subwoofers are always a better option than the sum of their components. The built-in Audyssey Multi EQ XT32 can be utilized to adjust each subwoofer individually. All channels come with preamp outputs. When it comes to upgrading, a power amp can be added to any channel set.

Dirac Live Room Correction

Apart from the Audyssey features, Cinema 40 offers Dirac Live Room Correction upgrade to take the sound quality to the next level. Highly sophisticated, patented algorithms of Dirac Live evaluate and control the room impact with meticulous precision. You can tune precisely according to your needs and optimize speaker performance accurately. Subwoofer blending becomes an effortless task when using this home theater receiver.

Immersive Auro-3D Compatibility

This feature lets Cinema 40 blends overhead ceiling, height, and surround layers of sound perfectly to deliver outstanding sound output. Precise information is extracted during playback by the decoder to transform your listening and viewing experience.

Improved Performance with eARC

HDMI cables are used to transfer audio and video signals to the television. The ARC support lets you send signals from the TV to the receiver with the help of the same HDMI cable. What does it suggest? You can use the same cable to ensure audio signal transfer in both directions. The advanced eARC feature makes this device compatible with the most advanced uncompressed Dolby and DTS audio formats.

IMAX Enhanced Certification

You can enjoy a highly captivating and engaging IMAX signature sound when listening to music and watching movies. This home theater receiver maintains the originality and authenticity of high-dynamic range content efficiently.

Enhanced Gaming Experience

Are you an ardent fan of games? You can use Cinema 40 to enjoy an immersive gaming experience. The ALLM feature of this model ensures smooth viewing and interactivity. Don’t worry about frame tearing. It maintains supreme speed when delivering video frames. Thanks to the VRR feature. The QFT feature also plays a vital role in making your gaming experience optimally lag-free and interactive.

Marantz Cinema 40 – Connectivity

Marantz Cinema 40 back

This home theater receiver boasts 7 HDMI 2.1 inputs. That is to say, all seven inputs support 8K. There are 3 HDMI outputs available on this device. Two outputs are compatible with 8K and one 4K for Zone 2.

Cinema 40 is equipped with 2 composite, 1 component, 5 analogs, 2 digital optical, and 2 digital coaxial inputs. It also boasts 5 Stereo RCA inputs, 3 RCA Component inputs, and 1 Stereo RCA (Phono) input. When it comes to rear outputs, you can find 4 RCA Subwoofer Pre-Out, 1 RCA Pre-Out, and 7 Stereo RCA Zone 2 3 Pre-Outs.

This receiver offers an in-built 2.4/5 GHz Wi-Fi adapter, Bluetooth adapter, Ethernet (RJ45), and DLNA connectivity features. It supports AirPlay and AirPlay 2 perfectly. Further, this product is compatible with Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, and Pandora.

Marantz Cinema 40 – Sound Quality and Performance

The power generation capability of Cinema 40 per channel is 125 watts. This device comes with 9 amplifier channels built-in and supports 11. 2 channel sound processing. The configuration possibilities include 5.4.2, 5.4.4, and 7.4.2. If you add an external 2-channel amplifier, you can configure it into a 5.4.6 or 7.4.4 system.

The impeccable musical fidelity of Cinema 40 makes it an ideal choice for movies and TV. When listening to a stereo, you can enjoy the natural sound of vocals. Sounds like guitar riffs become incredibly smooth and immersive. You can even hear finer details like quick breaths and the crunch of glass with admirable clarity.

Dialogue reproduction is smooth, natural, and real at all levels. This model displays splendid dynamics when it comes to handling action-packed and subtle scenes. The sound output stays warmer and pleasant. It controls deep bass efficiently to keep you engaged. The inner details and deep sound soundstage can be termed reasonably satisfying.

The unique features of Marantz sound include life-like dynamics, excellent details, rich tone with incredible warmth, and immersive spaciousness. This model perfectly blends all these features to transform your listening and viewing experience. It produces musical sound with outstanding fineness to deliver the best value for money.

Verdict – Marantz Cinema 40

Pros

  • Visually pleasing, slim-line design and superior build quality
  • Flexible and adaptive surround format
  • 4 subwoofer outputs
  • Superb smart home integration and control features
  • Dirac Live Room Correction update
  • Immersive Auro-3D compatibility
  • 8K pass-through support and upscaling

Cons

  • The soundstage could have been better
  • No front-wide channel support

Final Words

When it comes to analyzing the real worth of an AV receiver, you must compare it to similar modes. Let us compare Marantz Cinema 40 vs Yamaha RX-A6A. Although the Yamaha model comes with better amplifier performance and frequency response, Cinema 40 offers superior connectivity, subwoofer output, multi-channel surround, and sound quality to keep users satisfied.

Is Cinema 40 a refined version of the predecessor Marantz SR7015? SR7015 is a favorite choice for many people. However, the visual refresh of the Cinema 40 model is highly appreciable. Further, it comes with a significant yet understated reworking of features and components to ensure improved customer satisfaction. With 2 extra subwoofer outputs, better design elements, and improved flexibility, Cinema 40 makes a positive impression on users.

If you are looking for a full-scale AV receiver with 9 amplifier channels built-in, a pleasing design, excellent sound quality, and a large array of HDMI inputs and outputs, you can choose Marantz Cinema 40. It offers superb connectivity, audio, video, and surround sound features to deliver the best value for money. You can listen to music and watch movies or TV series without worrying about unwanted distractions.

Vivek Sehgal

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