Marantz SR8012 11.2CH Atmos/DTS:X/Auro 3D AV Receiver Review

Marantz SR8012 Introduction

The Marantz name has always been synonymous with hi fidelity since the brand’s inception over 60 years ago. Look around the audio discussion groups and you'll find vintage Marantz enthusiasts devouted to the brand. When Sound United purchased the brand along with Denon, Definitive Technology, and Polk, and others, we wondered what they'd do to differentiate Marantz which shares AV receiver platforms with Denon.  This concern was put to rest with the release of their flagship SR8012. Though not quite the super receiver of a decade ago, the SR8012 packs quite a wallop, weighing in at almost 40lbs with a large toroidal power supply, and dual heatsinks with a monolithic amplifier construction rated at 140 watts/ch x 11. That's right, the $3k SR8012 features 11 channels of processing and internal amplification. To sweeten the deal, Marantz recently released a firmware update for full IMAX Enhanced capability, which requires compatible display hardware and software to take advantage of ensuring an upgrade path in the future that many of its competitors do not.  So how good is Marantz's latest and best offering? Read on to find out.

Marantz SR8012 11.2CH AV Receiver Unboxing Video

Build Quality and Features

The SR8012 is built at a level commensurate with its asking price. It's closest brethren from the Denon line is the AVR-X6400H which sells for about $800 less.

Marantz SR8012 Top View (left pic) ; Power Supply Caps (right pic)

Marantz SR8012 Advantages over the Denon AVR-X6500H:

• HDAM SA2 current feedback topology between preamp and power amp
• 22,000uF, 81V capacitors x 2 vs 15,000uF, 73V capacitors (X-6500H)
• Torodial 835VA transformer vs 750VA E-Core (X-6500H)
• Separated symmetric construction vs single in-line (X6500H)
• Copper plated chassis
• More rigid top cover
• Teflon tape on oscillator circuit for better damping

In my opinion, these are all noteworthy improvements and a justifiable upgrade path if you're a serious audiophile and plan on using the internal amps of this receiver to drive your entire speaker system.

Marantz SR8012 Backpanel View

The SR8012 is equipped with an arsenal of connectivity including 8 HDMI 2.0/HDCP 2.2 HDMI inputs and 3 outputs, component video connectivity for legacy devices, 11 pairs of speaker outputs to run a fully amplifier 7.2.4 speaker configuration and a detachable power receptacle. The SR8012 also features 11.2CH preamp outputs incase you want to use external amplification for ALL channels. It even has a 7.1 multi-ch input should you ever have the need to run an older legacy SACD or DVD-A player that support HDMI.

Menu System & Set Up

Marantz SR8012 Input Assignments

The SR8012 has some of the most flexible input assignability I've seen in an AV receiver, rivaling even some dedicated AV processors. 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 Receiver Setup Assist

Marantz has put forth quiet an effort to make the setup of their receivers easy for the layman. As with the Denon models, upon initial power up you are asked a series of questions pertaining to your speaker layout, size, etc so the SR8012 can properly configure them.  You can then use the included microphone to have Audyssey equalize and set the delays and levels of all of your speakers. I ran the auto setup on my 5.2.4 speaker system in my family room and Audyssey did a pretty good job at setting delays, and levels, but I had to go in and tweak the bass management since it incorrectly identified some of my speakers as large. This is a common problem with auto setup programs when a speaker is placed up against a wall and the boundary gain tricks it into thinking it’s dealing with a more bass-capable speaker. Audyssey also set the sub levels about 4-6dB too low based on how I measured the response with an SPL meter at the listening position and via frequency sweeps using REW. However, Audyssey did a good job of flattening prominent low frequency room modes. Their enhanced calibration of multi-sub really works. It first measures the distance of each sub and then EQ's them together, which is really the best way to do it and the results speak for themselves.

Marantz SR8012 offers 0.5dB channel adjustments and 0.1ft trim increments.

Audyssey Editor App & Auto Setup

In most situations, I typically use the auto-setup system to configure delay and level for the speakers and then disable the EQ because it usually does more harm than good. This is because the prospect of full range EQ is a nebulous goal at best since the EQ system has no way of distinguishing between the loudspeaker response and effect of the room has on the speaker above bass frequencies (> 300Hz) so it tries to correct it as a system, which can muck things up.  However, I actually liked what I was hearing with the full range auto setup calibration Audyssey did in my family room system after I adjusted the bass levels. The flat curve produced the most palatable results for music and movies while the Audyssey curve tended to roll off the high frequencies a bit too much for my liking.

For those that want more control over the calibration, the Audyssey editor App allows owners of compatible Denon and Marantz receivers to customize the curves and limits of correction. This is an invaluable tool in your calibration bag of tricks.

Audyssey EQ Editor App - screenshot taking from mobile device

Note how the correction is limited to < 5000Hz (bottom pic)

This app allows users to:

• View the Audyssey MultEQ speaker detection results, to check and modify the configuration, and adjust for any unusual speaker set-ups
• View before and after results of the Audyssey calibration, making it easy to identify room problems and see just what changes the system is making
• Edit the Audyssey target curve for each channel pair to suit individual tastes
• Adjust the overall EQ frequency roll-off for each channel pair
• Switch between two high-frequency roll-off target curves
• Enable/Disable midrange compensation to make the sound brighter or smoother, perhaps making dialogue even clearer or taming those hard-edged soundtracks
• Gives the home theater enthusiast even greater control over the performance of their surround sound system
• Save calibration results for ‘piece of mind’, ready for instant re-loading should one ever need to reset their system

Audyssey Calibration Results & Notes

If you plan on editing the target curves of Audyssey using this App, make sure you run Audyssey through the App and not the AV receiver. I didn't realize this at first and went through a 25-minute calibration procedure to set up all 11 speakers in my system only to have to redo it again through the App so that I could later make manual changes. If you run through receiver, you CANNOT edit the curve via the mobile app after. Very important!

I ran into some operational hiccups running the Audyssey editor App but plan on doing a dedicated YouTube video and editorial on the procedure after the pending Denon/Marantz update that's supposed to improve its function, so stay tuned...

It took about 20 min to run Audyssey in my 5.2.4 setup using 6 mic positions, with 3 at the primary couch and 3 in front of couch. I always kept the mic positions within a 3-ft radius of the primary measurement position as recommended by Audyssey. Never just randomly place the mic around the room for calibration, else you will get very unpredictable and inaccurate results. If you have a side couch, don't calibrate it. Instead focus on the most important seats that are in close proximity to each other for best results.

Audyssey nailed speaker distances and only needed minor tweaks in levels. It set subs too low, so I boosted it about 4dB for the front sub and 6dB for the back sub.  During the step when Audyssey makes you set the subs within the green range of 75dB, I'd set it towards the higher side towards the red zone and continued with the calibration.

Note: Once you flatten bass out by eliminating problematic room modes, you can actually raise bass levels without it sounding boomy or objectionable. Most people (myself included) tend to enjoy an elevated bass response in such situations.

Note: It's typical for room correction systems to misidentify speaker size, especially if a speaker is placed close to a back wall. Unless your main speakers have the same bass capabilities (output and extension) as your dedicated powered subwoofer(s), set ALL speakers in your system to small with an 80Hz crossover point as a good starting point.

Frequency Response @ Primary Listening Seat with Audyssey Engaged

Red Trace - Audyssey, Purple Trace - phase tweaked on both subs to improve response

I had to adjust phase of both subs to 90 deg to optimize bass response in the 50-100Hz region. This is something you may want to get optimized prior to calibration, since Audyssey has no control over manual adjustments from your subwoofer(s).  Audyssey did find the best subwoofer distances, which is critically important when trying to get the best blend between the subs and satellite speakers.

Frequency Response @ 3 Primary Seats with Audyssey Engaged

Despite the fact that my dual JL Audio E112 subwoofers aren't exactly optimally placed in my family room (diagonal corner positioned), with the help of Audyssey, I was able to achieve 18Hz to 100Hz +-5dB across the 3 primary seats in my family room. This is the best bass response I've ever measured in this room!

Audyssey Dynamic EQ Settings Measured Frequency Response

Dynamic EQ actually increases bass more as you set it lower (0dB) and decreases higher (15dB). 10dB seems like a good setting overall from my listening for sources with anemic bass content.  The "containment" feature is nothing more than a 12dB/oct HPF in its default setting as you can see in the above graph where the bass rolls off below 80Hz.

Editorial Note: Manual GEQ

For those that want to fine tune the equalization of their system, Marantz offers a manual 9-band graphic EQ for each channel.  This is really archaic, and I wish Marantz would update it to a PEQ (Parametric EQ) to allow for variable frequency and Q control. Imagine how slick that would be if they did this via their smartphone App. Then you could fine-tune the bass in your system without ever having to run Auto-EQ at all.  Yamaha has this on their AVENTAGE AV receivers with adjustability down to 15Hz through their receiver editor App.  Come on Marantz!

New Calibration Features

If you hit the option button on the remote, you will note a few new features on the SR8012 that wasn't on prior Marantz or Denon models circa 2012 at least.

Sub Level Control - This setting supersedes the subwoofer levels set during the initial calibration. It's honestly a bit confusing since when I turned it on, it zeroed out both subs instead of retaining the last calibration setting. It essentially boosted the bass in my system by +5dB as a result. Make sure you note what your default calibration settings are and tweak from those reference points as needed.

Dialogue Level Adjust - this feature is just a glorified center channel level adjustment that presumibly changes the default center level by the amount you vary this level + or - starting from 0.

Bass Sync - This feature is a bit puzzling to me. Marantz claims that some Blu-ray's may have recorded LFE out of sync or delayed, so this control provides manual adjustment to compensate. I'm not really sure how to quantify or measure this but in my demo experiences, I never found the need to utilize it.

In the old days, you set your levels and then would have level trim adjustments as a hot-key on the remote to make adjustments. This was more intuitive in my opinion and kind of wish they would have left well enough alone. I'd recommend you set the sub level controls to your post calibration levels if you enable this feature and tweak from there as needed. I'm not a fan of the nomenclature Denon/Marantz chose for Dialogue level adjust which, in my opinion, is a bit misleading term since it implies "dialogue" like the feature DTS promised us but never delivered in software, not just changing overall center level

Speaker Set-Up & Bass Management

Denon and Marantz have always offered excellent bass management on all of their AV receivers, and the SR8012 is no exception.  As mentioned earlier, it offers dual independent subwoofer outputs and has a separate setting for LFE crossover, which we usually recommend leaving 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 SR8012 Bass Management

Using our Audio Precision APx585 8-channel HDMI Audio Analyzer, I measured the HPF and LPF responses of the bass management circuits and observed just shy of 24dB/oct slope of the LPF and 12dB/oct slope of the HPF at the selected 80Hz crossover frequency.  In pure direct mode, the LPF does measure 24dB/oct but the setting is based on the LFE crossover, not the main channel setting if the mains are set large. I do recommend setting up the 2CH configuration independently like Marantz allows you to if you prefer to have a lower crossover frequency (recommended) for your front left/right speakers.

Power Amplifier Assignability

Marantz offers flexible amplifier management that will accommodate virtually anything you want to do with its eleven internal amplifiers, including running a full 7.2.4 Atmos setup, or a 5.1.4 setup with the front channels bi-amped, or 7 speakers in the main zone with 2 pairs of multi-zone speakers. 

Marantz SR8012 Speaker Assignability Chart

Eco Mode - ONLY Use "Auto" Mode

In prior reviews of Denon receivers featuring Eco Mode, I said to never engage this feature. It appears the folks at Denon/Marantz are constantly improving the usability of this feature. The "Auto" mode is the ONLY mode I tested that didn't restrict power when doing full power bench tests. Digging deeper with the engineers at Marantz, they revealed at low power the amp supply is set to a lower rail voltage to reduce heat dissipation. Once the volume level is increased, the power amplifier supply voltage is set to high with no limitation. This is sort of how Class G amplifiers operate, and I did find it useful in cutting down heat dissipation in my rack without hearing any penalty at high sustained power levels. New models such as the SR7013 take it one step further and switch rail voltage automatically with no signal detected for more than a couple of minutes. The only time I'd recommend using the "On" setting for Eco mode is if you're planning on bypassing ALL of the internal amplifiers of the SR8012 in favor of separate amplification.

Caution:  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

Listening Tests

For the listening tests, I installed the Marantz SR8012 into the Audioholics family room system that features a 5.2.4 RBH Sound speaker system with dual JL Audio E-112 subwoofers and a 65" QLED Q9 UHD Samsung display. The source devices included the Oppo UDP-203 UHD Blu-ray player, Fire TV Stick and the Control4 EA-5 for high-res music streaming Tidal. I did test Denon's own HEOS music management system using the downloadable App as well. The cool thing about using the free HEOS App is you don't need to turn on your display to navigate to all of your streamable music sources. Instead, you simply power up the SR8012 through the App, then select which music source you want to stream from and you can push it to any or all three zones simultaneously. Artwork is incorporated into the App if your streaming source supports it. I got a lot of use out of streaming from Tidal, my 4TB HDD connected to my PC and of course the music stored on my phone.

HEOS App for the Marantz SR8012

Tidal: George Benson Top Tracks

It's been some time since I listened to George Benson but it was a pure delight to hear some of his greatest hits in high resolution audio upmixed to 5.2.4 with the Atmos upmixer. "Give me the Night" projected great ambience of the backing vocals with Benson's guitar anchored towards the front of the room. What a groove he had going on this song."The Ghetto" had my house rockin’. Bass was sublime pumping through the dual E-112 subs properly calibrated and EQ'ed with Audyssey.  The SR8012 had no problem pumping concert level sound into my family room system. Listening to George Benson's tasty riffs as he's simultaneously vocalizing it is just surreal. I know of no other guitarist that does this with such mastery.

Tidal: The Pineapple Thief

When I heard that one of my all-time favorite drummers, Gavin Harrison, joined The Pineapple Thief, I had to take a listen to their latest works on Tidal. "No Man's Land" starts out with a vocal track that sounds eerily like Steven Wilson, with a nice acoustic accompanying guitar. At 2:32 you realize this band has been Gavinized from the first hits of the little cymbals to the quick and tasteful fills. Once again, bass from the kick drum was tight and the music sounded enveloping through the Atmos upmixer."White Mist" really shows off Gavin's drumming chops and I recommend seeing him actually perform it on this YouTube video. He's just such an awe inspiring drummer. Switching between no Audyssey and Audyssey flat had me appreciating the extra clarity I was hearing with it engaged. The SR8012 was proving its sonic chops with music to me in the greatest tradition many audiophiles have come to love the brand for.

UHD Blu-ray: Thor Ragnarok

I Love love love this movie. In fact, I'd rank it as my favorite Marvel Superhero movie of all time. It has a great storyline and humor, and most importantly, a wonderful soundtrack. It was a truly immersive experience when Thor summoned the thunder to strike lightning bolts at Hela and while the Immigrant song began playing in the background signifying Thor was back with a vengeance. I had to really crank it up when movie scenes featured the songs "What Heroes Do" and "The Revolution Has Begun". The SR8012 really did this movie justice and having the immersive layer of audio with four discrete in-ceiling height speakers proved to be a very enveloping experience. Bass again was accurate and tight across my whole couch. This is such a beautiful movie visually and audibly and it just left me feeling all warm and fuzzy about this Marantz flagship receiver’s real world capabilities. 

Netflix: Daredevil

I have a love/hate relationship with Disney these days. I'm not happy with what they did to Star Wars and now since they've taken control of Marvel, they are largely responsible for why Daredevil was cancelled after three amazing seasons on Netflix. Daredevil is chock full of story, and character development with unparalleled choreographed fighting scenes. It's such a refreshing show in an age of superhero love dramas tied in with deliberate feminist agendas. Daredevil is void of all this nonsense and just sticks to great story telling that often reflects on current events in our time without being preachy about it. The Dolby upmixer does a fantastic job of transforming the 5.1 DD+ audio stream into a fully immersive 5.1.4 spectacle. There are times where I'd swear I was listening to a native Dolby Atmos soundtrack, like when Bullseye would throw projectiles at Daredevil for example.  Despite the show being abruptly cancelled, I would highly recommend watching the all three seasons on Netflix while keeping your fingers crossed that Disney picks it up again after they launch their own streaming App.

Marantz SR8012 Bench Tests & Conclusion

All measurements were conducted using our Audio Precision APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer.  The Marantz SR8012 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 SR8012 AV 11.2CH Receiver Bench Test Results

Preamplifier Measurements

The SR8012 is capable of outputting 4.5Vrms 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:

I was unable to do a preamp frequency sweep exceeding 1.2Vrms as it tripped the protection circuits since the power amps were still engaged and exceeded full rated power (140 watt/ch, 8 ohms, Av = 29dB). Unfortunately, Marantz doesn't offer a preamp only mode to disconnect the power amp from the circuit if you're using only external amplification. This is something I'd like to see ALL receiver manufacturers offer that include preouts to avoid this very problem I noted. It would also be more energy efficient as well. We will be testing this on receivers going forward and lobbying the manufacturers to include a preamp mode if they already don't. Please note it's unlikely you will ever run into a problem driving external amplification as normal program material doesn't behave like continuous sinusoidal sweeps like what was used on my bench tests.

At 1Vrms, the FFT of the SR8012 was good but I was surprised at the 3rd order harmonic byproduct that was about 3dB higher than I observed on the Denon AVR-X3300W prior but it was very low at .0018% THD. Still the noise floor (-140dB) of the SR8012 was exceptional as you can see in the FFT below, almost -20dB lower than I measured on the Denon AVR-X3300W.

Marantz SR8012 Preamp Out FFT Distortion Analysis @ 1Vrms

Marantz SR8012 Frequency Response - Pure Direct

The -3dBpt of SR8012 preout outputs is 61.6kHz which is plenty wide for high resolution but not too wide to allow excessive noise ingress.  CH-CH deviation was excellent at +- 0.102dB from 20Hz to 20kHz for all channels. As indicated earlier, the subout defaults to LFE crossover setting (120Hz) for 2CH sources unless you go into advanced 2CH setup and change it.

Marantz SR8012 Signal to Noise Ratio (1Vrms) - Pure Direct

The SR8012 preamp output exhibited a low noise floor (92dB unweighted, 100dB A-wt) with 200mVrms input drive and 1Vrms out. This is excellent.

Power Measurements

Using our Audio Precision APx585 8-channel HDMI analyzer, we conducted a full barrage of multi-channel amplifier tests on Marantz SR8012 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 SR8012 CFP-BW (2CH) Power Test - 8 ohms

With two-channels driven, the 140 watt/ch rated SR8012 delivered 148.8 watts/ch for full bandwidth 20Hz to 20kHz at < 1% THD.

Marantz SR8012 1kHz ACD (7CH) Power Test - 8 ohms

The SR8012 was able to muster and impressive 96 watts/ch at 1% THD and 86 watts/ch at 0.1% THD with 7CH driven. This should be plenty of power for all but the largest and most demanding home theaters.

Marantz SR8012 Dynamic (2CH) Power Test - 4 ohms

The SR8012 performed well for CEA 2006 short dynamic burst tests by delivering 336 watts/ch with 2CH driven at 4 ohms and over 165 watts/ch with 7CH driven at 8 ohms.

Marantz SR8012 Power Measurement Table 

*Note: It wasn't until after I completed these bench tests did I realize I accidentally used my 15A outlet instead of my 20A outlet to do the power tests. The SR8012 would likely deliver about 5-10% more power with 5 and 7CH driven if a dedicated line was used for these tests.

Marantz boasts their 70% guarantee which implies their receivers will be able to deliver 70% of the 2CH rating with 5CH driven. In the case of the SR8012, that would be 98 watts which my tests confirmed (95 watts x 5, 0.1%, 105 watts x 5, 1%).

They actually sent me their test results (tabulated below) which came out a little higher than mine, likely because they regulate the line voltage and I don't and also because I was using a shared 15A line as noted prior.

Marantz Power Measurements of SR8012

For those wondering how much more powerful the SR8012 is over the next model down in their lineup, the SR7012 is able to deliver 90.5W x 5ch (72.4% of 125W) at THD+N =0.05% according to their test results.

Marantz SR8012 FFT Distortion Analysis (1 watt, 8 ohms)

There is no denying the SR8012 produces respectable power for an AV receiver, but I wanted to see how cleanly it does so at low power, where it spends most of its time.  The 2nd order harmonic residual dominates and is about 95dB below the 1kHz fundamental, which is a good result. I was surprised to not see the 3kHz odd order be the dominant factor since it was during the preamp FFT test but I'm not complaining, it’s just inquiring.

Marantz SR8012 CH-CH Crosstalk (1CH, Undriven)

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 SR8012 provided > -60dB of CH-CH isolation.

Downside

As good as the SR8012 is, I do have a couple of nits to pick, with the first being the no-frills remote that just feels cheap and has too many little closely-spaced buttons to cause confusion in a dark room. Remember when receiver companies actually put forth good remote controls? The reality is most people are using 3rd party remote solutions these days so this gripe holds little importance in those instances.

The other thing to note is this receiver runs very hot, especially with Eco mode switched to off. This is to be expected considering Marantz is stuffing 11 channels of class AB amplification into a chassis sized for seven amplifiers, something all too common in the advent of Dolby Atmos. I would recommend giving the SR8012 plenty of ventilation and using Eco "auto" mode.

Lastly, I'm not a fan of Marantz overstating the power output of this receiver. This has become pretty common place since the advent of Dolby Atmos inclusion into AV receivers and manufacturers stuffing as many channels into the same sized and chassis. Marantz has the SR8012 listed as 205 watts/ch all over their website and marketing literature but unless one reads the fine print, they would never know this is a 1%, 1CH driven figure. The actual power per FTC 2CH driven at low THD is 140 watts/ch. Let's keep it real guys.

Conclusion

When Marantz introduced the SR8012 at the 2017 CEDIA Expo, I had high hopes that they were serious about making a top-notch AV receiver with a meaty amp section again. The SR8012 brings me back to my fond memories of the SR18 from yesteryear. The build quality is top notch as can be seen with the large torodial power supply, and dual heatsinks with monolithic amp construction and premium grade parts throughout the chassis. It has plenty of power to drive all but the most difficult speakers in the largest of rooms. In those cases, you could always make use of the pristine preouts to power up to external amplification.

The user interface of the SR8012 is speedy and intuitive with tons of configurability options for speaker layouts, power amp and input assignments. HEOS was easy to configure via their App and it did a good job managing my streaming music sources throughout the home before I installed a dedicated Control 4 system.

Most importantly, the Marantz SR8012 produced excellent sonic results in every mode of operation I tested it in. For a dollar short of $3k, you're getting a true 11.2CH integrated solution that supports the latest in 4K UHD video, including IMAX Enhanced, and ALL three immersive surround formats along with some very useful multi-room and music management capabilities. The SR8012 is only rivaled by its bigger corporate cousin, the AVR-X8500H that sports 13 channels of amplification and processing but costs an extra $1k. If you never plan on expanding beyond 11.2 or 7.2.4, then the SR8012 is ALL the receiver you'll ever need and should prove to be an excellent centerpiece in an upscale home theater for many years to come. If you're looking for a modestly priced AV receiver that is a master of all domains, this one is your ticket. Highly recommended.

Do you own this AV receiver or plan on getting one? Share your thoughts in the related forum thread below.

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