Marantz SR6015 AV Receiver Preview

My very first one was a 2226-B back in 1980 when I got out of college. Along with their sister company, Denon, they have released a new line of AVRs that up the price/performance ante. The SR6015 has nine discreet amplifiers utilizing HDAM topography that deliver 110 watts per channel, with two channels driven. It has seven HDMI inputs and three outputs. One is a dedicated 8K input that supports 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 120Hz with pass-through capability. It also supports Dolby Vision, HLG, HDR10, 21:9 video, 3D, and BT.2020 with the latest HDCP 2.3 copy protection standard on all HDMI inputs which makes it virtually futureproof.

The video processor in this model is capable of upscaling native video sources up to 8K quality and supports HDMI eARC which can pass object-oriented audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X from your smart TV to your home theater speakers. eARC is starting to appear on 2020 HDTVs.

Two cool features I intend to investigate are the ability to save more than one audio preset that you can automatically switch between via a button on the remote. That way, I can have different configurations for two-channel and multi-channel content. Or I could switch easily between Audyssey MutiEQ XT32 room correction and Direct.

The other is 8K pass-through and upscaling. I can verify that the SR6015 upscales Blu-rays to 4K, but a neat feature is if you have an 8K HDMI cable, the SR6015 can generate an 8K signal which allows you to send a signal out the 8K HDMI and back into the 8K HDMI input and the receiver will tell you if the cable will work with 8K. With 8K TVs coming in thick and fast in 2021, this feature will become quite useful. Sweet!

Of course, the SR6015 supports all the latest wireless technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Airplay2, Heos, and voice activation from Google or Alexa. Look for my coming review soon.