These are all very serious amplifiers - but which is best and why? Before I start let me just say that I love all four these brands, they have been around for years and all of them are amazing in their own way.
Denon has always been a great solution to people who didn't have thousands to spend on a good home cinema system but things have surely changed - A LOT!
Back in the day a good Denon receivers were affordable, but today its just priced ridiculously.
Sure lets be fair, pricing did go up, rand / dollar did weaken, but was it enough to justify a 100% price increase? I'm not so sure..
Marantz - what happened there?
I don't even think Marantz knows what happened to their pricing, for example:
SR8015 retail used to be R59990 - replaced by the Cinema 30 retail R129990.. WTF?
Anyway, it is what it is, guess we as South Africans just love being F-over. Is it a good product? Hell yes! Its amazing! BUT its heavily overpriced and personally I don't think its worth the extra money.
Onkyo? Recently taken over by VOX (klipsch). Are they better or worse and whats the pricing like? YES, 100% YES they are better, sweet clear sound, very similar to Marantz, definitely better sounding than Denon. Are they cheap? No they are not, but at least they didn't double in price and they are better than before.
Yamaha. New look new feel same quality sound. Yamaha has and will always be top 5 in the world. Price jump, yes and a big one too RXA3080 RRP R49990 now R69990. Looks great but many feel the screen is too small.
Price comparisons : Denon X4800 or Marantz Cinema 50 vs Onkyo RZ50.
Denon X4800H 125W x 9.4 RRP R68500
Cinema 40 125W x 9.4 RRP R89600
Onkyo RZ50 120W x 9.2 RRP R44500
Yamaha RXA6A 150W x 9.2 RRP R69990
Before we get into why and what, Lets do some quick comparative calculations:
Denon X4800H Full recommended Price USA2499 rand value R46000 Local price R68500. Difference R 22500
Marantz cinema 40 Full recommended Price USA3500 rand value R64750 Local price R89600
Difference R 24850
Onkyo RZ50 Full recommended price USA1599 rand value R30000 Local price R44000
Difference R14000.
Yamaha RXA6A Full recommended price USA2999 rand value R55500 Local price R69990
Difference R14500.
** As a side note both Denon and Marantz are available from us as a direct / parallel import at a much more affordable price. Direct from Singapore 240V - exact same factory with a 1 year warranty backed by AVE.
So, back to which and why?
1. Value for money - Best to least best score out of 10
1st Onkyo - also winner of EISA 2023/2024 10
2nd Yamaha 9
3rd Denon 8
4th Marantz 7
2. Features
1st Marantz 10
2nd Denon / 2nd Yamaha 9
3rd Onkyo 8
3. Built quality - internals PSU etc.
1st Marantz 10
2nd Onkyo / Yamaha 9
3rd Denon 8.5
4. Quality sound
1st Onkyo
2nd Marantz
3rd Yamaha
4th Denon
This was a difficult test, so here are the winners each on their own and why:
Onkyo - Built in Dirac room correction - more than enough power - beautiful sound and looks to match. A serious receiver and highly recommended by me.
Denon - 9.4 independent subs - enough power - solid and beautiful - great features
Marantz - 9.4 - Plenty of power - crisp clean sound - gorgeous looking - great features
Yamaha - 9.2 150Watt (25W more than the rest) - serious sounding - minimalistic look - great for stereo music with larger speakers - a very serious amplifier!
So based on price and looks and sound etc this is what I would buy for myself:
Onkyo
Yamaha
Marantz
Denon
PS : this is what the Yamaha should have looked like:
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