I found and bought my white whale! Marantz SR5010 :D

[funboy6942]

Every receiver I have owned since having my long dead Onkyo rx-tn809 had dumped the Analog 7.1 IN, not out, or so I thought. A Marantz SR5010 came up for sale on the goodwill auction website. For poo and giggles decided to look it up and eye shop. Low and behold a 4K, Atmos/DTSX, HDR10, 3D receiver with, WHAT, Analog 7.1 inputs??? I could not find a 5010 on eBay to price it, BUT, the 5015, newer unit, was on there for over a grand. I had but some money and I HAD to have it, since it not only did 4K, but a 4K unit with 7.1 Analog in for just my Analog out of my pc, hole shite! Well I had a set price, and did not think in a million years I was gonna get it, for I have seen Marantz units going for crazy money that was 1080P with analog in, for around 500. But it was at 300 and figured what the hell, I got but XXX to spend, if I do not get it at least it was fun

As I do on ebay, I waited till I saw 12 seconds left, and threw in my max bid, and when I hit submit, and got to see the page, it was not close to my max bid, though jumped up 100, and got it for $401!!

Got it yesterday, plugged it in, and all joys of happiness went away. It was saying update ready on the screen, would not produce sound or go away from that screen, and every 2 min or so, would shut down, and power back up. I googled the update ready, and was very unhappy to find out, that it was in the middle of a firmware update, and failed. My Onkyo 809, and 510 both said if you update the firmware and if it gets interrupted it will become a expensive brick. But I kept digging and reading, and glad I did, for if you hold the Ch+ and the M-DAX in, then hit the power and hold it, this unit will revert back to its old firmware, so I did, and now I have the biggest smile on my face from ear to ear my face hurts :O

I know you are thinking, why so dang happy about a receiver. Well this allows me to not go to my tv with 4K content, optical out of it, and then all my consoles going to my old 1080p receiver, then to my 4K tv's I am using as pc monitors. Its my game space and I watch movies, play games, listen to music, right here where I sit all day, since I am disabled cannot move or do much anymore, and now I have a super bad butt receiver, that is 4K and 7.1 in analog, so I can dump everything into it, and not lose any of my features did, vs a old Denon did, and I must stress, go ahead and look, at most newer receivers that went from 1080p to 4k, most dropped not only the 7.1 analog inputs but a ton of others, and I have more then just a tv and a player.

I'm still big time old school, and still run from a Laser disc, to my tape deck, 400 disc dvd and cd players, records, to gaming with my OG PS1 to my Xbox one. so all of this crap is hooked up all crazy, or at least it was till now. And it upscales all Analog, and hdmi 1080P to 4K, off then to my 4K tv(s), which does a poor job of upscaling, which why would I expect more out of a cheap 50" 4k They were not made with the best of upscale chips in them, this Marantz gives you all kinds of adjustment to what's being upscaled then the tv would ever think of being able to do.

Bust most of all, I hated the fact that I have everything but the kitchen sink here, and my PC REQUIRES a 7.1 in for its outs, and along comes a "everything" newer unit with the 7.1 analog in, I MUST OBTAINE! I have a Sound blaster X3 now, that I got for its the ONLY true 7.1, not simulated through headphones, 5.1 only to speakers, card they still make. I also use home theater receivers, because, since the Logitech Z5500 were discontinued there has not been a "decent" anything pc speaker made by them, or anyone, sounded near as good as a HT receiver since, so, I been using these with my own speakers and sub making my own, perfect, kick ass everything unit, but my PC requires 7.1 to use. If you use a HDMI cable, your only getting "simulated" surround, when analog decodes perfect bit for bit, surround.

It is not really effected much for movies through HDMI, but if you game old or new, if you want the PERFECT sound as intended, you still need to run 7.1 analog, and you need a crappy 7.1 pc speakers, or do what I do, and if my route, my whale was a head unit that did all the "new" tech, and have analog in, and since my Onkyo 809, I have not seen ANYTHING till now, and still had 7.1 inputs. So yeah, if you still have not figured out, I am flying high with enjoyment, and man, with my vintage speakers, and Polk sub, I am in bliss! I will not call and label myself as a "audiophile", that's just for ass hats to feel better about themselves, but I didn't think In a million years I would afford a Marantz, new one to boot, I love getting more then I paid for, or saved

And yes, I have the matching vintage bookshelf/center speakers to them vintage 90's 12" DCMs, for you got to so it sounds perfect and matched sound all around, so a car does not sound different behind or side of you like a tricked out Honda, then when it comes to the front speakers sounds like a dragster, and hooking up your set up depending on speaker size, and hz all around you, and when, or when not to use the sub line out of it as well

But there it is, my white whale, and was able to afford it, this receiver, is not going anywhere, and I thank the person that thought it was a brick, without looking further into the problem, for I own IMO is the best receiver in the price I paid, or new if could afford it as such , and only one I know of with all these features, inputs, and ANALOG 7.1 and I am still speechless

 

[Thump553]

Congrats. Nice writeup.

BTW I never knew there was a goodwill auction site. Thanks for the tip.

 

[funboy6942]

shopgoodwill.com

 

[funboy6942]

To make my point, here is a Elite 9.2, 4K, Atmos, DTSX, the works you would think being Pioneer's "Elite", and where are the Analog in, heck were is pretty much anything to need to buy one of these for. The keep making it look more and more like the back of the tv, only getting this if you like sound, movies, and music to sound the best to you, with the means provided to you. Its great to have something that will take even something like Laser Disc and make the crappy picture, not as crappy upscaling that up to 1080/4K to your 4k monitor/TV. But what is the point of motherboards/Sound Cards to have analog 5/7/9.1-2 and getting it as intended, if you do not have a receiver have that input for it? You built that bad butt PC gaming rig hooked to your 90" 8K, you are getting but half as intended if your playing on a PC. Xbox/PS all different, a PC needs a dedicated line to this day toy experience games in TRUE 5/7/9.1-2 off that bad boy. Anything but that going optical/HDMI and ur receiver is giving you simulated surround, for its fed stereo, or Dolby Digital live that takes stereo, then spits it out to your receiver that thinks it is getting a "true" DD Encode.

Until I saw this "upper" crust Marantz having it again, I never thought I would be running all my gear like I did in the pre4k era using my receivers features, and all of them to boot with Analog and HDMI inputs up the butt, and analog, and if I had to complain, it would be no S-Video for my Laser Disc Player. But on the other note I have a separate box to take the Y/R/W and upscale it to 1080P out a HDMI cable to the Marantz

My mind is slowly going away, and having all this stuff, and all their remotes, and then having to remember what went to my HDMI switch, and what number, to what was going to the tv, then spat out with the optical, to the Denon, and what was its name for that? Where, and what under did my tape deck, dvd player, laser disc, record player go in under on the denon, and which HDMI does my tv have to be on so I can still have my PC screen, while that is playing my music :O

Now all to it, and one cable out of it, and TRUE 7.1 out of my Xbox uncompressed WHOOO HOO!!!!!!

Click to see the back of an Elite 9.2 4k Atmos has for lousy inputs if you really love AV

 

[VirtualLarry]

Badazz!

 

[WhiteNoise]

Hey, not only do I own that audio stand, but I owned those DCM speakers for years before selling them 5 years ago. I went into a Circuit City back in the 90's and the sales guy had these running, he played a track of a race car starting up, revving and speeding off. The sound output and clarity blew my freaking mind. I bought those and the matching bookshelf speakers. Man on man did I piss off every single neighbor I ever had from the 90's through 2005. Those bad boys could hit hard!

Anyways, thanks for sharing!

 

[funboy6942]

LOL, I had them the same time, and told the guy at CC that what I just bought would blow ANYTHING they had in the room with them out of the water. He laughed, stuck on some several thousand buck units, was farting, and distorting, then told him to switch to the 10's (couldnt afford the 12's at the time), and was night and day, and only a $150~ set. Said if I did not do that with him, he never would of known how great they were. And now with this Marantz, and all matching sets, I am in pure bliss, between them, and my sub, and how I have it hooked up, the Creative X3 sound card, and pot player/ VLC movies, music, n games never sounded better.

If anyone has means to get these speakers, and amp, do yourself a HUGE favor to the ears, do not think, or doubt, just buy them.

 

[funboy6942]

OH, and the stand, yeah, best one so far I have owned of them, and paid $100 on Amazon for it. YEAH $100!!

 

[Arkaign]

Nice! I have a 90s-era Marantz with a 36" 4:3 CRT Trinitron for my classic gaming and laserdisc room.

Living room I actually have an Elite LX904 for HTPC and 4K Blu-ray duties. Currently running off a lowly Radeon RX550. Is there any reason to not use HDMI audio for an HTPC? I downgraded the GPU since I don't game on this one. I currently only run 7 speakers and a pair of subs, I ended up getting a rack style line conditioner to smooth the incoming alternating current into something predictable and clean for the audio gear.

 

[funboy6942]

It would all depend on ur use, for if you use it to game on a pc, then IMO its a must. But what kind of card you use matters too, for not the only sound creative does aside of the X3 I run, are 5.1 only, and simulated 7.1 through headphones. If it is a good card, and a good amp, and good speakers/sub, then analog is still the best way to get 100% uncompressed better then 20-20kz compressed signal. A xbox and playstation have uncompressed 7.1, through hdmi, BUT its still a manipulated surround known as DD Live. Almost all console games are made using it uncompressed through a HDMI line, the toslink is capped at 5.1, but that toslink is then a compressed 5.1 for it can only do stereo in uncompressed.

So if you are in a game on ur pc, and in the sound settings you can mess with how many speakers being 5.1 or 7.1 are going to be hooked up, then that game like a console game will send the uncompressed 7.1 through hdmi, but the vast say 90%+ of the games out there in audio say that you have control over the volume only of then game, then no, its 5.1 only, and its compressed, and 5.1 simulated with the DD Live (dts what have you) compression. To get TRUE, uncompressed audio from those types of games being played only on a PC, then analog is you best option hands down, and how good ur system head, card, speakers will sing like nothing you have heard of before. If it is a game I have played a lot on my pc, I can tell you playing it, if it is DD live or not, or uncompressed 2/5/7.1.

I was soo sad to see manufactures delete the analog surround inputs, for if digital was all the best, why does even your mobo with Realtek boast about how bad ass it is, and give you 7.1 outputs still, if it did not give you even the slightest benefit. I do how ever feel, that with more games giving you the options to choose what kind of system you have its being played on and out to, are now making it so like a console, it will send that uncompressed signal. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has it in its options to send 7.1 through HDMI. But once more and more games do, I can see digital taking over 100 at that point, not ever needing anyone to sell a mobo, or add on card that is strictly HDMI or Toslink out, no analog at all but maybe for Mic/Line. But when I saw this come up on goodwill, and looked it up window shopping and saw on crutchfield, while taking triple checks and zooms in, I was indeed seeing analog surround out on a unit with Dolby Atmos/4K. Feel free in looking, for this was THE only one I saw with the newest features so far with Surround Analog in. All still have out, to run massive amps for each ch running some bad mofo's for speakers, but analog in from a PC or old DVD player, unheard of anymore, hence why my white whale. Up to that point I had to run 2 separate amps and speakers for I had to use a older 1080P unit with the analog still in on i, and anything 4 k to the other one, but never could have it all in one yet again to just recently.

so long and short of it, haha, is for me, I'm a huge nut for audio and visual, and had I deeper pockets could have even better, but all these features and cost me but $400 and have analog surround inputs again, yeah, still to this day I am stoked.

Go hook up the lines, even off ur mobo, get a album codded at its maxed out mp3 recording, then the same in flak, going between hdmi/toslink/ and analog, and come back and say thanks

 

[funboy6942]

Do not get this confused with them pretty much ditching EAX, this is what gets sent to individual speakers and how it was sent to them. EAX is dead unless like me still game on older rigs, which is a must, but there really is no eax anymore, and since windows made sure of it being killed off, then it all comes down to now between compressed/uncompressed, digital or analog, manipulated or simulated, or as intended. So with EAX gone, ALL card makers are pretty much just boasting how bad ass their Analog side of things are, for digital is digital, compressed and sounds like garbage to me.

 

[funboy6942]

IF, anyone cares to mess around (and try to prove me wrong), I have a 50 sec track in Flac and maxed encoded MP3 to use to listen to between digital/HDMI and analog, and the HUGE diff the way it sounds going between the 2 same song encoded in different formats on ur gear, be happy to forward and test. I do not care what you own, your mind will be blown between them all
And its fun
So pm me and I will send a link to them for you to try.

 

[repoman0]

They must have added the firmware rollback at some point since the xx06 series … seems like it started with the 08. My NR1506 turned itself into a brick last night by quitting halfway through an auto update. There’s a repair guy nearby who says he can usually reflash … trying to decide if I want to just upgrade to a newer one instead.

 

[funboy6942]

- Put the unit in Standby. (Zones powered off)
- Press and hold the “Button A” and “Button B” buttons on the front panel.
- While holding in the above buttons power on the unit.
- You will see "Restoring FW..." on the display. Once you see that, release the 2 buttons and give it about 10 minutes to complete.

Did you try that? Its what brought this failed firmware process to revert back.

 

[funboy6942]

Older versions perhaps?

Restoring the firmware to the factory defaults
When the unit or the network functions do not work properly, operation may be improved by restoring the firmware to the factory defaults.
Do this when the unit still does not work properly even after trying the steps for Resetting factory settingslink or Resetting network settingslink.link, link
After the firmware is restored, various settings are reset to the default settings. Configure the settings and update the firmware again.

Press

while simultaneously pressing M-DAX and TUNER PRESET CH +.

When “Restore FW...” appears on the display, release the buttons.
When the firmware restore is complete, “Complete” appears on the display for about 5 seconds, and the unit automatically restarts.

 

[repoman0]

- Put the unit in Standby. (Zones powered off)
- Press and hold the “Button A” and “Button B” buttons on the front panel.
- While holding in the above buttons power on the unit.
- You will see "Restoring FW..." on the display. Once you see that, release the 2 buttons and give it about 10 minutes to complete.

Did you try that? Its what brought this failed firmware process to revert back.

Yeah they added that a generation or two after the NR1506. I even sent it to the repair dude and it turned out he couldn’t fix it without a ~$350 board. I told him to salvage it and bought a refurb NR1711 instead for $650 which has been a nice upgrade. Simplified my cabling and setup since it has HDMI 2.1 and Spotify integration for listening from my phone is much improved. As long as it doesn’t break it should last at least a decade technology wise, probably longer.