Announced last September, the reference models in Marantz’s Cinema Series are now available in Europe. The AV 10 is a 15.4-channel, 8K-supporting AV preamp/processor that arrives alongside its 16-channel, 200-watt power amplifier partner, the AMP 10. Together, the dynamic duo promise to enter owners into a heady state of AV reverie.
Priced at £6000 / $7000 / €7000 a piece, the AV 10 and AMP 10 are the final models in the newly launched Cinema Series to be unleashed unto the world, joining the more affordable Cinema 40, 50, 60 and 70 AVRs that have rolled out over previous weeks.
Unsurprisingly, the flagship models represent the pinnacle of the company’s AV offering from both a features and, fingers crossed, performance perspective. The AV 10 is kitted out with 15.4 channels of output and processing that can decode Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced and Auro 3D, with support for up to a 9.1.6 Atmos configuration. There’s Audyssey’s MultEQ XT32 room correction onboard, as well as the option to upgrade to the professional Dirac Live application.
The AV 10’s generous seven HDMI inputs are all 8K-compatible, and there’s a suite of digital and analogue (including phono) inputs for hooking up any Blu-ray player, games console, turntable or another audio source you may wish to.
Speaking of audio sources, the AV 10 also integrates the HEOS multi-room music streaming platform, which is a gateway to services such as Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music and Deezer.
The AV 10 naturally utilises Marantz’s discrete HDAM and current feedback amplification, making it the ideal partner for the AMP 10, which is also built on its HDAM-SA2 technology and features newly developed Class D amplification to take its performance to higher heights.
While offering 16 channels of amplification, the AMP 10 is by no means precious when it comes to power. It delivers an impressive (and more than you’ll likely ever need) 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, or 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms. Marantz says the AMP 10 features its “most advanced and refined amplifier architecture”.
Marantz is flying the flag for customisation here, too. Not only can the 16 channels be operated independently, but channel pairs can also be switched into bi-amp mode to separate frequency bands from each other, or even into bridged mono mode if anyone ever needed to – yikes – harness the AMP 10’s highest output.
The Marantz Cinema Series received quite the launch party, with a listening session attended by its partner Max Richter at the famed Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles, no less – but it’s now winged its way from LA to Europe (and, for that matter, doesn’t require prospective owners to roll out any red carpet for its arrival into their home).
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