Marantz Cinema 40 Review
With the Cinema 40, Marantz sends its top model with a 9-channel amplifier and 11.4 decoding into the race for the home theater Olympiad.
As with the siblings in the Cinema series, one can hardly see the power of the 9-channel behemoth at first glance. The big brother makes his appearance after the two smaller siblings, Cinema 60 and Cinema 50.
by Thomas Johannsen
With Marantz’s Cinema 40, some of the controls and a large display are waiting for input behind a solid flap. This looks very tidy and is in complete contrast to the back, where hardly any connection requests remain open, and you also get a first impression of the potential of the Cinema 40.
The numbers in the type designation of the Marantz Cinema receivers are sorted in descending order. This means that the lower the number, the more complex and powerful the unit. The Cinema 40 thus marks the pinnacle of 9-channel technology, followed by the Cinema 50 and finally the Cinema 60. The 60, however, only has seven power stages. A total of eleven speaker terminals are attached to the nine power stages of the Cinema 40. This configuration of 7.1.2 or 5.1.4 is possible, even 7.4.2 or 5.4.4 strictly speaking, as the Marantz can control up to four subwoofers simultaneously.
Home Theater Plus
The surplus speaker connections, for example, can supply a second listening zone in stereo operation. The speakers are simply plugged into the free connections and then you can either fill the home theater with sound or the stereo zone. Alternatively, both can be done simultaneously if you forego two of the Atmos speakers in favor of the second listening zone in the home cinema.
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If you do not want to forego a fully equipped home cinema or a comfortable stereo listening zone, you can also use active speakers there. In this way, the Cinema 40 can even supply two such stereo listening zones, the corresponding preamp outputs are available anyway. If the complete home cinema is also equipped with active speakers, the Marantz can control a home theater installation with an 11.4 or a 7.4.4 setting in addition to the two stereo zones.
The built-in processor is quite capable of doing this. However, with this alone, the Cinema 40 would be slightly oversized, because the internal power amplifiers would be virtually unemployed. Which would be a shame as they are far from stingy with power, with a solid 150 watts at 8-ohm speakers, and we even measured significantly over 200 watts at 4 ohms, both without significant distortions.
A total of three HDMI outputs also enable flexible image output. In the home theater, you can choose the television for news and daily soaps, and the projector for ultimate film enjoyment. The third connection can play a completely different source in a second Zone, albeit “only” in 4K resolution, because it operates completely independently of the other two.
Installation
Before the thump, however, as always comes the installation of the behemoth. During this process, you will be guided step by step through all sections by screen menu; from connecting the source devices and speakers, to connecting to the internet, to calibrating the system to the room acoustics. The graphical interface of the assistant has been revised again since the previous generation and also shines very timely with higher resolution. The home theater newcomer will appreciate the assistant, the advanced user can easily skip one or more steps. The faster you get to the measurement of the room acoustics with the Audyssey MultEQ XT software.
You shouldn’t overlook this under any circumstances, because even if the speakers are positioned in the ideal home theater at an ideal position, the room correction gets the last bit of sound and above all spatial representation out. The obligatory measuring microphone is included along with the cardboard stand, although the latter comes across a bit cheap compared to the rest of the device. However, the microphone also fits on any photo tripod, so that you can quickly and easily change location for the subsequent measuring routines. According to the measuring routine, this must be done a total of eight times to achieve the most precise adaptation to the preferred seating area.
Performance
Distortion is practically nonexistent up to the power limits; at 8 ohms (blue) the harmonic distortion only increases significantly at a well over 130 W, at 4 ohms (red) it even only rises at almost 200 watts
Soundcheck
After successful installation and accurate calibration procedure, nothing stands in the way of film enjoyment. At the subsequent listening test, the Cinema 40 impressively shows that it has the speakers and the acoustics of our test room fully under control and dives resolutely into the battle on the Pelennor Fields in the last part of “Lord of the Rings” (Dolby Atmos is unfortunately only available on the discs in English). However, the brute also masters gentler, analog sounds; for this, we simply connect a record player with an MM system to the corresponding connection.
If you have a record player with a built-in preamp, it might be a good idea to bypass it and also leave this fine work to Marantz, a comparison would definitely be worth it. The Cinema 40 also reveals itself to be a musical jack of all trades.
Specifications
| Channels | 9.4 channels |
| Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz – 20 kHz) | 125 W per channel |
| Power Output (6 ohm, 1 kHz) | 165 W (0.7% 2ch Drive), 235 W (10% 1ch Drive) |
| Surround Sound Formats | Dolby Atmos, DTS , IMAX Enhanced, Auro-3D, 360 Reality Audio |
| Video Capabilities | 7 HDMI Inputs (8K), 3 HDMI Outputs (1x eARC), 8K upscaling |
| Room Correction | Audyssey MultEQ XT32, Audyssey Dynamic EQ, Dirac Live Upgradeable |
| Streaming and Connectivity | HEOS, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, TIDAL, Deezer, and more |
| HDMI Support | 8K/60Hz, 4K/120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG, eARC |
| Acoustic / Room Correction | Audyssey MultEQ XT32, LFC, Variable Cross Over, Optimized Bass Redirection |
| Network Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth |
| Other Features | Gold Plated RCA Terminals, Eco Mode, Sleep Timer, Firmware Update via Network/USB |
Verdict
The Marantz Cinema 40 offers a lot of power and an enormous variety of connections. It processes any signal offered to it, whether audio or video, with an accuracy that is rarely heard or seen. Many will also prefer the version in the typical Marantz silver-gold housing.
- Sound 40% 0.9
- Lab 10% 1.0
- Practice 25% 0.9
- Equipment 25% 0.9
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Is THIS the BEST Home Theater Receiver 2023 - Marantz Cinema 40 Review
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