# Marantz's New AV7702mkII Pre-Amp Hits The Street in October



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Marantz has officially announced the arrival of a new network preamp/processor. The AV7702mkII’s spec sheet is full of audiophile and enthusiast delights, which shouldn’t be too surprising for a product coming from a company that has a history of quality and performance. Today we’ll take a preview sneak peak at the new update to last year’s popular AV7702.










It wasn’t that long ago that full 7.1.4 Atmos support was hard to find amongst the AV receiver and preamp crowd. But, times have changed and Marantz’s new AV7702mkII gives buyers yet another option to consider when looking for full Atmos playback products. It supports both 7.1.4 and 9.1.2 Dolby Atmos configurations, which will require the use of at least two standalone amplifier units. It also supports the other two immersive sound codecs on the market: Auro-3D and DTS:X. Auro-3D, which is the lesser-known codec on this side of the pond, will be available to customers as a paid add-on. This should cost around $199, which was the cost of the upgrade for 2014 Marantz/Denon models. DTS:X will be available via a free firmware update once it becomes available. (date remains undetermined).

The AV7702mkII’s audio section can pass signals via 11.2 channel XLS connections or 13.2 channel pre-outs. The company says the pre-amp stage is run by a dedicated pre-amplifier board with HDAM and a power supply, which is bolstered by ELNA capacitors and high quality 192 kHz/32 bit digital to analog converters (all channels). Marantz is also including Audyssey’s powerful MultEQ XT32 room correction software, which should be a selling point for the enthusiast segment of potential buyers.

The video side offers standard features present on most of the AV7702mkII’s competitors. Owners will find eight HDMI 2.0a connections with support for 4K/60 fps video, 4:4:4 color, and high dynamic range; three output HDMI ports are on the back of the unit. The latest security protocol (HDCP 2.2) is also supported on all HDMI inputs, making the AV7702mkII compatible with future UHD Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. 

The AV7702mkII carries both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi music playback, with access to Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, Internet Radio, and on-board AirPlay. If you’re partial to Hi-Res formats, then you be glad to know that it also supports high-resolution audio streaming of FLAC 192/24, DSD, and ALAC. It’s also worthy to note that the AV7702mkII supports MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, and AIFF file types with gapless playback.

Marantz says the AV7702mmkII will be available some time next month (October 2015) with a recommended price of $2,199.

_Image Credit: Marantz_


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

Best thing I've seen from the new Marantz line is they have finally freed ARC from CEC. 

You can now enable ARC as an input and leave the rest of CEC turned off!


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## macromicroman (May 17, 2014)

:rubeyes:What are the differences between this model and last years AV7702?

You think for $2195 they could throw in Auro-3D for free. After all it does have a voice of God channel and we shouldn't have to pay extra to hear God speak.


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

macromicroman said:


> :rubeyes:What are the differences between this model and last years AV7702? You think for $2195 they could throw in Auro-3D for free. After all it does have a voice of God channel and we shouldn't have to pay extra to hear God speak.


HDCP 2.2 mainly


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## Audiofan1 (Aug 16, 2013)

macromicroman said:


> :rubeyes:What are the differences between this model and last years AV7702?
> 
> You think for $2195 they could throw in Auro-3D for free. After all it does have a voice of God channel and we shouldn't have to pay extra to hear God speak.


DTS X ready, upgraded dac's also and a few other tweaks!


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