Marantz players?

Hi, I think the new top of thr range models (9600) do

The Marantz DV9600 has i.Link, but annoyingly none of their lower models do, or have any equivalent. The best you'll manage is HDMI, but that won't work for SACD, even on the new DV7001, apparently.

That's kind of ruling out a Marantz amp+player for me.

Shame as i like marantz stuff and am in the market for a new player and amp but would really like to cut down on cables!

cheers

Shame as i like marantz stuff and am in the market for a new player and amp but would really like to cut down on cables!

cheers

Hi, Durk
I just read your thread, and would like to make a comment, if you allow me :)
I wouldn't write off Marantz equipment just yet just because they don't have HDMI 1.2, or i.link. Considering my experience I would rather go for a nice and not-so-expensive HDMI cable and a really good coax digital lead combination. Why? Because the cables presently on the market that could do HDMI 1.2 (which specifies both video and audio connections) are twice the price of what I recommend. On the other hand, I haven't seen a plasma, or LCD that has a good enough audio system that will demand and process a top quality HDMI audio connection. Of course, you could argue with me. I am stating that just because I read that you are after a combo of DVD player + AV Receiver. In this case I am asuming that the audio will come from the receiver, and not from the plasma, or LCD. And in this case, I recommend a coaxial digital cable just because there are very good and reliable ones (and cheap), and will transfer the audio signal without any significant losses, whereas the best HDMI cables nowadays still suffer from the undeveloped yet HDMI technology.
I love the idea of HDMI - pure digital signal, but the cable technology still needs a lot of improvements to get to the real deal.
I don't want to sell you for Marantz (it might look like that :thumbsup: ), but my experience with them is excellent so far - excellent build quality, functionality, precision, and at the same time, subtlelty, simplicity, and most important - a huge amount of quality entertainment for a fraction of the cost of other trademarks.
I hope you have understood me right !
Regards,
K.T.

P:S: Just the other day I bought a Marantz DV6600 in black, MR, for 195 quid, brand new, just like that, because I love it. Now it is being used as a second player by my girlfriend, and she told me that it made her LG LCD perform like a Ferrari on Montza :) (in both component and HDMI modes.) And that said from a woman which has a BSc in Information Technologies !!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think his problem though is getting full bitrate SACD high definition sound through 1 cable which you can't do with HDMI 1.1 or a digital coax cable.

I'm using a DV6600 (which I must say is a brilliant player) but have to use 6 analogue interconnects to get full resolution SACD sound to my Marantz 8500 amp.

I can see where the op is coming from because an iLink or HDMI 1.2 type cable would save an awful lot of cable mess behind all the kit!