THE BAD This receiver’s 50 watts per channel may lack muscle for more power-hungry buyers.

THE BOTTOM LINE The slim, compact Marantz NR1605 provides excellent sound quality and thoroughly up-to-date features, making it one of our favorites for the price.

8.2
OVERALL
DESIGN 8.0
FEATURES 9.0
SOUND QUALITY 8.0
VALUE 8.0

There is a prevailing theory that all home theater receivers sound the same. Sometimes that theory holds water, but other times it’s pretty easy to show the disparities.

If you put the likes of the $700 Marantz NR1605 alongside a $100 Sherwood, you will definitely hear a difference. We even heard an (admittedly lesser) difference between the Marantz and one of our favorite Sonys, which costs $100 less. It’s all about voicing, and Marantz is one of the least expensive of a breed of amplifiers that include the likes of Rotel and NAD in a “music first” philosophy. Marantz also stands apart from those two brands in that it’s quicker to adapt to new features like Spotify Connect and 4K compatibility.

Sound quality aside, the NR1605 is also one of the nicest-looking full-fledged AV receivers to grace an audio cabinet. The key is its slimmer height, complemented by graceful (for a receiver) curves that further reduce the typical boxy look.

For the money the NR1605 can hardly be called a “steal,” but it offers pretty much everything you might need to start a kracking home cinema system for a small to medium sized room. If you want even more power you can trade up to the “full-size” SR5009 for an extra 200 bucks, but doesn’t offer much in the way of extra features.

The Marantz NR1605 is available for $699, £389 in the UK and AU$1,150 in Australia.