Marantz Cinema 60 Review

Introduction

The Cinema 60DAB is a 7.2-channel AV receiver that blends musical finesse with theatrical flair. It’s positioned just below the Cinema 50 and Cinema 40 in Marantz’s current line-up hierarchy.

Some corners have been cut, but it still benefits from the brand’s celebrated sound tuning and elegant engineering.

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding are de rigueur, and with 100 watts per channel, it’s suitable for medium-sized living rooms and dedicated home cinema spaces.

If you’re looking planning a home theatre makeover, or want to simply trade up from a soundbar, this could be well worth an audition. Let’s dig a little deeper…

Price

The Marantz Cinema 60DAB sells for £1,399 in the UK, and is available through mainstream AV retailers, including Peter Tyson and Richer Sounds. There are actually two Cinema 60 models in circulation. The base edition is available through custom install channels, while this more widely available variant integrates a DAB+ tuner for digital radio.

In the US, Marantz offers the standard Cinema 60 model, with FM tuner, for $1299. Australia also has the DAB-free edition, priced at AUD $2,500.

Design

• OLED porthole display
• Six HDMI inputs, two outputs
• Backlit remote control

For decades, AV receivers have exhibited all the aesthetic charm of a cinder block. Generic, imposing, and some might even say, ugly. But with its Cinema line, Marantz have managed to craft something rather svelte.

The 60DAB benefits from this inspired industrial design, and features a dimpled fascia, with central OLED porthole display sandwiched between symmetrical Input and Volume dials. Button acne is restricted to a neat line, accompanied by USB-A port and a 6.3mm headphone jack. 

Available in Black or Silver-Gold finishes (my sample was the former), the looks is refined and stylish.

Rear-side connectivity is extensive. There are six HDMI inputs (of which three support 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz sources), plus two HDMI outputs with eARC. Dolby Vision and HDR10+ compatibility is standard, while gamers get VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), QFT (Quick Frame Transport) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode).

Analogue connections include phono MM for a turntable, four RCA phono inputs plus optical and coaxial digital audio inputs (a pair of each). If you need it, multi-room audio is available via Zone 2 outputs.

There’s also RS232 control, an IR flasher input and 12v trigger for deeper system integration, plus Ethernet if you want to hardwire a network connection.

Bluetooth can be used to feed audio to wireless headphones, a welcome addition for personal listening.

The remote control is a busy affair, but feels light in the hand and benefits from a bright backlight (there’s a button for this on the side), which is helpful when house lights are low.

Features

• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding
• 7 x 100W amplification
• Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction

The Marantz Cinema 60DAB isn’t short of attractions. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding come as standard, although if you need Auro-3D post processing, or IMAX Enhanced certification, you’ll need to step up to the Cinema 50. 

There’s obviously a raft of support for legacy audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and Dolby Surround. For stereo content, I’m rather partial to DTS Neural:X. This up mixer does an entertaining job steering elements into the height and surrounds.

If you don’t have a full complement of speakers in situ, there’s also DTS Virtual:X, which synthesises a vague sonic canopy when there’s no actual enclosures in place. 

The amplifier itself is a seven channel design, with 100W specified for each. Your speakers can be configured in a 5.2.1 Dolby Atmos layout, or a 7.1 flatbed system for traditional surround layouts. There are two subwoofer outputs, but the signal is monaural.

Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction handles calibration duties, ostensibly improving coherence across multiple listening positions. It’s not as advanced as the XT32, or Dirac Live, but it does a reasonable job of aligning speaker distances, taming harsh room reflections and improving soundstage consistency.

The system can measure up to eight seating positions. I opted for four, essentially covering off my sofa (no need to do more). Audyssey is the quickest way to fine tune the AVR to your room. Over time, I’d probably manually tweak, for this audition, I went with the default.

When listening late at night, there’s also Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume processing, which maintain subjective impact at lower volumes. I disabled both, as I had no intention of running this receiver half-cocked.

For those blessed with high-res, NAS-based music libraries, the receiver is also Roon Tested.

For more mundane music listening there’s Bluetooth, and AirPlay 2 playback.

User Experience

• Illustrated setup guide
• Audyssey microphone
• Cable labels

I remain convinced that the sheer complexity of setting up an AVR back in the day, was at least partially responsible for the rise in popularity of the soundbar. But things have improved immeasurably.

Here, Marantz’s on-screen assistant walks you through speaker placement, connectivity and calibration with clear visuals. Included in the box is a small Audyssey microphone, complete with cardboard stand, and even labelling tags for speaker wires. 

Once configured, switching between inputs is quick, menus are not (overly) complicated, and the whole user experience is rather intuitive.

Performance

• Smooth, multidimensional steerage
• Tight, dynamic bass
• 5.1 up mixing

If you’re looking for an AV receiver that knows how to treat a stereo source, you’re in the right place. The Cinema 60DAB offers a detailed two-channel presentation, with vocals and instrumentation clearly positioned in space.

Daft Punk’s sublime Tron Legacy soundtrack is tailor made for the Cinema 60DAB’s talents. ‘The game has changed’, with its dramatic strings, pulsating bass, and orchestral scale positively towers, while ‘The Grid,’ up-scaled in Neural X, sounds like an invitation into Tron’s virtual world.

Imaging is uniformly terrific. Aretha Franklin’s ‘I say a little prayer’ occupies the stage centre without need for speaker reinforcement. Lovely stuff.

Genuine multichannel music mixes are a blast. ‘How it’s done’, the opening number from Kpop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Dolby Atmos) is a thumping rap crowd-pleaser; the Marantz’ delivery is a ramen feast of sound, with aggressive bass beats given appropriate weight, and that splendid lead vocal from Audrey Nuna positively silky. 

When it comes to action movies, Dolby Atmos immersion is handled with similar precision and scale. Switching between two-channel and cinema modes doesn’t feel like moving between two separate systems.

Objects pan smoothly in every direction, while low frequencies are tight and dynamic. As aliens encircle the farmhouse early in Invasion (Apple TV, Dolby Atmos, S2 e5), the receiver creates a spine-tingling miasma of sound that encircles; panning is seamless, and the bass scuttles around in an eerie fashion.

Cinematic agility is excellent. In a 5.2.1 Atmos layout, effects move seamlessly across and around the soundstage. There’s a solid grip on low frequencies, avoiding the sag that can plague lesser AVRs. Low frequencies hit with satisfying weight, but remain tight.

Obviously, the Cinema 60DAB does smash-bash action well. But it’s subtle too.

54 minutes into the Netflix sci-fi actioner Atlas (Dolby Atmos), star Jennifer Lopez does a mind meld with her AI space pod. The memory sends a musical swell and dialogue flooding from front to back, and into the height channels.

Then, when she syncs with her craft, there’s some lovely, toppy computer chirps up high and in the round. It’s a deft, delicate sound design that shows how quietly immersive the Marantz can be.

The Cinema 60DAB isn’t a volume monster though. While the receiver played loud in my cinema room, I was aware that I was close to the limit when it came to pressure loading my space. It didn’t falter, or run out of steam, but I felt there wasn’t a great deal of headroom left when I kissed reference level.

Should you buy it?

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