These are 2 comparable units for the same price of $799. The Denon might have the Marantz beat in wattage, 125 wpc vs 110 wpc, but all else seems to be mostly the same.

Just found this similar thread here.

Concerning the comment about Marantz not using bitstream with Audyssey, that's not a true statement anymore. Here's a quote concerning the Marantz SR 6006 on AVS.

"you will likely never want to use either DIRECT or PURE DIRECT as doing so disables Audyssey. Rather if you want to see DD or DTS, you'll need to set the source device to "bitstream" with Secondary Audio set to OFF...."

From reading about the 7005 model, which is one model up and one year older, than the 6006, it was comparable to the Denon 3311 of that same year. You paid much more for the 7005 than you did for the 3311.

By using this logic the same money for the Denon would buy a model down for the Marantz. Don't know if this still holds true, or not, but it is a good argument towards buying the Denon 3312 receiver.

Another comparison between similar receivers at [url=http://www.avsforum.com/t/1334415/marantz-sr5006-marantz-sr6006-receiver-thread/120]avsforum. Post #102.

"In the room the Marantz sounded best - much better imaging an staging, warmer/fuller sound, just crisper and it sounded like I was in that big amphitheater IMHO. The Denon sounded thin and the staging/imaging wasn't nearly as good. The Onkyo was better than the Denon but not as good as the Marantz. The Onkyo had a bit better mid/lower frequency but with my big front mains and boomy sub I am just fine with the lower frequency."

Now, I know this may have been due to some setup feature that the installer happened to turn on in the Magnolia HT room.

From what I've read about Denon, is the sound is deferentially different, then most, not in a bad way though. Marantz has been up and coming with their AVR line, they had lacked some when it came to the feature set they had been offering. Recently though they seem to be turning the corner on this issue.

Considering it's the same company, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they are using same components/design!

Advice I received from a professional HT guy and TV calibrator, is to buy the Denon. He said they usually have better and more advanced features than the Marantz does.

Get a Denon, Marantz suppose to accel at movies.

But why would I want a Denon, if about all I do is watch movies?

Here's another observation I've encountered....

"From what I have read on various forums, in the last couple of years both brands essentially share the same internals nowadays, and should sound the same. I have read many times that the Denon AVR-3312 and Marantz SR7005 are pretty much the same receiver with different faceplates..."

I thought with 5 M22's, your wall would sound pretty nice for music.

That's funny because last night I was reading through a thread, where the writer thought that Pioneer and Denon excelled at movies, and Marantz excelled at music. He said the Marantz had more clarity in the upper end, with the others having more power for explosions, etc. YMMV.

Personally, it's probably all in 1) speakers, room, settings, amp reserve power, and 2) your expectations.

speaking of 3312, It's Amazon's gold box deal of the day.

I discovered that earlier on and purchased it at the 549.99 price. Talk about luck.

Told you Denon Brian!