Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew Muscovy ak from Cena and we're gonna take a look at the marantz and our 1403 this is a 5.1 AV receiver that was actually released last year but it's staying in the line for 2013 and it's currently selling for $400 the real appeal of this receiver is its slim line design it's just 4.1 inches tall which makes it significantly thinner than most AV receivers on the market the front panel just looks good too with the nicely curved edges that don't have the harsh boxy look that most receivers have the receiver is relatively wide and deep though over 17 inches wide and nearly fourteen and a half inches deep so it's a good idea to double check the dimensions on your TV cabinet before making a purchase the remote is pretty decent it doesn't include too many buttons and important stuff like the volume rocker is prominently featured the remote on the step up and our 1604 is even better so it's a little disappointing that you don't get that clicker with this model but it's good enough especially if you're planning on replacing it with the universal remote in terms of features the big thing is the NR 1403 is missing any kind of networking functionality there's no built-in Wi-Fi or Ethernet which means you're going to miss out on newer features like smart phone control integrated streaming services and airplay however the truth is a lot of those networking features don't work that well on AV receivers and while airplay is nice you can always add it later with an Apple TV so while the marantz is missing a lot of checkboxes on a feature comparison chart in practice it doesn't feel like you're missing that much with the NR 1403 does have is a lot of HDMI connectivity including six total ports including one on the front that's the most you'll find on a receiver at this price and it gives you plenty of room to expand down the road there aren't many legacy ports on the back including no component video inputs at all but that's not a big deal since most devices use HDMI these days now a lot of people get worried about sound quality when they see a smaller design like this but the marantz sounded excellent in our tests we had resident audio file steve guttenberg give it a listen and he was really impressed with how close it was to the much larger Sony STR DN 1040 both music and movie sounded really dynamic and detailed so even though it's a smaller overall package you're not giving up any performance but what the marantz really comes down to is its unique form factor the real reason you're buying this receiver is because it's got a great look and it's a lot less bulky than traditional AV receivers you're giving up networking features but that's a fair compromise if you're gonna use other devices to stream anyways so overall if you're into the design it's an excellent value that sounds great and has plenty of HDMI ports for your gear I'm Matthew Muscovy Akande this is the marantz NR 1403