Marantz UD5007 Update:

[Upstatemax]

Well I have had the Marantz UD5007 for exactly 63 days...

It's going back.

When this machine worked, it was great. However, I was in contact with Marantz several times about this unit and I was not impressed. The first phone call (first month of ownership) was brought on because the unit liked to freeze up during streaming or when exiting NetFlix in particular. I did a full reset on the machine and it got better, not perfect but better.

A few weeks later I have more issues. If I had a Blu-Ray already in the machine and I turn it on, it would auto start the disc. The UD5007 would sometimes respond to the remote/faceplate commands to STOP. several times it would just keep on going at just not respond to the remote or faceplate. I would have to shut the unit back down and restart and hope it would respond this time.

Yesterday was the deal breaker. I put in a brand new CD (BB King Live in Japan), sounded very distorted and started to skip around... I figure it's the new CD that's the problem. I bring it upstairs to another CD player and it plays fine, bring it my car and fine... Put it back in the Marantz and it played fine. Swapped CD's to John Lee Hooker's Serve You Right to Suffer and it does the same thing. It was acting WAY to similar to my old DV7600 that had nonstop issues.

I call Marantz this morning and they tell me to ship the unit (my dime) and wait to have it fixed (could not tell me how long it would take). This is a two month old player and I'm expected to ship it in and wait?

maybe I'm demanding but I did not agree to this at all. I watch nearly EVERYTHING through this player and being with nothing is not really an option. I explain my situation and ask them to please ship me a NEW unit with a return label. I'm told NOPE. I ask to speak to a manager, still NOPE.

This is a 2 month old $600 player that works FAR worse than my buddies 2 year old $80 LG player and I'm getting a "deal with it" attitude from Marantz? Again, maybe I expect too much but as the consumer I expect better customer service when I shell out for a higher end product.

Thankfully I purchased this from Crutchfield...

I called them and explained the situation and they took it back with a full refund and free return shipping despite the fact that I was 3 days over the return policy. They were VERY friendly and did everything they could to get me taken care of. Crutchfield may not always be the least expensive, but they know how to take care of a customer service opportunity and they will always have my business.

I've decided to go with the Oppo BDP-103 bundled with the ROKU stick. I did prefer the UD5007 for music, but I MUCH prefer a machine that works. So I'm borrowing a buddies PS3 to get me by till my new Oppo gets to me.

[Oldfatdogs]

That sucks Max,the way Marantz treated you is unacceptable I don't blame you for sending it back.I'm glad Crutchfield made it right.
Dan

[Upstatemax]

I also just sent back a copy of NJ's "little broken hearts" on 180g vinyl that I got in yesterday since the second disc had a large warp...

I'm on a rampage! Lol

I was just looking at it wobbling all over my TT and it just got me pissed!

[mantis]

it's todays build quality in general. For some reason hardly no one can make a solid quality Blu ray player. Companies like Denon , Marantz share the same exact platform. I'd also without knowing for sure would say they are the same players with different faceplates on them.
I have only done a few of the new Denon Universal players and they seem to have pretty good luck(Knocks on wood). I have only done one Marantz and it seems to be fine as the customer has not called and said it stopped working.
In general I blame the people who are not willing to spend some money on a quality player , everyone wants it cheaper , guess what? You got it. Not saying this directly to you , just in general people want everything for nothing and I feel this is the result of that mentality. I personally will spend my hard earned money on a quality player over owning one thats cheaper and does what I want it to do. I much prefer quality over quantity. I wish in general people would understand this concept.
I also have a feeling Marantz is feeling the sting of poor quality players breaking like most other companies are. What are they to do? make a higher quality player , charge more and sell less. Or keep making cheaper quality players , get a higher return defective rate. What's more profitable? I would think selling less with less returns and happier customers would in the long run be a way better business model. But thats not the case for most today. Who am I to judge other then I simply don't support this.

Sometimes I just want to scream.

[tonyb]

When it comes to electronics, quality over quantity is the rule. Soo many cheap electronics these days. My in-laws always buy those 50 buck dvd players, tv's at walmart for 250 bucks, because they think they are getting a deal. Not like they can't afford better either. Then they break soon after and what do they say ? " I"ll never buy that brand again." Thats how a brand name gets trashed in todays world.

I try to explain to them that most brands have "lines" of gear which means quality goes up as you move up the chain within a brand name. To a certain extent anyway. Costs also go up. But they want cheap, in everything they buy or spend money on. Hence the popularity of stores like Walmart for electronics. The old saying, ya get what ya pay for applies I guess.

Sorry the OP had such problems. Marantz can and does make some nice gear, but at their upper ranges. Try the Oppo, solid with a track record and versatile.

[devani]

another +1 for OPPO....easy to use even for my wife and son....when and if I need service, I know I am taken care of....

[Upstatemax]

I agree 100% with the you get what you pay for... That's why I paid $600 for a player.

I understand that there are just bad units, they can't have 0 failures. But when you do have a failure, how you handle the situation tells me a lot. IMO, marantz fell flat on their face in the customer service department.

I'm not willing to hold on to a player I don't trust when a company will not even think about going out of the way for a customer.

[littlewoodboats]

I agree 100% with the you get what you pay for... That's why I paid $600 for a player.

Marantz should be able to provide a good player for this kind of money.

Hope you enjoy the Oppo. I have not had mine for long but it has run perfectly without a burp. Good luck with it.

[pitdogg2]

Well I have had some run ins with Denon/Marantz customer service and it is really frustrating dealing with those idiots. Theres nothing like buying a brand new 1000.00 DVD player and right out of the box it does not work. Send it back and 6mo. later get it back in FAR WORSE condition than when you sent it in. Right off the bat I lose 6mo. of warranty then must argue why they sent it in a box with not one piece of the original foam was used to ship back. The unit was in a box that also was not original to the unit. Single ply box no packing unit bounced all over the place during shipment. UPS denied all claims that Denon sent them to investigate. Denon then tried to tell me I got it back the way I sent it to them. Good thing I learned a hard lesson one other time. I had taken pictures of the double boxing showing the original box and packing styro's and my Pink Foam I used in between the two boxes and the taping I applied to the box. The real kicker is the unit I sent in was a A-grade unit the unit I got back said B-grade unit so when I sent the pictures to them showing all including the serial number off mine from Crutchfield's reciept and my box were the same. I may buy more Denon products BUT I WILL NEVER SEND ANYTHING TO THEM EVER AGAIN. The last time I needed work I drove 150mi. to a Denon Service center and the stories I heard from those guys would make your eyeballs spin. The last Denon tech I talked to told me that he was very surprised that a class action lawsuit has never been brought against Denon for their lasers. Told me that Denon buys the cheapest laser on the market 6.00ea. and for 12.00ea. they could of bought one of the most dependable lasers on the market that has had less than .001% ever go bad in 20yrs yet Denons failure rate is something like 40%.....So no matter how far up the line you go with Denon it is the same laser in ALL their products that use a laser.

[cnh]

When it comes to electronics, quality over quantity is the rule. Soo many cheap electronics these days. My in-laws always buy those 50 buck dvd players, tv's at walmart for 250 bucks, because they think they are getting a deal. Not like they can't afford better either. Then they break soon after and what do they say ? " I"ll never buy that brand again." Thats how a brand name gets trashed in todays world.

I try to explain to them that most brands have "lines" of gear which means quality goes up as you move up the chain within a brand name. To a certain extent anyway. Costs also go up. But they want cheap, in everything they buy or spend money on. Hence the popularity of stores like Walmart for electronics. The old saying, ya get what ya pay for applies I guess.

Sorry the OP had such problems. Marantz can and does make some nice gear, but at their upper ranges. Try the Oppo, solid with a track record and versatile.

I bought a Philips DVD player from said dealer in 2004 for 49.95. It weighs "nothing", and plays "every" DVD I've ever put into it better than machines worth hundreds more that "stutter" on the same bad discs? 2013, although it doesn't get a lot of use today, it's still back up in the main system for those discs that won't play in the $600 MSRP Blu-ray? Hard to believe, but whatever model Philips that was was golden. In fact, the software in that Philips is the same as in a $325 Yamaha DVD/SACD changer I have? Same interface!

To Max. Doesn't that Marantz have a THREE year warranty? If so, why is Marantz screwing around?

Crutchfield, thumbs up!

cnh

[cfrizz]

This is what is so aggravating about sending stuff back to be repaired. I go through the trouble of sending something back in the original box and they turn around and send it back in some cheap crap that falls apart during shipping. Now a days if something in my system breaks it will be tossed and something else bought new. But by the time it fails it will be well over 10 years old anyway and won't owe me a thing.

[Upstatemax]

To Max. Doesn't that Marantz have a THREE year warranty? If so, why is Marantz screwing around?

Crutchfield, thumbs up!

cnh

Yes they have a three year warranty...

The same machine from Denon is $100 less and a one year warranty.

The people at Crutchfield are crazy nice. They kept telling me how I should not have to deal with all this trouble and they will happily take the machine back.

[leroyjr1]

I'm sure you'll be very pleased with the oppo. Plus it has way more features than the marantz do. I've owned 3 oppo's and no problems so far.

[Upstatemax]

The Oppo has been up and running for a bit and it has been flawless.

I got the Roku stick with it and I'm not sure that's going to stick around...

I like Roku, but I hate the stick. It ruins the look of the Oppo since it can only be plugged in the front and I don't like Wifi for streaming. I like the speed and reliability of CAT 5...

I may be sending the Roku Stick back and getting the Roku 2 XS and connecting it to the Oppo.

[Tornado Red]

The Oppo has been up and running for a bit and it has been flawless.

I got the Roku stick with it and I'm not sure that's going to stick around...

I like Roku, but I hate the stick. It ruins the look of the Oppo since it can only be plugged in the front and I don't like Wifi for streaming. I like the speed and reliability of CAT 5...

I may be sending the Roku Stick back and getting the Roku 2 XS and connecting it to the Oppo.

Congrats on the Oppo, I've had my 103 for a couple months now, fantastic machine, build quality AND customer service. I had a slight issue with SACD recognition Oppo helped me with, I'll post over on the Oppo thread later if anyone has an interest...