Marantz SR-92 (c. 1992–1995)

Name: Marantz SR-92
Brand: Marantz

The Marantz SR-92 was a Dolby Pro Logic A/V receiver from the early-to-mid 1990s. The period record shows it in two forms. The original SR-92 appeared in a three-receiver group test in HiFi-Stereo (October 1992, p.55). The updated SR-92 Mk II got an Equipment Profile in Audio in March 1995 (p.52). The exact production span isn't documented, but the reviews give a workable picture.

The 1992 group test put the SR-92 up against the Pioneer VSX-D901S and a JVC receiver. HiFi-Stereo (October 1992, p.58) found the phono-input impedances of all three within normal bounds and close to target. It concluded that no single unit was an outright winner - each had strengths and weaknesses relative to the others. The same issue (p.55) noted that the SR-92 and the Pioneer both had line-level subwoofer outputs, and that the Marantz's center and surround speaker connections were push-to-insert clips.

Audio's review of the Mk II three years later was notably warmer. The magazine observed that many of the era's A/V receivers were ordinary in one respect or another, and that the SR-92 Mk II stood out as genuinely good (March 1995, p.52). Its measured performance (p.59): with 8-ohm loads, the front channels clipped at 130 watts per side, the center channel at 98 watts, and the surrounds at 45 watts per side. A-weighted noise under Dolby Pro Logic processing measured -79.2 dBW on the left front, -77.1 dBW on the center, and -75.0 dBW on the surrounds. The Mk II carried a 110-watt front-channel rating.

One more clue comes from the follow-up model. When Audio reviewed the SR-96 (August 1996, p.48), it noted that the center channel had gone from 75 to 110 watts, the surrounds from 35 to 90 watts per side, and the video inputs from four to five. Those figures suggest what the SR-92 Mk II had been working with. Beyond these period reviews, documentation on the SR-92 is thin.

Known specs as documented:

- Dolby Pro Logic A/V receiver with center and surround channels

- Line-level subwoofer output

- Center and surround speaker outputs: push-to-insert clips

- Front-channel rating: 110 W (Mk II)

- Measured at clipping, 8Ω (Mk II): 130 W front, 98 W center, 45 W surround

- 4 video inputs (Mk II, implied by the SR-96 review)