Marantz SR-96
A Home THX receiver from the era when surround sound still meant a separate black box.
Overview
The SR-96 arrived in 1996 as Marantz's entry into the Home THX receiver market. Dolby Digital AC-3 was just moving from laserdisc to the living room, and nobody was sure which decoder belonged where. The SR-96 was half of a two-piece setup. The receiver handled amplification and Pro Logic processing, and the companion DP-870 demodulator/decoder handled discrete 5.1-channel Dolby Digital AC-3 soundtracks. Audio (December 1996, p.83) presented the pair together under the headline "One Great Idea on Top of Another," framing the SR-96 and DP-870 as a combined solution for AC-3 playback.
The DP-870 was no afterthought. It packed a Zoran AC-3 chip, accepted AC-3 RF input for laserdisc players, and offered digital AC-3 output for future sources like DVD and DSS. Channel level and balance controls lived on the decoder, along with configuration switches to match output to the speakers you actually owned. It connected directly to the SR-96. Marantz also designed it to work with existing A/V systems that used separate processor and power amps.
The three-channel logic mode is what separates the SR-96 from its Pro Logic-only contemporaries. According to HiFi-Stereo (August 1996, p.44), the SR-96 mixes the decoded surround output with the front channels when running in three-channel mode. It is a Marantz-specific approach, and the company said it was intended to improve center-channel intelligibility. A separate mono mode collapses the amplifier output to strict mono and routes it to the center-channel speaker if one is present.
These are competent numbers for 1996. Not class-leading, but solid.
The amplifier section's center channel was rated at 110 watts. Audio (August 1996, p.48) reported that the center channel had been boosted from 75 watts to 110 watts and the surround channels from 35 watts per side to 90 watts each compared to an earlier iteration. Video inputs had increased from four to five.
Collectors today tend to view the SR-96 as an artifact from the last years before Dolby Digital decoding moved inside the receiver itself, which made outboard decoders like the DP-870 obsolete almost overnight.
The three-channel logic mode remains the SR-96's most distinctive feature. With the wrong source material it sounds processed. With the right content it helps center-channel clarity. The tuner is fine. The amplifier is fine. A DP-870 is what unlocks the AC-3 capability the receiver was designed around.
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