CES 2008: Marantz AV8003 Pre-Processor and Power Amp

8 January 2008 4:22 GMT / By Duncan Madden

Part of Marantz’s ever growing arsenal of "separates" AV kit, at CES the company has unveiled its latest double team assault on the AV market in the shapes of the AV8003 pre-processor and power amplifier.

So new is this AV8003 dream team that features and statistics were being kept under wraps, but Pocket-lint was lucky enough to receive a full demonstration and was blown away (almost literally) by the performance and power.

The power amp outputs a might 145W per channel through eight channels, delivering uncompressed 7.1-channel audio in every HD flavour available (as long as you have the disc to match that is – we were treated to a Chinese version of Cars to wring the most out of it).

Uniquely, this combination also operates as a server system and can play HD audio and video content at 1080i direct from your home network using nothing more than a network cable.

Available as a pair (they can apparently be bought separately but Marantz couldn’t quite see why anyone would), they retail at £3000 and will be coming to Blighty in the first half of this year.