Marantz STEREO 70s

The Marantz STEREO 70s is a slim stereo receiver with HDMI sockets, which is a deliberately unusual combination. It is built for people who want two speakers and good sound from a television, without a five-speaker surround system and without a full-size separates rack.

The slim case is part of the argument. It fits under a television or on a shelf where a standard-depth receiver does not.

What Apple Home actually does with it

This is an AirPlay 2 device, not a HomeKit accessory, and the difference matters.

• It appears in the Home app as a speaker you can play to, and in Control Centre as an AirPlay target.
• You can put it in a room and group it with HomePods for synchronised multi-room audio.
• Siri can send music to it by room name.
• You can use it as the audio output in a scene or an automation.

What you cannot do is turn it on, change the input or set the volume from the Home app as if it were a smart plug. Power, inputs and surround processing stay on the remote, the front panel and the manufacturer’s own app.

Before you buy

The HDMI switching and ARC are what separate this from a plain stereo amplifier. If the television is a main source, that is worth a great deal, because it means one remote and one input rather than a jumble of optical cables.

A phono stage is included for a turntable.

Being stereo, it puts all its budget into two channels. For a full Atmos layout, the Marantz CINEMA 30 is the home cinema model instead.

Specifications