Was on the fence for a while about my next AVR. Worked with Daryl at my local best buy, great guy, very knowledgeable and went out his way to hook this up for me to demo.
First things first, 50 watts seems like not a lot and I can safely say, this slimline delivers and then some.
Setup was super easy and runs my 5.1 plus some 2 remarkably well.
Sound wise the AB amplification is warm and detailed.
Will be utilizing the pre amp mode at some point but to be honest, if you are in a small to medium room, this AVR may be all you ever need.
Oh, and it’s great to look at as well

I’ve been a 2 channel hi-fi enthusiast on a beer budget for years. Finally, I got the urge, and I’m using the 70s to power a B&W M1 center and two surrounds, while the left and right pre-outs are feeding a beefier Cambridge Audio 840a (integrated turned amp) for my B&W 603s3’s.
It’s easy to set up, though I found I had to download the Audyssey app to gain additional features over the built-in Audyssey software to make more specific adjustments. Even the eARC is working as it should — it’s a buggy feature on any home theatre receiver.
HEOS – I don’t use it much because I have a better streaming option and listen to music more often on another system – but I was impressed it found my NAS full of music automatically and if I must, I can stream spotify through it. I must have 50 ways to spotify by now through the same speakers, soo…
The FM tuner is just thrown in. It’s crap. I expected that anyway, and in my music room I have a vintage tuner that is 100x times better for what little radio is left worth listening to.
Ok — let’s get to surround, since that’s the only real justification for this product.
In short, I love it. It sounds great, but keep in mind a lot of content is going to a separate amplifier in my case. Others may want a more powerful amplifier or more efficient speakers. It took a while to dial in. Though the setup process is easy, I don’t find it 100% accurate to my room and my personal preferences. I did fight with Audyssey on putting too much in my center channel and rolling of highs (why I purchased the app,) but those of you with a bigger center channel may have appreciated that boost.
Channel separation seems excellent. I don’t detect any noise floor, either. It will reveal the flaws in any video sources that are lower budget or not mixed very well. I suggest doing your tests on Hollywood Blockbusters as a reference before almost jumping to the wrong conclusions about this AVR as I first did. It’s actually really good. It just isn’t a bargain. Not at all.
In fact, I think it’s an $800 product, at best. That’s why it’s getting 4 out of 5 stars. For $1200, I expect a name-brand DAC, a full featured Audyssey app, a beefier power supply and more refinement. Unfortunately, there’s a price gap in acceptable products and I needed a slim model — this was the one.

I had come to the realization as I started to step by step modernize my home theatre that I really needed to replace my extremely outdated SR7007 that was the state-of-the-art flagship model for Marantz some 10+ years ago. But I didn’t want to spend that much or more money again and deal with 32 pounds of the beastly flagship Cinema 40. Nor did I need the 9.4 channels for my smallish man cave. Even the 50 and 60 models were still more AVR then I really needed. This Cinema 70s unit was the last of the current Cinema line to be released to market. The much smaller and much less expensive 70s looked like it might be perfect for my needs. Still high levels of build quality. Still warm, detailed Marantz sound quality. Modern 4K and 8K pass through. Full modern surround processing with several of the latest “pseudo” surround modes for stereo signals. Half the size and weight of the larger units. The one thing of concern was “only” 50 watts per channel. Well, I can say with confidence having now lived with the 70s for several months in a modest sized room, say a 300 to 400 sqft den with a normal 8ft ceiling and normal efficient speakers (I’m still using my vintage PSB Imagine series running at about 88 dB SPL and 5.1 channel configuration) I have no problem filling the room up with movie and music sound that is rich and exciting with the volume set at about 60-65 out of 100. The unit is very easy to set up and the Audyssey room correction is as usual a straightforward one and done set and forget proposition. I especially appreciate the easy one click, on the fly to access dialog enhancement and the lip synch settings that can slow down or speed up the sound timing. Streaming apps are notorious for lip synch issues!
So, to sum up, if you have a small to modest sized room, decently efficient speakers and don’t need more than 7.2 or 5.2.2 (Atmos) channels of surround sound you can save some money and space with the 70s. It’s highly recommended.

The Marantz Cinema 70 is a ecellent avr that does everything that you meed it to do. I have to powering my Def Tech 9060 with Atmos topper. I have my cable box , AppleTv, Xbox, PS5, and Panny UB9000 all hooked up to the LG G4. Flawless!