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Anthem AV receiver at CES?

163K views 1K replies 152 participants last post by  DongTeamSetup 
#1 ·
Any news or sightings at CES of the Anthem receiver(s) that was mentioned at CEDIA?
 
#1,115 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbc /forum/post/0


Why [is the MRX-500/700 better when using] "iPod" as a source? I thought the 300 had the same iPod connectivity/functionality.

When using the optional Anthem MRX iPod dock, the MRX-300 uses the analog output from an iPod/iPhone. The MRX-500 and MRX-700 uses the digital output for better sound quality.
 
#1,116 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by PGriff1051 /forum/post/19459189


Don't get me wrong, the 4810 is a nice unit with regards to features: audyssey, video processing, internet firmware updates, options to switch decoding modes via remote, but the sound of the Anthem is much better. Definately more dynamic (never been fond of the AL24 processing) and with ARC the soundstage is better and mids are much clearer.

Thx. I agree. The Denon has all of the bells and whistles (many of which I do not use). The SQ is decent, but nothing to write home about. As a former D2/D2v owner, I cannot wait to hear if/how the Anthem SQ has migrated down to the MRX Receivers.


I just went by my Anthem Dealer and he had just received part of his initial shipment, so we opened up a 700. Definitely has that Anthem look, and it is better looking in person than in the photos.


I made arrangements to pick the demo unit up late Saturday afternoon. The balance of his pre-orders are supposed to ship on November 16th, so if all is favorable, I can obtain a 700 from his preorder fairly quickly.
 
#1,118 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pbc /forum/post/19460015


Agree on the USB (though most bluray players have this functionality build in).

One difference is that MRX allows not only flash stick but hard drive as well. When big name 1 TB drives sell for what 16 GB flash sticks did less than a year ago I'd say it's advantageous. Browse by song, album, artist, playlist, or folder. It's quick too, except when there are a thousand things in the view and a one-time indexing is needed. If cover art is embedded in the file it shows on-screen when the song is played, except with MRX 300.


Since there are two USB ports, a big drive might be connected to the back panel with the front USB left open for other random mass storage devices or multimedia section software update. Both jacks can be used at the same time. Something not always seen on receivers with multimedia capabilities is seamless integration - it won't feel like you're switching to another device with generic graphics when using USB, internet radio, or iPod dock, and that's because of in-house design.


Wav up to 96 kHz is supported. Flac is not (might change via software some day - no promises) but then with memory this cheap it hardly takes more than "select all and drag" into Flac Frontend to convert everything back to wav.


ETA: Streaming from USB and digital iPod tap are clocked asynchronously in case anyone's wondering. For hi-end outboard DACs that have this, it's often touted as a big feature.


-----------------------


Summary of feature or functional differences between the three models:


MRX 500 vs 300: Bigger power supply and transformer (still EI), USB, internet radio.


When optional MDX 1 iPod dock comes out: Digital tap, faster navigation, longer file name display, album art, availability of component video connection with iPod (S-Video and composite iPod video connections are available either way).


MRX 700 vs 500: Toroidal transformer, HD Radio, RDS.


ARC, and preamp and video sections are the same.
 
#1,119 ·
I have a Sub 12 with PBK and am planning to get the MRX 500 or 700. So I'm wondering whether it's better to run PBK and then ARC, or just ARC. I've heard two schools of thought:

1) Run PBK, then ARC, because PBK will fix the sub response and allow ARC to dedicate more resources to higher frequencies on the other speakers.

2) Just run ARC, because 3.0 does the lower frequencies well (same as PBK?) and you don't want multiple layers of digital processing if you can avoid it.


Any comments on this, especially from Nick? Might it depend on how much correction is need for the sub? I.e., if a lot, better to run PBK+ARC, if not much, just ARC?
 
#1,120 ·
and to add to that comment, if one uses audyssey sub eq (svs as-eq1) to help out with multiple subs, should this be run before ARC?


also, how does ARC do natively when using 2 or more separate subs within a system?
 
#1,121 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by favorini /forum/post/19460946


I have a Sub 12 with PBK and am planning to get the MRX 500 or 700. So I'm wondering whether it's better to run PBK and then ARC, or just ARC. I've heard two schools of thought:

1) Run PBK, then ARC, because PBK will fix the sub response and allow ARC to dedicate more resources to higher frequencies on the other speakers.

2) Just run ARC, because 3.0 does the lower frequencies well (same as PBK?) and you don't want multiple layers of digital processing if you can avoid it.


Any comments on this, especially from Nick? Might it depend on how much correction is need for the sub? I.e., if a lot, better to run PBK+ARC, if not much, just ARC?

Paradigm subs with PBK is in the manual. You can do either or you can do both. If you do both run PBK then ARC.
 
#1,122 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick @ Anthem /forum/post/19460875


One difference is that MRX allows not only flash stick but hard drive as well. When big name 1 TB drives sell for what 16 GB flash sticks did less than a year ago I'd say it's advantageous.

I think that is a great feature! One I know I would use. To me much easier than accessing a remote computer. Plus the hard drive is portable, so you can add or delete files at another location, then plug it back into the MRX. Upgrading to FLAC would be a huge bonus.

Peter
 
#1,124 ·
I was not able to make a direct comparison, but at initial glance, it appeared to me that the readout on the lcd face of the MRX receiver has larger letters/numerals than the AVM's and D2. For my older eyes, this is a welcome bonus.
 
#1,125 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by favorini /forum/post/19460946


I have a Sub 12 with PBK and am planning to get the MRX 500 or 700. So I'm wondering whether it's better to run PBK and then ARC, or just ARC. I've heard two schools of thought:

1) Run PBK, then ARC, because PBK will fix the sub response and allow ARC to dedicate more resources to higher frequencies on the other speakers.

2) Just run ARC, because 3.0 does the lower frequencies well (same as PBK?) and you don't want multiple layers of digital processing if you can avoid it.


Any comments on this, especially from Nick? Might it depend on how much correction is need for the sub? I.e., if a lot, better to run PBK+ARC, if not much, just ARC?

Not Nick but I have done both. I have attached the two sub charts to compare the measured before and after and the correction. I am still using the combo since my lowest LFE sounds a bit tighter with both. I would suggest trying both. For two subs, use PBK first on both and then do ARC over it. Of course these are from my D2v measurements, not MRX.

John

 
#1,126 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony A. /forum/post/19461031


and to add to that comment, if one uses audyssey sub eq (svs as-eq1) to help out with multiple subs, should this be run before ARC?


also, how does ARC do natively when using 2 or more separate subs within a system?

My advice is to see first if ARC gives you a satisfactory solution on its own, without any EQ from the sub system. Generally speaking it is better to do less processing if you can. You'll be able to tell from the ARC charts if things are looking good.


If you decide you want to run a sub EQ system as well, then be sure to set that up first (with ARC turned off), then run your ARC Measurement so that ARC can hear the modified output of the sub due to its EQ system. It has to be done in that order because only ARC can blend the output of the main speakers with the sub, and to do that effectively ARC has to hear what the sub will produce during normal listening -- i.e., its output as modified by the sub EQ you decided to use.


--------------------------------------


ARC works just fine with multiple subs. It hears them playing as a set. You must manually set up the distance for the subs (use the average distance if they are different), the volume for the subs, and the Polarity/Phase for the subs.


The trick to setting up volume, polarity and phase is to power only one sub at a time and set each in turn. Keep in mind that volume adds. So for example with 2 subs the rule of thumb is to set each to 72dB SPL (using the volume knob on each sub) which will result in roughly 75dB SPL when they are played together. ARC will do any fine adjustment necessary on the volume trim for the combo of subs.


Similarly when setting Phase, you power one sub at a time and adjust its Phase to work best with the main speakers -- typically using the Left Front speaker as the surrogate for all the speakers. Set distance and do your rough volume balancing first (so that you can better hear the subtle difference between correct and incorrect Phase).


Phase operates near the crossover frequencies whereas toggling Polarity is like reversing the wires to the sub -- i.e., it affects all frequencies. That means that inverting Polarity is not the same as swinging Phase around 180 degrees. Thus you should find the best Phase for each Polarity setting and then decide which combo of Polarity/Phase is working better.


Now with more than one sub you can have cancellation not only between the sub and the main speakers (through the crossover frequencies) but also between the subs themselves (across ALL bass frequencies). And that's where Polarity comes in. The rule of thumb is to use "normal" Polarity for a sub in the front of the room and "inverted" Polarity for a sub at the rear of the room -- because the cone of the sub is facing the other direction.


You can use the Quick Measure feature to see the raw output of each sub and the combo of subs. Use Quick Measure with one sub powered at a time to refine your choice of location for each sub. Keep in mind that if you MOVE a sub you also need to recheck your choice of best Phase setting for it. If you get a good Measured curve in Quick Measure for each sub, but see problems when all the subs are powered, then that indicates you are having cancellation between the subs. Try inverting Polarity in one sub -- being sure to also switch to the matching, alternate Phase setting you determined for that Polarity when the sub was tested against Left Front.


If your subs have Phase controls but not Polarity controls, then problems of cancellation between the subs may be something you can only fix by repositioning a sub. At bass frequencies, even inches can make a difference. And again, if you move a sub, you must redetermine the best Phase setting for it (against Left Front).


Now ARC hears all of your subs playing at the same time, so it will Measure any bass response problems due to cancellation between the subs and attempt to correct such problems. Which means you must wait to Measure for ARC until AFTER you have done the best you can setting location, Polarity and Phase for each sub. If despite your Polarity/Phase settings the Measured curve for the combo of the subs still looks too poor (something you should be able to see more quickly using Quick Measure with all subs powered) even though the output of the individual subs looks good, then you will need to investigate alternate positioning for at least one of the subs.


ARC does *NOT* hear Phase problems between the subs and the mains because the test tones for the subs and any given main speaker are never playing at the same time. So again, setting up Phase (after choosing distance, volume, and Polarity) for each sub in turn is something that you need to do yourself using a sub phase test track from a calibration disc. And again, you need to do this before doing your ARC Measurement as Phase adjustments for any sub will alter how that sub cancels against any other sub.


After you've set all that, and run ARC, and gotten good looking chart results, you can verify that everything is working correctly by running a crossover sweep test (e.g, from the AIX audio calibration Blu-Ray) using that Uploaded ARC solution. This runs a test tone up and down through the crossover frequencies. If the volume sounds constant to your ear as the frequency sweeps up and down past the crossover, *AND* if the green Calculated curve for the sub combo looks clean in your ARC solution, then you can feel confident that you have eliminated cancellation problems both between the subs and the mains and also between the subs themselves.

--Bob
 
#1,127 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony A. /forum/post/19461031


and to add to that comment, if one uses audyssey sub eq (svs as-eq1) to help out with multiple subs, should this be run before ARC?


also, how does ARC do natively when using 2 or more separate subs within a system?

With AVM/D and one sub, just ARC. PBK does the same thing as ARC sub channel except set crossover so PBK isn't necessary.


With MRX and one sub - it depends on the room/speaker combo. You have to try and compare. PBK has twice the number crunching ability that ARC sub channel does, MRX-wise.


With multiple subs - balance levels to one another, match phase too if you're into tweaking, run PBK on each if available, run ARC on the lot either way.


With other sub EQ systems - you have to try and compare but always run sub EQ before running ARC. If you then turn off sub EQ, run ARC again. ARC has to hear the sub in the form it's in when playing movies and music. If it hears the wrong thing it'll correct the wrong thing. Since there are two ARC memories, Movie and Music, you might want to use one with sub EQ and the other without.


With subs that have considerable response below 20 Hz it might help to set sub hi-pass filter to Flat. This is in the advanced targets of ARC and PBK.
 
#1,128 ·
So Nick in a summary, ARC in the MRX is a more accurate correction system than XT32?


Jeff
 
#1,129 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by gostan /forum/post/19461140


I was not able to make a direct comparison, but at initial glance, it appeared to me that the readout on the lcd face of the MRX receiver has larger letters/numerals than the AVM's and D2. For my older eyes, this is a welcome bonus.

AVM characters are a little taller, about a pixel's worth, and a little narrower, same amount. Result: Characters are spaced not so far apart as on MRX. As well AVM has more characters (2x20 vs 2x16) which makes them appear even more condensed.
 
#1,131 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick @ Anthem /forum/post/19461314


With MRX and one sub - it depends on the room/speaker combo. You have to try and compare. PBK has twice the number crunching ability that ARC sub channel does, MRX-wise.

Just to clarify, if correction of the sub channel is "offloaded" to PBK, does that free up a corresponding number DSP resources to handle the other frequencies or are there fixed resources per channel or frequency range that will just go unused if no correction is needed in their domain? In other words, is there one big pool of correction resources (DSP) used across all channels/frequencies as needed, or is it partitioned in some way?
 
#1,132 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick @ Anthem /forum/post/19460875


One difference is that MRX allows not only flash stick but hard drive as well. When big name 1 TB drives sell for what 16 GB flash sticks did less than a year ago I'd say it's advantageous. Browse by song, album, artist, playlist, or folder. It's quick too, except when there are a thousand things in the view and a one-time indexing is needed. If cover art is embedded in the file it shows on-screen when the song is played, except with MRX 300.


Since there are two USB ports, a big drive might be connected to the back panel with the front USB left open for other random mass storage devices or multimedia section software update. Both jacks can be used at the same time. Something not always seen on receivers with multimedia capabilities is seamless integration - it won't feel like you're switching to another device with generic graphics when using USB, internet radio, or iPod dock, and that's because of in-house design.


Wav up to 96 kHz is supported. Flac is not (might change via software some day - no promises) but then with memory this cheap it hardly takes more than "select all and drag" into Flac Frontend to convert everything back to wav.


-----------------------


Summary of feature or functional differences between the three models:


MRX 500 vs 300: Bigger power supply and transformer (still EI), USB, internet radio, and when optional MDX 1 iPod dock comes out, digital tap, faster navigation, longer file name display, album art.


MRX 700 vs 500: Toroidal transformer, HD Radio, RDS.


ARC and preamp and video sections are the same.

Nick,


Are there any plans to use the Lan port currently used for internet radio as a media player like Denon, Marantz etc. Being able to use more than a flash drive is great but it requires hooking and unhooking the drive to the computer to update files.


Would a NAS solve that or is that just Lan based as well


Thanks for any info
 
#1,133 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by favorini /forum/post/19461492


Just to clarify, if correction of the sub channel is "offloaded" to PBK, does that free up a corresponding number DSP resources to handle the other frequencies or are there fixed resources per channel or frequency range that will just go unused if no correction is needed in their domain? In other words, is there one big pool of correction resources (DSP) used across all channels/frequencies as needed, or is it partitioned in some way?

Filters are allocated per channel and they're never unused in the sense that their object is to get response as close to target as possible.


If response is nasty enough such that both systems are needed to fill in a very deep notch, say 12 dB, then the best thing to do is reposition the sub where possible and avoid the issue (in each system gain limit is 6 dB by design). This is where Quick Measure comes in. If it's not possible to move the sub and response is this bad then using both EQs might be the answer (worst-case and I've never come across it).
 
#1,134 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by PGriff1051 /forum/post/19461553


Nick,


Are there any plans to use the Lan port currently used for internet radio as a media player like Denon, Marantz etc. Being able to use more than a flash drive is great but it requires hooking and unhooking the drive to the computer to update files.


Would a NAS solve that or is that just Lan based as well


Thanks for any info

It was considered, as was WiFi, but after surveying dealers and installers it was all decided against. The short answer... just leave it to the well known outboard boxes which can be connected as a source. They'll always be getting more features and price drops.
 
#1,135 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by JimP /forum/post/19459683


I'm pretty sure the question that many of us want to know is that if they're intending to use an Anthem receiver as a prepro, are there any advantages in going with the 700 over say the 300?

Or.... I've got a line on a used D2 (upgraded from D1) that I've been eyeballing. It's comparable in price to the 700 I believe, but would need the ARC upgrade done which would make it more expensive. I know the audio section is in a different league, but how comparable are the video solutions employed in the non-v D2 versus the MX series? I don't care about bitstreaming.
 
#1,136 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick @ Anthem /forum/post/19461689


It was considered, as was WiFi, but after surveying dealers and installers it was all decided against. The short answer... just leave it to the well known outboard boxes which can be connected as a source. They'll always be getting more features and price drops.

I fully agree with this thought. I am thoroughly enjoying the Pandora Radio on my Tivo Premiere, and it is a more enjoyable audio solution than some of the lousy sounding Internet Radio stations.
 
#1,137 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick @ Anthem /forum/post/19461494


I do not know of any controlled tests that would answer this or any similar question.

Nobody has thought to compare the two "best" systems out there head to head to see which one does a better job?


Thats mindboggling.


I can get head to head comparisons on pretty much any consumer product in existance, but not on this.....


I just want to know if my 2k is better spent on a denon with 11.2 or a anthem with 7.1.


I am using external amplification and I want a good sound processor to fine tune my DIY speakers.


Does the 300 use the same sound processing as the 700?


Jeff
 
#1,139 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Noxdowne /forum/post/19462191


Nobody has thought to compare the two "best" systems out there head to head to see which one does a better job?


Thats mindboggling.


I can get head to head comparisons on pretty much any consumer product in existance, but not on this.....


I just want to know if my 2k is better spent on a denon with 11.2 or a anthem with 7.1.


I am using external amplification and I want a good sound processor to fine tune my DIY speakers.


Does the 300 use the same sound processing as the 700?


Jeff

I had many Denons, NAD, the buggy UMC and moved on to the Anthem. IMO, the best sounding component that I have listened to. I have the MRX 700.
 
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