Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 346

Thanks. I also have problem for non 3d some times need to press volume button multiple times to respond. I see Logitech receiver blinking, but MRX does not respond.

I will consider RS 232 control system in future. Appreciate if you can share name or model number of RS 232 control system so that I will research.

I use a Crestron System - They have been supporting RS232 forever.

It is NOT User Programmable - I am a Crestron Programmer since 1996.

You would be amazed what it can do - Programmability is TOP SHELF.
It is a Professional Control System.

That's a pretty good question, considering what the Anthem boxes offer. One obvious answer is that sound is usually not the dispositive factor in the purchase of an audio part.

Also, in addition to jayray's comments, it seems there's a persistent feeling that the Anthem boxes "lack features." I don't honestly get it. The only thing I ever did with all of the extra "features" on the Denon 4308 I used previously was use the web interface to rename inputs. Otherwise, I've never felt like the Anthem box couldn't do something that I actually used on the "feature-packed" 4308.

Lastly, I think one should state the obvious: Anthem's market penetration is limited because they make the legitimate business choice to only sell through audio salons and CI dealers. I get the feeling most of this stuff is sold over the internet today. Also...while the CI guys seem more honest from my experience, most audio salons are run by (admittedly, perhaps forced by economic necessity to be) slimeballs who put the hard sell to move scam products such as expensive signal and speaker wires, and even today the travesty that are "high end" USB and power cords. Every time I go into one of those dens of idiocy to potentially purchase something, I invariably walk out annoyed that I wasted my time with such con men. And empty-handed. I bought my MRX 300 from a local CI dealer, after e-mailing all of the local dealers for a price quote, and when they came back basically the same sending a follow-up email with a question about wires. The one who got the sale was the only one who answered in a non-idiotic fashion.



Because you want a McIntosh. And for whatever reason, you think it's better. That is a separate issue from whether it actually is better.

(The reason I use a McIntosh head unit in my car is because it looks like it was designed by adults, rather than by teenaged video game addicts like most car head units.)


Question: did you take a look at the thread I posted, showing the response of my multisub system prior to room correction?


Actually, those are more likely to be the people who have swallowed the line the the MRX's amps are anything but perfectly competent but bog standard Chinese commodity parts, just like every other AVR'S AMPS....


If there was a $250 Onkyo with room correction as good as ARC, I would've considered it.


Because sound's not dispositive. When someone does offer a product with the potential to give better sound in the room (such as the Anthem AVR's, thanks to ARC) it's not necessarily widely adopted. People tend to prefer sizzle over steak in audio.


Agreed. Talking to Andrew when I received my first unit (which had a dead HDMI board) was night-and-day different from trying to get useful information from Denon's tech support.


An audio amplifier does one thing: it takes an audio waveform, and makes it bigger. That's it.

There are many approaches to perform that one very simple task competently.


If you're going to make that argument, please use a loudspeaker that doesn't sound like a bad car radio. It's trivially easy to get higher fidelity than WATT/Puppies offer for $2k or less. Now, a really really well-engineered five-figure speaker, such as a KEF Reference, or Revel Ultima, or Gradient Revolution...alas, one can't get to that level of sonic refinement and general excellence without spending the coin...

What kind of music do you like? That will drive where you look more than anything else. Once people know that, recommendations can flow.

But regardless, I would recommend a disk player that can play DVD-A and SACD. You can get one cheaply these days. Oppo's players are notably excellent performers, and their after-sales support is exemplary as well. I only have firsthand experience with their BDP-83, though since you have another player for Blu-Ray you should probably try to find one of their older DVD players that does SACD and DVD-A over HDMI. I don't know the model numbers, sorry.

And on the AppleTV, feed it music stored in Apple Lossless (ALAC) burned yourself from CD using iTunes. Often there's no difference between reasonably-high-bitrate AAC (192kbps+) or even MP3 (256kbps+) and ALAC, but sometimes there is. Downloaded tracks have no quality guarantee. I no longer even look at HDTracks, because many of their offerings are simply standard-resolution tracks with extra bits of noise added.

Thanks. My tastes are varied. My issue was ignorance as to the best source and media to use. The answers to my original post got me going in the right direction, I think. I can see an OPPO 93 in my near future and sell the existing Blu Ray player.

Any favoritism as to which Media (SACD, BluRay -A, DVD-A)? Best source to buy from?

The formats are all basically equivalent. What sonic differences there are come from the master/mix rather than the format. (And some of them do sound fairly different. For instance, the SACD and DVD-A of "Tommy" are quite different, and it's worth owning both if you're a fan of The Who. However and with the caveat that I've only heard the SACD on my system once, Beck's "Sea Change" seems basically the same on SACD and DVD-A.) Two-channel mixes are often a little better than the CD releases, though there's no technical reason the same mix can't be on CD and sound exactly the same. Good discrete multichannel blows any 2-channel recording I've heard away.

Blu-Ray doesn't currently have much in the way of music-only disks. At least, not many have caught my attention. Some of the concert disks sound great (e.g. Adele at Royal Albert Hall). Hopefully it will take off as an audio medium sooner or later, because more people probably have Blu-Ray players than SACD or DVD-A players.

DVD-A seems more-or-less dead, but there are a bunch of good pop/rock releases still available (e.g. the aforementioned Tommy, R.E.M.'s Green/Out of Time/Automatic for the People,).

SACD seems the format of choice for "classical music," (e.g. Dmitri Kitayenko's Shostakovich symphony cycle) and some of the iconic "SQ" classic rock albums (e.g. Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Brothers in Arms).

As for where to buy, I look to local record shops, as well as Amazon.

Thanks, I had not been very open minded and only searched for "D1" in the thread.

I have an Oppo 93 connected via HDMI to Anthem mrx300 and can really recommend this setup. It allow me to just thow anything in it without looking if it is a SACD, DVD Audio oder BD Audio (I have all 3). Of those, SACD has the widest selection, more classical than pop. For reviews and buying info I recommend www.sa-cd.net.

I'm tempted with a MRX300 but also would like to upgrade my speakers to XTZ 99.36s which are very very highly regarded .... But are 4 ohms

Will these be ok with the Anthem that states min 8 ohms ?

Btw what is lowest crossover on the MRX range ?

There is a standard answer to these types of questions: it depends on the size of your room and the sound levels you are trying to reach. You CAN run 4 ohm speakers with MRX 300 if your room is not too large and/or you are not trying to reach ear-splitting levels. Otherwise, you may need to step up to MRX 700 or stay with MRX 300 and add a power amp to assist MRX with some or all of the speakers.

Example: the Toronto dealer where I got my MRX 700 told me that a customer initially bought MRX 500 to drive MKS speakers that are 4 ohm in a fairly large room. He was not completely happy so he came back for Anthem PVA 7 power amp, and is now happy. Meanwhile, I am using B&W 800 series bookshelf speakers (8ohm nominal, goes down to about 4) with MRX 700 sitting 9 feet from the speakers, and wasn't able to make MRX distort once.

Another reply you will get often on this thread is to start with MRX 300, then add an amp if you need it. Separate amps (if you have the room and funds) are a good purchase because they age well and can be retained while you go through several front ends.

I agree, go with the MRX300, if you need a power amp, you've saved $1k by not buying the MRX700, that's plenty to buy a 3 or 5 channel amp.

The lowest crossover support on the MRX range is 60.

Looks like our tastes are in parallel. Thanks for the education.

Thanks!

How is FW v50.23 holding up? I'm on v50.12. I skipped v50.19 because of reported lock ups. Thanks.

I was on v50.19 and experienced lockups; since I moved to v50.23, no lockup yet.

Just want to let DS21 know that there are some dealers that are not "slimeballs" and do sell better, and reasonably priced cables and speaker wire (Audioquest) rather than throw-ins that some use. And, no, there is no hard sell. All cables and wire (as well as equipment) are sold with a money-back guarantee. Our business is based on satisfied clients, not a one shot, wham, bam, thank you mam model. You must really have had some bad retail experiences and undoubtedly there many such places out there. Just shop carefully with a dealer who truly wants you happy, satisfied and RETURNING.

Same scam, (sometimes) lower price. Audioquest is not better than wire from Monoprice or any other generic supplier whatsoever. It's just (sometimes) more attractive and (always) considerably more expensive. They do, after all, have to pay for all of those disgusting advertisements!

Anyone who pushes Audioquest wire on someone by claiming any sonic improvement compared to generic wire is, in my view, absolutely a slimeball con-man. In fact, at one of the Anthem dealers who did not get my business, he did not get it because he recommended Audioquest wires on bogus "sound" grounds. He also had a line in the e-mail about "not being able to buy a decent power cord" for the price of the wire package he offered, which really made my skin crawl.

(And for the record, my analog unbalanced interconnects are all Audioquest ITC series, because I like the ease of making custom lengths and terminating them with no tools save a coax stripper. Though I admit if Audioquest had been running their asinine and offensive "just one's [sic] and zero's [sic]" ad campaign to hawk scam USB wires when I bought the stuff, I would never have considered them as a viable supplier.)

Best answer is simply to try it. I'm not convinced that the minor PS upgrades in the more expensive Anthems materially increase low-Z drive capability. But even if they do, if 300 doesn't work you should be able to find a new or used 3+ channel amp that's safety-certified by an OSHA-approved NRTL for under the price difference between the 300 and the 700. Sherwood Newcastle's A-965, for instance, is a safety-certified 7-channel amp that is often available very cheaply, and is a very powerful amp with a noise floor in the same exalted class as the best of Bryston, McIntosh, and Anthem Statement. (It is extremely large, though. Any Class AB amp with that much power will be.)

Do be aware, though, that many brands of cheap amps do not carry the proper safety certifications, which is one reason why they're cheaper. Emotiva is one such offender, which is why I don't recommend them even though sonically they're just fine.

I cannot fathom why one would want to assume the risk of a non-certified high-voltage box in one's home, though.

Hi Chaps!! Bought an MRX 300 lastr week to replace my Onkyo 905, love it to pieces !! It walks all over the 905 ! After reading your threads though I'm obviously at the beginning! Im using Dali Ikon 5 Mk 2's and a Rel R505 on the mains ( speaker level neutrik connection ) and for the .1 channel. I'm also using a Rel Quake to support the centre channel ( speaker level neutrik connection). Am i best running arc set up with the neutrik leads connected or should they be disconnected during set up?? Regards - Geoff

I did run arc with the neutriks disconnected, then connected them and adjusted to my liking but you guys seem to tweak and tweak with improvements all the time, I guess i'm after a head start!!

One suggestion is yu may want to change your user name! LOL

Barry

What is 'speaker level neutrik connection'?

Yes - maybe "reformed onkyo kid" would be better!!

REL sub uses a Neutrik connector for speaker level connection, even for their very small sub, the connection method is a bit different, if I recall correctly it takes signal from your receiver's speaker output. I had one long time ago so can't remember exactly how it was done.

Run ARC with the R505 connected. Otherwise it will not correct or account for the sub when creating it's solution. Running ARC without it connected and then connecting it afterwards will compromise any corrections that ARC has implemented in the operating range of the R505.

Oh yes Reformed!!!

Thanks Giraffe ! I'll get it done and let you know how I get on!!

Its a speaker level input. On REL and BK subs you can connect to the speaker level outputs on your AV or stereo amp and use the subs crossover and volume control to blend into your main speakers ( well worth the effort ) and connect to your .1 channel at the same time. There's 2 volume controls on the RELs, one for .1 and speaker level so that you can tailor it to your amp and listening room

How do I change my user name Lol