Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 442

So I guess I can not use my transport/DAC combo with this avr?
My DAC costs more than the mrx300.. I really do not want to part with it
But..I really want the 300 to use as a pre-amp..is there any way around this?
Can I still use my transport/ DAC with this avr or do I have to sell my DAC and run transport into Mrx with a digital cable?.. Unfortunately this may be a deal breaker for me..the only other solution would be getting the marantz 5007 ..but I'm not digging the porthole front display..any solutions?

So I guess I can not use my transport/DAC combo with this avr?
My DAC costs more than the mrx300.. I really do not want to part with it
But..I really want the 300 to use as a pre-amp..is there any way around this?
Can I still use my transport/ DAC with this avr or do I have to sell my DAC and run transport into Mrx with a digital cable?.. Unfortunately this may be a deal breaker for me..the only other solution would be getting the marantz 5007 ..but I'm not digging the porthole front display..any solutions?

Sorry for double posting..dang tablet!

Oppo has the MRX 700, so Oppo can do some testings.

Thank you!... Looks good-nice review!.. On screen GUI looks very good.. Much better than the denon/marantz old school Atari look!

Any modern receiver that has correction built in is going to pass your signal through its DACs to do the room correction. And the room correction is likely far more significant to the sound you hear than the transport. However, there are analog inputs that you can use if you still want to use your transport. Just recognize that you will be going from digital to analog in your transport... than analog to digital on the MRX followed by digital to analog on the MRX. Instead of simply staying digital from your transport to the MRX and finally to analog.

Choice is yours, but for most people, the room correction is far more significant than the DACs in the transport and doing multiple D/A <> A/D conversions makes little sense.

If you want a "pure path" from your DAC to the speakers, no ARC obviously, you can use an analogue input and direct it to Zone 2. That configuration stays analogue all the way, but you would need to move connections for movies, etc, unless you have two setups.
Just a thought, Mike.

Sounds like the GUI on the 5 yr old Pioneer Elite receiver that my MRX replaced. The GUI on it looked like this Old school DOS Atari style.

Hello, new to the forum and considering the MRX 500 to match with my Goldenear Triton Cinema 2 and an Oppo bd103.
Been trying to catch up and read all this thread and it seems that some folks have had issues with this receiver and Oppo? Is this a compatability problem that i should be concerned about?

Anyone using the Anthem 300/500/700 with the Goldenears? Would love to hear your thoughts or anyone else that has an opinion. In particular how it relates to set up as the GE each have a built in powered subwoofer, and GE has a pretty firm recommendation for set up with the 50c center to maximize sq.

The other two receivers I am considering are NAD t757 and Marantz sr6007.... Again any opinions on how these stack up to the anthem would be appreciated.

Have demoed the Anthem and liked it, demoing the Marantz this week.

System will be used for 60% tv watching, 25% movies and 15% music.

Cheers

Well my DAC only comes into play when I listen to CDs..all other sources are HDMI.bypassing the DAC..so that may work..using zone two analog for CD/transport/DAC only..

That's my setup currently.

I just ordered an Anthem MRX 300 to go with amp. Sold my Emotiva UMC-1. It sounds great once it is calibrated but horrible re-sale on them. I have been on Ebay many years and never had over 35 people watching an item with only one bid in the end. I think it is other people wanting to know what they can list theirs for honestly. I don't even care if the SQ is good, I just want a reputable company from now on to buy from. I learned that in the end, the larger manufacturers obviously hike up prices but at the expense comes better engineering and technical support. ARC system setup here I come...

Here are my ARC graphs...what do you guys think?

Sound levels are as follows:
Ascend Towers LR & STC, Axiom Q4's numbers are as follows: FL+4, FR+4, STC+5, SUR L/R +9

Sub is a custon built Funkywaves AE12X...SUB-8





Edited by Billy p - 1/11/13 at 1:14pm

Can you post up your targets window?

Your sub is currently way to loud. If there is a level control on your sub, please turn it down 30%

My previous setup was Denon 3808 and Boston Acoustics 965's. I replaced the Denon before getting the Tritons and to coin a phrase I've read here often, "Getting the MRX with ARC is like getting a brand new set of speakers". My old BA's woke up. I now have the Triton 2's and the MRX 500. I've tried hooking it up direct, run as large, without the LFE as Sandy recommends but found that it sounds best overall using the LFE input and letting ARC do what it does. Concentrate on each individual speaker because ARC runs the generated tones for calibrating full range on the Tritons and the same levels will be used in the LFE channel. This will help in not having to pay too much attention to the levels on the LFE inputs. The MRX does a pretty good job taming some of my room issues (great room, cathedral ceilings, wall of windows). My RF speaker is in a corner and pulled away from the walls as much as possible but i still had to turn the LFE down to almost off with all the boundary gain that i have.

I have hopes that the new SS60C that was just introduced will go lower at volume than the 50 does. The lowest i can get out of it 100hz. Sandy is of the mind that the balance will be carried by the LF and RF speakers in a *virtual* speaker and he may very well be correct.

Overall, I am happy with this arrangement.

Yeah...I inadvertently raised the subs volume to 12:00 from its usual 10:00 position... whilst I was trying to defeat the internal EQ...doh. As for my target window....

"My previous setup was Denon 3808 and Boston Acoustics 965's. I replaced the Denon before getting the Tritons and to coin a phrase I've read here often, "Getting the MRX with ARC is like getting a brand new set of speakers". My old BA's woke up. I now have the Triton 2's and the MRX 500. I've tried hooking it up direct, run as large, without the LFE as Sandy recommends but found that it sounds best overall using the LFE input and letting ARC do what it does. Concentrate on each individual speaker because ARC runs the generated tones for calibrating full range on the Tritons and the same levels will be used in the LFE channel. This will help in not having to pay too much attention to the levels on the LFE inputs. The MRX does a pretty good job taming some of my room issues (great room, cathedral ceilings, wall of windows). My RF speaker is in a corner and pulled away from the walls as much as possible but i still had to turn the LFE down to almost off with all the boundary gain that i have.

I have hopes that the new SS60C that was just introduced will go lower at volume than the 50 does. The lowest i can get out of it 100hz. Sandy is of the mind that the balance will be carried by the LF and RF speakers in a *virtual* speaker and he may very well be correct.

Overall, I am happy with this arrangement."



thanks for that, will try this when and if i go with the Anthem

thanks hydrotex

Glad to see you had some time to run arc today billy!

My local dealer has offered me a good deal on a demo MRX-700 . He also said they could set up the system, including ARC for an extra $125. He said it would take one of his guys about two hours. Is this much labor involved? 2 hours to set up a 700 ??

Thanks...yeah...it was nice to see ARC flatten out those nasty peak with my surrounds ~200hz...I'll re run ARC at some point with my subs volume lowered and report back...the fronts looked fairly decent...as far as I could tell. I'll eventually run a set up for music and another for movies with some minor tweaks in the sub settings.

Thanks for your help both here and over at AH....

Do it yourself and save the cash. It's a very easy process.

Really when you think about it, remove old receiver and re-connect all the components to MRX, connect to computer and probably perform firmware update, then assemble ARC system, measure speaker distances, adjust sub gain and run ARC (5 times in different listening positions) then check all charts. If necessary, re-adjust and run ARC again. Upload config after completion and test.....by playing about 5-10 different movies.

You should be done by midnight I would think.

There was a point for me yesterday I woulda paid double that.. ARC is a lot more detailed from what I was used too with yammy or denon and even after the third trial run, I still messed up on the subs volume....



Fwiw...at some point you'll need to learn the software...it might as well be at the start of the process...IMHO.

Edited by Billy p - 1/12/13 at 5:52am

Thanks to everyone for responding to my post . I respect the opinions of all members of this forum . Although I really don't post on here alot, I do enjoy hanging out here and reading what people have to say. I currently have a Marantz SR5002 paired with a Marantz MM9000 five channel amplifier. I have Sierra One bookshelfs as the front three in my 5.1 system, accompanied by a Velodyne SPL1200R subwoofer. My SR5002 has never given me one ounce of trouble. But it does not even have Audyssey onboard. Just some generic room equalization from Marantz. I tried using it, but the results were way off, so I did it myself with a trusty Radio Shack meter.

I have narrowed my choices down to The Marantz SR7005, the Marantz AV 7005, or the MRX700. I can get either Marantz through Amazon. So I would in effect have a free 30 day trial with either one. If I purchase the MRX 700 from my local dealer and am not satisfied, I would just be stuck with it should I not like it. He also said the MRX 700 has ample power for my 14' x 13' room, and he said I have to decide whether I want to calibrate the MRX700 with or without the amp, because the results would be different. To make my decision even more difficult, the SR7005 is being offered on Amazon for less than a grand, new and sealed from an authorized dealer. The AV 7005 is only a couple hundred dollars more. So now we are talking $500-$700 more for the MRX700. I would appreciate any advice on this matter.

How would I connect a DAC to my Oppo player and then to the Anthem? I read that there was something odd about the MRX and using DACs?

I second the "it might as well be at the start of the process"... but really, once you had played with it (even though the sub needed to be turned down) it wasn't that bad once you got comfortable with the whole system, was it?

When you have a chance, fixing the sub would be a good plan.

Your sub also appears to go really low (sub 20db) without a problem. You are likely a good candidate for setting the sub to "Flat".

Your center is doing very nicely.

Your surrounds have an interesting spike at 200, as you noticed, but ARC is taking care of it. What is interesting is the spike on the surrounds and the dip on the fronts at about 180? Likely this is do to speaker design or possibly speaker design for one set of speakers and some room affect on the other set. Still you would usually expect them to be more similar, not opposite each other.

ARC has worked hard to fill the dip on your fronts around the 150-200hz range, but it is a really big dip and is more than ARC can fill. I'm not sure if there is much you can do about it. You could try moving the speakers slightly using Quick Measure to see if there is a room component to the dip that you can help improve some.

On the whole, things are looking pretty good once you fix the sub. And you may find fixing the sub helps the other spikes and dips as well... sometimes it helps when you are not having to increase the gain on the main speakers to match the overpowering sub.

If he is including ARC, than yes, easily 2 hours. Especially if you are 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

Here are some ball park numbers to help you understand how long ARC alone may take...

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1289533/anthem-mrx-receivers-300-500-700-owners-thread-tweaking-guide/7770#post_21300532

Keep in mind, you often need to run ARC, make adjustments, than run it again. So, once you have an idea of your initial time estimate, multiply that by say 3 runs...

If you plan to have the installer do all the installation work, I would stick by his side during the ARC portion so you can see what he is doing. Really it is not that hard and hopefully he can show you what he is doing and you will feel more confident doing it yourself next time!

I'll run the sub flat when I re run ARC....yeah the sub is soild! The spike with the surrounds is likely due to boundary reinforcement casued by corner loading them as well as being a quad pole design...I'll be looking to swwitch them out in due time. As for the mains...I'll try & move them about and see if that helps as you can see in my pics they have room to breath but its easier to fix a peak than a dip/or null.