Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 445

Might be a silly question on my part, but are you running both HDMI and analog cables to your Anthem? For the selected device, in Main Source Setup on the Anthem menu do you have your "Main Audio Input" set as Analog? You can have a dedicated Input for your analog listening that can use the hdmi for video (OSD) and analog for audio input. Should work.

Yes, I have it set to CD-Main Audio is at Analog and Main video is HDMI 1. Ill check again but I think the advanced section is set at Analog 1 and that is what my rca cables are on...

Oh My God, yeah so had my two RCA's plugged into Zone 2...stupid me

Breakthrough!

It is going through the Roku via a Plex server, but the Roku cannot deal with FLAC files so it converts them at the server to MP3 and then they go to the Roku, then to the MRX. I will take a look at the software versions later tonight and see what I have on there. I do not think the MRX can read FLAC off the USB, but I could be wrong.

The mrx can't read flac files, only MP3 and wav as far as I know.

When converting flac to MP3, doesn't this result in a lossy signal being sent to the receiver?

I think it would be better to convert the flac to pcm and then send the decoded pcm signal to the receiver via hdmi. By converting to pcm, there is no loss in sound quality.

Well i finally had the house to myself, and ran some arc. First time i ran it sub came out at +5, so i re ran and turned gain up. So here is the 2nd time around. Please let me know what you think and some advice. On my right front there is a huge spike. Now i still need to adjust my acoustic panels and add some so i will remeasure when that happens but as of right now let me know your advice.





front L = +2
front R = +2
center = 0
surround L = -1
surround R = -2
sub = -4

When testing i turned sub up to -2 as i like to run it hot. But how do i keep it at that setting as when i turn off then back on it goes back to -4

To set the sub at a level and have it stay that way hit Setup on the remote. Once in the main menu go to Speaker Configuration then go to Level Calibration. To change the movie or music sub to a level and have it stay that way when you turn the system off and back on again press SEL(enter button) on the remote. Then while on the movie or music sub press the up or down arrow on the remote to change the level.

Always check the simplest things first.

Enjoying the sound so far, and without even have calibrated it yet with ARC. There is a very slight thinning in the middle but I think that could be from the wood floors and odd shaped room it's currently in along with having no sub for balance. If I had to come up with a couple of words to describe the unit, they would have to be smooth and clear.

I don't think I'll even bother calibrating until we get moved into our new place.

If you like your bass hot I'd suggest increasing room gain rather than breaking ARC by changing the trim on the sub.

Awesome thanks!


as in moving subs closer to corner? if so all i can really do is move forward and back. or do you mean manually adjusting room gain? I would like to get them closer to a corner but thats not going to happen.

I've seen it recommended by others in this thread not to go over 4.0 for the room gain. If it's not recommended to go over 4.0 and the bass is still thin what is the recommended way to increase the bass with ARC? I've tried the tone control but it increases the entire system bass and you looses detail. The only way I've found to increase the bass and still have detail is to do what most systems do and increase the sub level couple of dB.

ARC won't set the room gain parameter over 4 (Actually 3.9...) itself but it can be manually set higher. If you like your bass hot you can open your ARC file enter any value you want, recalculate and upload. The recommendation is probably because it's not natural but that's not what he is looking for.

Thanks for the reply. You're the first person I've found to give a reason for the not going over 4.0. Every other time I've read it's not recommended no one ever says why. I've also seen people say raising the sub messes up ARC. How does raising the sub with ARC differ from raising the sub with any other room correction system such as MCACC or Audessy? Wouldn't this technically mess up the other room correction systems as well? Isn't raising the sub with ARC the same as the others? Wouldn't it just increase the sub's level and leave everything else the same. I understand that it will change the sound by increasing the bass and that the system was calibrated with the bass at a certain level but that's how the other room correction systems work as well.

It's often been suggested that raising the sub with ARC is some how different than doing this with the other room correction systems. If it's different could you tell me how it's different? I think ARC sounds great but I want to understand some of the suggestions I've read because things like raising the sub with ARC seems to be taboo while with the other systems no one gives it a second thought..
Edited by Legairre - 1/18/13 at 7:59pm

Hi guys...just thought I'd share this because that peak in my mains was somewhat of a concern but I received a message from Dave@ Ascend....he explained the issue in that range are often due to floor bounce which is caused by direct and indirect waves....I'm sure some you you already knew this....but his explaination helped clear my mind and fwiw ....he was very happy with my in room response even prior ARC doing its thing.

Well I got a second MRX 500 as the first was defective. I only have about 2-3 hours listening and am pretty disappointed. I used to have an AMC HT81 and a Rotel RB950 (I think, was 50w/ch). I only have 2 front speakers. When I played Bruce Springsteen Live at Hyde Park (blue ray) with the old system, the sound was so good you thought the piano was in the room. With the MRX, it sounds like it's behind a pillow. I think I'm running the reference vs wide sound setting. I have not run ARC yet. My dealer is also one who doesn't accept returns & probably wouldn't accept an exchange as it was purchased over a month ago and I just haven't had time to play with it much. At this time, I'm not impressed.

That is a pretty dramatic difference for any change in high-end equipment. I went from a Proceed AVP and Amp5 to my MRX-500 (keeping my Amp5 inline) and I'm extremely happy with music listening in this setup. Something doesn't make sense here.

I did demo in the store and can't say I was blown away but it did sound good. I will keep working with it and hopefully I will find some good settings.

Dolby volume in my opinion is terrible and makes everything sound muddy, is it that you have it turned on?

It is also very strange that your dealer won't take returns or do an exchange? WTF, I sure wouldn't be recommending his business to anyone. That's a lot of money to drop if you aren't happy in the end.

Here are my latest ARC files:




It's changed my crossovers from my last ARC run. It now has left & right front at 80 hz, centre at 120, surrounds at 100 and my rears at 80.
It's also changed my speaker levels a bit too. I now have front left -1, centre -1, front right +1, surround right 0, surround left +1, sub +2

One thing I did differently from before was to position my mic better in the listening position. In any case, I think it sounds better than before. There's slightly more bass presence which has been a bugbear for me.
Edited by Canary_Jules - 1/19/13 at 9:33am

In my room ARC makes a big difference. I would run ARC and see how you like it with ARC engaged.

These graphs look really good, your cutoffs are good and so are your levels!

Proper mic placement can make a big difference, so no surprise things changed when you did that!

Now sit back and enjoy!

I've had an MRX 700 since December and loving it!
I have a difficult room configuration - cathedral ceiling, stairs on the back wall, and the center speaker is in a cabinet below the TV. The main listening position on the sofa is further from one side wall than the other (thus the unequal rear correction) but is directly in front of the center speaker.. The sub is partly behind am upholstered chair. But I am making the best of it.
Set up is Paradigm Studio 60's main, CC-490 center, Atom rears, and DSP-3200 sub.

I am thinking of putting some sound absorbing panels in the cabinet to improve the center response. Let me know what you think.

FL +1
C +3
FR +1
LR +3
RR +9
Sub -9

Thanks
Tony

This is sooo very true..amps do sound sonically different from one to the other...I have parasound,NAD,anthem,and krell...each one has its own sonic character,they all sound great..but slightly different!

Sorry to disagree..my parasound halo amp sounds different because its class A amplification
And sounds very very detailed and better than any amp I have ever listened to..and there's nothing wrong with it..lol

Darn my Rotel RMB-1095(200x5 wpc) and two Rotel RB-1050(80x2 wpc) amps must all be broken.

Originally Posted by lowkey37

Are you saying an amplifier has no affect on sound? If that was the case everyone would be using an 80 watt kenwood from walmart. I beg to differ. We can agree to disagree. During the life of my Krell 7.1 processor I employed amps from Bel Canto, Simaudio, Marantz and Krell. To my ears thay all had a unique sound and could easily be distinguished. I say this with all things being equal-sources, cables and speakers. I respect your opinion but to say that amps do not change sound is just off.


Why on earth would you have gone through that many amps if they all sounded great?

I was in a similar position with the 300. I just assumed a "hifi" dealer could at least match the big box stores of return within 14 days for no-qs-asked refund / exchange. Nope. The receipt clearly said opened boxes could not be exchanged, and refunds were out regardless. But, I was so disappointed I phoned them up and explained.... they agreed to an exchange provided the return was packaged "as new", which, luckily, I managed to do (never throw any wrapping stuff away!!). Give them a call, you may be surprised!

We have a winner! Thank you very much!!

I want to thank all the nice people on here that answer questions and solve problems. You guys are great!