Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 456

Oh Oh

Here comes the AVS "everything sounds the same" groupthink.

All the review websites should just shut down or endlessly talk about speaker correc......, Oops! I mean "room correction".

Regurgitating from 1990 magazine articles only the ideas and points they CHOOSE and ignoring the rest. Some even quote the owners manual or dealer in what is...is.

And an argument (with the usual putdowns and LINE-BY-LINE quotes) to negate ANY point or opinion they decide NEEDS to be squashed out before it can catch on.

They NEVER own a $199 Denon receiver connected to the speakers with coat hanger wire, however. Odd? I've read "you can't POSSIBLY tell the difference". (there was an article about the coat hanger) But the $$$ and over-priced (by their own admission) product THEY bought is JUST RIGHT.

Sad thing is, I agree with them MORE than I disagree. But the arrogant absolute with obvious "what THEY own" hypocrisy makes me push away from their self-concratulatory "you're all idiots unless you agree with me" attitude.

It's a BIG reason many people only come on this forum occasionally for help. Those couple dozen or so posters knock out hundreds.

And no, I'm NOT talking about HDMI cables.

And, of course, Bose products are the obvious exception to the above comments.
Edited by dean-l - 2/16/13 at 6:19pm

similar for me - initially wasn't impressed with the sound and bass. i immediately tweaked my sub level and slowly increased the level the Anthem db to +4 but ended up with +2 as +4 db was just so much LFE, the walls were shaking.

I want to follow up:

When i bought the '500 like i said in posts in this thread, I wasn't impressed, plus i had static coming from my center speaker, which is still there, but i now can hardly hear it at all. My dealer ordered a replacement that is still waiting for me to pick up that was ready back in September. I don't want to be without this thing. It has literally spoiled me.

If i turn the lights really low or maybe even off, the suspension of belief is so impressive. The sound seems to not come from speakers, but the room.

I re-visited Casino Royale after almost a half year and it just sounds amazing wtf. The Day the Earth Stood Still, CH2? alien landing,the LFE wtf. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Kremlin explosion..I mean it performs so well, I almost feel guilty?(btw Tai Chi Zero's picture is one of the best along with great DTS HD audio) Mind you the RF series Klipsch speakers I have and SVS Sub, i've had them since 2005...SAME EXACT SPEAKERS...but this is not the same sound. Now couple this with an OPPO BDP 95 and a Kuro 111FD and you may begin to understand my fleeting sense of guilt...but i SHALL remain guilty. Highly recommended product and money well spent for me.

If that's actually true, write it up and submit it to the Journal of Audio Engineering for publication. It would be a blockbuster result, as nobody has ever found such fanciful things before.

You waste money on all that snake oil crap and only one run sub?

Try properly calibrated multisubs and better speakers before "power cords" or whatever brand amps, for that matter. A good general rule is to allocate one's resources more heavily to things that actually matter, and relatively less on the commodity parts.


No, they should talk about loudspeakers, too. But most of what purple prose-sters focus upon is just so much useless fluff. The audio world would be a better place with fewer idiots-with-megaphones in the Jonathan Scull/Steve Guttenburg mold.

I won't buy a Denon again because their after-sales support is risible. However, if the MRX 300 were $199, or if Pioneer or Yamaha had the same room correction in a $199 part...I think most people would rather pay $200 than $1000 for equivalent functionality.

Do you know of a $199 AVR with room correction on ARC's level, and Quick Measure? Let me know so I can buy one tomorrow and sell my MRX! (And yes, I also have a Sherwood R-972 with the fantastic Trinnov room correction system, though I didn't buy it at the current ridiculously low prices.)

As for coat hanger speaker wires, they are an electrical hazard (if not necessarily to the user, certainly to downstream amplification) just lying on the floor! Hopefully everyone uses insulated speaker wires.
Edited by DS-21 - 2/16/13 at 10:51pm

+1

A few know-it-all posters ruin it for this forum.

Anyone feel free to read them again.

Case closed.

Couldn't even resist to avoid LINE-BY-LINE quoting.

AVS could be a MUCH nicer place

Just a dozen or so.

P.S. I increased my center channel 2 clicks. MUCH better. Doesn't sound out of balance at all. Plus, I can lower the overall volume. It was one BIG area that i thought the Arcams I tried were MUCH better CC clarity. But with a little bump, maybe that negates it. Even I, trusted ARC a little too much on that one.
Edited by dean-l - 2/17/13 at 1:45am

Hey...like I said its just my opinion,my ears my money etc..it only matters to me,its my system. Its OK if you don't or can not tell a difference..that's like saying arc and audessey are the same!.. Let's just enjoy what we have and enjoy our music & movies..and I will not bring up cables or tweaks again!.. We are all here for one reason..that is to enjoy this hobby and talk about our systems and setups..etc..I am sooo sorry!

I agree it's each persons money and ears so as long as that person is happy let's get back on topic and talk MRX and ARC. Otherwise we descend into that endless wire and cable debate.

Hey to you pros out there...I want to run arc again..its been 2 weeks of listening. And it sounds good,just not as great as I anticipated
Can I just set it all up and run and download the new settings over existing ones ? And do I have to go into the menu and turn arc off for my sources before I run arc again?
By the way I'm getting excellent video processing from the Mrx!
Thanks for your help

Totally agreed..sorry again..but..its..just..oh never mind...ha ha...loving my Mrx..

All you have to do is setup the mic, run ARC and upload it again. No need to turn off ARC in the menu first.. Also any of the sources you had ARC on for will still be set to ARC on.

Edited by Legairre - 2/17/13 at 6:40pm

I have an Anthem MRX 300.

I was watching The Perks of Being a Wallflower this weekend and noticed in the scene at the football game (from 12:30-13:30) there is a lot of static coming from my center channel. I've been starting to think I'm hearing static during some dialogue during recent viewings of other movies, but this one scene was really hard to ignore.

I've already swapped speakers and speaker wire and the problem persists.

If anyone has this movie on blu-ray, can you please view this scene and let me know if static coincides with the dialogue (and sounds of the crowd)? The static even continues on to the next scene when they arrive at the restaurant, so it doesn't seem like something specific to the blu-ray. I'd obviously like to find out that others hear this static, otherwise it's something specific to my setup (and possibly the Anthem). =(

Thanks to anyone that can fire this scene up and check it out!

Lol...what's code?
By the way legairre thanks for your help with my setup!
I need to get my posts up..I'm not to impressedwith arc yet,but I know its there,just need to get it set up and tweak to get it just right..sounds very good..just not blown away...yet!

Hey no problem glad to help. Oops, sorry I'm not sure how code got there. Have you posted your graphs, target window and and speaker settings yet? If you don't have paint you can hold the CTRL button and while it's down press the PRNT SCRN button. Then just open Microsoft Word and paste them into a blank document and upload them.
Edited by Legairre - 2/17/13 at 7:25pm

And it's very poorly optimized, if you have blown cash on charlatan power cords but run a single subwoofer. Anyone who cares about fidelity to the source material in the upper bass will run multiple distributed subwoofers. That's just a lot more important than any wire, power conditioner, amp, etc.

No, and that kind of statement only shows the ignorance of its maker.

No reasonable person of good faith could find that 'measured flat bass, a 2kHz 'crappy speakers compensation notch,' and a deliberate treble rolloff" (i.e. Audyssey) compared to "'bass swell' down low, flat midrange target, and no correction in the top two octaves at all" (i.e. ARC, as implemented in the MRX) is remotely the same thing as one damn hunk of wire compared to another. Sorry.

Do you sell the snake-oil stuff or something?

I hear someone's posting how expensive replacement power cords and Best buy HDMI cables improve SQ in an Onkyo thread.

Someone needs to go over there and CORRECT them with their SUPERIOR knowledge

Fortunately, we have been well versed on the subject in the MRX thread. Time to help others.

I know I'LL never buy one now.

Anyone have some ARC charts to post?
Edited by dean-l - 2/18/13 at 3:56am

No I did not apply correction values to the Rat Shack.

-G

No I do not sell cables..I sell granite slabs..and have been setting up a/v for friends etc since 1988.. Back when Dolby surround was king/!
Hey..I dropped the conversation,maybe you could do the same!.. Let's just talk arc/Mrx and enjoy each others conversations with out putting off ones believes.. Cool?.... Cool...

Short answer: Don't worry about your system.

I watched this movie a couple of nights ago. I noticed crackling sounds from the center channel on the football scene and another scene that I can't remember. I was at first concerned about the speaker, even though I wasn't playing very loud and I've never had that problem before. But it goes away after a couple of minutes. I suspect it was a microphone channel clipping during recording of the soundtrack for that scene. Rather surprising that no one caught it and fixed it before it got released.

We're not the only two that have noticed it. Take a look at the audio section of this review: http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/8066/perks_wallflower.html.

Sorry for the OT. Back to cables! Oh wait . . . back to ARC!

Edit: I should say also, that I'm not currently running an MRX, so this problem is not MRX-specific.

I recently received my MRX-500 (had been using a loaner MRX-300); I ran ARC, uploaded the calcs, saved everything. It sounds better than it did without ARC (although it sounded great with just my trusty RS SPL)...anyways, I have no expertise in what the graphs mean (I have been through most of this thread). I have a 5.1 setup. Here are my graphs-any critique would be appreciated....

Hi could you also post your target window and speaker level? Thanks

Hi, I'm a newbie to the Anthem receivers. After much research I purchased a MRX 500. I absolutely love it. I'm having a couple of issues. First, I tried to hook up my Arcam cd 27 to my MRX 500 with analog cables but cannot get any signal to the receiver. Is there a setting I am missing? Secondly, I cannot get a video signal to my tv (Panasonic 55" plasma - TC-P55ST50) with my LG blu ray player(using HDMI cables), only audio. I'm looking at purchasing an Oppo 103 brd in time. Sorry for such a 'rookie' post but I'm puzzled. Definitely still have a lot to learn.

You still didn't post your speaker levels. But given the performance of your speakers, ARC looks to have done a great job.

How does it sound?

It sounds great; as I stated previously, it sounded great when I just set levels with my RS SPL....When I open the saved file, I see the graphs (as posted) and the targets (2nd post)...but I do not know where to get the speaker levels in that file.....I looked at all the options/menu's, but still do not see speaker levels. I mean, I can get them off the setup screen in the MRX (if that is what you mean) speaker configuration menu.....Oh well, this IS the first time I have ever dealt with a prepro with anything above basic level speaker calibration (with RS SPL)...so everything is a learning curve. But I am more than satisfied with the musicality of the MRX. I was looking at really upgrading the HT part of my systems (I have 2nd, dedicated audio system), but the MRX has more than surpassed that system for sound. It has really melded well with other parts of my HT setup (Speakers, BDP, Streaming, DVR).

Speaker levels come from the on-screen Anthem menu, not from the ARC software.

Got it...
Will post tomorrow.....

Okay, hopefully this will give more insight into my previously posted ARC measurements-

Off the MRX-500-
Front L: +3
Front R: +2
Center: +1
Surr L: -1
Surr R: -2
Movie Sub: -1
Music Sub: -1

I could not get ARC to recognize the MRX.

I have loaded the original ARC CD, downloaded version 3.0.2 as well although I have no idea whether it is over top of the original file or not.

I have tried removing the original ARC file

I am using a Windows VIsta PC and a BYTECC BT-DB925 USB to serial adaptor

It has the following features:

1.1 and 2.0 compliant
Supports over 1Mpbs data transfer rate
Supports remote wake up and power management
Supports Windows Vista

After trying to reinstall the original disc and download another version of the latest software from Anthem I now get the message:

"program can't start because vcomp.dll is missing"

WTF is going on? Beyond frustrated

It sounds like your problem lies with your serial adaptor not being recognized. I would go with the adaptor that Anthem recommends