Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 7

Maybe, MRX900

Ugly truth vs. Beautiful lie.

-Faithful signal without dsp is pure.
-Manipulated signal with dsp applied is distorted.

The important part is which sounds better?

My primary reason for considering the anthem in the first place is ARC. It's probably one of the mrx's best, if not the best selling feature. It would be silly to purchase the mrx and not take advantage of ARC.

It would be like buying a meridian 2 channel dsp processor and bypassing it.

+1

+2 no seriously, arc is doing things to my system that i never thought possible. sound quality is remarkable. for once in my life, my system is dynamic, yet delicate, explosive and tactile. i have seen the light!!

+3 but to add i feel less is more. im glad Anthem left out all the bells and whistles. the number two reason i sent back my onkyo 1007 last year that was DOA.

Hey Anthony,
What AVR did you have before the MRX? Did it have Audysee? If so how does the ARC compare to it?

Maybe not as the MRX 900 is just a little out of my budget. Hopefully Anthem will announce a lower cost prepro based on the MRX line for those looking for prepro. AVM 25 maybe?.

I'm not sure if you are referring to a 7.1 analog input or analog bypass as being a bell and whistle feature. I sure do not see it that way. But to each his own and I'm sure Anthem will have much success with the MRX lineup.

Bill

The unintended consequence of direct mode for a prepro's stereo inputs, something in our products since 2001, is countless requests for the ability to use a sub at the same time. This would be of little value because analog filters add more noise than using DSP to get the job done.

Today ARC is in the mix along with desire to return to less complicated setup. The number of people who have been saying that there are too many things in the menu outnumber those who have been saying that there aren't enough. DSP+ARC vs direct has been compared countless times on the prepros which do have direct mode and the results are to my knowledge unanimous. Without an ARC demo I don't know how much more there is to say.

Is the dialog norm offset shown as part of the OSD Info display? If not any plans to add it? And is the OSD volume like the D2v where it is only text or is it surrounded by a black box?

how about DTS-MA + DPLIIx - is that possible ? not many Blurays are 7.1 - so being able to fill in a "simulated" rear I something I use a lot

I use DTS (core/legacy) + DPLIIx as my preferred 7.1 surround option for Blurays on my 59TXi and it works very well

I just heard back from Anthem tech support and they replied that unlike the manual suggests it IS possible to apply DPLIIx to DTS sound tracks. Can any owner with a 7.1 setup test this? Thanks.

To be clear, it is possible through on the fly selection i.e. select PLIIx after pressing Audio. Note that it will not return to PLIIx if mode preset is Last Used, so selection has to be made each time DTS is played.

This could all change in the future. I don't know when or by how much.

If it is possible, then why not let it be a selection in the "Listening Mode Presets"? Sounds like a simple mistake/omission?

My recollection from last weekends' demo is that it is surrounded by a black box.

This may be a bit of a stream of consciousness so I apologize ahead of time

Comparing the digital output of my Essence ST soundcard with its analog out to the MRX-700. I can say that using the digital input to the MRX sounds much better to me than using the analog even after rolling op amps in the soundcard. I'm not sure, that would be the case if I sent it analog from say an Arye Dac, a W4S DAC2 or a Oppo BDP-83SE.

I think part of the problem is that most 2ch audiophiles have been educated that it's all about bit perfect (digital) and purity (no more additional processing than necessary).

In computer audio all you hear about is bit perfect low jitter digital transmission to a DAC (either an external box or in a receiver). You have many pre/pros and receivers that market direct analog inputs with no signal processing or direct analog inputs with no signal processing that turn off the video boards because they make noise. Audiophiles have been educated that, Less is more.

It's difficult for a person to get their arms around the fact that you can spend 2X the price of an MRX-700 on an external DAC. Yet at the end of the day, you are totally dependent on the A/D conversion and ARC software in the Anthem being good enough that the quality of that 2X external DAC still makes a difference.

Conversely, just because something has a direct (unprocessed) analog input doesn't mean it sounds good. I used a Cary 303-200 CDP with an Anthem D2, Pioneer SC-07, and an Integra 9.8 in direct mode and I can tell you that the Integra was terrible because of its analog input stage. Sum of the parts is more important than a minimalist approach but changing the audiophile paradigm (no pun intended) that been passed down the audiophile family tree that less is more in 2 channel audio is difficult. To that end, I'd like to get a high-end USB dac for my music player but don't want to spend the money knowing that what I hear from it may have more to do with Anthem's influance on the sound than that of the DAC

I guess it can under the circumstances, and if there was no mode preset menu or other precedent everything would have appeared alright. The fact is that it's been an action item since the handbuilt prototype days, along with other features. Way back when, there was no Dolby post-processing on DTS source and vice versa on the prepros either. It was added through software later, the difference being that no one outside the company requested it or knew it was coming.

No plan to have it displayed beyond minimum requirement (front panel) and this is giving me flashbacks of the many tech support calls I used to get from people who thought it was some kind of error message.

PGriff, very nicely put, couldn't have said it better myself. The main thing is that we all enjoy our systems whatever they may be, and however they are configured. Tim

Where can one buy one of these receivers ?
No dealers in Memphis.

I have no problem with people enjoying their individually condfigured systems but we are on a forum with the word Science in it. So it seems reasonable that there might be the odd debate about specific claims made by posters and it would also follow that anyone here could then challenge those claims. If we want to feel good about our systems, perhaps we should go back to our dealers, surely they'll tell us
John

Thanks for the explanation. I hope it can be added because if I would have to select it manually each time I think I would find it unusable.

denon 4310.

agreed. or some kind of rear channel matrix to implement with the standard surround modes would be just as good. my previous denon 4310 avr had this feature and it was welcomed greatly.

I just traded in my Abthem AVM30 and MCA5 for an MRX 500. It will come ina bout a week apparently. I have about 10-15 spare cables now! Anyone wanna buy some Transparent RCA and balanced cables?

I can't wait. ARC here I come.

My Denon 3311 can do it, so I can't see why the anthem wouldn't do it.

" I do miss being able to change Listening Modes on the remote and this is a huge omission by Anthem.[/b] Sort of reminds me of the early days with the D2, and I see that thread is running over 10K repsonses." Quote




This thread is way over my head technically. I've owned lots of amps, preamps etc for simple music listening and movie watching. Dobly Digital/dts type stuff. But all this technology now is mind blowing.

To the comment above as a quote. You mean to tell me the remote doesn't have all the music/movie mode buttons on it and you have to manually go over to the tuner to change the listening mode??

Also, I'm interested in HD radio. I just bought a Marantz SR 8002 but still NIB, which I can return, and was considering trading up the the SR-7005.

However, I just saw the Anthem today and really liked it, but it's a first generation piece and I'm leary about dropping near 2K on a "receiver" as you hear so many stories about them dying young.

I've owned McIntosh amps, pre-amps, etc. and never had "life" issues with them. I see lots of complaints about receivers.

Also, can somone explain to me if this receiver will stream Internet radio like some of the other new entries from other mfg'rs are and what you need to do it? Is there actually some type of "Internet Tuner" once hooked up insdie the unit?

I have a computer room down the hall from my LR which has a router so how would I go about that? That would be a long cable run "somehow". Forgive me if these questions sound simple but I'm just looking for information and I'm a very simple guy.

I see a "Nick" from Anthem on here. Maybe he'd like some easy ones.........

How does the HD radio in the Anthem compare with the ones in the Marantz models spec and performance wise?

No offense to Anthem, but this is a first generation product, so there's bound to be some problems.

Can anyone offer unbiased ops on this MRX-700 vs. the Marantz 7005? or 8002, bells and whistles aside?

Thanks in advance for anyone's time.

From the MRX 300/500/700 user manual (available from the website):



To answer a few of your questions.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

Tony

Hey Thanks Tony. I'm not a "regular" on here so any poster response is appreciated. I wAAAAAAAYYYYY behind the techno curve.

Again, I'm still interested in how the FM / HD radio tuner works compared to others. Anthem doesn't list any actual specs for it at all. Marantz does.