Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 138

I purchased the MRX500 and it's alot of fun.

Love the sound, and crave it - a good thing

I appreciate it's capability to dissect the many layers that occur in movies andpresent them clearly, with detail drawing me in closer to the action, quite entertaining. My previous AVR presented what I thought was a decent job doing this, how would I know ?, having nothing to compare directly.

I am pleased with the build quality, of sturdy construction. I don't know if it's psychological, yet the MRX in appearance looks well made, front plate yes ... but the casing as well, where my previous AVR's casing looked flimsy.

Some additional, briefly:

I like;

- and listen to alot, Anthem's Logic Music. Sounds nice
- the video upscaling
- the blue lighting .. lol
- backlit remote

I wouldn't mind seeing a feature, botton to swap audio inputs easily (on the fly) .. without drilling down through the menu, but that's what pre-sets are for I guess, and my setup has changed since. I did appreciate that in my previous AVR with the multiplayer. But have purchased a dedicated CDP since ..for others it would be ideal, has it was for me ( or may be for me again, in the future)

For me, it's the machine processing capability, sound and power as it does so effortlessly. Very happy with this machine, and feel settled (for now .ha!) knowing I have opened up another level of cinema and music from an AVR. I can ony speak of my experience and usage, but this machine is a clear upgrade from any AVR I have had in the past, including other sub $ 1500.

SwimHike181,

Sounds like you have some very possible suspects, I would also not rule out that perhaps something on the same ciruit or even just something in the house in general (a particular appliance) may still be the primary suspect. I would consider anything that would come on for a period of time and then go off. For example, your refrigerator, chest freezer, your furnace (even if it is warm out, does it also heat your hot water system? Something that would cause it to come on for a period of time?), A/C units, hot water heater (if seperate from furnace and electric), any automatic exhaust fans, air compressor, sump pump, etc.

Does your stereo cabinet backup to anything on the otherside of the wall, perhpas like a fluorescent light mounted on the wall that tends to be left on a lot but might occasionaly be turned off?

I'm glad it is sounding like an environmental issue, not the MRX. I hope you figure it out, it will be interesting to hear what you finally conclude is the issue/fix.

I'm new to this thread, but thrilled to finally be part of the Anthem MRX 700 world! However, there seems to be a lot of different opinions on settings.

I'm current driving Paradigm Studio 100's, cc-690, ADP-590 and a Sub-12 (all new).

I love the arc system but have question around the sub output. I'm very used to turning the sub up for movies, down for music. The arc system set both music and movie pretty much the same (music is -1db than movie, since running only fronts). I only want a little bass coming from the Sub in order not to overpower the sound. The arc settings cause too much "boom" in the music. I want a little base to fill the room nicely, but don't want it to be the primary focus. I'm reading that it's recommended to leave the arc settings alone. Adjusting the bass/treble effects both the sub and fronts and I'm not really liking the sound when doing that. To adjust the bass where the sub sounds right, the fronts lose their full sound.

Any recommendations?


In order to keep my Music and Movie settings isolated, I'm of course using both Movie and Music Bass Management profiles. In fact, I setup 2-sources for my iTV in order to use movie setting when watching video, and use music settings when listen to music via Airplay (itunes, sirius, etc.).

A few things you can try:

1) When you setup your Music Profile in ARC you could apply a little less room gain to the music profile. This should help tame the bass a little, I wouldn't remove all the room gain or it will start to sound to flat.

2a) You can adjust the Tone control for your bass on the fly by using the "Audio" button on your remote, press the button repeatedly to cycle through the options until you find the "Bass" setting, and then use the up and down arrows to adjust the tone control. Note: these settings are temporary and are lost when you turn off the MRX or change sources.

2b) For a more permanent tone adjustment: Under the "Advanced Source Setup" you can play with the "Bass" tone control for the source you are using for music. This will permanently set the tone control at a fixed level for that source. (you can still temporarly tweak it up or down using the remote however... but it will now always default to the permanent settings when you power on the MRX or change sources)

3) You can adjust the "Music Subwoofer" under your Level Calibrations, though this may cause the thin sound I think you mentioned before. This would be my last option and I would not adjust it more than +/- 2 from what ARC set as this is will affect the work ARC has done.

I think #2b with perhaps a slight change from #1 above is probably your ideal solution.

Hope this helps.

I'm familiar with the the bass/tone adjustments (permanent). This is how I modified my different sources to sound equally matched with arc settings. The way I have it setup now sounds good...however, i modified the sub calibrations in the arc settings (movie up 3db, music down 3db). I was told this is not a good idea....The thin sound I was referring to is when I leave the arc sub setting alone and use bass to turn it down. I currently have most of my sources set where bass is +2 and treble is +2. I never played with the gain. I ran arc in automatic mode. I'm assuming if I run in manual mode, these options will become available? The gain option seems to be a good option. Only question is how much adjustment is needed and how will I know (during setup)

I appreciate the help!!!

I adjusted my bass +2 for all sources. I don't know if the bass issue affects my machine so it will be interesting to compare this to neutral after Anthem releases further revised firmware.

This +2 has created new vibrations in the walls.

LOL, I tried the same setting for music and thought the walls were going to implode. I have found the ARC settings darn near perfect but I do turn the LFE channel up a notch or two for certain music discs on the fly using the channels button.

Happy hunting

Loving my 500!

So for most music...you leave the Arc settings alone and leave Bass/Treble at 0? Are you using just the fronts for Music (plus sub of course)

Is this the level or tone you adjust?

I felt lack of bass with music so I changed the bass to 0dB from -5 in the music profile.

You can tone on the fly with the remote but to do it permanently you go into Advanced Sourse Set-Up.

If we didn't enjoy tweaking things we probably wouldn't own an MRX, right?

New MRX 700 Review

http://www.avguide.com/review/anthem...ceiver-tpv-103

John

Yes, I leave ARC alone, bass and treble at 0 and adjust the LFE trim as required, of course we all have different room acoustics, ears and different gear, so what works for me may sound like crap to you. I use full 5.1 for music as well because Anthem Music sounds freaking incredible on CD's and most 2.0 tracks.

I don't know what your ARC graphs look like and I'm not boasting (ok, maybe just a little) but I ran mine on auto and they look almost perfect. My Ht isn't very pretty but it is built like a sound studio with all fabric/ Rotul walls and ceilings.

Have fun!

That is for sure!

I think I miss understood your first post. I thought you were stating the bass was to loud. If you are currently setting the bass to +2, I assume you thought the bass was to quiet?

How quickly did you decide that things sounded to loud/quiet? I would set all tone adjustments to 0, run ARC, make no level adjustments and listen for a couple of weeks. Once you have given brain a chance to "relearn" than you can start to tweak a bit. It really does take a bit of time for us to undo bad listening habits we have developed.

If you are trying to strengthen the bass a bit by using room gain, than you would want to increase the room gain (I would not go higher than 4, the highest so far anyone has seen ARC use naturally is 3.945749). If you would like to tame the bass than lower the room gain a bit (I would probably not go much under 1, if you get to flat it will not sound good). Exactly how much gain to add or remove I can not recommend as I've never played with it much from where ARC set it. I would try changing it a bit and see if you like what you hear.

Here is an example of how to adjust things with out rerunning ARC: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=4059

Another thing to check, make sure "Dolby Volume Mode" under "Advanced Source Setup" is set to 'Off' on ALL of your souces. Unless perhaps you have a source that you listen to at very low volumes, in which case turning this on may help. I have it off on all of my sources except my cable where it helps a bit when I'm listening at low levels and trying not to wake anyone.

I would try not to adjust the "Movie/Music Subwoofer" under Level Calibration as this will impact the work that ARC has done and could create unpleasant affects. If you do adjust this I would not push it more than +/-2 from where ARC set it.

What I mean, isn't the tone control different then adjusting the subs level in the menu? So you are adjusting the bass tone control +2 and not the subs level?

I am just curious to find out how the sound quality differs when comparing the MRX's to Arcam receivers. For those who have auditioned and owned the Arcam units, if you can provide details of their respective sound qualities, like smoothness, harshness, brightness, more natural, more detailed or any sound uniqueness, etc, that would be great. Is there any sound difference between MRX 300, 500 or 700? It should not be, I am sure. So which is better: the Anthem sound or the Arcam one? Many thanks.

Hi Tigger!


#1: I think you are right about giving the arc settings a chance. I changed them right away.

#2: The bass coming from the fronts were a little low, but the bass coming from the sub was too much. I therefore, turned down the music sub in the calibration to a level my ears told me matched the fronts. Then, when adjusting the bass setting....it adjust both the sub and the front together. This seem to give me the perfect balance. I'm learning from reading the threads, that it could be my ears. Seems the arc sets things pretty accurately. What I'm trying to avoid is having the sub louder than the fronts. The 100's is where I want the sound to come from...the sub is used simply to fill the room (not sure how to explain this). Movies are different. Arc sets it up pretty good and I simply up the bass/treble depending on my source (different sources sound different. I therefore use the bass/treble tuning to match the sources so they sound the same (Digital cable vs. iTV). I'm pushing Paradigm 100's which have pretty good base response. I've never liked using the fronts as the only low frequency source, but want the fronts to take on the most sound. The sub is used more for a filler. Does that make sense?

If you adjust the subs level, you will increase the volume of the sub, but not necessaraly matching areas of other speakers in your setup. This could cause areas to sound overly bassy or perhaps thin as ARC is meant to work as a system with all of the speakers responses and adjustments made in combination with the rest of the speakers and system. By changing just the sub level you are pushing the sub in one direction or the other but the rest of the system is not adjusting as well to make for a smooth transition from your main/surround speakers to your sub. Remember that the transitions between the frequencies the sub is primarally handling and the rest of the speakers are handling is not a hard cut off, they both cross over each other and are "blended" to seemlessly transition. You are impacting this transition.

If you use the tone controls, you are applying the tone response change to whole system working as one, not just the sub.

I hope this helps a little.

As usual, crystal clear

So I think, perhaps, you need to adjust the way ARC is treating your fronts. By default, ARC transitions most of the bass to the sub. This has a number of benifits, including not using up a lot of the MRX's power to drive the woofer in your fronts which means more power for everything else the speakers are doing.

However if you would like the fronts to carry more of the burden of the lower frequencies you can check the box next to the speakers that says "Full Range X-over" and adjust down the "Response Cuttoffs" a bit. I would still let the sub do most of the lower end work... but if your fronts were say set at a Response Cuttoff of 80, you might make it 60 or 50 for example.

Tweaking these areas is not something I'm as familiar with. I highly recommend for advanced tweaking like this you do some reading... about half way down the first post of the "Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide" thread is a section called "ANTHEM ROOM CORRECTION (ARC-1) : AUDIO BLISS IN A FEW, EASY STEPS"

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=678260

I would start there. If you make it through all those posts, you will have read more than me!

Thanks for all your help "Tigger"! I agree with you about adjusting the sub....I will set it back. I was also told to run Arc with the sub the sub level set at 1/2. Mine was set 1/4. I will rerun arc on Friday. Would you be able to quickly scan my arc graphs if I post them end of week? I want to be sure the graphs look normal-

Post away and Tigger and jayray will take a look

I will try, I'm away this weekend so may not see them till late Sunday/Monday. But there are several people on here that will be happy to take a look and provide feedback (And have far more experience than me, who do you think I've learned what I know from! )

Please when you post, remember to include the "Targets" window.

Eric-t should be getting pretty good at these as well by now He has seen quite a few get posted up and responded to!

For anyone that feels they are experiencing issues when listening to Stereo Music with a Music Profile (this issue is now resolved with the latest firmware, but these tips are good when reporting any issue in general), I would highly recommend you take a bit of time to contact Anthem. I had a few email exchanges today with Andrew and though he mentioned a problem with the Manual test tone for the sub being to loud, he did not seem familar with issues where ARC and 2.0 sources were involved. And based on the issues being described over the past few pages, it is not clear that everyone who is experiencing an issue listening to Music is expereincing the same issue!


Please provide details on the following when you contact them:

• Bass Management Profile Used (Movie/Music Profile)
• Profile Configuration (2.0, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 and did you alter the default ARC Response Cuttoffs)
• ARC On/Off
• Dolby Volume Mode On/Off
• Listening Mode Presets (2.0 Source Uses: AnthemLogic-Cinema/AnthemLogic-Music/Stereo2.0)
• Source player you are using (BluRay player/Digital Media Player/USB stick
• Source Media you are playing SCAD/CD/MP3/etc
• Source Connection to MRX (Analog in/Coax In/Optical In/HDMI)
• And of Course what you are experiencing (to little bass, to much treble)
• The firmware level on your MRX; Be specific, record all of the information on the MRX's display as you press the info button:

• VIDEO INPUT -
• AUDIO INPUT -
• VIDEO IN CONFIG -
• AUDIO IN CONFIG -
• VIDEO OUT CONFIG -
• AUDIO OUT CONFIG -
• MCU F/W VERSION -
• VIDEO VERSION -
• DSP 1 VERSION -
• DSP 2 VERSION -
• MM F/W VERSION -
• F/W Release Date -

If you are reporting an issue related to video or other issues (the above example related to stereo audio) a similar level of detail will be helpful to Anthem, include as many variables as you can, including the models of the attached equipment and the firmware revision they are at.

To contact Anthem please see the details listed in this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...ostcount=32347

PLEASE NOTE: Just because you see an issue reported on the forum that looks similar to yours, it does not mean it is the same issue. Also, just because you or someone else has posted up an issue here, it does not mean that Anthem knows about it or is working on it. It is always good to report your issue, sometimes even issues they are familiar with can be more quickly resolved if Anthem has more information from multiple sources!

I still think I need a little more experience and don't want to mislead someone but will take a stab here and there

I am still reading the forum. I saw a post on problem with Anthem to pass through 1080p 24. I also have Dune player.

Is there still problem with Anthem to pass 1080p24?

Copied from Paradigm forum.


I am trying to get receiver for Paradigm Studio 100, 690, adp 590. I tried to find Anthem 500 vs 700. The 500 is 100watts and 700 is 120 watts. I was told by Paradigm rep that Anthem 700 is minimum for Studio 100.

I also was told that tweeters may get damaged if I use receiver of less power like 500. I am curious to understand how can it damage.

I have Onkyo 708 which is 110 watts. Do you think it is safe enough to use for some time?

Thanks,
Sukumar

That was Litlgi74 and I believe he came up with a work around for his Dune. I would shoot him a pm to see what he did. As far as passing native 1080p24, the only thing I know is his dune would not do it hooked directly to the MRX. I don't know if it was the Dune or the MRX being the culprit or if they just don't play together well. I'm not sure if anyone else has had an issue with their BD player passing it.