Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 140

Originally Posted by Drphysics

What is the difference between changing the "bass" tone level and increasing the sub level?

I'm currently running with +4 bass to make 2 channel music sound correct and noticed that to get the same effect, i needed to increase the LFE channel by +8 (from -3 to +5).

Does anyone know what frequency range is boosted by the "bass" adjustment and by how much?

p.s. I checked this with my RS meter at a few bass frequencies from 30-100. This is how I found that I needed to increase sub level by +8 to match the increase produced by +4 "bass"

Originally Posted by Drphysics

Cool thanx. I didn't know the MRX was doing anything smart when i adjusted the bass. This also explains why this sounds better than just an LFE increase.

I'm curious just how many people are tweaking the "bass" tone controls due to a perceived lack of something?

Originally Posted by Drphysics

Cool thanx. I didn't know the MRX was doing anything smart when i adjusted the bass. This also explains why this sounds better than just an LFE increase.

I'm curious just how many people are tweaking the "bass" tone controls due to a perceived lack of something?

Originally Posted by jayray

The vast majority of ARC users both with the preamps and now with the MRXs do not fiddle with tone controls or raising and lowering LFE levels. ARC is a very sophisticated program and to second guess it's results is presumptuous on our parts. Basing ARC expectations on previous experience is a common mistake since corrected sound will to many, sound different to what one is used to and therefore not as good. Now having said that, there are some people who claim ARC is producing lower LFE levels to their ears and they are raising it. Until there is confirmation of this "glitch" I'd leave it where puts it. My levels seem dead on and I'm also used to my D2v which has been tuned over a two year period and is very accurate at this point.
John

Originally Posted by jayray

The vast majority of ARC users both with the preamps and now with the MRXs do not fiddle with tone controls or raising and lowering LFE levels. ARC is a very sophisticated program and to second guess it's results is presumptuous on our parts. Basing ARC expectations on previous experience is a common mistake since corrected sound will to many, sound different to what one is used to and therefore not as good. Now having said that, there are some people who claim ARC is producing lower LFE levels to their ears and they are raising it. Until there is confirmation of this "glitch" I'd leave it where ARC puts it. My levels seem dead on and I'm also used to my D2v which has been tuned over a two year period and is very accurate at this point.
John

Originally Posted by Sonyrocks

Yeah, someone said they had actually called Anthem Tech support and that they confirmed ARC was setting the sub level too low by 3-4db. I wanted to confirm this myself so I emailed tech support and exchanged several emails withe Andrew. He seemed to have no knowledge that there was such a glitch, so either there isn't one or he simply didn't know about. He said many times people will determine the bass is too low when in fact all they were hearing before ARC was a increased level at certain low frequencies. This is indeed probably what most people's problem is, me included. I gave the ARC defaults an honest 2 weeks a couple weeks ago and although my perception of corrected bass did improve, it wasn't enough to make me want to leave it alone for music. I do only have to increase the sub level trim by only a few DB now instead of like the 8-10db before. Movies however sound spot on at exactly what ARC gives and there is no need to make adjustments to the bass or sub level. Movies have always sounded good since my first ARC calibration over 2 months ago. It's only stereo music I have the problem with. I dunno, I think I've owned this thing long enough and I guess I will never get used to music having such percieved weak bass output to my ears, so I will continue to bump up the sub level a little or increase the BASS tone adjustment. I know this is against all the experts, but I simply can't get any enjoyment out of listening to music unless I can make these adjustments.

-Glen

Originally Posted by sukumar

Since Anthem series are 7.1, how do you incorporate 2 subwoofers?

Originally Posted by Sonyrocks

Yeah, someone said they had actually called Anthem Tech support and that they confirmed ARC was setting the sub level too low by 3-4db. I wanted to confirm this myself so I emailed tech support and exchanged several emails withe Andrew. He seemed to have no knowledge that there was such a glitch, so either there isn't one or he simply didn't know about.

Originally Posted by sukumar

Since Anthem series are 7.1, how do you incorporate 2 subwoofers?

Originally Posted by Sonyrocks


Yeah, someone said they had actually called Anthem Tech support and that they confirmed ARC was setting the sub level too low by 3-4db. I wanted to confirm this myself so I emailed tech support and exchanged several emails withe Andrew. He seemed to have no knowledge that there was such a glitch, so either there isn't one or he simply didn't know about. He said many times people will determine the bass is too low when in fact all they were hearing before ARC was a increased level at certain low frequencies. This is indeed probably what most people's problem is, me included. I gave the ARC defaults an honest 2 weeks a couple weeks ago and although my perception of corrected bass did improve, it wasn't enough to make me want to leave it alone for music. I do only have to increase the sub level trim by only a few DB now instead of like the 8-10db before. Movies however sound spot on at exactly what ARC gives and there is no need to make adjustments to the bass or sub level. Movies have always sounded good since my first ARC calibration over 2 months ago. It's only stereo music I have the problem with. I dunno, I think I've owned this thing long enough and I guess I will never get used to music having such percieved weak bass output to my ears, so I will continue to bump up the sub level a little or increase the BASS tone adjustment. I know this is against all the experts, but I simply can't get any enjoyment out of listening to music unless I can make these adjustments.

-Glen

Originally Posted by TLF

Hi there, I am a long-term lurker, rare poster. I know this doesn't go along with the above postings, but I do have a couple of questions that might not be so easy to answer, but I will throw them out anyway, so bare with me a bit. I appreciate any and all responses.

First off, I am not a die-hard videophile, I am mainly an audio guy. However, I do find a lot of the audio in the video to be extremely good and makes watching a good film even a better experience for me, which obviously I think, should be the case!

With the above being said, I have an Anthem AVM-30, along with MCA-30/20 amplifiers, currently driving Magnepan MMG/MMGC and possibly MMGW surrounds in the future. Subs will be added later on as well. I do not have Blue-ray player yet, use a Lexicon RT-20 for both music/video duties. 55" Sony LCD.

The Maggies are a bit on the power hungry side, and I have contemplated on checking out the MRX recievers and trying to somewhat simplify things a bit, but am reluctant to do so because of many things I am unsure of, mainly sound quality. First, I don't want this to just be an HDMI/ARC thing, although these are obviously wonderful things about the MRX line. Power would be an issue, but I can utilize my MCA amps with the MRX. I guess I was wondering, if there are any of you that have made this change, going from an AVM-30 to the MRX/seperate amps, have you noticed any drop in sound quality, even in 2-channel, or has it been a side-step or even better in that respect?

I have to say that I do love my AVM-30, and have no real reason to change it, but obviously, there are those nagging questions in my mind about this. HDMI makes things so much more tidy, not that I really care totally about the newer codecs ec., and also, I can sure see where ARC can be so useful.

Also, if any of you have made this change, any other positives or negatives that you have found along the way going this route? Again, music/sound quality is more important to me than all the bells and whistle, even though the AVM-30 has plenty already for me.

Thanks for the replies, and sorry if the above was wordy without really going anywhere! Tim

Originally Posted by TLF

Thanks Kitzi, care to elaborate a bit on what those subtle changes were? I know that in the end, if I do think hard enough on this type of upgrade, I will just have to see if my dealer can part with a MRX500/700 so I can have some time and wire it in to my own setup and see for myself what changes it may bring. In the meantime, it is good to hear other folks perspective and findings. Appreciate your time! Tim

Originally Posted by Tigger!

I recall a post similar to what you describe. I think perhaps there was confusion with another issue. This is actually why I posted yesterday, encouraging everyone who believes they DO have an issue to contact Anthem and provide detailed specifics.

In an email I recently had with Andrew he stated the following (which I think is where the confusion may have come from):

Many details are needed before a system-dependent problem can be reproduced and fixed. Feel free to post this if you wish.

Regarding manual level calibration in the setup menu, there's a known issue with the subwoofer test noise - it plays too loudly.

As for what ARC sets there's no connection because it's a different test signal, and we do not know of any issue there in fact it's practically the opposite with nothing but compliments. I believe perhaps the manual test tone issue was perhaps confused with the concern a few people have voiced in the last few pages. It happens

Originally Posted by kitzi

ARC tightened up the bass a bit and removed some muddy boom from the center channel. For 2 channel music I find it to really be a wash...

I did put an MRX-500 in another room that had a Denon 4308 the the improvement was dramatic...both with and without any EQ...

Originally Posted by lorenzzo

Thanks for clarifying, Tigger. I guess I'll remove the +2 tone adjustment before the ARC police come bursting through my door.

I loved the sound before I made the adjustment but admit to enjoying bass over the legal limit.

Originally Posted by lorenzzo

Thanks for clarifying, Tigger. I guess I'll remove the +2 tone adjustment before the ARC police come bursting through my door.

I loved the sound before I made the adjustment but admit to enjoying bass over the legal limit.

Originally Posted by sukumar

I have 5 speakers from Paradigm with 8 ohm impedance. However, I want to use B&W used at 4.5 ohm for surround back speakers. Is it possible to set impedance individually for each speaker for MRX?

What is the option if there are no individual settings?

Originally Posted by Tigger!


Hey, nothing wrong with giving it a little extra if it is what you like! As Jayray said earlier today, there are no ARC police... and certainly what you do in the privacy of your own home is protected by the Fourth Amendment in the "Bill of Musical Rights"

Sit back and let the bass flow

But as always, try to give it two weeks with what ARC set by default before you begin tweaking... you will be much happier to start with a clean, unbiased by old habits, base line before you start adjusting!.

Originally Posted by BTT917

It almost seems like the "DD-EX" and "DTS-ES" settings are actually settings for how the MRX should handle 6.1 or 7.1 soundtracks when you have fewer active speakers (5.1 or 6.1 system) than is contained in the soundtrack, or front heights instead of rear surrounds. Which would make more sense, since true DTS-ES and DD-EX soundtracks are relatively rare.

Under the DTS-ES setting the manual states, "Note that for ES Discrete, this setting is overridden and playback is 6.1," which would seem to be how the MRX should be handling 6.1 or 7.1 TrueHD or HD MA. Do you happen to have a DTS-ES Discrete disc (such as any LOTR extended edition DVD) to check if that setting is in fact being overridden? This would mainly be to give Anthem as much information as possible so they can address the issue, since if it is simply that the "override" function is not being activated on 6.1 and 7.1 (Dolby and DTS) tracks it should be simple for them to address by enabling that override.

The issue of the MRX processing the DTS-core track when its own display is showing MA 7.1, under the conditions you described, is more puzzling, if in fact that's what is truely occuring.

Originally Posted by Brian-HD

After using the Aix disc, I think that DTS MA bug has to be corrected. Unable to get DTS MA from Aix disc with 5.1 setup after running ARC. If anyone is using a 5.1 setup with an Aix disc please confirm this issue.