Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 142

Subsonic means below 20 Hz. From Epiks site, I don't know what "usable in-room extension" means, or should I say, I don't if ARC could get it to play down that far.
John

I am a MRX700 user and have upgraded my sub from Velodyne CHT-8R to SPL1200R Ultra.

Here are my latest ARC graphs including Target. Appreciate any comments.

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Hello all,
I'm a new user, have been working my way through this thread and have picked up many gems. Thanks to everybody who is contributing. I will post up my charts for guidance when I can get that together. I'm a mac user so doing anything on a PC is very foreign to me.

I ran ARC over the weekend and was able to upload my files to the 700 without issue. I saved my info to the desktop and a file was created. When I click on this file it will not open I receive an error code. Is there something more involved than selecting "save file" to keep the mic recordings on file so they can be tweaked later???

Some of the posts mention the sub should be set to "flat" if it has ample low extension. I have a Paradigm Sub 1 which is a beast. Should this be set to flat or does that depend of the curves?

When I ran ARC 6 of my 7 speaker ran the same tone, my right rear surround had an additional popping sound at the end of the tone sweep. The response curve did not significantly deviate from the other rear surround and it sounds OK. Any insight as to why this one speaker is making a popping sound with the ARC tones???

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Noah

Noah,
First, download ARC from the Anthem site and reinstall it on your computer.The file on the CD seems to have this problem. This usually fixes the error message you are getting when opening the file.
For the sub 1, yes it can be set to Flat for sure. The popping sound has been heard by others but seems to be a random glitch. If the curve looks ok, then it had no affect on the measurements. Make sure you post your charts.
John

There were a set of ARC discs shipped that didn't install properly. Basically the problem was that the file type for the ARC results file wasn't associated with the ARC application.

The fix is easy. Download a fresh copy of the ARC install kit from the Anthem web site, unzip it, and run its Setup.exe file to reinstall it on top of itself. Then your existing results file should open.

(You still need to do the FIRST install from the CD Anthem gave you so that your mic calibration file gets installed.)
--Bob

I guess I'll start with the above post...since I've been gone from the forum for a bit, playing with speakers and different sound systems in what room?

I'm glad to read this about the ARC and the sub signal output. I've found my low end lacking just using the settings straight out of the calibration after having played with the software a half dozen times or so. However...I've only needed to bump the sub setting 1 or 2db max to get the punch I'm expecting from my Velodyne HGS12. So I'm glad to read the above, so that I know it's not just me.

Onto the couple of questions I have. Target Settings. I've just been letting the ARC assign what the target is during the room sweep (see default pic). Should I actually be trying to set my own targets based on previous ARC results? I apologize for not going back through the entire thread for the answer just yet. Any help is obviously very much appreciated.

What's the word with the latest Beta Firmware Update. I've been watching the Anthem site for the update, but I see it hasn't gotten past the Beta stage yet, since no update is posted. I'm not seeing anywhere near the amount of problems I did before the v50.04 and Multimedia updates...but switching from MEDIA (Internet Radio) to TV shortly after turning the system on, still locks up the receiver so that I need to unplug it to clear the problem. I was going to call my retailer to ask if they'd email me the Beta update...but didn't know if I'd just be wasting my time by installing it?

TIA...

Walt

Thank you for the guidance!

Jayray, if you have the subs HPF set to auto and the sub is dropping off around 50hz, then change it to flat, why does this make the sub not have the drop off anymore but still sounds the same. I hope I'm making sense

My 300 shipped with 50.04

The latest for the 300 is v50.01. the 500 and 700 have v50.04.

Yea, this thread has become a monster!

The information you quoted is good, I also commented the following, which may interest you: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post20462936

Also I would add the advice that others have made which is: Leave everything where ARC put for a good two weeks so your brain has a chance to correct. Than once your brain has a fair, level playing field, go ahead and tweak.

Often in an uncorrected environment, your mind gets used to a few frequencies in the low end that are far to loud, even though the rest may be correct or even be to quite. Those few loud spikes cause you to think the bass in general is to quite after ARC has done its thing and knocked off the spikes.

Now that having been said, no one here would argue that if you prefere a little bit more bass that you shouldn't have it! That is what the tone controls are for. But please, pretty please, wait the two weeks with the default ARC settings before you start tweaking... it is a killer to wait, I know, but well worth it.

For the most part the target settings that ARC sets by default should need little to know tweaking. However, you did mention that you felt the bass was a little low... is this comment true for both Movies and Music or just Music? The room gain you currently have for Movies is substantially more than for Music. So with that, if it is just Music (and after having given your ears a good two weeks with the defaults) you might want to see what would happen if you increased the room gain a little on your Music Profile. I don't think you will want to go more than what you alread have set for movies, but you may find somewhere in between where it is now (1.89) and where your movie gain is set (3.21) may help fill in the low end nicely and be more what you are expecting.

Lastly, you are correct, the beta firmware has not made it to final release yet. If you are interested in it, you would want to contact Anthem Support. However they will most likely want to better understand the issues you are having before they would consider releasing the beta firmware to you, if they have it available for anyone not in the beta program. And even then, keep in mind that it is beta software, so issues may still be present that are being worked on.

If you have not reported the issues you are having to Anthem, please call them and report them. Try to provide as much info as possible, including step by step instructions on how to reproduce the issue. Don't be vague or assume anything is unimportant, right down to the color of the outlet you plugged your MRX into

Here is a good link that explains how to contact Anthem:

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

And here is an example of just some of the types of info that could be helpful to Anthem (this list was made for trouble shooting a sound issue... not a lock up issue, but it does help highlight the level of detail you should provide!). From what you said, it sounds like you sould be able to give very good step by step instructions of which buttons to push in what order to always reproduce this issue...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=4137

Don't assume that Anthem is aware of your issue and working on it, report it to them and help give them more information to work with and perhaps even help determin the priorty of when they investigate/fix your issue.

Hope I answered a few of your questions.

Er.....

Well isn't that fantastic!

What do you mean?

Sorry... It's just that some of us have been waiting (not so patiently) for months for an updated (from 50.01) FW from Anthem.

There are problems with the current FW... It be interesting to see if you experiencing them.

Sorry for the confusion.

I don't know. Try some very low base. War of the Worlds Pod scene has some very good LFE to test with, transformers also has good LFE.
John

Here is the graph. First one was on "Auto", second one set to "Flat. No other changes. Not my graphs.

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I did think it funny when i checked after buying it.

I see it's a EUR region. Does that make a difference?

Oh i dont know! I just bought the blooming thing!!

Obviously they are loading 5.04 on the production models but waiting before putting it on the website. I'm sure it will come out when it is ready so we don't complain too much if there are bugs still unresolved.
John

You did gain a little extension below 50k however your sub does not look like it was intended to get much below 40k. Simply setting things to Flat is not going to change your measured "red" line and what your sub is capable in the low end... and if the red line is dropping off quickly, there is nothing ARC is going to do to pull it up. However if you look at the green calculated line, you can see that ARC did try and pull it up some, it is just dropping off to quickly after about 40k for ARC to be able to do much with it.

You don't look as though you have any boundry gain (i.e. the sub is not pushed up against a wall or a corner). Most of the graphs on here we usually are recommending that people try pulling there subs away from walls and corners, however in your case, a little boundry gain may help... you might see if you can gain a bit in the low end below 50k by moving the sub closer to your back wall or even into the corner of your room.

Those are my thoughts.

Thanks Tigger. This is someones else's graph. He has an Epik sub which by the specs does hit down low. I am still convinced that this is a location issue though.

http://epiksubwoofers.com/legend.html

Make sure any cutoff setting on the sub is bypassed or set to the highest freq. If that has been done, moving it is the next step using Quick measure. Use the red measured line to pick the best spot. The flatter the measured curve, the better ARC's solution will be.
John

Thanks jayray, I will pass it on.

I wouldn't get to excited over this... I think Anthem may simply be trying to bring the 300 and the 500/700 firmware numbers in line or have pushed a mid point firmware on some of the new shipping 300s.

I don't know what specifically is in the 50.04 firmware for the 300 that philb37 received, but I believe the beta firmware for both the 300 and 500/700 use is the same version number and as such is higher than 50.04.

Keep the faith and keep holding out for the updated firmware!

Hi Rklpoon, your graphs look pretty good to me. The Front Left looks like it might be pushed up against a wall a bit closer than the Front Right, but ARC appears to be handling it really well. If you can move it away from the wall a bit, that might settle the low end a little.

Your surrounds are also getting a lot of boundry gain, I'm guessing they are mounted on the wall directly? Perhaps even near the ceiling or a corner? Again ARC has done its thing very well on them, so nothing to be worried about.

I suspect it sounds really nice as it is now.

Based on the rather unusual design of this sub, I have a feeling location is going to be particularly critical part of it performing well in the low end. Perhaps even orientation (I might try rotating it up to 90 degrees to see what happens... perhaps even trying around 30 or 45 degrees).

I know nothing of the real world qualities of this sub, but I did read the whole description of it the other day and somehow, the two speakers being placed 180 degrees out of phase to "cancel the vibration" is very counter intuitive to me. The same laws of physics that they are claiming to stop vibrations inside the speaker cabinate would be the same ones that would seemingly cause nulls on the outside of the cabinate as well... especially with lower frequencies.

Again, I'm not a top speaker designer and I'm completely unfamiliar with these speakers, but I have a feeling to get low end out of them and proper listening levels may take some careful playing with how it is positioned in the room... especially the distance and way the rear facing speaker is getting reflected back at the sub.

I would try moving it around the room and rotating it while using Quick Measure. At least it is small and light! Moving my two subs which weigh in at around 130 pounds each is no fun task!

I was thinking the same thing. Different indeed. They way he has it positioned, one driver is very close to his TV stand while the other faces his LF speaker.

It has two drivers as you know and are mounted on the left and right of the cabinet and not in the rear.

Remember, inches in position or in rotation can make the difference .
John