Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 192

While I do have an excellent sub, it set mine to 80hz When I ran dual subs (two different brands) it did set it at 80hz once and 120hz another time. It may be the way I placed the mic for measurement as it set it two different ways.

Doesn't sub placement play a factor on how well the sub will measure?

I didn't work on U-571.... but it was a great track.

The LFE channel is tuned to 120Hz... some times you put material in up to 120Hz, sometimes you filter it lower... case by case basis.

I am more consistently moving to a filter ~80Hz when mixing... that still doesn't account for the fact that if you want it to be accurate to the source material, the LFE should still pass up to 120Hz....

Thanks, good to know.
John

So I have come across a problem with what I presume is the MRX700. For some reason I keep getting a "No Signal" message for my Bell Expressvu 9241 HDPVR.

When I first got the AVR setup, this happened a couple of times when I didn't turn the PVR on first but once I figured that out it worked great. Was watching it as recently as yesterday. Today, I can't get it to have a signal and I have tried the other HDMI inputs. My PS3 works fine.

I have tested the PVR on my Onkyo TX-NR509 and it works fine so I don't think it's the HDMI signal or anything.

The only thing I changed was updating the multimedia software of the 700 yesterday to the most recent. I was already running firmware 50.04 so that hasn't changed.

Anyone have any thoughts?

So it looks like it was the HDMI cable. Switched it out and now it works. Weird, the cable worked fine with they Onkyo but not the Anthem. It was a 22g Monoprice high speed.

Before I figured this out I did a factory default reset. Do I have to upload ARC again?

I would just to be safe. Glad you solved it. I could tell you many weird hdmi stories especially with PVRs.
John

Screen Shot - Have fun with your acoustical treatments. Try placing some traps in the upper corners. You may begin to notice a less forward sound, with some instruments further back in the sound field. However, as Tigger! has stated, you may hear no improvement at all. I currently have 16ft. of LENRD traps distributed along the corners and wall/ceiling line, as well as 2 four foot high cubes located behind the RPTV to dampen the upper frequency resonances between the wall and TV, as well as 16ft. of sound absorbing drapes on the windows, and a judiciously placed bookcase. I have had NAD, Denon, and now Anthem in that challenging room and all needed room correction to make dialogue/music more intelligible. The Anthem with ARC has done the best job of any integrated unit I have had in that room. Placement of treatments is critical. Over damping is a concern. The sound may get dull or lifeless if this occurs (as Tigger! alluded to in an earlier post). The same LENRD traps located vertically in the corners dulled my room, while not substantially improving the sound beyond a single upper corner trap. Yet, placed along the ceiling/wall line everything locked into place. I have ARC curves both with and without treatment, curtains opened and closed, etc. and will be glad to post once I learn how to do so and have the time. They are horrendous looking curves (a very challenging room - almost cubical, and speakers need to be placed near walls), yet the room now sounds good - it images almost as good as my previous favorite, which was an exquisite sounding LEDE design, back in the days when prologic ruled.

Now, my 2 cents (if worth that much) about issues that many others have substantially addressed:
There is stuff going on in your lower mid/bass that is puzzling to me. Your largest room dimension is above 25ft, and the upper frequency for room gain is theoretically determined by your largest room dimension. Yet, your ARC curves on your main speakers seem to indicate that room gain is being applied at a frequency corresponding to your lesser room dimensions (the hump in response at the lower end). This may possibly be due to placement of your main/surround speakers? For example, I moved my rear ported center channel 6 inches forward, and my room gain dropped from above 3.5 to below 3.0, the sub crossover changed from 120 to 80hz, and various other frequency peaks changed. The sound signature changed in noticeable, positive ways.

I recently had a similar situation with my Bell box (no PVR). I was getting the no signal on SD, but HD was ok. I unplugged/plugged in the Expressvu, and everything went back to normal. HDMI & ARC seemed fine after. Hope this helps.
-Peter

I've had my first major problem with my mrx300.

The FW appears to be wiped clean. It powers on but says no signal. That is basically it. It won't pass video, 12v trigger doesn't turn on amp. I can switch inputs but nothing works. The tuner can scan but doen't bring in any stations.

The first time I turned it off, thinking it just needed to be powered down, it said mrx500 powering off. I've since tried a couple power cycles but no glory. It was working fine last night. First time powered on this morning is first instance of trouble.

Do you guys think I need to reinstall FW? Has anyone seen anything like this yet? What would cause my unit to just reset or wipe clean its FW without any prompting?

Is there a way to do a factory reset without accessing menu?

OK,

I figured out how to factory reset from front panel. Hold tuner while powering on.

I'm back up again but everything is defaulted. Bummer! I believe I'll take this opportunity to upgrade FW from 40.5 to 50.1 and upload arc with a minor room gain tweak.

I'd still really like to know what caused this major glitch. Very unpleasant way to start my weekend.

Interesting that is said powering down MRX500 when you have a 300. If this happens again, try unplugging the unit from the wall for a few minutes and see if it clears the problem.

I tried unplugging for a few minutes three times (power cycle) to no avail. I don't recall reading any similar posts of this nature. Very odd.

You tried to reinstall the latest MRX 300 FW? I know it shouldn't take the wrong model FW, but a reinstall of the latest for the proper region (US or EU) sounds like its in order.


On another note, I was having a power issue and in the end it turned out to be FW related. The latest beta cleared up all of my issues.

I would fire off an email to Anthem and see what they say.

Oddly enough I installed the FW for the EU 700 into my 500 US and it did take it but I now had HD radio, at least it said I did Factory reset was required. Don't do updates when tired
john

Let me clarify,

I've been running 40.5 since I purchased my mrx300 without issue.

This morning, very random, I powered on my mrx300 and it behaved as if it didn't have any FW. I could scroll certain functions but they were all defaulted values and useless. All inputs would switch but would not recognize sources. It wouldn't pass video or display setup menu.

The first time I powered down it said mrx500 powering off. Strange! I then power cycled a couple times and nothing changed. However, it was displaying mrx300.

I finally figured out how to factory reset and I was back up again. FW in menu said 40.5

At this point I decided to update FW to 50.1, reload my arc measurments with a slight tweak I'd been wanting try, and restored all my menu options they way I like them.

All seems well now. Here is to hoping that never happens again.

The only thing I'm noticing is my 300 doesn't always recognize incoming audio signal properly when it is powered on after source. It will either display no audio or 2 ch pcm instead of DD/DTS. If I power on mrx300 first and source second I don't have any issues with my 300 detecting correct audio stream.

Hope this can help someone else if they ever have similar issue. However, it seems pretty random and I can't recall ever reading anything similar.

I will let Anthem know for sure. I'd like to know what they think might have caused such a bizzare glitch.

This more then likely is a handshake issue between your source component and MRX. Turning the MRX on as the first component solves this issue as you have already determined.

Paradigm sub 15 is set to "auto off". After turning off receiver, Sub 15 is still ON. I can still hear sound from it. After disconnecting RCA cable to sub 15, I can't hear any sound from Sub 15. I am assuming, it did cause to turn off Sub 15.

Is there anything that I need to do in MRX 700 to not to send any signal to Sub 15 after it gets turned off, so that Sub 15 also gets turned off?

When a sub is set to "Auto" it will shut off after a certain amount of time after not receiving any signal. So turning off the MRX does not trigger anything to shut your sub off. That shut off time is determined by the subs amp. Both my subs auto shut offs are different. One is around 20min while the other is 15min.

I re-read your post again and if there is still sound from your sub after you turn the MRX off, its still getting a signal input which would cause it to stay on. Like Bob mentioned, what kind of sound?


Attachment 217304

^ What sort of sound? If it sounds like 60Hz hum coming from the sub then you likely have a "ground loop". See the Hum FAQ sticky thread in the audio theory forum here.
--Bob

Okay, I got the following response from Anthem concerning the measurements from the sound and vision test:

We conducted a frequency response test on the MRX 700 with a 96 kHz / 24-bit signal via HDMI at -20 dBFS with volume set to -10 dB. The results were +/-0.1 dB for 20 Hz to 20 kHz and +/- 0.5 dB for 10 Hz to 32 kHz.

With regard to the linearity test, we are also seeing an increased deviation below -80 dB. The conclusions that it is a least-significant-bit flaw or a math error are, however, unjustified. We feel it is more likely that the signal has dropped into the noise of the system and cannot be adequately tracked.

I heard low rumbling sound. I believe I waited for more than 20 minutes. I will test again. Thanks for the reply.

What's the chances that this can be offered on the MRX's?:

"Denon Electronics and Marantz America were jointly expected to provide AirPlay compatibility to a handful of each company's home theatre receivers back in October via a free downloadable firmware update, but for whatever reason that didn't happen until CES 2011 last week.

On the bad news front, the firmware patch is no longer a freebie -- it requires a $49.99 AirPlay upgrade available from either the Denon or Marantz websites, but that's a small price to pay for the streaming audio goodness you'll get to enjoy afterward."

This is likely a ground loop. A ground loop is garbage current, usually 60Hz power line interference, that travels along the cable shields of the cables connecting your system looking for a path back to ground. It can cause a variety of nuisance problems and 60Hz hum/rumble from a subwoofer is a classic sign. It may be the current is not enough to turn on your Auto sub by itself, but once the MRX has the sub going, the ground loop current is enough to keep it going.

Typically the current affects the sub because it is exiting through the sub's 3 prong power cord. So one way to confirm is to temporarily use a 3 prong to 2 prong cheater adapter on that plug. Try the two prongs plugged both ways around into the wall socket. If you can make the rumble go away that way then you definitely have a ground loop. That is the noise is NOT in the signal path from the MRX, but is, rather, on the cable shields of ALL your equipment and the cable from the MRX to the sub just provided the path to get it to the sub.

----------------------

The trick is finding and eliminating the SOURCE of the garbage.

These days the single most common source is garbage coming in on the feed wire for a cable or satellite TV system. Thus the FIRST thing you should try is yo disconnect that feed wire where it comes out of the wall. If the sub hum vanishes then you have found your real problem. Typically you fix this by correcting the grounding where that feed ENTERS your house, but there are also little gadgets you can put on that cable feed which separate the shield from from one side to the other and thus block the path for that garbage.

Failing that, if your equipment is using more than one wall outlet, then they may be at different ground potential. Typically that requires an electrician to fix.

Or you may have a faulty device that is leaking power to its chassis ground. Sorting this out involves uncabling EVERYTHING and reconnecting minimal combinations to isolate which devices might be involved. Note that if a device is simply passing garbage through that originated someplace else, it doesn't even have to be turned on.
--Bob

Thanks a lot Bob taking time to explain the problem. I don't have any satellite connection. This is my home theater room and I use only blu-ray player and Dune HD media player.

I called few minutes back Anthem support. They told me that it could be my monoprice 50 feet RCA cable. They wanted me to buy audioquest or monster subwoofer cable (not rca cable). They also wanted me to try shortest wire possible.

I placed sub woofer at the front (screen side) and receiver is in the back. Room is 20 feet x 16 feet. I might need at least 20+ 16 = 36 feet cable. I am having hard time to find it.

I am wondering to place subwoofer just next to receiver so I can shorten the cable length. It will isolate problem to the cable or not.

Sub 15 came only with two pin power connection. There is no third pin. Anthem support also wanted me to try different socket. I will test in the evening. However, when I disconnect RCA, I never hear humming sound. I am assuming it may not be subwoofer's power socket problem.

I connected my receiver through UPS (APC backup). I can try directly connecting to the wall. I bought UPC since I was told projector should not loose power abruptly.

The problem what I am experiencing , does it means it is using power all the time? I guess it is not good. If I place sub next to receiver, I may buy some trigger wire to test alternative solution. But now is the time to test and ask Paradigm to replace or fix the equipment.

Is it really recommended to place subwoofer next to front speakers? Is it ok to put back of sofas?

Thanks,
Sukumar

If you were just using a standard RCA cable I would recommend this RG6/U cable as it will provide better shielding.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Sukamar, the reason Anthem wanted you to try a different power socket is that socket you are using for your sub and the socket you are using for the rest of your gear may be at different ground potential.
Using either socket alone is no problem. But when you use both -- with a signal wire between -- garbage current can flow.

Another possibility is that the subwoofer wire you are using now is faulty -- its cable shield is not doing its job. Trying with a different cable is a good test.

You can check a lot of this at once by disconnecting everything else from the MRX and sub, moving the sub temporarily next to the MRX, and cabling them with a short length of SHIELDED RCA cable. Plug BOTH the MRX and the sub into the same wall outlet directly -- no power adapter/protector. Now see if the hum is gone.

If so, start adding back your other stuff one thing at a time including the power protector. If you get it all reconnected and still no hum then you know it is either your original sub cable or the difference between the power outlets.
--Bob

I just picked up my MRX 700 last week. I was wondering if anyone here could tell me where to look for information about how to read the graphs after arc has ran. I am trying to use Quick Measure right now to place my speakers but I dont know what Im looking for when I look at the graph. Any help would be appreciated.

Yeah, this is the part I get confused on as well. I have never been able to reconcile what ARC is doing with crossovers and response cutoffs with my scientific knowledge As an example here's my most recent ARC Targets auto settings for response cutoffs for a 5.1 speaker configuration:

L/R: 60 Hz (Revel Concerta F12 ±1.0dB from 58Hz to 18kHz)
C: 100 Hz (Revel Concerta C12 ±1.5dB from 85Hz to 15kHz)
LS/RS: 80 Hz (Revel Concerta M12 ±1.5dB from 65Hz to 15kHz )
Subwoofer: 80Hz (Revel Concerta B12a -3dB @ 28Hz ±0.5dB in the pass band)

The auto measurements are pretty good albeit somewhat conservative based on their -3dB frequency. The Revel specifications for In room frequency responses are noted above in brackets.

Here's the text from Anthem:


Given this text then one guesses that ARC is equalizing the front speakers down to 60Hz, the center channel down to 100Hz, the surrounds down to 80Hz and the subwoofer up to 80Hz. Since the speakers are set to small all bass frequencies below 80Hz and the LFE channel are directed to the subwoofer.

But once you upload the ARC settings for Music and Movie mode what happened to the original non-ARC crossovers? What is the new crossover if it is not the cutoff frequency?
If you go into setup and look at the settings for Bass Management after uploading the ARC results the only thing you see is the Movie or Music mode settings from ARC.

What is happening between 80Hz and 100Hz on my center channel?

If anyone can answer these questions please go ahead. We would all like to understand how best to maximize our listening pleasure.

Cheers.

Tony