Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 3

Did you dealer give you any ETA? Anthem is still in the process of filling backorders from dealers who preordered their units. My dealer ordered a dozen 700's & 500's the first day they were availableand has only received 4 units so far. He is expecting the balance of his preorder this week. Be patient. it is worth the wait.

No he couldn't give me eta. But I knew that going in and was glad to hear it when he told me (another dealer told me he would order it and have it in 5 days, so I knew he didnt have much knowledge of these recievers). I actually have been waiting since March when I purchased a new set of paradigm fronts and my old dealer told me about the new anthem line. Figured I waited this long, a few more weeks cant hurt!!!!

Hey Stan,
great review. Finally! Hey you mention the Retrurn To Forever Blue Ray. Amazing sounding BR, and also the imaging is very clear. When using this concert as a comparison point between the Denon and the Anthem how do they compare? Do you get more air around the instruments with the Anthem?

HeffeMusic, Some pretty talented musicians and a wonderful production on RTF that brings out the best in a good sounding system. Live From Abbey Road Season One BD, Star TrekCowboy Junkies Trinity Revisited dvd and Jennifer Warnes The Hunter CD comprise the balance of my demo discs. There is not as much noticeable difference between the Denon and the Anthem as there was between my Arcam AVP700 and the D2, of several years ago, but the imaging and surround steering of the MRX is superior to that of the Denon.

I will be honest with you, I had told my Anthem dealer (who used to sell Denon & Onkyo) several times that the real reason that I was not preordering the MRX was because I did not really think that there could be that much difference between $1K-2K receivers made in China or Japan from different CE manufacturers. But, there is definitely an Anthem sound that differs from its' competitors, and I really like it. Look, I do not have a bottle of Anthem Kool Aid like Jayray (sorry John), but so far the MRX 700 is sounding/looking better than the Denon to me. Now, if it can only help the Patriots against the Steelers tonight. At least, I can hope that it adds to the football game experience.

Stan,
Great reply, very honest and that is what I am looking for! So from what you are saying the SQ from the MRX, is going to be much better than my Onkyo 705?

I think it will, but we all need to remember how subjective all of our personal listening and review comparisons may be. I used to have an Onkyo 885 pre, but the Denon 4810 was a better sounding solution to my ears, with a better GUI to that of the Onkyo. If I were you, I would borrow a demo MRX from your Anthem dealer; like I did this weekend.

I run Parallels 5.0 on my MAC. I installed Windows XP Pro, and I have no problems running ARC. I have a D2; but, I don't think that matters; but, I could be wrong.

That koolaid sure tastes great, doesn't it?
John

If the MRX-700 helps the Pats beat the Steelers I'll buy one tomorrow. My 886 was of no help in the last Superbowl.

Bill

Ok Stan,
Here are my thoughts. My brother had a Krell amp/preamp, 15 years ago. I have never heard anything that good since. The 3d quality was insane! But I have to say that my Oppo 83SE, through my Onkyo via analog inputs gave me (some) similar results. If I can't achieve this sound quality with the Anthem, then I should prob look at a Marantz 7005, because it gives me the 5.1 analog inputs? What are your thoughts. Should I keep what I have?

If you like what you have, why change. And, the analog of the MRX is not impressive, but that is not what it is designed for. The 7005 look pretty nice for the $$$, but why no updated Audyssey?


Other than the missed kick, the Pats are playing pretty clean tonight, but the game is in Pittsburgh and the Steelers still have plenty of time to come back. Talking about clean, how about these pics of the "clean" inside of the MRX700:
[IMG][/IMG]

im having some issues with the resolution and handshaking on my mrx500. i run all of my sources (oppo bd83 source direct and SA 8300hd pvr) through a denon 602 external scaler that has 2 hdmi outs and into a jvc rs35 pj.

1.) when i setup the resolution on the mrx, it was set to 1080p24. since then, i am unable to change it. either with the button on the remote or using the main menu. it does not want to change from that setting.

2.) the denon scaler has 2 hdmi outs so i can send 1 video out to the pj and the other (for sound) to the mrx. this is the best way for me, but i also lose the ability to see the onscreen menu and volume control. any way around this?

3.) if i send the denon scaler hdmi out into the mrx hdmi input, it usually works but most often not (handshake). i need to unplug and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. that is why i like to use the above method as it always works but then i lose the GUI.

4.) i use back surrounds that are enabled in the mrx main menu, but everytime a movie plays i never hear them. i check the mrx screen and it always displays 3/2 which means 3 fronts and 2 surrounds. is there a setting to enable the rear surrounds to be matrixed into non 7.1 blurays like the denon does? and what exact setting on the mrx should be set to allow the audio on the disk to be played natively (ie. hd, dts, etc.)

any thoughts?

Based on the photo, it looks like the MRX 700 has a TI TMS320D788 32-bit DSP chip and another TI DSP (maybe the same one). This chip seems to be used in the Onkyo TX-SR507 also.

I thought Anthem has been using its own DPS chips. But the DPS the picture shows is made by Texas Instruments. Is this a new move of Anthem for these new receivers? What about D2v?

Michaelmorio

For me, the MRX700 matrixes surround backs in 7.1 with Dolby TrueHD soundtracks by setting Dolby PLIIX Movie with 5.1 Dolby Digital Source in the Listening Mode Presets. But not with 5.1 DTS, so it may be that your BD audio in the disc you are playing is set for DTS HD Master, which is why you are not getting 7.1 with surround backs. If you have a choice in your BD setup, choose True HD for surround backs.

I guess you will be BUYING one today

Pats 39 - Pits 26

Buying is one thing, getting one delivered soon may be another story. Maybe, we can help Bill get his new receiver delivered before the Pats play the Colts at home next Sunday. They can always use all the help they can get against Peyton!

On another more salient point, I found the MRX to be a bit cumbersome to use during my typical weekday morning of sound and video. My Monday through Friday morning routine consists of local news, workout DVD, Pandora Radio via Tivo & CD's and Vinyl as I awaken early and get myself ready for the real world. No, since this is a demo unit, I have not yet taken the time to set all of the sources that I use, but I was really missing the ability to switch sound choices on each independent source on the fly via the remote this morning. This ability is sorely missing from the Anthem Receivers. A major oversight if you ask me, in what is a great sounding receiver.

Nick, could this ability be added by firmware update?

For what it's worth, my dealer sells both Marantz and Anthem. When asked about the 7005 (in stock) Vs. the mrx500 (wait 2 weeks), he immediately said "wait for the Anthem, it will be worth it".

Since I trust him, that's what I'm doing. I am hoping the lack of 7.1 inputs is made up for by the ability of ARC over HDMI.

Great game as the Steelers are not big favorites in our home.

QUOTE=gostan;19489611]
I think the Pats will need more than the karma my new AVR to beat the Steelers and the Colts back to back.


This does seem odd that Anthem would not have this feature with their AVRs. I wonder if there is a discrete code for a universal remote? That would be worth a shot if anyone that has the MRX-500/700. Is there a code for the AVM/D1/D2 units that might work?


Very good question.

All kidding aside I have decided that I will wait till there are a number of MRX-500/700s in the wild before I make the decision to upgrade my 886. I'm also waiting for feedback on the Marantz AV7500 as these two are my choices right now if I decide to change prepros.

Bill

How did the game look through the 700? Any noticeable improvement? Cable or Sat?
As far as the Colts go...I ain't ascared of them dolts. Way too banged up. Jets in 3 weeks, that'll be such a huge game.

Has anyone hooked up a hard drive to the USB yet?

Peter

Hi Peter,

In answer to your question, yes, I've connected an external HD to my MRX700..
(I was one of the beta testers for the 700.) I love how good the prices are for big storage.

The MRX compiles all the music into genre, artist and the like, and information is displayed on our GUI.

Sounds great Brian! Post a pic or two when you get a chance, just to get an idea how the gui looks as well as structure.
Once the MRX has compiled all the info, does it access the music fairly quick? Oh, one other question...once the hard drive is connected, then disconnected to add more files...I'm guessing has to be compiled again once it is reconnected.
It seems as though it is a great indispensable feature for those who have more music than they know what to do with. The missus is gonna love that!
Peter

Are you the Brian who works in the eastern US. sales region?
John

After finally getting a chance to experience an extended demo of an MRX-700 last week at Total Home Technologies in Roseland NJ (www.totalhomenj.com); I came away very impressed.
Due to space limitations, I have been looking to get away from separates, and into a AVR for my living room. I have hesitated for longer than I would like to admit; but the reason I haven't ever pulled the trigger is easy. Everything I have actually put an ear to has sounded completely uninspiring! The AVR category seems to be filled to the brim with AVRs that include every feature except the one that really matters... SOUND QUALITY. I guess it is not as easy to 'sell' sound quality, as it is to lure people with things like Netflix streaming, or iDevice control. :lame:
Probably the best complement I can give to the MRX-700 is that is sounds like an Anthem product! Extremely dynamic, open and effortless was my first impression. As I spent more time in Total Home's demo space, (I spent over 90 min going through the files I brought with me) I noticed a very low level of distortion that I dare to say exceeds many separate amplifiers I have seen in the wild. Very, very nice.
Let's hope Santa puts an MRX-700 under my tree next month! :fingers crossed:

Another Koolaid drinker glad to hear what many are saying, could we all be wrong? Doubt it.
John

Anthem really needs more dealers.

As a family, we are looking at getting my sister a MRX 500 for Christmas. According to the Anthem website there are no local dealers in Kennewick WA, and the closest one is in Walla Walla. I have been calling the Walla Walla dealer, but I keep getting an answering machine, and they have yet to call me back.

I guess I could drive 1.5 hours to Santa Fe, buy it there, and then ship it to her, but that would be expensive, and a pain. And that is assuming the Santa Fe dealer actually has one.


John

Call Anthem to see if they can nudge that dealer for you. No dealer is going to knowingly turn away an eager buyer. So they must have some screw up in their processing of voice mail messages.
--Bob

The Santa Fe dealer can have it go anywhere.
Factory to Kennewick WA, as an example.