Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 215

I turned up the level a bit on the speakers and want to run ARC again with the new setting before posting. Just waiting for some quiet time without WAF to rerun ARC...

Thanks to all who answered my initial concerns about the snap, crackle, pop....with about an hour testing, it would appear the firmware update did the trick. To know for certain, I'd need to run at least two hours worth of material to determine if the issue is taken care of completely...but my guess is it's resolved.

Special thanks to Mike who helped guide me through the SVS/ARC sub EQ. I was pleased to see the SVS EQ is doing a great job after viewing the ARC graph for the sub output.

I'm really pleased with running through the demo scenes that I am very familiar with now with the ARC engaged. Looking forward down the road digging into the advanced menu and doing some tweaking.

Thanks again for making this thread a terrific resource for this product.

Much appreciated
Ron

I upfraded my receiver and for some reason cant get the amp to stop the little clicking noises in the front channels when i dts hd master. It only seems to do it in that mode. Getting very frustrated for such an expensive peice there sure is alot of issues.

Am I to understand that you upgraded to the newest firmware, 50.12, on your MRX and it is now producing clicks and pops with DTSMA?
John

i just re-ran arc a few times with different seating positions using the "manual measure" (not quick measure). do i need to re-upload my original arc file before doing these new room measurements?

No. If you did a new set of measurements with ARC in manual mode, just upload that solution. (Don't forget, in Manual mode, you have to click on the Calculate button to generate the solution. Then Upload.)

Hi!

I just bought the 300-version, it was bought mainly because I had several issues with my Integra DTR 70.2. Now, the Anthem will be used as a pre amp and therefore I "only" bought the 300.

Anyways... I have browsed through several pages in this thread but I have yet to find anything regarding revision history for the firmware. My 300 uses 50.01 which rather old I guess.

I have not yet ruined ARC, mainly because I don't yet has had the time purchasing a USB/Serial-adapter.

Does anyone have any information regarding what has been changed/addes/fixed on the firmwares?

Sorry, I should have said that I prefer my original arc file better than the new measurements I took, so wondering if I still need to reload it again (unsure if arc erases previous file when measuring).

Thanks.

Yes, in this case, if you are not gonig to use your new measured locations, you should re-upload your old ARC settings. As soon as you do any sweeps with ARC (weather it be in Manual Mode, Automatic Mode or Quick Measure) you loose all of your current ARC settings and configuration on the MRX.

I am totally new on this but here are my ARC measurements

Anthem MRX 300 (powers only surround speakers)
Cyrus X-Power (mono) + Cyrus PSX-R
Dynaudio Confidence C1 (front speakers)
Audiovector KX (surround)
Naim n-Sub (subwoofer)

What do you guys make of it?

Do you have a low freq. cutoff on the back of the sub? If so, make sure it is disabled. You'll have to rerun ARC if it was activated, so ARC can hear your sub at it's best. Post the target window as well so we can see all the settings. In looking at your sub specs., it seems it will probably not go flat to 20 Hz, ie. not enough dBs at that freq. hence the dropoff in that lower region.

John

Check the FAQ on page 1 of this thread. (Latest firmware is 50.12.)

Thanks for your replies!

The subwoofer is set to "250 Hz" and if I am correct this make the Anthem set the crossover, and I have installed the latest firmware now as well.

Now, I have been fiddling with my Anthem and ARC throughout the day but I can not make it sound good? When I put ARC "ON" all bass and mid-bass just disappears making the sound very thin, turning up the volume on the sub doesn't make it any better.

What can cause this? I attach my target figures below.

EDIT : Or is it simply that I have gotten used to too much bass (my ARC measurements are two posts up)

From the sub chart and target window, things look good. Try raising the room gain by 1.5, then recalculate and post for us to see the diff in the sub chart. Remember, you sub response drops 10 dB from 50 to 20Hz. That will affect the low end feel. You also could be used to bloated bass so after raising gain you could upload and listen or do nothing for now and see if you adjust to the new sound.
John

I have a similar issue like you do. I unplugged the power cord when I uploaded the latest firmware. Then my MRX 500 lost all audio signal. I called Anthem Tech Support and was advised to contact the local dealer for a replacement. I somehow upgraded to a 700 and awaiting for the shipment. Hopefully I will have that in couple of days.

Your left and right front were really high on the bass so you may have gotten used to much more low end that what you have with the room correction on.

Just a quick question that I hope someone can answer while I'm waiting for my MRX 700 to arrive.
My center channel speaker is sitting inside a custom cabinet that holds all the home theater gear. It is a Totem Mite-T. Only has around 1" on the sides and top. Do I need anything to help the sound of this speaker? Sound dampening on the back of the enclosure? Cut the back of the cabinet where the center channel is located? Or will the MRX compensate for all of that? Thanks....

John, thanks for your input. I am sorry but English is not my native language, Swedish is, so I am not sure if you wanted me to change room gain TO 1.5 or actually add 1.5 to the earlier setting.

However changing it to 1.5 didn't make much difference but adding 1.5 did, on the chart anyways I have yet to try it on the amp.

So... The below subwoofer measurement is with room gain 2.756339 (up 1.5)

Now, this is rather strange... Do you think this is my room? My speakers, Dynaudio Confidence C1, is often regarded as neutral?

placing them very close to a wall can often give a curve like this. ARC has corrected but if you wanted to try to get them neutral before ARC you could use the quick measure in ARC and move them around a bit. Even inches can make a difference. If you use Quick Measure you will have to do another measurement and upload because Quick Measure will set all ARC settings back to default (0)

Yes, just add 1.5 to what you had before. Does it sound different? Also as Shrike645 said, moving away from back and side wall can tame peaks, it did for me.
John

Jayray & Shrike645 : Thank you guys so very much for your input, it is almost midnight here in Sweden right now and my wife would really hate me for doing another ARC measurement right now so I will leave it until tomorrow.

I will also try moving my subwoofer closer to the corner and try the quick measurement, I also noticed a newer version of the ARC, for Windows, is available. So I guess that plus F1 tomorrow will save my day.

Have a nice weekend guys!

Version 3.02 is the newest but if you have 3.01 or 3.00 they should be fine. BTW, your English is a lot better than my Swedish
John

At least in your time zone you can get a measure in before the race. I have to PVR it to make sure I'm up in time.

Hello,

I have a question that you may be able to help with. I have been trolling the web and noticed that couple of australian dealers are offering Anthem MRX300 + PVA 5 combo (they are even tossing in a 5-channel cable to connect the two). It seems that Anthem is passing a combo discount for the two. On paper, it seems that MRX 700 has very similar specs (90 vs 105W all channels driven). However, when taking a peak under the hood, it is hard to miss 4 output transistors per channel (vs 2 for MRX), several times the capacity of the power supply, and the weight of the power amp that equals the entire receiver.

When comparing specs, PVA 5 has damping factor of 200 vs something like 50 for MRX 700 (sugesting high current capability and the ability to drive speakers with more ease than MRX 700).

Hence the question: I have somewhat demanding speakers (B&W 805s/HTM4s/ASW825) and I use a HTPC, therefore internet radio and music from USB is not needed. Would I benefit from MRX300+PVA 5 vs MRX 700?

i would say go for the combo. an additional power supply is always welcome

Just to clarify if I wasn't clear, I am actually in Toronto, Canada, but I am sure some kind of a combo deal could be had here as well. The australian dealers' web sites just planted the idea in my mind .

What sort of deal is it?

Here is one of the links:

http://www.audiotrends.com.au/Anthem...ct&itemId=1235

They claim that they secured/negotiated a deal with Anthem that allowed them to knock off some $600 AUS. I have no idea about Australian prices (it comes up to something like $3000 AUS - I don't know what it would be in Canada. Just adding up MSRP for MRX300 and PVA 5 comes to about $2900 CND - I am sure a good dealer can do better).

Blimey!

Anthem should sort that deal out everywhere.... over here (uk) The pva 5 is 1600£ and a 300 is 1100£, the aussie deal works out at 1900ish£ saving 700£!! I would love a pva5 instead of my Arcam.