Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 312

Anyone successfully used a HDMI splitter/switch with Anthem MRX receivers to output to TV and projector without a glitch? Please share your splitter/switch brand/model/MSRP for reference (including brand/model of TV, projector or even HDMI cable would be highly appreciated). It is also useful to report failed cases so as to know which splitter/switch to avoid. Thank you.

I believe it will permit +/- 12, though it feels like it will start to adjust the other speakers in the opposit direction before it goes past 10. I don't know that it does that... but it seems that people who hit, say -10 on there sub, often have numbers like +5 for the other speakers... when turning the sub down the other speakers seem to go down as well from what I have seen a few times...

Alright, I spent a few hours moving furniture, and other random items. In the end my front speakers are now 2 feet from the back wall (and at least a foot from the side wall) and the sub faces a different direction. It was the best I could get with the room available. I think the front of my room is just very boomy at the low end because of the confined space. I also found out that the ottoman for my couch was attenuating some frequencies.

I removed the "Y-cable" from my sub and it is now at 0dB on the Anthem. Everything else is between -2dB and +3dB.

I'm really impressed with what you can do with ARC. My Denon previously had Audyssey but it was pretty much a shot in the dark and you never really had any feedback. I like this (once I got a USB to Serial that worked - seems like they could improve their RS232 interface in the firmware...it's not that hard...been around for years...)

Take a look at my updated plots and let me know if I have made it to my week of enjoyment and critical listening.

Travis

P.S. My Paradigm PW-2200 does not have a bypass switch, just a crossover knob from 150-50(?) Hz. You can see the 150Hz roll off is quite evident in the ARC plot, but why does it matter? My fronts are set to SMALL with a cutoff of 60Hz. I'm assuming the Anthem isn't sending anything above 60-80Hz to my sub anyway...?

I use a Digitech 2 way splitter without any issues, although I would prefer if the Anthem had two outputs. I have a Sony TV and a JVC Projector.

Also, you might try doubling up your speaker cable to increase the guage. Brand is not critical. I have found major improvements in the perceived bass response when doubling, even when going from a single 12 guage to double 12 guage. Just be sure to run the hot and ground parts of the signal through both wires.See my previous post about this, and the reply from the member who tried it, who also had weak bass. The effect on the overall response, in my all Paradigm system, was not subtle.

I use an Octava switch, never missed a beat!


SPEAKERS?


Ok, over here i have narrowed my choices down to three makes:

1: Jamo d500/600 series?

2: Paradigm millenia20/30 all round?

3: RBH -wm30??

Obviously I'm going for on walls this time, i know the jamo sound as had a set of older D6thx speakers, the Paradigm are unknown to me but being pushed heavily as very good? The RBH are totally new to me and found them on a hifi for sale website.

Any views?

I am considering upgrading my Pioneer 74txvi receiver and the Anthem 300 or 500 is on my short list. The other receiver I am considering is the Denon 4311.

My other equipment consists of Pioneer 600m monitor, Dvdo edge, Oppo 83, AntiMode 8033 eq, Boxee, Fios receiver, Infinity Beta 50s, 360c, 4 ES250s, SVS pci 2039 sub, and Toshiba HD-Dvd.

I would like some feedback on the Anthem andvantages over the Denon 4311 and I have a couple of specific question in regard to the Denon.

Since I have sub eq with the Antimode which seems to do a very capable job would ARC be capable of producing just as good results w/o Antimode? I have read you should eq sub first then apply ARC in addition to sub eq. Anyone using both that can comment on your results. If ARC does as good w/o Antimode I may sell to offset cost of upgrade.

I am also curious about the required amp power needed. Even though the MRX amps are rated lower in power I have read that they are very capable in real world application. I run my Beta speakers as small with 80 crossover currently. Do you think the MRX 300 would power them as well as my current Pioneer? Do you think I need or would require the MRX 500. I normally listen to movies at around -15 reference. My room is 14' x 26' x 8' with open area to kitchen.

Anybody that has moved from a Denon, can you compare ARC to Audyssey as to advantages/disadvantages. From what I have read ARC seems to be getting very favorable reviews.

One last question - Are brick and morter authorized dealers the only option for purchase? Are dealers willing to discount?


Thanks in advance,
Barry

Just listen to this now as you're very close and tweaking more may not result on any improvement. If your sub can go below 20Hz at high volume, then set the sub to flat and then recalculate. Upload after that and listen for a while, it should sound good now.
John

After moving my sub slightly farther out from wall I still have a dip in the 40-60hz range. My main floorstanding speakers are crossed over st 60hz. My music profile has my mains at full range, no sub. Movies sound excellent but how much LFE am I really missing?

All LFE material will go to the sub and it could go as high as 120hz

I was looking on the internet but couldn't find anything....what does the Room Gain do?

Hi TBONE,

Way to stick with it. Your work is paying off very well. The new plots look excellent! Your fronts are now set to 60, which is excellent and where I would expect them. I believe ARC was setting them at 80 before? to control the chaos that had been your low end. Your new speaker placements have tamed the low end excellently.

The sub is also now going out to 120Hz, which is excellent as well. ARC is still having to fill a bit, but since you reduced the mountain spike a bit, it appears ARC is able to take care of the rest nicely.

The reason you want you sub to go to 120Hz is at least 2 fold... #1) Yes your fronts and center are crossing at 60, so there is no need to send material over 60 from your fronts and center to the sub. However your surrounds are crossing at 120, so before, where your old sub cutoffs were, you would have been creating a hole, now material below 120 on your surrounds can be nicely crossed over to your sub. #2) The LFE (Low Frequency Effects) track, also known as the "Dot One" in 5.1, 7.1, etc. is only sent to the LFE output of your sub and that track is known to carry material that goes as high as 120Hz. So if your sub is not playing up to 120Hz, you are missing out on some detail of the LFE track!

Your new levels are spot on, speakers look great, cutoffs look great. I think you are there! It should sound excellent now. Enjoy!

One final tweak you may be able to do, is to set your sub to "Flat". This does not require re-doing your ARC readings. Simply open up your last ARC run calibration file, go to the 'Targets' window, then the 'Advanced Targets' window, change your sub to "Flat", hit 'OK', 'OK', once back at your graphs, hit the 'Calculate' button, then re-upload with the 'Upload' button.

Flat setting is only recommended if you know your sub goes down lower than 20Hz and can protect itself.

Now go watch an awesome movie and enjoy!

Read through the second post of this thread (also in my signature below). All really good info you should know and should answer your question in more detail.

In short, Room Gain is a naturally occuring affect where a room causes the lower end frequencies to be enhanced or magnified. Most rooms naturally increase the bass a bit so if you look at a plot of your room the frequency response is not flat.

ARC attempts to maintain that natural room gain in a room so that the sound you hear is more what you would expect in that particular room... i.e. natural in that room.

You can see in your plots that the dashed "ideal" line has a slight hump in the low end, that is the room gain. If you were to set your room gain to 0 in the targets window, you would see the dashed line go straight. If you set it to say 4 (as high as ARC will ever set it) you will see the hump get higher.

A completely dead room has a room gain of 0. A room with to much room gain will sound boomy and probably a bit muddy.

Although ARC attempts to detect the normal room gain in your room, various things can throw it off, such as to much boundary gain from a speaker being to close to a wall. As such ARC allows you to tweak the room gain to your liking. It also allows you to introduce some room gain into a truely dead room so that things sound more natural.

Note, that there is no set amount of room gain that is correct for everyroom as we expect different rooms to have different amounts of room gain based on our history in such rooms. So if you tweak the room gain to be to different from the natural room gain expected in a room, people will notice it and not usually preceive it as a good thing. In the same way, we expect almost all rooms to have some room gain, hence a room without any room gain seems really dead.

EDIT: TBONE, looking at the room gain ARC has currently applied to your room, you are at about 1.6, this is a nice but modest room gain. A lot of people like something more around 2.5-3.5, again this really depends on the room though. Going to high in a realtively dead room will sound boomy. However, as you are looking for the low end to be enhanced a bit, setting it to 3.6 may be just the key (2 more than you have now... typically we have a hard time hearing changes less than 2). I would still recommend you listen where ARC set it for a solid week, then try changing it if you are looking for more low end. I would not go much higher than 4-4.5 however. If you do decide to change it, try 3.6 first. Again, you don't need to re-run ARC to do this... simply open your last calibration file, go to the 'Targets' window, change the room gain, hit 'OK', 'Calculate', 'Upload'.

Anyone please?

Need some help!

Picked up my 700 today. Hooked it up and noticed that the firmware was from 2010 version 50.00!

I only see 50.19 on the Anthem web site. I hear that there might be some issues with that version.

How can I get 50.12?

Go to the anthem website and download it. The link is in the FAQ on the first page of this thread if that is easier.
John

Thanks for the reply.

Can you use a usb thumb drive to do the firmware update?

What is the "Multimedia" update for and do I need to do that as well?

No, you need to download it to your computer and then upload it to the MRX.

Thanks, I have a laptop with a serial port.

What kind of cable do you need?

Use the serial cable that came with your MRX.

That link only takes you to 50.19. How does one get the older, more stable 50.12?

Sorry, you'll have to contact Anthem tech to get that one.
John

has anyone compared one of these to a Pioneer SC57 or 37 ?

I'm very attracted to Anthem due to ARC etc - which looks an amazing product - but when looking at reviews from the likes of home theater .com the Anthems seem to technically measure only pretty average compared to their peers ?

I'm not talking all channels driven measurements I'm talking SNR, crosstalk etc - which from reviews seems well down vs the equivalent Denons and Pioneers ? I know listening is all and everything- but conversely as a scientist - measurements never lie either (well to some extent anyway)

for interest I found this review - which did a good internal breakdown of DACs, DSP etc used

http://www.laaudiofile.com/anthem_mrx700.html

thanks

Just got done calibrating my MRX500 with the of bcms6. So guys take a look and tell me what you think thanks.

According to that review it easily matches and in sound quality beats the competition. That should make your choice easy
John

[quote=jsil;21698157]Just got done calibrating my MRX500 with the of bcms6. So guys take a look and tell me what you think thanks.[/QUOTE

Looks like your fronts are close to a wall.

Did ARC set your sub to 80? We would like to see it at 120. You can try manually setting your sub target at 120, and see what happens. However we would normally like to see if you can move your sub a little an get ARC to naturally fit your sub at 120.

What are your levels set at?

ARC set it at 80 and moving it will be a little hard because of space. Also it set my center at 120 is that OK. My fronts are about 2ft from the side walls. Also it locked up today when switching from BDP to SAT on the MRX500 remote. I'm on 50.19

So my initial impressions of my newly purchased MRX 700 is very positive.

I am really surprised how much power the 700 has. I have not run ARC yet. I think I will wait a week before I do that. I want to update the firmware first. I am going to contact Anthem tomorrow and ask them to send me 50.12. My unit has 50.00 on it.

I did break out my SPL and set my levels and crossovers. Sound quality is top notch. However I do find that it is a little quirky (not easy) to find different settings easily. Maybe its just something I need to get used to.

One thing I find especially confusing is how to change the sound field quickly with the remote. ie.. switch from Dolby Digital to Stereo etc. Can anyone please let me know if there is a quick way to do that?

I would think that if there were no problems with v50.12...then Anthem would have v50.12 posted on the website, instead of v50.19

I believe (in fact I know from personal experience) that v50.19 probably won't address all reported/known issues...but before that, Anthem was sending out v50.14 via email to those reporting problems with previous version firmware. It makes absolutely no sense that an earlier version firmware is going to address all known issues. v50.12 might be more stable than v50.19 depending on what problem is being targeted. But really...you're just trading one set of problems for another.

Personally...I'd upgrade the FW to v50.19 and see if you have any problems at all. Installing earlier FW may create problems that don't even exist.

Just my two cents...