Anthem MRX Receivers - 300, 500, 700 Owners Thread & Tweaking Guide - Page 330

Originally Posted by Tigger!

NOTE: I had a copy/paste typo... the second part of your highlight should be "Min Subwoofer EQ Freq"... I already fixed my first post, sorry for the confusion.

Yes the "High Pass Frequency" & "Min Subwoofer EQ Freq" apply to the sub. These are set in the "Advanced" menu of the "Targets" window for the sub in ARC.

We never changes those values, so you won't see them mentioned much in this thread. If your sub has the "Subwoofer High Pass Order" set to 'Auto' you can't make any changes to them anyways.

If you set the "Subwoofer High Pass Order" to 'Flat, then you can change the "Min Subwoofer EQ Freq" only (lowest excepted value is 20). If you pick a manual High Pass Order you can change both values, both have an exceptable input range or 20 to 80 I believe.

Originally Posted by eric-t

Very interesting. I would like to hear what your findings are.. The only change I had done was manually setting my sub cutoff to 120hz from 80hz. Looks like I may need to make the adjustment within my MRX as well.

Originally Posted by eric-t

I never ventured into the advance setup for the sub so the "High Pass Order" words through me off. I was thinking "High Pass Filter".

Originally Posted by Crescent

I need some facts as to the video performance of these units. I just bought a JVC DILA projector. I'm switching the blu-ray player through the Anthem in through mode via HDMI. Yet, if i hit the menu button, i see the Anthem menu. so some processing must be going on. Through the projector the movie gets choppy from time to time. There are a lot of variables, but I need to be able to eliminate the Anthem as one of them. Is this an artifact of digital projectors, since the JVC replaces a CRT NEC XG 110 LC?

My basic approach to receivers is that they don't do well with video. However, I was hoping through mode would be ok.

Originally Posted by Tigger!

Well, your not really far off... the "High Pass Order" does impact shape of the "High Pass Filter" for the sub, or in the case of 'Flat', defeats the High Pass for the sub.

Originally Posted by Tigger!


Agreed, this makes little sense... especially as Anthem seemed to try and simplify things for the MRX and it would seem to make sense to simplify setting the Crossover to the Targets, with ARC, even if you change a target manualy.

To answer what we can see and change...

In ARC, we have the ability to change Cutoffs for all Main Channels independantly for both a Music and Movie channel. For the sub, we can change cutoff, the "High Pass Order" (this includes Auto and Flat), we can change the "High Pass Frequency" & "Min Subwoofer EQ Freq" as well as the "Ref Level" which is -1 by default. These can be adjusted independantly per Profile.

In addition to that we can change Room Gain & Max EQ Frequency (up to 5000Hz) independantly for each Profile.

On the MRX, we can set the the Crossover for the Front, Center, Surrounds, AUX (Rear Surounds), And turn the Sub On/Off for both Profiles under "Bass Management".

I can confirm that on my MRX, changing a Cutoff in my Targets window, does in fact change the crossover in the MRX's menu. I have not yet done as Bob suggested and try changing the cutoff from one extreem to the other, disconnecting the main speakers and listening... that could be worth doing to confirm.

Originally Posted by HeffeMusic

Hello Tigger,
I do not want to sound like I am being a jerk, but we have discussed this several times. You cannot change the Cross over on the MRX's. You can only change the cut offs. There is no way to see the crossover on the MRX's.

Originally Posted by Tigger!


No problem, but yes, you can see the crossovers for all but the sub. If you would like to look at the crossovers do the following:

1) Hit Setup on your remote
2) Go to 'Speaker Configuration'
3) Go to 'Bass Management'
4) Select either Movie or Music to see the Crossover points set for the Movie or Music Profile.

With regards to changing the Crossovers, you can change them, however we never recommend changing them after ARC has set them.

Recently Nick@Anthem suggested that if you are manually adjusting your cutoffs, you will also need to manually adjust your Crossovers. This has been the main discussion the last couple of pages. Most of us are not convinced this advice is correct but considering Nick is the ultimate expert, we are trying to make heads or tails of his advice.

Read back a page or two and I think you will see what we are refering to, I posted a link to Nicks post a few back.

Originally Posted by Tigger!

Bob,

It seems odd that Nick would have gotten this wrong... though we all answer something quickly between calls sometimes and simply miss the big picture, or accidently answer a different question then the one we were meant to be answering...

Can you or maybe Jayray (or anyone else with a lot of Anthem Signature experience and history with older versions of ARC) confirm that Nick was not thinking of the behavior on the Anthem Signature series (which I'm 99.9% sure he was not) or confusing the behavior with older versions of ARC software?? Maybe something that had to be done in the past with version 1.x?

I've only ever owned an MRX from Anthem... and so I'm not as familiar with the more manual setup of the Signature series or older versions of ARC. (though I know the Signature series does have more complexity to its setup then ours... and older versions of ARC had slightly different options).

For reference, here is a link to the post in question: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=9571

Originally Posted by Tigger!

No problem. You didn't post your Speaker Levels or your Targets window... so I'm still having to do a lot of guess work.

However, I would suggest setting your cutoff for your fronts at 40 as well as your center. Your surounds look good where they are.

Also, really guessing here... but is your Room Gain set at about 2?

If so, you might try changing it to around 3 or 3.5.

You can make these changes without re-running ARC, you simply need to open up your current ARC Calibration file in ARC in Manual mode. Go to your targets window, make the changes, hit 'ok', then hit 'calculate' to re-calculate your curves. Then hit 'upload'.

You might try the cutoff changes first, see if you like them. If you still feel the base is lacking, then try adjusting your room gain up +1 or +1.5, but don't go past 4.

Please post up your charts, target window and levels after you re-calculate so we can see where things are at

Originally Posted by eric-t

Quick question. When you go into the menu of the source you are listening too and manually adjust the bass I know it reverts back to 0db when you power off/on the MRX. But, does manually adjusting the bass just effect the sub or both the sub and speakers?

Originally Posted by BigCoolJesus

Hey guys,

Long story short, I came across an amazing deal on a Paradigm Sub 25 so I will be trading in my dual Monitor SUB 12's to my dealer and will be back to a single sub setup. Because of this I really want to give Anthem another shot since I have always longed to use ARC in my room. My dealer is willing to give me full trade back on my dual Monitor SUB 12's towards in-store purchasing, which means I have $2000 to spend.

- My room is 11x11x8 (I sit 10' back from front wall)
- My speakers are Paradigm Series 7 Monitor 11's, Center 3, Axiom QS8 surrounds, and Axiom M2 On-Wall heights
- My listening preference is 100% movies and gaming
- My average movie volume is -10dB (on a 0dB calibrated master volume)

I can either spring for an MRX700 in a swap trade (dual subs for receiver) or I could do an MRX300 and then get an Anthem MCA-30 amp for my LCR speakers, which means about $700 out of pocket after trading in the dual subs. What are the major differences between the MRX300 and 700? Is the power of the 700 enough for my 7-channel setup? Would the combination of the 300 and a 3-channel amp trounce the 700?

Also, are most, if not all, firmware issues fixed with the MRX lines? I know when I bought an MRX300 a year ago there was quite a few issues (HDMI sync problem, lip sync issue, etc), hence why I went with Integra at the time.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by BigCoolJesus

Hey guys,

Long story short, I came across an amazing deal on a Paradigm Sub 25 so I will be trading in my dual Monitor SUB 12's to my dealer and will be back to a single sub setup. Because of this I really want to give Anthem another shot since I have always longed to use ARC in my room. My dealer is willing to give me full trade back on my dual Monitor SUB 12's towards in-store purchasing, which means I have $2000 to spend.

- My room is 11x11x8 (I sit 10' back from front wall)
- My speakers are Paradigm Series 7 Monitor 11's, Center 3, Axiom QS8 surrounds, and Axiom M2 On-Wall heights
- My listening preference is 100% movies and gaming
- My average movie volume is -10dB (on a 0dB calibrated master volume)

I can either spring for an MRX700 in a swap trade (dual subs for receiver) or I could do an MRX300 and then get an Anthem MCA-30 amp for my LCR speakers, which means about $700 out of pocket after trading in the dual subs. What are the major differences between the MRX300 and 700? Is the power of the 700 enough for my 7-channel setup? Would the combination of the 300 and a 3-channel amp trounce the 700?

Also, are most, if not all, firmware issues fixed with the MRX lines? I know when I bought an MRX300 a year ago there was quite a few issues (HDMI sync problem, lip sync issue, etc), hence why I went with Integra at the time.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Litlgi74


I wondered what happened to you! There are still some MINOR quirks with the MRX using FW 50.12. I as well as many others have been experiencing lock up problems with 50.19 and even the current betas.

The quirks (popping when changing tracks, ARC anomalies while in music mode) with MRX are small enough with 50.12... that I still recommend the AVR to my friends.. You just can't beat ARC!

I say go for it!

Originally Posted by jayray

50.23 has solved the lockups for me so maybe one more problem solved
John

Originally Posted by eric-t

I haven't even touched ARC since June of last year nor have I updated the firmware since then. I am in the market for a new sub and will refresh myself when I get one and take a peek at the advance menu but won't change anything in there.

Originally Posted by ThePrisoner


Is this the next firmware? I'm currently on 50.19

Originally Posted by ASU

I'm pretty sure it is a system wide change, meaning it is adjusting the overall bass of the system, therefore across all speakers.

Originally Posted by Litlgi74

I wondered what happened to you! There are still some MINOR quirks with the MRX using FW 50.12. I as well as many others have been experiencing lock up problems with 50.19 and even the current betas.

The quirks (popping when changing tracks, ARC anomalies while in music mode) with MRX are small enough with 50.12... that I still recommend the AVR to my friends.. You just can't beat ARC!

I say go for it!

Originally Posted by jayray

50.23 has solved the lockups for me so maybe one more problem solved
John

Originally Posted by Brian-HD


Did you get lock ups on 50.22?

Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau

I looked at Nick's post and ALSO the post he was replying to.

I think the problem here is that folks are getting all tangled up in the interaction between a "Full Range" choice in ARC targets and the Crossover settings in the MRX. I know the MRX has different limits on what it can do for bass steering than the D2v. I'm not sure the MRX allows you to completely eliminate the rolloff down below 30Hz for main speakers that have powered woofers and are actually capable of reproducing the lowest bass at volume. Bass management in the MRX is designed assuming owner's have more normal speakers. Heck, this was even a late addition in the world of the D2v.

Since I don't have an MRX I can't check this to see what different settings cause to be Uploaded, but I suspect what was going on in the case in question is that the changes forced in Targets were inconsistent with what the speakers were actually capable of doing, and thus the result from the ARC solution were odd -- i.e., the problem was over-constrained by the user. I could imagine, in cases like that you really WOULD have to make manual changes to what ARC Uploads to force your "broken" solution to happen.

In the *NORMAL* case of tweaking the Cutoff frequencies for the main speakers modest amounts to get a cleaner solution -- without screwing around as well with the odd-ball settings like "full range" -- I think it highly likely that ARC is Uploading an adjusted Crossover that matches, just as would be indicated by the changed shape of the Targets curve when you adjust the Cutoff. As I said, that's easy enough to test.

There is an entirely separate question as to whether the Crossover is functioning properly -- i.e., energy steered to the Subwoofer from a main speaker channel is not *ALSO* being output on that main speaker channel -- and energy from frequencies above the Crossover is *NOT* being steered to the Sub. Again, I don't have an MRX so I can't test this stuff, but consider trying the Subwoofer Crossover test on AIX Audio Calibration, Blu-ray. It sends a tone to LF (only) that sweeps back and forth either side of the crossover frequencies. At the high end that tone will be output exclusively on LF. At the lowest end it should be output exclusively on Sub (via the Crossover). In between, both Sub and LF play at varying amounts. If the ARC solution is correct *AND* your Sub phase is set properly, then that tone will maintain constant volume across the entire frequency range of its sweep. Listen from ARC mic position #1. (You may have trouble hearing the tone at the lowest frequency end.)
--Bob

Originally Posted by jayray


Yes but there was a glitch after 50.20b fixed the lockups, 50.22 didn't have that feature so it was fixed in 50.23.
John

Originally Posted by BigCoolJesus

When I bring my MRX700 home will I be able to update it to 50.23 or is it not available at this time without direct access from the right people (I.e. Nick @ Anthem)

Originally Posted by BigCoolJesus


When I bring my MRX700 home will I be able to update it to 50.23 or is it not available at this time without direct access from the right people (I.e. Nick @ Anthem)

Originally Posted by jayray

Just call or email tech support and they should give you the password to get that file. If you don't want it now just wait for the final version to be posted on the Anthem website.
John