Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 467

WARNING: ARC V1.2.1 Upload can send loud "pops" to subwoofer!

I apologize for the multiple posts, but I need to get this one out right away.

I just did my first Upload using ARC V1.2.1 and it produced 3 LOUD pops in my subwoofer during the "upload room correction parameters" portion of the process. The 3 pops all happened within a roughly 5 second span. The front panel was showing the D2 powered on, with the FM tuner selected, and with the volume at -91.5dB. The Upload itself completed without any errors. I used the same Windows 2000 computer with a real serial port that I've been using for ARC V1.1 Uploads.

I've reported this to Anthem.

Until we get a handle on this, you might want to disconnect or power off your subwoofer during ARC V1.2.1 Uploads.
--Bob

Thanks for the rapid-fire updates Bob. Much appreciated.
I think I'll wait for ARC V1.2.2.

BTW, I know this is a nit and there are bigger issues but it would nice if the ARC graphs listed the Left Front, Center and Right Front speakers in sequence rather than the current Left Front, Right Front , Left Surround, Right Surround, Left Rear, Right Rear, Center and Subwoofer.
Again I know it's a nit but it doesn't follow the measuring sequence and would be a rather simple change to make.

Well all I can say is "WOW!" My audio with ARC V1.2.1 is EVEN BETTER than what I had with ARC 1.1. And that's just with a re-calculation and re-upload of the ARC 1.1 measurements. I'm even more eager now to see if a re-measurement improves things further!

I just finished a re-viewing of Blu-Ray POTC "Curse of the Black Pearl". I heard no audible problems. The seamlessness of the surround environment was even better, and the music over the closing credits was just spectacular!

I'm particularly sensitive to percussion instruments. For example, there's a "tubbiness" to real kettle drums that's hard for any single or multi-speaker audio system to get right -- i.e., even just the transition between main speakers and a subwoofer. You've got the impact of the initial strike and then the subtle, musical ringing of the kettle overlayed by the wobble of the drum skin and the scrape of the drum stick. It covers a range of frequencies, but is particularly sensitive to the low midrange and true bass. It's now "right"!

As for surround itself, there were several instances where surround effects such as knocks on a door not only sounded completely natural, but were also accurately located between speakers just as the audio editor undoubtedly intended. Yum!

As with improvements in video, one thing that's always struck me about improvements in audio is that they makes goofs or sloppiness in the original recording stand out. I.e., elements of poor content become more noticeable if only in contrast to the good content surrounding them. In this movie, there are a few instances where less than perfect mic-ing of the actors can be heard -- again, simply in contrast to the otherwise perfect audio before and after. I'm recognizing those now too.

It's always difficult to judge how much such observations are colored by listener expectations and wishful thinking. And so I don't usually gush about things like this. But right now I'm a really happy audio camper.

What I don't know is how much of what I'm hearing now is due to improved algorithms in ARC V1.2.1 vs. how much is due to ARC V1.1 not having properly uploaded the complete set of its results correctly. Whatever. ARC V1.2.1 (paired with D2 V1.32) is a winner!
--Bob

I have also just updated to 1.32 and I am using arc 1.21. I havent turned on the system yet, but I wanted to say that I agree with Bob on turning off your subs before you upload the arc setting. I just woke up the whole house, dogs barking and the whole nine yards. So, listen to him, he knows what he is talking about. It really scared the S H I T out of me when that happened, I thought someone had fallen down up stairs. Anyway, I will let you all know what results I get too.

Droopy

I have a 5 channel amp with only 3 channels used. All I need are 2 rear speakers. I'll be using M&K tripoles as the surrounds and am planning on getting a pair of monopoles for the rears. Any last minute advice?

Anybody out there think it's not worth it?

Bob
I downloaded the latest versions of d2 1.32. But, I do not see where you get the ARC-1 1.2.1 version. Does Nick have to send it to you?

On their password protected download page, the D2 V1.32 software is found in the "Link 1" folder -- named "Latest Software". The ARC V1.2.1 software is found in the "Link 7" folder -- named "Test".
--Bob

If you have the physical space to set up rear speakers conveniently, and in particular if your main listening position is not right up against the rear wall, then I think adding the rear speakers is definitely worth the effort.

The only cases I can think of where folks regretted adding rears were cases where they ended up sitting too close to the rears (e.g., right underneath them), or where the nature of the listening space required floor standing rears and putting speakers there screwed up the ability to move around that part of the room, or where the addition of rear speakers made the rear of the listening room too ugly.

As long as you are thinking about adding additional speakers, also consider adding a second subwoofer. Having more than one subwoofer is one of the easiest ways to tame room effects as the two subwoofer locations couple differently to the geometry of the room
--Bob

Thanks. Re: subs. Already there. I use dual Vandy 2wq's passively crossed to the mains.

I picked up the rears (Klipsch RB 15's) for a decent price. They will be around 7 ft behind me, about a foot above ear level and spaced around 40 inches apart.

My M&K tripole surrounds will be basically 90 degrees to the side walls and about right at ear level.

Any more comments/advice would be welcome. Question: With "tripoles" (meaning dipole + direct monopole) how would you set them up in the speaker menu, direct or dipole? The direct driver faces into the room and the dipoles fire rear and forward along the side walls.

I would guess "dipole" would be the best setup, although I'm not really sure how a "tripole" is expected to work. The difference is simply that "dipole" speakers don't have the time delay applied to them that's calculated from the speaker distance menu. That's because dipoles spread the sound by bouncing it off the walls -- which essentially makes the distance setting meaningless.

ETA: You might also want to consider a bit wider spacing for the rears as that will improve their use for music surround.
--Bob

Does anyone have Discrete On, Discrete Off, and Power Commands for the D2 in Pronto Format that they can post? I'm programming one for a friend, and there are issues learning them directly. The one posted on Anthem's website doesn't seem functional.

When I get a full PCF programmed, I'll post it to Remote Central and send it to Nick, hopefully to post on the website, but I need those commands for now.

Thanks.

They're supposed to work both for precise localization of effects as well as "ambient" spacial effects. I bet I won't be able to tell the difference b/w the settings but I'll just experiment.

Re: rear speaker spacing. In the AVM50 manual sec 4.8.6 under THX ASA (Advanced Speaker Array) it recommends placing the rear speakers close together to produce the "largest sweet spot". Going by the Listener Position menu in sec 3.3 this would suggest less than 4ft apart.

Am I interpreting this incorrectly?

Per the Dolby site, the rear speakers should be at between 150 and 135 degrees (assuming 180 is directly behind you). Mine would be around 160 at the present location which is slightly narrower spacing than it seems Dolby recommends.

I would need to pick up some stands to spread them out further (not a big deal) but that would also lower them to about ear level.

It has been awhile since I played with these codes.

I use a Crestron System. I converted the Pronto codes to Crestron
Two Years ago and they worked fine. Unfortunately my Crestron
software does not let me convert them back into Pronto codes,
or I would do that for you.

The problem is that closer together works better for movies and further apart works better for music. So you pick which one you want to optimize for or set up a compromise position in between.

I suspect that the audible difference will be less significant than the mounting convenience of your current setup plans.
--Bob

Here are my Pronto D2 zone 1 codes, I have the others they just aren't as available yet. Change .zip to .xcf

 

D2Zone1IR.zip 130.744140625k . file

Now beginning to feel some apprehension about my upgrade to the D2 (ver 1.31) from the AVM50. The AVM50 worked flawlessly, and initially the D2 also worked flawlessly. The only change made was to swap out the 2 pieces of equipment.

New experiences with the D2:
** On 2 occasions starting the system the display had no video, the screen rapidly flashed green and magenta and on at least one of the occasions there were horizontal lines emanating from the right side of the display extending out approx 1/4 of the screen. This required several restarts of the D2 to display video properly.

** On many occasions (almost all) there is what I can best describe as a blinking issue where the video goes to black and immediately comes back. This is at random rates sometimes very quickly other times several minutes between and stops completely over time.

** Thinking I may have some HDMI cable or HDCP issues I switched the source and output to the component cables; at this time I discover that the video is ghosted this includes the D2 OSD.

Re-checked the new manual, don't believe I have missed anything.

Any ideas from others?

HOW about these CODES

Anthem D2 Pronto OFF:

0000 006C 0066 0000 012E 009A 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046


Anthem D2 Pronto ON:

0000 006C 0066 0000 012E 009A 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0046 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 03E0

What are the improvements with V1.32 over V1.31?

What improvements are there with ARC 1.2.1 vs 1.1?

I don't need to remeasure is that correct? Do I open the AnthemRoomCorrection Application and go to advanced and open my old settings? Then click targets, then auto detect and then calculate? Am I done other than uploading them?

John

This has got me thinking how ARC works with dipoles. I have a pair of B&W DS8S speakers set as dipoles for my system and the sound from those speakers is very diffuse, lots of reflections with a direct null close to the listener position as it should be. I have an ARC system on order (has been for 5 weeks now) and was wondering how it will handle these reflections from the dipoles. Does anyone have a dipole set up for their surround speakers and has used ARC? Does it manage to handle the reflective nature of the sound?

The release notes are not out yet for D2 V1.32, so we don't really know what it does. It appears to have somewhat improved HDMI handshaking with my Comcast/Motorola HD-DVR. Also, either V1.31c or V1.32 are required to allow ARC V1.2.1 to fully verify the correctness of an Upload of ARC results. I've posted a few issues with V1.32 in the last couple pages.

The release notes for ARC V1.2 are in the text file that comes with that download. I've no idea what changed from V1.2 to V1.2.1

WARNING: Be sure to disconnect or power off your subwoofer(s) before doing an Upload of ARC results from ARC V1.2.1. It generates LOUD pops on the subwoofer output during the "uploading room correction parameters" part of the process.

If you are satisfied that your prior ARC measurements match the new recommendations, then there is no need to re-measure for ARC V1.2.1. Just open the existing measurements file in Advanced mode, go into Targets and do an Auto Detect to get the advantage of the new algorithm for setting the default targets, accept the adjusted Targets, do a re-calculation, and do an Upload. Remember to Save User (and/or Installer) Settings after the Upload to get any adjusted cross overs or speaker levels into those memories.

The new recommendations for ARC measurements can be found in the new Section 3.15 of the D2 V1.3x Operating Manual (now available for download on the public download page). It includes two important changes. First Anthem is now saying that the mic positions should be spaced at least 24 inches apart (instead of 12 inches). Second, Anthem has clarified that the mic positions after the first position (which must be dead center at the main seating position) MUST ALTERNATE to either side of center.

That is #1 is dead center, #2 is to one side, #3 is to the other side, #4 is back to the #2 side, #5 is back to the #3 side, etc.

As before, Anthem points out that the mic height is critical. It should be at seated ear height -- and pointing straight up.

So again, if your prior measurements happened to have already been done this way, then there's no point in re-measuring. Just Auto-Detect, re-Calculate, and re-Upload.

Remember that you can use the Noise Level entry in the Setup / Speaker Calibration menu of the D2 to adjust the volume of the ARC test sweeps. If you are getting lots of retry requests, try raising the Noise Level by a few dB (it shouldn't take much).

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

In my case, my prior set of measurements were done at 18" spacing and with #2 and #3 on the same side and #4 and #5 on the other side.

I just redid the measurements using 30" spacing and alternating the mic sides as instructed. Based on the curves and the selected cross overs, it appears to have made a significant improvement in the Center speaker. I suspect my prior measurements made it harder for ARC to distinguish room response from inherent speaker performance for that speaker, even though it seemed to be able to do it just fine for the other speakers.

I've just started listening to the newly uploaded results, and the Center speaker does indeed seem to be improved. More later....

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

This time I also found I could do the Upload of ARC results using the Keyspan USB/Serial Adapter on Windows XP running in the Bootcamp environment on an Apple MacBook. Double checking the Setup menu shows the cross overs and speaker levels all seem to have transferred across properly.

So based on just this one try, it appears Anthem really did make some good improvements in the reliability of the ARC Upload process.
--Bob

Give Anthem tech support a call. They will likely ask you to install the D2 V1.32 software as a first step, since it has some improvements both in the power up sequence and in the HDMI driver over the V1.31 version you are currently using.

Were you using V1.31 with your prior AVM-50? It could be all of your issues are software related.

The image of the Setup menu looks like it has some pretty serious ringing. The image is named "component" so I'm not sure what you are trying there, as I thought you were using HDMI.
--Bob

During my latest set of ARC measurements, ARC V1.2.1 apparently got out of synch somehow with the D2 and couldn't cause the test tone sweep to start at one speaker. Either it couldn't take the D2 out of mute or it couldn't trigger the tone playback. Simply retrying didn't help.

However, I discovered that unplugging the USB side of my Keyspan USB/Serial adapter and plugging it back in again a few seconds later caused things to get sorted out so that the next retry worked properly.

So if you get stuck this way, and happen to be using a USB/Serial adapter for the connection from the computer to the D2, try this trick. It may save you from having to redo the measurements all over again from the beginning.

I don't know if you'd have as much luck trying this with a real serial connection.
--Bob

I had to revert to 1.31c, after I put 1.32, the source did not show the last menu option HDMI Repeater. I had "same as: custom" instead with weird behavior.

I followed usual upgrade procedure if anyone ask

I will retry eventually but for now, it's working fine.

Yes, this problem has been reported to Anthem. However, V1.32 appears to work correctly despite that screwup in the menu. Presumably it is using the HDMI Repeater setting that was previously saved in User or Installer Settings when you reload them after the V1.32 install. And the extra "Same As" line appears to match what is in the first line. So it seems the only real problem is that you can't view or change the HDMI Repeater setting for any sources.
--Bob

Bob

How does one get to their password protected web site and course get a password. Does it come from them or the dealer. I just did the ARC 1.1 with D2 1.32 and am very intriqued by your comments with the new versions.

I'm interested in trying out the new SW as well. I never knew there was such a site.

It's no big secret. Give Anthem tech support a call or send them an email and they will respond with the URL and password.

They are just trying to keep some sort of track as to who's using these test versions. That's why I don't want to give it out myself. And of course they want to make sure you understand the risks inherent in using "test" software that is not "officially" released yet.

In the past for example, there have been test versions that were KNOWN to not work with certain source device or display combos for example. So they would try to steer you away from versions that would just frustrate you. That's not the case with D2 V1.32 and ARC V1.2.1, but as you can see from the last couple pages here, both of these have some problems that really need to be fixed before they become production releases.
--Bob

Interestingly, ProntoProNG won't learn those codes. It states that they are invalid IR codes.

Pronto Professional will take the codes, but it puts an exclamation point next to them and they wind up in red type. I'm assuming that means they are invalid too.

I use an AMX touchscreen and RS-232 for my theater codes, so my remote can't help either.

Hank,
Have you replaced your Ruby bulb?

What D2 ver are you running?

What Sony proj is using an 800 watt Xenon lamp....have you seen it?

Peter

Thanks, I translated these from Pronto Professional to ProtoProNG, and they work just fine.

In case anyone else needs them, here they are:

Discrete On:
0000 006C 0000 0022 0132 0099 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 03BD

Discrete Off:
0000 006C 0000 0022 0132 0099 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0045 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 03BD

Thanks again for the help. I'll get the whole set to Remote Central and Nick in a few days when I get them all in. If I have any trouble, I might ask you to post your xcf file with the complete set (although your xcf file certainly had most of them. No power command, though.)