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Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 505

post #15121 of 40750
7/23/08 at 8:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jayray View Post

I do have dipoles for back and surround. I guess I can take measurments without uploading just to see if there are any differences.

John

If you have dipole surrounds I wouldn't sweat it. Dipoles give you a more diffuse surround ambience by bouncing the sound off the walls, but that also means you lose some high frequencies (which are inherently directional).

Re-Measuring isn't going to change that.

I don't know whether upgrading your dipole surrounds might help (I'm not that familiar with what's out there for dipoles these days), but if you like the surround sound you are getting with the current ARC setup then I'd suggest you live with it a while.
--Bob
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post #15122 of 40750
7/23/08 at 8:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrips View Post

So isn't there anybody here to help me?
I am stuck with 1.2.4 and my system sounds terrible.
Can somebody send the 1.2.2 version to me via PM or to rapidshare?

Thanks

I might be able to help you out when I get home tonight.
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post #15123 of 40750
7/23/08 at 9:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ASW View Post

I might be able to help you out when I get home tonight.


It might not be be necessary though, let's see.
I just got access to the beta site and got hold of the 1.2.5 version.
Now if I have the "earthquake" problem, so, what shall I do?
Rerun all the measurements with 1.2.5?
Or, use the measurements made with 1.2.4, load them in 1.2.5, recalculate and upload?

Thank you.
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post #15124 of 40750
7/23/08 at 9:52am
Just listened to my Chesky 96/24 recording of Livingston Taylor's INK on DVD. Was listening to it out the analogs and it sounded terrific. Just listened to it using the optical input and using EQ=on and what a diff. The towel came off my front speakers. Even my wife thought so. She thanked me for getting ARC based on the music results. Yes I am lucky No matter how good your equipment is it is hard to imagine it could be better but ARC seems to do it. Now with the sub used for music it is so smooth that I will now stay with sub on which I never did before. As you can tell, this is fun

John
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post #15125 of 40750
7/23/08 at 9:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrips View Post

It might not be be necessary though, let's see.
I just got access to the beta site and got hold of the 1.2.5 version.
Now if I have the "earthquake" problem, so, what shall I do?
Rerun all the measurements with 1.2.5?
Or, use the measurements made with 1.2.4, load them in 1.2.5, recalculate and upload?

Thank you.

I would recommend you re-Measure with V1.2.5.

We have one report that simply doing a re-Calculation and re-Upload of V1.2.2 Measurements using V1.2.5 will also work.

However we have another report that doing the same thing on a set of V1.2.4 Measurements did *NOT* eliminate all of the problem.

In any event, doing a full re-Measurement is probably safest.
--Bob
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post #15126 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:02am
xtrips,
Just to make sure there's no confusion here, you should be using D2 V1.33 with ARC V1.2.5.
--Bob
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post #15127 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

I would recommend you re-Measure with V1.2.5.

We have one report that simply doing a re-Calculation and re-Upload of V1.2.2 Measurements using V1.2.5 will also work.

However we have another report that doing the same thing on a set of V1.2.4 Measurements did *NOT* eliminate all of the problem.

In any event, doing a full re-Measurement is probably safest.
--Bob

Then, this is what I will do.
Thank you.
Maybe it is also time to try something new.
Did anybody measure 2 different sets? I mean:
- 1 for Movie using all 7.1 channels
- 1 for Music using only L+R and sub

Since I am going to try that now I could use recommendations.
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post #15128 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrips View Post

Then, this is what I will do.
Thank you.
Maybe it is also time to try something new.
Did anybody measure 2 different sets? I mean:
- 1 for Movie using all 7.1 channels
- 1 for Music using only L+R and sub

Since I am going to try that now I could use recommendations.

Nick mentioned if you use a stereo source even using Movie, stereo will be output and ARC will work. Check my post above about my music experience.
John
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post #15129 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jayray View Post

Nick mentioned if you use a stereo source even using Movie, stereo will be output and ARC will work. Check my post above about my music experience.
John

Ok, so it means i don't have to run specific measurements for that.
But I thought that if I run ARC for Music with just 3 speakers and very close listening positions, I would get a more "optimized" EQ for music.
You don't think so?
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post #15130 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrips View Post

Then, this is what I will do.
Thank you.
Maybe it is also time to try something new.
Did anybody measure 2 different sets? I mean:
- 1 for Movie using all 7.1 channels
- 1 for Music using only L+R and sub

Since I am going to try that now I could use recommendations.

I run a separate Movie and Music config in ARC. In my case I leave the surrounds in place in the Music config (since I can just select Stereo audio mode if I ever want to have them not used), but I removed the Center speaker from the Music config, so that I have no Center even if I use a Music surround audio mode such as PLIIx-Music.

So the Movie and Music configs are identical in ARC except that there is no Center speaker included in Music.

Note that when you do this, ARC will have you go through the entire Measurement stuff (each mic position) TWICE, first for Movie and then all over again for Music. Calculation and Upload still only happen once.
--Bob
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post #15131 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xtrips View Post

Ok, so it means i don't have to run specific measurements for that.
But I thought that if I run ARC for Music with just 3 speakers and very close listening positions, I would get a more "optimized" EQ for music.
You don't think so?

If you are going to change your seating positions (and thus your mic Measurement positions) for Music compared to Movie, then you definitely want a separate Music config -- even if it uses all the *SAME* speakers as the Movie config!

Note that the D2 only has one set of speaker distances, but that's of fairly minor consequence for Music listening with a smaller number of speakers.
--Bob
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post #15132 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:39am
Bob, I had your voice in my head when I was doing the upgrade and the power plugs were pulled from all hdmi sources.

There's no way of uninstalling the radio shack drivers because it's not in "add/remove programs" and it doesn't show up in "device manager". I suspect there was some issue with the installation of the Keyspan drivers, I'm just surprised it worked at all and then crashed.

Anyone else use Win XP sp3 and have problems? I suspect it was the old radio shack drivers but I suppose the sp3 could be the culprit. Why oh why did I try to change too many things at once???!!!

I'll spend tonight doing the reformatski to the laptop.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

Bogg,
Make sure you have no powered HDMI connections to your D2 (sources or display) when doing the firmware install. Many HDMI devices leave their HDMI sockets powered even when the device appears to be off. I recommend you remove power from everything except for the D2 and the computer to be sure. Failure at the point of the video uC part of the install often is a result of an HDMI connection still being powered. On the other hand, that certainly should not have crashed your laptop.

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

Even though there are no device conflicts reported by Windows, you may need to uninstall the drivers for the older adapter to get the drivers for the new adapter to be happy. The Keyspan driver install should happen without error messages or something is screwed up, even if Device Manager isn't reporting a problem.
--Bob
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post #15133 of 40750
7/23/08 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bogg View Post

There's no way of uninstalling the radio shack drivers because it's not in "add/remove programs" and it doesn't show up in "device manager". I suspect there was some issue with the installation of the Keyspan drivers, I'm just surprised it worked at all and then crashed.

If the radio shack drivers are still in there (and that's likely) you will find them in Device Manager's list of all hardware under the USB item (look there first) and possibly under the Ports item (LPT and COM ports). When you find them, right click on them and select Properties. The option to delete the unwanted driver from the system will be found in there.

It would be wise to delete the Keyspan drivers as well and re-install them from scratch.

I'm using Windows XP (Home Edition) SP3 in the BootCamp environment on an Apple MacBook -- with the Keyspan USB/Serial adapter and Keyspan's latest driver for XP. Somewhat to my surprise, it all works both for firmware installs and ARC!
--Bob
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post #15134 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:02pm
I looked in those locations under the regular operating system as well as under safe mode but didn't find any entries for the radio shack device.
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post #15135 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bogg View Post

I looked in those locations under the regular operating system as well as under safe mode but didn't find any entries for the radio shack device.

Did you make sure the Keyspan is set to a low port (not higher than 6)?
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post #15136 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:21pm
The Keyspan was on port 6. I even tried it on port 2 - no difference.
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post #15137 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:42pm
FYI -
I just did a full measurement and upload of ARC using 1.2.5 and first impressions are this might be best yet.
The "earthquake" situation is completely gone.
I did the process using Advanced setting without any errors.
I use the same CD's as test material each time and although I have been at this for quite a while I still get goosebumps at how good my system sounds.
ARC is indispensible to Anthem owners - IMHO!

/\\/\\
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post #15138 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:50pm
Yet another home for some more of these!



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

Do you think there was some unspecified improvement in V1.2.5 over V1.2.2? I mean an improvement over and above eliminating the bass earthquake in V1.2.4? Or is the rest of the improvement you found this time due to the way you set things up or did the measurements?
--Bob
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post #15139 of 40750
7/23/08 at 12:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

Yet another home for some more of these!



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

Do you think there was some unspecified improvement in V1.2.5 over V1.2.2? I mean an improvement over and above eliminating the bass earthquake in V1.2.4? Or is the rest of the improvement you found this time due to the way you set things up or did the measurements?
--Bob

I haven't changed any of my positioning or anything and have taken all measurements in relatively the same place, give or take a couple of inches.
I am challenged with having my 2 subs in the back of the room so I always attempt to make them "disappear" which is not easy...the ARC achieves this.

I am stunned by the imaging of vocals!

When I think of how much "tweaking" I have done with my AVM2, then AVM20 and now the D2 and the ARC fixes everything better than I have ever been able to do with SPL's and my ears it is amazing.

As you know the challenge always is with source material and how different things are, I am not one who changes settings to compensate - everything stays as is and I accept what I get from the source (whether pleasant or not!)

What a fantastic piece of equipment the D2 is...
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post #15140 of 40750
7/23/08 at 2:23pm
I think the greatest advantage of ARC is releaving me of my duties as chief tweaker. I put material in and just enjoy it. Noticed on further testing that LFE levels are just fine after thinking the contrary. Now I hear LFE where there wasn't or very weak levels existed. Eg. opening scene of Superman Return when Krypton explodes. Holly s_ _ t, what a difference. The other test was the second or third scene in Attack of the Clones when that big airplane space craft lands on the platform. That can make the best sub shudder but now tight as a drum. I might have to watch all my HD disks again
John
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post #15141 of 40750
7/23/08 at 2:30pm
I think you are also going to be amazed at the improvement in plain old DD5.1 tracks as well. Watching DD5.1 movies on cable or satellite for example, and of course with standard DVDs.

If you've been in the habit of adding THX post processing to your audio mode, I suggest you try turning it off now that you have ARC set up. I think ARC does a better job of timbre adjustment for example than the THX algorithm.

You may also find PLIIx sounds better for stereo broadcast movies than you have been used to so far.
--Bob
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post #15142 of 40750
7/23/08 at 4:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bogg View Post

I looked in those locations under the regular operating system as well as under safe mode but didn't find any entries for the radio shack device.

Did you try plugin back the radio shack device, bring up the device manager and choose uninstall on it ?
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post #15143 of 40750
7/23/08 at 5:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau View Post

I think you are also going to be amazed at the improvement in plain old DD5.1 tracks as well. Watching DD5.1 movies on cable or satellite for example, and of course with standard DVDs.

If you've been in the habit of adding THX post processing to your audio mode, I suggest you try turning it off now that you have ARC set up. I think ARC does a better job of timbre adjustment for example than the THX algorithm.

You may also find PLIIx sounds better for stereo broadcast movies than you have been used to so far.
--Bob

I've already started testing these and you're right. Cable will be next.
John
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post #15144 of 40750
7/23/08 at 8:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tranle View Post

Did you try plugin back the radio shack device, bring up the device manager and choose uninstall on it ?

A good suggestion...I did something similar, I reinserted the driver disc and went through the uninstall process. Not sure if it applied to win xp as it said win 2000 I think.

In any case, after uninstalling and installing the keyspan drivers I still got the error when I plug in the adaptor. It says initially that there was a problem during installation but subsequently it works. I've decided to just reformat the laptop...
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post #15145 of 40750
7/23/08 at 8:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bogg View Post

A good suggestion...I did something similar, I reinserted the driver disc and went through the uninstall process. Not sure if it applied to win xp as it said win 2000 I think.

In any case, after uninstalling and installing the keyspan drivers I still got the error when I plug in the adaptor. It says initially that there was a problem during installation but subsequently it works. I've decided to just reformat the laptop...

That sounds like a wise decision.

Once Windows gets confused it takes a crowbar to get it unconfused.
--Bob
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post #15146 of 40750
7/24/08 at 5:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bogg View Post

A good suggestion...I did something similar, I reinserted the driver disc and went through the uninstall process. Not sure if it applied to win xp as it said win 2000 I think.

In any case, after uninstalling and installing the keyspan drivers I still got the error when I plug in the adaptor. It says initially that there was a problem during installation but subsequently it works. I've decided to just reformat the laptop...

Try looking for C++ 2005 and installing it.

Jeremy
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post #15147 of 40750
7/24/08 at 8:00am
good morning: walt here with a question re: mike height.
i have 2 row seating, the rear is 8" above the fronts. when positioning the mike, i originally had (center, left and right at front location ear height) then, for positions 4 & 5 i had the mike at ear level, second row elevation, each mike location two feet from center.
ok?
or, should all 5 readings be at "floor level", disregarding the rear altogether?
[ surrounds are dipoles, capable of full range performance]
thx
walt
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post #15148 of 40750
7/24/08 at 8:20am
Walt,
All measurments should be at ear level, ie. what people at that position will hear. I have the same side and rear speakers as you do and it sounds fantastic when ARCed
John
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post #15149 of 40750
7/24/08 at 10:49am
+1 for Walt. I have the same seating arrangement and did the same five positions, all at ear height.
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post #15150 of 40750
7/24/08 at 12:43pm
obie, my man! how ever did you manage a basement in swampy florida?
we live in dunnellon just west of ocala. basements here are a non-event!
we built a dedicated 27 x 30 room, of which 16' X 22' X 10 is the h/t. the rest is bathroom and closet and utilities.
your room looks great !!- i am still working out the sound attentuation issues in ours.
i arc'd last week, results are good, but i was expecting more. (i am a demanding person, so my wife says)
after bass traps i'll re-measure.
walt
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