Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 1241

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Alrighty. Here's the screen shots of the ARC run. Just ran it again. The alcoves are really messing with the S8's. If I pull them out and place them in front of the screen the big dip from 80-120hz nearly goes away completely. At this point my only answer is to work with what I have. I've pulled them out of the alcove but still in front of it. Little improvement, but some.

Randy

I think what you have here looks pretty good. I think that you should try to play around with a different sub location if you can because your sub is dropping off after 40Hz. I would guess that ARC probably set your sub's cutoff around 80Hz based on your sub's graph. Your Rears are suffering about a 10 - 12 db drop from 180Hz to 100Hz. So, if you could possibly reposition or repoint your Rears, that might help to eliminate and or reduce the null.

Also, please post your Target's View so that we can see the cutoffs that ARC has set for your speakers.

I have a D1 with the first upgrade to a 2 with the HDMI's. I have bought an OPPO BDP-95 and I'm going through the setup. I will need to have the 95 do the conversion to LPCM for the Blu-ray discs as my D2 version doesn't support bit-stream, what happens to mkv files that will be played through the USB input as they will only be DTS and DD do they get converted as well and what will the display read on the D2 so that I know thinks are setup right. I'm sure there is a post on here with the setup configuration for the 95 and the D2, would appreciate it greatly if someone could give me as link, as I also want to setup 6 channel analog and 2 channel balanced analog.

For HDMI, set the 95 to HDMI Audio LPCM and it will do all the necessary decoding -- yes, even for the media files you play from your USB drive.

There's no "wrong" way to set that in the 95, so if you are getting HDMI LPCM audio input reported by the D2 then you are in good shape.

The D2's info displays (press the Select button repeatedly) will show the audio input as PCM of the appropriate sampling rate (e.g., 48KHz) and will show the speaker channels currently active for input according to whatever you are playing.

For SACD playback, set SACD Output PCM.

For HDCD playback, set HDCD Decoding ON.

Since you will be using HDMI Audio LPCM, it is also OK to leave Secondary Audio set to ON all the time.

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For Analog, go into the Speaker Configuration settings in the 95 and set it as follows. NOTE: These settings have no effect on the HDMI audio output which will be live simultaneously. Again these are settings in the OPPO:

1) Set all speakers to Large, and the Subwoofer to ON -- EXCEPT set the Left Rear and Right Rear to OFF.

2) Set all speakers and the sub equidistant. Any distance will do so long as they are all the same. The default, 12.00 foot distance is fine even if that is not what you've actually got.

3) Set the output volume trim on all speakers to 0dB -- EXCEPT set the Subwoofer output volume trim to +5dB.

4) After you've got all speakers set this way, set the Down-Mix to 5.1 The D2 can only accept up to 5.1 on its multi-channel Analog input. Run the 6 cables and you are good to go. For 7.1 tracks the OPPO will down mix Rear channel info into the Side surround channels for output.

5) Set Dynamic Range Control to OFF

6) The Crossover setting in the OPPO will be ignored because you have set all speakers to Large. You can leave it at the default 80Hz.

7) Set Volume in the 95 to "Fixed".

The above settings assume you will have your D2 do any processing needed on this multi-channel Analog input -- i.e., volume trims, crossovers, and speaker distance adjustment. This would be the case, for example, if you were using ARC with that input. I.e., if your speakers aren't REALLY "full range" -- Large -- speakers, it's the D2 that takes care of that (via ARC) not the OPPO. Or if you don't actually have a Center speaker, it's the D2 that takes care of that.

These settings to not affect the dedicated stereo outputs on the 95. You can separately cable those to a stereo input pair on the D2.

If you do not *NEED* the separate, dedicated stereo configuration, then run the L/R from the dedicated stereo Analog outputs IN PLACE OF the normal Left Front / Right Front of the multi-channel Analog outputs to the 5.1 input on the D2, and make the setting change in the 95 to reconfigure those dedicated stereo Analog outputs to work in place of the normal LF/RF outputs of the multi-channel set. That gives you a higher quality Analog audio output path for Left Front and Right Front. When set that way, those stereo analog output jacks react to the speaker settings in the OPPO just the way the normal LF/RF jacks do.

My personal recommendation is that you set the Source Setup in the D2 for the Analog inputs you are using to ANALOG-DSP with ROOM EQ = ON so that the Analog audio input gets processed through ARC. That assumes you are using ARC with your D2. If you are not, you should!
--Bob

Bob

Once again thank you very much!

Bob

With respect to the video, if I set the Blu-ray for 1080p/24 what will happen to the mkv files, I don't think they play to well at the 1080p/24 tried it once with the WD box and the picture frames were like slow motion.

Well it depends on what's inside the MKV for video format, resolution, and frame rate.

Any content that is not /24 to begin with will be output as /60.

1080p/24 content using the typical video codecs for Blu-rays should be output as 1080p/24. Which is fine even if your TV doesn't accept that because the D2 will raise that to 1080p/60 for output (a trivial bit of processing).

720p/24 content will likely be output as 1080p/60. If you set 720p output you will get 720p/60. That last is due to the fact that the HDMI specs don't allow a 720p/24 signal. The first is I believe an artifact of the processing done to extract content from MKV.

Anyway, it is easy enough to try. Remember you can bring up the OPPO Setup menu even while content is playing. Most (but not all) of the settings in there can be changed "on the fly" while content is playing.

Keep in mind that the on-screen Info display from the OPPO shows what's coming out of the CONTENT (disc or file) -- NOT what's being sent out as output.

To see what's happening for output from the OPPO (input into the D2) use the Select button displays on the D2. Also press and hold the "7" button to bring up the Video Source Adjust menu and see what is reported in the INFO tab on the right of that list of tabs.
--Bob

I'll post targets later tonight when I'm at that computer. Sub is set at 80hz. My rears are in ceiling...ain't going anywhere...any other ideas?

Nope.

Ninja12:

Here's the targets screen shot.

I'm not sure if I am reading these graphs correctly. I see a 1/2 db dip between 30-40hz along the "calculated" green line. The red "measured" line is 3db higher in the 30-40hz. Is that what you refer to as dropping off after below 40hz? Isn't the calculated fairly right on target?

Bob, any thoughts on my readings?

Randy

I have finally got everything installed and wired up, been quite a while since I have updated the software version on the D2, currently using 1.33, do I need to progress up to the latest or go right to the current D2 software.

No, the 1/2 dip is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the drop off of frequencies from 40Hz to 120Hz. What you should try to shoot for is a pretty smooth and flat response from 20Hz to 120Hz and a natural cutoff setting of 120Hz for your sub. ARC has set the cutoff for your Rears at 115Hz which means your Rears will play frequencies down to 115Hz and the frequencies below 115Hz will be sent to your sub; but, your sub is not kicking in until it receives frequencies from 80Hz on down. Therefore, you have a hole between your Rears and Sub of 35Hz. Normally, Bass frequencies go as high as 120Hz, and that's the reason why you want ARC to naturally set your sub's cutoff to 120Hz so that you can cover the higher Bass Frequencies. Also, what did ARC set for your sub's trim? From the looks of your chart, you might want to turn your sub's volume, using your sub's volume knob, down a little.

I have attached my sub's graph so that you can see what I am talking about.

v1.33 is the latest official software for the D2. If you are not having any problems, then you can stick with v1.33.

Show off!

Chillman:

Change the subwoofer setting from auto to Flat in the advanced tab. But before all this, did you move the sub to find a better placement for better FR? The slide from 40Hz onwards is quite steep and show s placement problem that would be resoved if moved to a better place.

Chiliman,

We all know here that moving a sub around isn't a lot of fun, but we've all done it.
Sometimes just a foot or two (or even inches) will make a huge difference.
Sometimes moving it to a different wall is the answer. jayray moved his to his side wall and his subwoofer graph looks even better than ninja12's.
Again, the Quick Measure is the way to go when finding the best spot for your sub.

Tom

LOL!!! Not at all. Besides, this is all jayray's fault. He has set the standard real high for everyone to achieve. If you can come close to what jayray has set, then the payoff is enormous. My graph is not as good as his; but, it's close, and I am very happy with the results.

So, when I look at people's sub charts, my goal is to try to give advice to help the person to achieve a graph that looks similar to my sub's graph or jayray's sub graph, and there are a lot of folks who have achieved that goal. It's not impossible, and jayray's Sub Hall Of Fame has grown quite a bit.

how do you know that will be safe for his sub? If he posted the model I missed it.

I just happen to be filled with envy whenever i see sub plots such as yours. Even with my dual Sunfire subs, i only get a flat response to 80hz or so and then decline rapdily after that. I moved subs all day long and the only way i could get it to top out at 100Hz or more was to have it at the center of my room. Quite quite practical unless i intend to use them as foot rests as well!

I'm about to get a new AV rack for the first time so it will clear up some space and will have to repeat the whole exercise again!

I believe the Flat setting only flattens the response down to 20Hz. Below that ARC stops compensating and the response follows its natural course all the way down to DC.

Anthem tech support gave me a link to the latest versions for arc and the D2, the version for the D2 is 1.47f, do you see any problem in going from 1.33 to that version, the arc version they gave me is 3.0.2, would that be compatible with the 1.47f software on the D2.

I went from version 1.33 to 1.47f without any problems. 1.33 is the official version, and 1.47f was not officially released; but, Anthem created 1.47f to resolve some HDMI handshake issues. I don't know if it's still true; but, 1.47f would not install on older versions of the D2; but, since Anthem gave you the link to 1.47f, then they must know that it will work with your D2. And yes, ARC 3.0.2 works fine with 1.47f which is what I am running on my D2.

If you DO NOT HAVE PROBLEMS - stick with 1.33

The Flat setting should only be used if a sub can play down to 20Hz with good volume, and it has built-in low frequency protection. When the Flat Option is selected, ARC doesn't apply a roll off of the low frequencies. ARC just sends everything to the sub with the expectations that the sub will be able to handle/protect itself in playing the low frequencies. If a sub doesn't have both of these features, then the Flat Option should not be selected.

Hence my question.

By the way, which Paradigm subs have "built-in low frequency protection"?

Sub 12 and up.
John

Hi, I posted this in the MRX thread and jayray recommended I post it here as well.

I just purchased an MRX-500 and no matter how many times I run ARC I can't seem to get it to apply any filters to the subwoofer channel (note: It says that it is applying filters in ARC, but measured output in REW shows no change whatsover). I don't know if I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, but I figured you guys know this stuff the best.

Here's the process I followed:

1. Set speaker distances on receiver
2. Ran ARC measurements with 5 positions distributed around my seating area.
3. Left targets at default
4. Calculated filters
5. Uploaded to MRX
6. Setup 2 sources using the same input and settings (Dolby Volume off, Bass management set to Movie) with one having Room EQ on and one having Room EQ off.
7. Took measurements in REW from the center of the listening area for each of the 2 sources defined above.

Note that the peak at 33hz does not change at all, even though the calculated response in ARC indicates that it is attempting to correct the peak. The only changes you see in the graph are due to the filters being applied to the front right speaker which was active when I took these measurements. I've taken measurements since with only the sub active and then the graphs are carbon copies of each other.

Any ideas? Or do I have a defective receiver?

BTW, do you have a separate music config from the movie? If so, is the sub still set to 120Hz and the mains lower? I have my music config set as 2.1 with sub at 80Hz and mains at 60Hz and it sounds great so far. It seems my sub, as expected, does a better job producing the lows than my mains even tho they are rated down to 29Hz.

Jstabb - If I didn't know better I'd say you were running in analog direct. Does the 500 even have that setting?

ETA: Actually now that I look at it again your sub is kicking in so the REW signal is getting crossed to the sub. Hmm the only thing I can think of is to reset the 500 and try to re-upload the ARC data.