Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 223

Oh, by the way, I do use an AppleTV to stream my MP3 collection as well for some more casual listening, entertaining for parties, etc. I have the AppleTV input via Optical digital, and I let the D2 upsample and post-process with Anthem's own "Anthem Logic - Music" setting. I have to say, this is a VERY musical output, and for what it's worth, I think you should check it out before using any Dolby ProLogic Music setting. I have never liked Dobly processing for 2-channel music, and Anthem really nailed a good one with this Anthem Logic Music processing. Check it out, let me know what ya think.

My 3 and a half cents,
Brian

No advice hear folks? I really want to become a member of "the club". Just looking for some help as to which unit to get. Thanks

I like the Anthem Logic Music processing as well...but it doesn't let me take advantage of that beautiful center channel - I could almost just listen to it alone! That is why I like to incorporate it with the my LR. Anthem Logic does not utilize the center...but I appreciate all of your input Brian. Thanks!

Indeed, you're right on there. But I find this preference VERY interesting to say the least. You have some AMAZING speakers with the Signature Paradigm's. I'm surprised that the incredibly musical left and right front S8's are not providing enough for your full enjoyment of 2-channel audio. I realize that the C5 is itself a wonderful center channel, but I'm surprised a bit that you want to hear from it for 2-channel music. I guess this just goes to show, we all have our own preferences. The beauty of the D2 is that it supports the flexibility we all need to meet our specific tastes. With this in mind, couldn't you just use the Analog DSP setting and then dial up the Center channel level to whatever your preference is, while muting the rears, or setting the CD source's levels for the rears down to the lowest level possible? This way, anytime you choose this input, the sound is set to your liking right off the bat.

Don't have the time right now to play with it myself, but let me know if you think that would work.

-Brian

What can I say? Get the D2. The flexibility offered by the D2 goes well beyond what the RS1 will do for you. The audio is splendid.

Sorry, but I think if you cut corners now you will regret it.
--Bob

For 2 channel music I us Anthem-Logic Music if I expect to be sitting still in my primary listening position. I use Stereo if I think I'll be moving around the room. I use Stereo-ALL if the room is full of people.

Anthem-Logic Music is a "non-aggressive" surround mode (not much goes to the surrounds) that also disables the center channel to maintain the purity of the front sound stage. I find the degree of remaining surround steering works very well for me.

If I'm moving around the room I use straight Stereo to keep from being distracted if I happen to be standing near a surround speaker.

If there are lots of people in the room I use Stereo- All speakers, but nobody is listening critically to that anyway so it's not like it matters all that much.

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

I include my Velodyne DD series subwoofer in the speaker configuration for all music listening. I think that people who feel they need to disable the subwoofer for music listening simply haven't discovered the joys of a well calibrated bass system yet.
--Bob

With CD's, I listen in 2 channel stereo mode. This is via HDMI connection from my Pioneer Elite 59avi. And it sounds incredible!

I have the JVC RS1 (as do several other Anthem owners in this thread). A few things to keep in mind: although the RS1 uses the Gennum chip, it does NOT take full advantage of it by any means. The D2 or AVM50 will give you much more flexibility. Also, the RS1 doesn't even get some very simple things done correctly. For example, if you feed 480i to the RS1 to let it's Gennum do the deinterlacing and scaling, it appears to be adding some edge enhancement and bad jaggies. The implementation of the Gennum chip with the D2 and AVM50 does not have this issue. Not sure what the RS1 is doing wrong in this regard.

Or at least the AVM-50 if you can't swing the D2.

I have a 5 channel amp and an anthem avm 50 as my preamp. currently I have a 5.1 setup through balanced interconnects but I have a couple of extra B & W 303 speakers and a receiver ( yamaha RX 795 ) which I would like to integrate into a 7.1 setup. could somebody tell me if I can use my receiver as an amp for my rear B & W speakers ( It has to be unbalanced as my receiver doesnt have balanced inputs ) and if so please tell me the connections and most important will I see a step up in my audio experience ( I forgot to mention I have a 20 X 15 room- front projection JVC RS1 with revel performas F32, C32 , revel B 15 subwoofer Surr- B & W 602's )
thanks
ankita

Thanks, that's good to know about the JVC. So, now I'm up $1k from the 40 to the 50, what's the D2 have to warrant an additional $2k jump? (I've looked over the Anthem comparison chart and can see the differences, but an explanation "in English" would help out this rookie.) All words of wisdom are welcome.
Hey rudolpht, I see you are also from MA, so from whom did you get your Anthem equipment,---Wurlitzer??

Is anyone having problem with picture and sound drop out with their PS3? I have firmware 1.11g on my AVM-50 and 1.70 on my PS3 and have the PS3 connected with a monoprice HDMI cable. It is frustrating as hell.

I have the following hooked up to my TV.

PS3 HDMI -> HDMI
HDXA-1 HDMI -> HDMI
WII Component -> Component
Hughes 25-250 HDMI -> HDMI
AVM-50 HDMI -> HDMI

Monitor is a Sharp 52 LCD and all of the cables are monoprice.

Many receivers do have pre-amp inputs for just such purpose, but I don't know enough about your particular Yamaha to know if it does.

There is no problem using the normal, RCA outputs of the AVM50 to run the 2 rear channels to such a receiver -- even though your connections to the main amp are via balanced connections. Use decent quality, shielded RCA interconnect cables. Due to differening standards for the two forms of interconnect, the RCA outputs put out a different volume level than the balanced outputs, but you can adjust for that on those two channels either in the speaker level settings controls in the AVM50 or in your receiver.

If your room allows for a decent placement of both side surround and rear surround speakers then you likely WILL enjoy the extra ambience provided with the addition of rear surrounds. Typical problems would be if your main seating location is such that the rear surrounds would have to be right behind you or above you, or if the rear surrounds become too much of an obstacle when moving around the room.
--Bob

Talk to Anthem tech support. They HAVE been fighting a problem with the PS3 which I believe is specific to that software. For some reason that combo is causing the video processor in the Anthem to overheat apparently. [The PS3 is an HDMI V1.3 device and likely drives the Anthem in an unusual way.]

If I've remembered all this correctly, they'll likely move you to a different software version.

While waiting for that, an external fan to help cool the Anthem will help. But the best solution is to get software that doesn't have this problem.
--Bob

I was seeing some issues with g and the PS3 the D2 didn't like the 1080p one bit. Went back to e and all is working as it should.

I have a stupid question...how do I now which software version I have on my D2, mine only says V1.11....am I looking in the wrong place?

You are looking in the correct place if you had version 1.11e installed the "e" would be included.

Unless you have a D1-HD in which case they ran out of space and the only place you can get the actual revision is from a serial connection . At least until we get back to single digit revisions

You guessed it. Good. Communicative.

On worth the extra 40% AVM-50->D2, I would say no (but I admit I recently contemplated trading up), but I'm more into the video than the last tweak on the audio. The AVM is damn fine audio.

Remember the video processing in the D2 and AVM50 is identical, so the only differences will be sound quality and the potential upgrade for the D2 for Room EQ (which will utilize the D2's second processor). The D2 has 24 bit/ 192 khz upsampling that the AVM50 does not have.

Whether or not you could hear or appreciate the potential SQ improvement of the D2 depends on many factors, including your current equipment, room acoustics, and how good your ears are! I would think someone who places a lot of emphasis on music would be more inclined to go with the D2.

It should be noted: I have NOT done a comparison of the D2 and AVM50. All I can tell you is that the D2 sounds fantastic!

Try the AnthemLogic Cinema mode. Don't let the "Cinema" in the name dissuade you: it's the same processing as the Music mode, except that correlated (in-phase) mono information is sent to the centre speaker. That's where those sounds would have phantom imaged anyway.

Unlike PLII, the centre information is not cancelled from the L/R speakers, so you'll still have to sit in the sweet spot. However, you will get to take advantage of your centre speaker and have greater imaging stability in the front soundstage.

Sanjay

Sanjay,

Greater imaging stability in the front soundstage? You sure? Really? Than what exactly? Than 2-channel stereo with a top-notch set of speakers like the S8's??? Hardly my friend, I would take serious issue with that statement. Any speaker worth half it's salt will image beautifully on well-recorded 2 channel audio in Stereo mode or Analog Direct, and actually allow for space for 'n' instruments on a soundstage, something that no use of a Center channel speaker will allow. I'm sorry, I know we focus on mainly video-related sound setups in this forum, but as a 2-channel afficianado from way back, I have to disagree with you on your assertion. The 'mono' imaging projecting from the center that you speak of only ruins what my speakers do by themselves, which is place each instrument in a 5-piece jazz ensemble for instance in their own unique location between the speakers on a soundstage. The center simply makes them sound like they all come from pretty much the center, something physically impossible, unless my instrumentalists are stacked on top of each other (which would probably drive them all nuts so they wouldn't wanna play any music at all....and me along with them, I might add :-)

It ain't recorded that way, and until it's recorded that way, I don't wanna play it back that way...period. But of course, to each his own, go screw with your sound, go process your 2-channel Stereo music sources...far be it for me to stop anyone.

-Brian

Well if you can rant like Brian also from MA and a great provider on info, you should probably go for the D2. The 24/96 processing is still no slouch in 2 (as god meant stereo ), 5, or 7.1 applications in the 40 or 50, though. (I keep telling myself for $2K I will no longer be a second class citizen, but 2nd class in Anthem is 1st class in most of the Rest of the universe).

I've been having problems with my D2 since I first connected it into my system. I was originally having issues with the D2 not recognizing the 1080i output of my XBOX 360 but it would recognize input when set to 480P or 720P. I was told, by a very helpful member of this forum, that I needed to contact tech support to receive the V1.11e software. So I did that....via email as well as a couple of voice mails left on Nicks phone to which I received no response, though I can empathize with what it must be like in tech support . I however decided I would flash my D2 with the V1.11 software that was available on the Anthem website mainly because I saw other posts where people talked about rolling their D2's back to older software version's, which I have done with tons of other firmware driven electionics . This turned out to be a huge mistake....somehow as a result of flashing the D2. which uploaded without a hitch, I now get no video out of either the component or HDMI output's not even the OSD all I get now is a bunch of white lines that intermitently flash on the screen. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated. If anyone could email a different vesion of the D2 firmware that I could try and upload I would greatly appreciate it.

Greg

HA!!!! Too funny...you got me laughing for sure....only another Mass-Hole could get me chuckling at myself like that!

By the way, I second my fellow kinder, gentler citizen of the Commonwealth Sir Rudolph, not to mention the always wise Bob Pariseau - the D2, if you can swing it, is the way to go...I never make decisions on futures, but I feel like the RoomEQ stuff coming from Anthem for the D2 is going to be really cool, allowing some of us to reconsider subwoofer placement, bass mgmt, levels, etc for 5.1/7.1 channel usage. I trust Anthem folk who have said that they are taking their time because they want to get this right, really right, better than others out there, so that we have a really useful RoomEQ right when it is available. They are well on their way to making this a reality for D2 owners.

Peace and hair grease,
Brian

The room equalizer firmware is already in place starting with the 1.12k firmware. We just can't access it yet.

Hey Gents,(M*******s and others), I appreciate the input. I have learned over the years that you rarely regret buying the top-ot-the-line anything, so I usually try to go that route. If the D2 was $1k more, I'd definitely do it, but $2k----I really have to think about it. Plus I agree, the 50 is certainly no slouch. Maybe I'll see how generous Gary at Wurlitzer is feeling??? I'm sure I'll be back here with more questions once I make my decision, but I appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

Of course. The more hard sources you have, the less you rely on phantom imaging. The less you rely on phantom imaging, the more stable your soundstage. Fairly straightforward concept.

We're comparing imagined (phantom) localization created in the brain vs an object physically pressurizing the air at that location. No contest. The latter will more closely mimic things like a live trumpet solo or vocalist standing in the middle of the soundstage.
Sure. Three S8s laid out in an arc in front of you can create a wavefront that will be closer to the original live event than two S8s could.
Wow, that'll teach me to recommend one of the AnthemLogic modes.

Sanjay

[quote=jclem]Hey Gents,(M*******s and others),

Guess I need to learn how to get around the censors like Brian does when referring to residents of Massachusetts......... :