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New Acurus Muse 16 channel SSP w $5500 msrp

162K views 1K replies 71 participants last post by  chhanthony 
#1 · (Edited)
#2 ·
#3 · (Edited)
No - the Acurus is too low of an Altitude for me!:D:D:D I still luv my Theta Digital Casablanca IV-A.
 
#7 ·
More details on new ACURUS MUSE , 15.1 channels Native decoding Dolby Atmos and Native 11.1 DTS:X , 12 XLR input plus 4 DB9 to XLR input (aux 4 channels for LTR/RTR and LW/RW ) , NATIVE speaker layout 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos , as confirmed by manufacturer its' sound perform almost same as ACT4-20 ( 20 Channels @ native 15.1 ) , as it chip based designed like others high end pre-processor then no noise generate from CPU and exhaust fan , 5 years warranty , Made in USA :):):)
 

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#13 ·
Very nice. I still have ARAGON 4004 amp, which I think is distant cousin twice removed :) from the ACURUS brand? If so, I wonder if any of the original Aragon people still around with Acurus.

Just curious - what is cost of the room correction "kit"? Additional or included with the SSP's MSRP?
 
#16 ·
Really interesting offerings. The folks at IAL are very helpful and responsive.

The only let down was when another dealer and I wanted to visit and spend a day or 2 with products the don’t have a true listening or demo room. The suggested a dealer site. That took a little wind of the sail.

I’m visiting Genelec in March and I understand they have a very nice facility.
 
#21 ·
Per the specs, no HDMI 2.1. Which seems like a sin at that price range. Also ASPEQT? Can it do Trinnov speaker location shifting? How competitive is it with Dirac Live? To me, roll your own EQ just screams of saving money on licensing fees - again, something that doesn't feel very premium for the money.


The only advantages this seems to have over an HTP-1 is that it are (1) shipping now (huge if you need it now) and (2) made in the USA (which is something that can be debatable given how these things are calculated.)
 
#27 ·
My installer, Gerry Behm, Technology@Home.net, often uses this SSP in his installs! So Acurus definitely sells lots via the custom install market with the installer setting up the room correction.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I will jump in here.. and say that I literally just upgraded from a Marantz AV8802A to an Acurus Muse and the difference in sound quality is night and day. Ill preface this by adding that I spent 20 years in the AV industry in home cinema design. So I do know more than enough to be a little dangerous....

Lets get the bad / niggles out of the way first:

1. Throw the remote in the bin. It’s rubbish. Probably a cold war relic from the 70’s… ok.. most people wont use it, so its ok, but my wife likes a remote (she hates universal remotes - go figure, and a web interface to her is what a star trek teleport is to a cave man - unintelligible). You can argue the remote does what its supposed to, but for a processor that costs around $6k USD I think a better remote would have been nice. Heck, even if I had to pay extra for it I would likely buy it. All of that said.. for me I really like the web interface for control.

2. Where is the Mic Calibration Kit?

3. The manual is almost as useless as the remote. Now thankfully set up is really VERY intuitive and anyone with basic Home Cinema experience can probably do it without a manual (I did). But I did look to the manual for details regarding PEQ setup - but there is ZERO information in the manual on how to do this outside of very basic information on what the PEQ 'is'.. so I haven’t touched it. See point 2 - Where is the Mic Kit? Id also like to understand what the high and low frequency cut offs in the set up menu are supposed to do (not covered in the manual at all)….Are these roll offs to emulate a THX curve for example?

4. Whats with the volume control running from 0 to 95? Where is reference level? Nothing in the manual at all about this… so I had to guess that the unit has around 10-15DB headroom over reference and reference was therefore somewhere around ’80’. So thats what I used to calibrate it to 75DBC weighted with pink noise. I couldn’t take it any further than this (other than setting the obvious like cross overs) since I have no mic kit.. see point 2 - Where is the Mic Kit? Yes, you could calibrate it with REW, but I don't have that at present.

5. I could not set time delays accurately (I did it by ear) since I have no Mic Kit….. are we seeing a theme here?

6. Lastly on the ‘bad, or rather room for improvement front’ the web interface for control is very nice (love it actually) - but why cant I access the setup screen from the HTML interface? Its a pain to have to keep getting up to the touch panel on the muse in the rack every time you want to make a set up change. Also, the HTML interface needs a ‘Home’ button, so you can navigate off the setup screen on the unit back to the main screen when playing content. Id also like the ability to custom name the various inputs since my wife does not understand that i/o1 = Blue Ray (no matter how many times I will tell her this).

Ok.. thats out of the way lets talk about the good (because its very, very good).

1. Sound Quality is really beautiful. Even right out of the box at defaults this things sounds gorgeous. Its very neutral, very smooth, and detail is extremely well articulated (really startlingly so). I wouldn’t describe it as forward, or reserved, but rather just very neutral with a soundstage that is neither in my face nor hidden behind a veil. It reminds me of the Cary Cinema 12 sound or a Theta Casablanca, but its even better for multi-channel than the Cary Cinema 12 (noticeably) - but im not yet sure on high rez analog audio. It might just edge out the Cary in this area as well. I cant remember the Theta well enough, but its similar. Perhaps the biggest thing I noticed after how smooth it is (by comparison the Marantz 8802A is grainy and thin sounding by comparison), was how well it renders subtle detail in movies. It does just a much better job than the Marantz 8802A (which is no slouch for the money) and renders fine detail sound that I was not previously hearing - not only that, but it presents the sounds hanging in space so beautifully and realistically that I was left a bit gob smacked and ended up watching scene after scene from my favourite movies after set up and tweaking. I really am very impressed at just how well it does this. Im not sure if its the inky black noise floor or the chipset, or both - but Wow. Its beautiful. Frankly, its STUNNING. Well done!

2. Set up - PEQ’s, poor manual and lack of mic kit aside - its EXCELLENT. Intuitive, easy and frankly an absolute joy. More manufacturers should check this out as I think its the best I have ever seen (by a long way). Slaughters the Marantz 8802A for setup, and that is not a difficult unit to set up.

3. Build Quality. Stunning. Love it. Touch screen is just gorgeous. With that gorgeous full color touch screen its one of those audio boxes you just want to sit and look at.

4. HDMI switching is quick and seamless. Better even than the Marantz 8802A. Again I am extremely impressed. No issues with Standard Def, Blue Ray, 4K DVD or Apple TV. All worked out of the box. Using Fibre cable to the BenQ W11000H 4k Projector.

5. Loved the capability to set Trigger 1 and Trigger 2 on different delays since turning on two big Cary Cinema 5 power amps will occasionally throw the safety switch in my house. Someone really thought this one through and I really appreciate it.

6. Inclusion of a customisable Night mode was good thinking. This will work well for my family.

Overall - Im VERY impressed. If the mic kit and calibration matches up its going to be pretty unbeatable for the money. Im told late June for a mic kit.. we shall see...

My system:
BenQ W11000H 4 Projector
Screen Research 4K Screen
Acurus Muse 16 Channel Processor
2 x Cary Cinema 5 Power Amplifiers
M&K S300 MKII THX Speaker System with 2 X12 Subwooers
4 x Triad In ceiling Bronze Dolby Atmos speakers
Wired with AudioQuest King Cobra and CV-4 PSC+ Speaker Cable
A Bunch of power conditioners etc.
Room was custom designed, dedicated and acoustically treated with absorption, diffusion and multiple bass traps.
 
#33 ·
How many independent sub out channels can you set? Can Acurus do 7.4.4 channels with 4 independent sub outs?
 
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#31 ·
Thats an ACT4 - not a MUSE
 
#32 ·
BTW: Acurus just upgraded the Firmware for the MUSE to 2.4 - giving full speaker setup with delays and trims now via the HTML interface. Yay!

Regarding Reference Level on the Muse - I am told by Acurus "We recommend calibrating reference level at 71 – 73 volume level."

Regarding the built in Shelving EQ - I am told by Acurus "The shelving EQ has roll-off that are first order in order to create an approximation of a room curve or simply be used to create compensation for things such as screen loss. You can adjust the frequencies for both the low and high shelf across the entire band."

This is all really good news. The more I listen to the MUSE the more I fall in love with it. Its a pure joy to operate, but even more importantly its one of the best sounding surround processors I have ever heard at any price.
 
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#42 ·
So basically you are paying $2500 to use the Room Correction on a $5500 processor.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
#45 ·
Forgot to add - I am told firmware 2.450 will be out next week. I dont yet know what it includes.
 
#46 ·
Unless it includes 4 Trinnov tetrahedron mics that only cost $700, $2500 for their room correction kit is ridiculous.

Not only that, it's just measuring the frequency response and the results will be smoothed, so anything more than a calibrated $100 mic is wasted. They probably use the same capsules as the "cheap" mics like the Umik-1.

The bottomline is that expensive mics aren't needed for room correction. Even cheap mics perform very well where it matters, in the lower frequencies. No RC system worth its salt is going to be making large corrections above 10kHz, which is where the expensive mics are more accurate.

https://realtraps.com/art_microphones.htm

And why do you need 4 mics? You could just move one microphone around the room. There are not many benefits other than saving a bit of time.
 
#47 ·
Firmware 2.5 is out in the field.

Firmware Update 2.500 Release Notes ( Production )

• Improved Network Connectivity and DHCP compatibility
• Improved Wide Support for Dolby Surround and DTS Neural X upmixing with 9.X.X layouts
• Resolved DTS X / DTS Height issues with 9.X.X layouts
• Resolved Volume Level 1 output issue
• Resolved AUX Output low level issue after startup
• Resolved Sound Mode issue producing Direct Mode behavior when switching between DTS and Dolby Sound Modes

Updated my unit this morning - no issues.
 
#50 ·
Here is a screen shot of the relevant section from the PDF.
 

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#53 ·
Agree with all the pros and cons that were posted here. Just adding what I have found out: playing old DTS or DolbyHD movies (both DVDs and BR) I noticed a short (less thne 1s) audio drop after ca. 90 min playback. The was vastly descriced on Emotiva RMC-1 forum, so probably no need to describe it but I am wondering if anyone else noticed that. It's not very annoying since while playing the movie at home there is always a need for pause and therefore reseting the clock but, in my opinion, this should be fixed.


And one more thing: where to find the new firmware for Muse? I searched the Acurus.com website and either I can't find the obvious link or it's really secret place? I was asking about that Acurus support when trying to register Muse at the time when there was Muse listed in product registration page (they added Muse imediately), but after 6 weeks no anser to my question. Also, the manual does not mention firware uddate procedure...
 
#56 · (Edited)
And one more thing: where to find the new firmware for Muse? I searched the Acurus.com website and either I can't find the obvious link or it's really secret place? I was asking about that Acurus support when trying to register Muse at the time when there was Muse listed in product registration page (they added Muse imediately), but after 6 weeks no anser to my question. Also, the manual does not mention firware uddate procedure...
Regarding Firmware - I get it from Acurus direct as a BETA testa for the unit. I am not sure if I am allowed or supposed to share it. Would recommend you contact them directly.

The update procedure is via Acurus software on a windows PC. It's a bit arduous and time consuming taking around 40 minutes. I am hoping they will push updates in the future. The procedure uses a USB port as a COM port to load the firmware. Its pretty straightforward at the end of the day.

So still no mic kit available?
I am told via email that mic kit is shipping end of June / early July. AS soon as I hav one I will post it up here along with how it all works and results.

PEQ is omitted in hard copy included in the box but it is briefly described in manual avalable on their website.
Yes, but further explanation is required on set up procedure to make it useful IMO. I am hopeful the mic kit is going to fully automate the set up of Trims, Delays and PEQ's which would mean the manual is currently adequate.
 
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#58 ·
Regarding Firmware - I get it from Acurus direct as a BETA testa for the unit. I am not sure if I am allowed or supposed to share it. Would recommend you contact them directly.

The update procedure is via Acurus software on a windows PC. It's a bit arduous and time consuming taking around 40 minutes. I am hoping they will push updates in the future. The procedure uses a USB port as a COM port to load the firmware. Its pretty straightforward at the end of the day.



I am told via email that mic kit is shipping end of June / early July. AS soon as I hav one I will post it up here along with how it all works and results.



Yes, but further explanation is required on set up procedure to make it useful IMO. I am hopeful the mic kit is going to fully automate the set up of Trims, Delays and PEQ's which would mean the manual is currently adequate.
Thanks for replaying about the firmware, so far is not that urgent since my unit works decently, besides the audio drops I described in my previous post and I do not think they can quickly fix this since on Emotiva forum I've read that it looks like this is DSP chip bug.
 
#59 ·
I don't want to urinate in anyone's pool, but I don't think that ARC can be added via firmware unless the wiring already exists in the unit. As I understand, the ARC pins on an HDMI interface need to be connected to an SP/DIF interface. If said connection isn't made in hardware, no firmware can enable it. I'd expect that if the unit wasn't meant to support ARC, then no connection was made.
 
#60 ·
It is pretty obvious that if hardware does not support ARC then sofware will not do miracles. But we have right to assume that, when Acurus decided to design Muse (and position it as a competition for Marantz, Emotiva, NAD, Arcam and others in similar price range) made a standard market research what people are using at their homes to watch movies. Most of us have TV's and that means the need for ARC. I cannot imagine that any contemporary project of SSP will miss ARC. It's like designing laptop without webcam. Let's hope that this is also the case of Muse: everyting is there but since they want to release the product as ASAP they skipped many things like any manufacturer of modern electronics. The firmware updates contain not only bug fixes but also new functionalities that were not included/completed when the product was released. Even Trinnov announced thet they are checking ARC feasibility in their SSPs. That would mean that even the company that is not using standard SSP architecture and targets big HT instalations market somehow decided to keep the doors open... I hope that Acurus did it also.
 
#65 ·
I also asked why the mic kit was so expensive, comparing it to the $700 for the sophisticated Trinnov 4-capsule mic that has to be manufactured with precise spacings between the capsules to get the angles and distances right.
I'll be interested to hear what they tell you on this as its my understanding a price on the mic kit is not finalised as yet - especially given the kit is still not finalised and/or available as of today. Only a rough indication of cost has been provided so far and I don't believe that is set in stone as yet.

Im sorry I cant be of help on the wides issue as I don't run wides in my cinema and don't have capability to easily set this up for testing.
 
#66 ·
Re Wides, the answer is "It is more of a mixing scheme that does not silence the adjacent channels."

So similar to what Lyngdorf does.

Still waiting on a satisfactory answer on the mic cost.


Im sorry I cant be of help on the wides issue as I don't run wides in my cinema and don't have capability to easily set this up for testing.
Hopefully someone else can do that when there are more in the field.

I'm also very interested to hear your experience with how ASPEQT is for general effectiveness, ease of setup, and bass integration.
 
#67 ·
Got another response, which was essentially that the overall value proposition was competitive with Lyngdorf MP-50, Trinnov Alt 16, etc., but still lacked justification for the mic kit cost other than that it was meant for dealers and that they would likely charge less than $2550 for setup.
 
#68 ·
Whether the mic kit is worth it or not for us hobbyists (not dealers) depends on what the room correction does. If the mic kit helps accomplish perfectly smooth response and ±1dB seat to seat consistency, then $2500 might turn out to be a good value. But if ASPEQT turns out to be automated PEQ, then not so much. Even automated PEQ can yield excellent results, like Harman's ARCOS system did, but it depends on what the system does with the measurements. Invert the response in an attempt to flatten out the peaks & dips? Not a good idea. Identify problems common to all seats and concentrate on fixing them? Much better. Unfortunately, ASPECT is still an unknown.

One advantage to using multiple mics (besides speed) is the ability to do room correction using an iterative approach. Since the mics never move, you can measure, fix the biggest problems, re-measure, fix the next set of problems, measure again and ....well, you get the idea. No need for predicted measurements when you can measure the actual results of the correction. Not saying ASPECT does this, merely pointing out an advantage to multiple mics.
 
#78 ·
Just a quick update on where I am at with the MUSE: As of today I don't have ASPEQT yet, and I will be travelling for work for the next few weeks so its unlikely I will get to play and test it before August at the earliest.

After extensive listening, testing and playing over the last month though Ive absolutely decided to keep the MUSE as the processor in my cinema - its just so far above anything else in its price range in sound quality and usability that its a no brainer for me. I would have to go out and spend 3 x or more to find anything that comes even close.

I am a bit frustrated I dont have the ASPEQT kit as yet as I feel there is more to be unlocked in there with a 'mic' calibration - but all good things come to those who are prepared to wait..... And to this.. its pretty pointless debating the mic kit until such time as we actually have it in our hands and can evaluate its performance. Its all just speculation until that point and that isn't helping anyone in this thread.

Something else: The HTML interface for control of the MUSE is something I have fallen in love with. I wish more manufacturers implemented this approach for control instead of a dedicated APP.
 
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