Anthem Room Correction in AV setup.

[madbullram]

WOW! Glad to find more people who ain't impressed by Anthem
I thought I was the odd one only
Even the much touted 2 ch Anthem 225 Stereo amp felt flat on its face & is certainly not deserving the positive reviews its got.

Its not I am not impressed, in fact i am very impressed with what Anthem has done to Bala's setup. His HT area is a nightmare for any AVR and the way ARC has tuned it is simply amazing. But like I said its horses for the courses there is no one system thats the best.

Again, this is not a flame to start a i dont like Anthem but a very honest opinion on how things change when the environment, taste, needs change...

 

[manoj.p]

I agree with your assessment. Room correction is dependent on so many factors and since it's automatic correction, it can sometimes be hit or miss. Room correction can make wonders in some rooms while it can make worse in other rooms.

Sometimes, one needs to take multiple readings calibrations to get those right. I use Trinnov and I always compare each speakers distance, level and angles after every reading with my SPL meter and measuring tape. If those are close, then proceed with calculation. Otherwise discard and start again. Even a small noise during calibration can cause the reading to go off and give unpredictable results.

 

[rbalagopalan]

Its not I am not impressed, in fact i am very impressed with what Anthem has done to Bala's setup. His HT area is a nightmare for any AVR and the way ARC has tuned it is simply amazing. But like I said its horses for the courses there is no one system thats the best.

Again, this is not a flame to start a i dont like Anthem but a very honest opinion on how things change when the environment, taste, needs change...

Yes precisely, only people who have visited me will know how challenging it would have been to bring it to this current level of performance in my living room set up. In fact many have wondered that how I could have so much guts to invest in the kind of living room that i have for a HT setup. (The only reason in me not posting my AV setup photos here is mainly I felt there is nothing much to laud about the shape of the room)

Very recently I had received the Denon receiver of baijuxavier to help him in sorting out the service issues. After it has been serviced I had hooked it up in my speakers as a receiver for testing and the performance was surprisingly satisfying than the top end receivers I had earlier in my same room and setup. I am likely to get Yamaha also RXV 673 I will post the comparison here once I had detailed audition with both for couple of days.

Thanks

 

[madbullram]

Bala: Thats not fair at all to compare 673 in your setup. In fact, I was telling my friend yours is the perfect setup to test any AVR as yours is practically the worst (acoustically) setup to try an AVR which is what most of the non-dedicated home theater setup have to deal with. Most of the reviews, in fact almost 100% reviews are done in a proper setup which most of the guys will not have. Thats why I say take reviews in its own merit, a setup can sound amazing in a treated room but another setup might not sound that great in the treated room but will be better in a non-treated room. Make it difficult

 

[rbalagopalan]

Yes I do understand. I am not trying to compare Denon 1610, Yamaha RXV 673 as against with my Anthem statement D2v and ATI power. I just wanted to assess each receiver on its own merits (as precisely pointed out by you) and to get a feel how they really fair when they are hooked up with these B&Ws in my most treacherous sound wave path. When I said the result was satisfying I was just trying to compare with my earlier Marantz SR 9600 & Sunfire TGR III.

Thanks.

 

[madbullram]

It will be very interesting to read your findings and will give an Idea on how it works in a regular setup

 

[denom]

Its not I am not impressed, in fact i am very impressed with what Anthem has done to Bala's setup. His HT area is a nightmare for any AVR and the way ARC has tuned it is simply amazing. But like I said its horses for the courses there is no one system thats the best.

Again, this is not a flame to start a i dont like Anthem but a very honest opinion on how things change when the environment, taste, needs change...

Well, I posted my honest opinion as well. Anthem hasn't impressed me keeping their price in context.

Yes precisely, only people who have visited me will know how challenging it would have been to bring it to this current level of performance in my living room set up. In fact many have wondered that how I could have so much guts to invest in the kind of living room that i have for a HT setup. (The only reason in me not posting my AV setup photos here is mainly I felt there is nothing much to laud about the shape of the room)


Thanks

Can you kindly post some pics? Would be helpful to understand rather than MBR & yourself saying its a horror room Thanks

 

[madbullram]

Can you kindly post some pics? Would be helpful to understand rather than MBR & yourself saying its a horror room Thanks

Let me try to describe (bala can post pics if he is okay)

1. The HT is in his living room (LR). You enter his house, he has a small room which then leads to HT. The door between HT and this room is always open

2. The LR the leads to dining, which leads to kitchen on one side and a bedroom on other side. Again all doors are open

3. The LR on right side leads to his son's bedroom again, door is mostly open

4. Then bang opposite to the TV screen on the end of the LR he has huge windows with not even curtains, he uses a make shift curtain when he uses projector. Along with the window there is also a balcony door, which if i remember was closed

5. Adding to this is 2 pillars almost in the middle of the LR attached to the wall which is a super reflection screw-up zone

6. He has nice furniture but all wood not much of cushions in them it was actually very nice to sit and enjoy than the cushion sofa i have at home!!!

7. zero acoustic treatment

8. The LR also leads of a small room after his TV screen, again the doors are open in that.

Bala: if you think this is too much detail I am giving, let me know I will remove this ASAP

 

[SudhirPunjabi]

Anthem hasn't impressed me keeping their price in context.

So true dude. We have Arcams top model avr 750 and while it sounds fantastic the price we had to pay seems unjustified now. For that money we could have got Yamaha or marantz newest pre power which is far better than this arcam while similar pricing. We avoided as importing the cx 5000 and mx 5000 here and customs could have been a big hassle with such large packages. People like us opt for arcam, anthem as thinking it is better sounding, better quality than common manufacturers. But we forget these niche companies charge huge premium on their products which becomes unjustified as these common manufactures provide a niche product. Even a ten year old Yamaha z9 drop the pants of the newest avr 750 sound wise.

 

[Chintupatel]

hi
rbalagopalan
i have an anthem mrx 710 and latest version of software installed. i have a room ambient noise of 35 db day and night .sound diifers on day and night calibration. At night when i calibrated arc i get a more power on sensitive and smooth responce but thats not balanced sound.and at day time i get a balanced sound.why is this difference coming during calibration on arc. you would tell me which sound best keep it. but my HT room is completly silent i measured the ambient noise of my HT many times i get an accurent result 35 db using spl meter. plz reply me as soon as possible or mail me at [email protected]
thanks in advance
chintu patel

 

[rbalagopalan]

Dear Patel,

Since you had mentioned HT room I presume you have done full fledged acoustics. If so do not do ARC, cause any day physically treating the room is the best than electronically correcting it.

so please confirm about acoustics. Further I presume that you have over done the treatment. pl. clarfy. so that we can think about correcting the treatment.

"which one to keep" that is purely a personal preference and better to keep the one which ever is closer to natural sounding.

Thanks

R. Balagopalan.

 

[Chintupatel]

hi Balagopalan sir
i have a complete acoustic done.
1) how much ambient noise should a room have during calibarting i have an ambient noise of 33 to 35 db on spl meter
2) does anthem pro/pre gives you better result than mrx 710
3) i have a paradigm sub (dsp sub3200) for the sub there is different calibartion given by the paradigm called as pbk should i use the pbk and then calibrate arc or arc then pbk

 

[rbalagopalan]

Hi, This summer is taking my toll on the job front. That's why I could not reply immediately.

hi Balagopalan sir
i have a complete acoustic done.
1) how much ambient noise should a room have during calibarting i have an ambient noise of 33 to 35 db on spl meter

Don't worry 33 to 35 is perfectly ok. Moreover ARC will ignore any constant & continuous noise like A/C, Projector fan etc.,

2) does anthem pro/pre gives you better result than mrx 710

Yes - I have upgraded from MRX300 >MRX500>MRX700> Statement D2v.
I have tried MRX as receiver then I was using them as Pre processor only.

There is phenomenal diff between MRX & D2v (of course its lame to compare them given its price point.) I didn't get a chance to use AVM 50 proc. which is same as D2v but for high grade components used inside.

More over MRX itself as processor was out performing most of the processors I had used, tested in the past.

3) i have a paradigm sub (dsp sub3200) for the sub there is different calibartion given by the paradigm called as pbk should i use the pbk and then calibrate arc or arc then pbk

please deactivate all calibrations/ EQ of the sub woofer before performing ARC, cause ARC will take care of it in line with your speaker pack.

In fact its better to factory reset the receiver and set only the speaker dirences then start ARC.

Further to say since you have done Acoustic treatment IMO I don't think you need ARC. probably you can calibrate the sub alone with its own calibration method. This should give you better results than full ARC. As long as the treatment is even 80% perfect you should get good result.

Also ensure you have not over done treatment which would have resulted in dead sounding room and warranting for high amplification.

Hope this helps.

R. Balagopalan.

 

[Chintupatel]

Hi sir
Sorry to disturb u again
Can I send me a mail of ur acoustic and the product u r using
My mail id is [email protected]
Thank you

 

[Chintupatel]

Hi sir
Does ported subwoofer sound best or sealed sub sounds best according to u
Thank you