Anthem AVR - Blowing Minds

Switched from separates, Emotiva UMC-200 feeding Parasound Hint for mains, Outlaw amp for center and surrounds. Simple 5.1 setup.

Impulse purchased an Anthem MRX-520 new in box for $1000 and replaced the pre-pro and Outlaw amp. Now using 520 to feed Hint and the internal amp for center and surrounds.

I won't go into detail right now but, after room correction, my mind is blown. Night one was setup, tonight was tweeking/enjoyment. The immersion factor with the exact same set of speakers as before is insane.

Very much recommended upgrade. Didn't cost much more than my separates, both bought used. Emotiva sounds like garbage compared to this and their room correction is useless. Always ran direct because the room correction was worse.

Anyway, just sayin. Anthem is worth it.

 

The Anthem Genesis ARC is the first room correction that didn't frustrate me. Anthem include a decent calibration microphone and tripod and it may be why their system is better at analyzing what is really going on in the listening room, or it may be that ARC is just better than Audissey. Anyway, with the MRX I don't feel I have to switch to pure direct when listening to music and the overall experience is better and more balanced than what I was used to with Audissey.

 

Emotiva has become a very disappointing company to me. I have purchased and sold off a lot of their gear.

Anthem or NAD is what I'll most likely do next for my HT.

Good luck with the Anthem. Sounds like you got a good deal.

 

I still run direct from my DAC to the Parasound for music. It has better imagining and timbre. However, I did notice that music sounded surprisingly good through the Anthem.

 

I just watched 1917. The way this AVR presented the audio just left me breathless. I probably would have liked this movie ok with my previous setup. With this, I could feel the purpose behind the score and the sound fx. I was on the edge of of my seat the whole movie and I can attribute a significant portion of that to the AVR. The two movies I've watched since getting it have been some of the most fun I've had in my little home theater in years, and probably wouldn't even be considered movies I'd normally like.

I guess what I'm saying is...I love sound.

 

Try watching the first minutes of Kong Island, the bullets whizzing around, the impact on the planes panels and the fight in the jungle ending with Kong roar is stunning on a good HT system.

 

Big Anthem and ARC fan here. I've been running the Anthem AVM 60 pre/pro for a few years now and have no desire to upgrade yet. The improvement in channel separation and SQ moving from my previous AVR to the Anthem was immediately noticeable and not subtle.

 

I have mixed feelings for Anthem after owning my MRX 310 for several years. It sounds superb and ARC-G provides the most comprehensive array of controls to fine-tune the system that I've encountered. After installing a Roku ultra I discovered that the lip sync adjustment on the receiver does not work with Dolby Digital+, which is the Roku's preferred audio format. I can live with minor desync, but the video lags behind the audio by ~100ms making most things unwatchable. I've contacted Anthem customer support about the issue and asked if there will ever be a resolution but never received any response. The last firmware patch was in 2014 so I'm not holding my breath... Seems like once a product is discontinued, so is its support.

On a side note, the roku currently has a bug where selecting any other audio format causes it to output stereo PCM only. So I'm stuck with using Pro Logic II to expand to 5.1 but at least I can get the sound to sync up.

 

It's funny that often when I suggest people replace a preamp rather than a power amp, or suggest a more refined if less powerful by published spec amp, that some always seem confused after hearing the Emo-Outlaw fanboys rave about how they now have more wpc and a"high end" sound for mere Yuans on the dollar. As you have discovered though, the proof is in the pudding. Even a modest improvement in preamplifier quality can go a long way towards improving overall system sound.

Probably my favorite upgrade is a super quality preamp. Tubes are awesome, but not an absolute necessity. I always prefer to have a high end stereo rather than a mid-fi surround set-up, and I always enjoy hearing other peoples discovery of great sound as they make larger and more meaningful upgrades. Especially as it applies to stereo playback on their surround rigs, such as going from an AVR to a separate analog preamp for those sources. They can retain the multi-channel system if they so choose and still enjoy better analog and stereo reproduction through the use of a stereo preamp which has a HT bypass function.
-Bill

 

Sadly, the incorporation of digital video with its ever-changing formats and connectivity challenges has been the bane of good audio for the past 20 years. Sure, digital audio has improved with better processors, but the infusion of so many alternative format versions has really made compatibility and longevity an obstacle. Video is driving that market, and for that reason I keep my audio and video signals separated as much as is possible. Independence is valuable. I use PCM extracted from HDMI video sources and handle the audio separately. I don't bother with 5.1 though; stereo is king in my home.
-Bill

 

This was one of my exact concerns. The Outlaw weighs like 50 pounds and 150 watts per channel all channels driven. The Anthem is 100 watts with two driven. I was mostly worried my center might sound thin compared to the mains at 160 watts from the Parasound. This is absolutely not the case. It's more than enough power.

I really think a lot of the Anthem magic is in the digital domain though. Not only is the room correction incredible, simple corrections like speaker distance actually work. I could never get this level of blending between speakers with the Emo. Sounds always felt like they jumped from speaker to speaker with gaps in between. Now, sounds travel seemlessly around the room. If you close your eyes, you wouldn't be able to point out where the speakers are anymore.

 

I've had an Emotiva XMC-1 prepro for a number of years now. Other than when it was bricked doing a firmware update (totally my fault ) it's performed without any issues. I'm very happy with Dirac which is used for multi-channel music but not stereo. Dirac is way better than Audyssey with the differences being huge. I've never tried Anthem's ARC room correction but have heard it's very good.

As much as I'm happy with the XMC-1 my thoughts on Emotiva as a company are the opposite. I've had several personal interactions with Emotiva's owner Dan "Laughman". Without getting into the details they weren't very positive. The way he runs the company like a circus hawker is annoying to say the least. I just looked over at the Emotiva Lounge (their forum) and it appears that the latest prepros (XMC-2, RMC-1L and RMC-1) still do not have the ability to load Dirac. That's totally unacceptable IMO. But Emotiva was never one to shy away from letting their customers be "beta testers".

I had an Anthem AVM 30 years ago and thought it was an excellent prepro. I'd go with another Anthem or NAD prepro or AVR (as a prepro) if I decided to try something new.

 

The Anthem STR Preamp I use sounds a lot better than the more costly Classé CP-800 ever did. In particular, it has better depth and soundstage reproduction, and its DSP (digital xovers, ARC) is far more transparent. (The Classé has been moved to my desktop setup, where it's doing great.)

It should be noted, both setups are digital only, for reasons not relevant here.

Would I achieve better sound with a high-high-high end preamp and DAC and separate crossover (like the JL Audio CR-1)? Hard to say, as I've never tried it, but I'd lose a lot of flexibility; and the CR-1 alone sells for 75% of the STR's price.

 

Quick question for other owners of Anthem. My only real complaint is this: If I start a movie, or pause, rewind, etc...anything that restarts the audio, it is much louder for 2-5 seconds until, I'm guessing, the ARC EQ takes effect and everything drops a few dB. Is this the same for everyone else or should I assume this is a malfunction?

 

Does it have the latest firmware?

 

Yes, updated it first thing.

 

Have not experienced that with my Anthem. ARC is always on unless you turn it off in the Input Setup, so I don’t think it’s ARC taking time to kick in. It could be that it’s switching between surround modes. One thing to try - in the Input Setup menu, what do you have set for the Mode Preset for Stereo and Mode Preset for Multi Ch settings? If Automatic, try setting a default for both, i.e. None for Stereo and Dolby for Multi Ch.

One more thing to try, do a hard reboot. Unplug the Anthem, hit the power button 2 or 3 times, then plug back in and turn on. That’ll restart everything keeping all of your settings.

 

Doesn't happen with my 520.

 

This makes a lot of sense. I use a nvidia Shield TV and it always drops to 2.0 PCM for all the clicks n stuff the interface makes while navigating. It would not surprise me at all if it temporarily switches to PCM when the audio from the media stops at any point. It's probably the fault of the Shield, not the AVR. Thank you I'll look into those defaults...after my movie, lol.

 

I'm not experiencing this either. It could be a glitch but what @IllinoisCheesehead suggest sounds more plausible to me.

 

Just got an Anthem MRX 720 a couple of months ago. Was a long-time Arcam user but had enough of the quality control issues on their AVRs so ditched it and went with the Anthem. I think it's a great AVR and integrates very nicely with the Hegel H190 that drives the fronts in our 5.1 setup. ARC Genesis is great - it took running it twice before I was really happy with the balance (microphone placement is key). The Anthem certainly does not give anything up to the previous Arcam (AVR450) in sound quality. Very happy with it.

 

I am a big advocate for well-made surround (heck, for stereo!) receivers...and I'm running, even after all these years, a 5.1 system too in my home theater (powered by an Onkyo AVR).

I, however, buck most trends and don't run any room correction or EQ -- my Onkyo TX-SR605 has a basic version of the Audyssey 2EQ system in it, and I just prefer the sound without the EQ on or any room correction processing applied, along with my own speaker level calibration trims and tape-measured distance corrections. I think my massive Polk RTi12 main towers, along with the rest of my setup -- which includes in-ceiling SpeakerCraft surrounds -- sound just fine and screamin' without any EQ/room correction applied (from what I have read and understand, depending on the implementation of these systems and the speakers being used, the room EQ algorithms can end up making well-made and placed speakers sound WORSE).

 

If anything, I'm glad and refreshed to see I'm not the only one still runnin' a "measly" 5.1 rig when it comes to surround sound (in a day and age when everyone has gone 7.1 and beyond to Atmos/DTS:X, et al)...

 

Yeah, I can't imagine ever going beyond 5.1.

Don't watch movies, no cable, no streaming. Just OTA for news and sports.

This system is 99% surround music. Even 2-channel sources get the ProLogic or Neo:6 treatment. I've got a separate stereo system in another room.

So my AVR is even more prehistoric. No room correction, no HDMI, no nuthin'. It's so old it's the first AVR to handle 24/96. But after two decades, I'll want to step up to something with mature room correction built in, if only to manage the sub. And I think I'll be glad I waited; the Anthem line looks sweet, for not-crazy money.

 

I tend to agree. Room correction’s goal is to produce a flat frequency response, but that often overrides the sound signature of your speakers. I prefer speakers that are a little more laid back and room EQ tends to make them too bright for my tastes. The nice thing about Anthem’s ARC Genesis is that you can set the max frequency for which to apply the correction filters. For my front L-C-R speakers, I don’t EQ anything above the Schroeder frequency. That way I address any issues caused by standing waves in my room while still maintaining the intended sound profile of my mains. The remaining 8 surround channels, however, I do EQ up to 5000Hz for more seamless panning of effects from speaker to speaker.