Anthem MRX series

Brasiliaflyer

Curious if anyone has personal experience with the Anthem MRX series receivers. I have an Onkyo NR5007 receiver (which is a beast, by the way) and am happy with it. I am nervous about the HDMI board going out, as it seems to be an issue in some units.
I have the opportunity to buy the MRX 500 for my unit + about $300. A dealer demo, with warranty. My Onkyo has far more bells and whistles, and superior video processing. It also has the toroidal transformer and 9 channels.

The MRX 500, on the other hand has the much acclaimed Anthem ARC room correction, which everyone seems to agree is more advanced than the Audyssey Multeq DSX, and it's an Anthem.

So I am wondering what the consensus is regarding the two receivers. I guess the only thing which has me supremely interested is the Anthem ARC room correction. People say it is just amazing.

Interested in everyone's comments!
Thanks!

Brasiliaflyer

I should add that wattage wise I think they're similar.

polkfarmboy

I love ARC and the MRX's are a little pricey. You could buy an anthem avm50 for $1400 or $1600 with ARC installed and sell the 5007 outright. Just add an amp to the pre because ARC in the avm's has 2 motorola dsp chips instead of just one in the MRX's. I would buy an MRX300 and add an amp to it because its only the mrx 700 that has the large transformer inside it

jayman_1975

I dunno how much different the 5007 is vs the 5008 but I wouldn't trade my 5008 for an anthem. I have had an anthem multichannel amp and prefer the amps in the Onk.

jayman_1975

I forgot to mention, the troubles with the HDMI boards is heat related. I use a dual USB powered fan from the cooler guys and lie on top of the Onk facing straight up so it's sucking air out of the unit and blowing it up and away. Since I got the fan, the whole top of the unit is cool to the touch and I haven't had an issue with the hdmi board.

EndersShadow

I have had MANY debates with one of the sales guy at a hi-fi store I visit often. Here is how he broke down the whole Anthem v. Onkyo/Integra

Buy the Anthem for sound, but the Onkyo/Integra for features. ARC is awesome, but it does require a bit more knowledge and tweaking to get to work right. But thats about it on the features in the Anthem. Onkyo/Integra has Audyssey + a host of other features (USB inputs, Network capabilities, Height/Wide channels). Does it have less power and solid internals than the Anthem, well yes. But if you use the pre-outs for a dedicated amp that equals the playing field.

I myself am still up in arms over this exact decision when my Integra finally gets replaced (its only running 2EQ) and as of right now a new Integra might just eek out the Anthem. But I DO really like being able to actually see the real time room response of my speakers on paper.

I am also a bit hesitant to buy now and rather wait to see what they come out with later.

polkfarmboy

One thing with arc thats is good that you point out is actually being able to see the changes in real time. I find that the laptop often tells me more than my ears and takes out all the guess work or having to run the setup again to hear if anything has changed like audessy. Some times I run arc but them I will move some stuff around and notices a very different curve on the graph for an individual speaker so its def for the tweekers

Edit: Thinking back to Onkyo when I had mine I remember being so impressed with the sound I thought to myself, If this sounds this good then more expensive brands should sound even better . I bought a pioneer and found this not to be the case and had a denon in for testing and was never really that blown away like I thought even with my Anthem I have now

mantis

I'm curious what the new receiver is going to be used for? What speakers are you running? What size room does it have to power?

The Anthem MRX series receivers sound fantastic but are lack luster in features or anything else for that matter. ARC is nice and works really good but so does Audyssey. Actually Pro is suppose to work even better then ARC.

Integra receivers are feature full and sound pretty good . They are very dynamic and clean but still have that "receiver" sound most people try to get away from with seperates. I really like the Integra line of receivers and think they fill a huge roll in the Indusrty. I also think overall they can be argued the best in the business.

I have done both many times and haven't been let down by either. It's a goo read reply #6 as what he say's makes a lot of sense and holds pretty true. I think I might lean towards the Integra over the Anthem for control , flexibility and depending on speakers sound quality is going to be very close.

Brasiliaflyer

Thanks for all the input. The receiver will be used in a 5.1 setup, with the new kef q series speakers in a moderately sized basement room. One of the reasons I'm considering the anthem is because I came to the realization that I don't use 90% of the features the onkyo has. I do like the hqv reon video processing tho.
Anyway, I would love a system that sounded very good for music as well as ht. That's why I'm thinking along the lines of 'back to basics' with the emphasis on how the system sounds. I guess what's killing me is the unknown of how much better arc will influence my overall experience.

polkfarmboy

You gota try ARC for yourself but when you do its sounds great and you can run a completely independent cal for music. This works out great for me because I have different seating positions and speaker positioning when listening to music as opposed to HT. The bass response after arc is well worth it, very tight and detailed