Anthem MRX-1140
mantis
Posts: 17,194
in Electronics
Hello everyone,
I sold one of these units to one of my clients who has a pretty nice Speaker package in Revel.
It's an impressive unit but I'm not sure if I'm 100% sold myself. When I looked it over and went over it's spec's, I was like " Cool this could be the new one for me" but a few hiccups I had with it is stalling me from getting one myself.
So for a Surround package in a 5.1.4 setup the Anthem would not allow the 4 Atmos HEIGHT 1 and HEIGHT 2 channels to fire off during Calibration. I fought with the damn thing for a while but the surround speakers are actually in a better location for Surround back instead of Surround so I reconfigured the speaker layout to 7.1.2 which then the Anthem would Calibrate. For reference I used the Web GUI which is very nice and I also used the Front display.
This is puzzling as it should be able to use 4 in ceiling Atmos speakers without having to have the Surround back channels active. I didn't get it but that's how it worked and how I left it for now.
I'm probably going to add another pair of In ceiling speakers for Surrounds and then re wire the Atmos channels back to Rear Atmos. Currently the Rear Atmos as Surround , actual Surround are now Surround back, Atmos Fronts are Atmos Middles and L C R are what they are. 2 Revel Subwoofer handle the bottom end.
Denon, Yamaha , Pioneer Elite and Sony ES all have easy to follow easy setups with no hiccups. All High end Preamps and AV receivers suck to setup. I hate basically every one of them. Sometimes ease of use ease of setup is worth it's weight in gold over 1% better sound quality in some cases. Sometimes you get more out of a higher end unit over the Japanese Flagships but the lines are so close I'm wondering if it's worth it.
I sold one of these units to one of my clients who has a pretty nice Speaker package in Revel.
It's an impressive unit but I'm not sure if I'm 100% sold myself. When I looked it over and went over it's spec's, I was like " Cool this could be the new one for me" but a few hiccups I had with it is stalling me from getting one myself.
So for a Surround package in a 5.1.4 setup the Anthem would not allow the 4 Atmos HEIGHT 1 and HEIGHT 2 channels to fire off during Calibration. I fought with the damn thing for a while but the surround speakers are actually in a better location for Surround back instead of Surround so I reconfigured the speaker layout to 7.1.2 which then the Anthem would Calibrate. For reference I used the Web GUI which is very nice and I also used the Front display.
This is puzzling as it should be able to use 4 in ceiling Atmos speakers without having to have the Surround back channels active. I didn't get it but that's how it worked and how I left it for now.
I'm probably going to add another pair of In ceiling speakers for Surrounds and then re wire the Atmos channels back to Rear Atmos. Currently the Rear Atmos as Surround , actual Surround are now Surround back, Atmos Fronts are Atmos Middles and L C R are what they are. 2 Revel Subwoofer handle the bottom end.
Denon, Yamaha , Pioneer Elite and Sony ES all have easy to follow easy setups with no hiccups. All High end Preamps and AV receivers suck to setup. I hate basically every one of them. Sometimes ease of use ease of setup is worth it's weight in gold over 1% better sound quality in some cases. Sometimes you get more out of a higher end unit over the Japanese Flagships but the lines are so close I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
Comments
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Hey Dan, how's life treating you buddy? I myself just upgraded to the Anthem AVM70 processor. The one thing I'm sure you've read is the ARC program is FUBAR currently. I currently have a 7.4.4 running in my room and I setup everything manually through the front panel. I haven't even hooked up the ARC mic yet and don't plan to do so until Anthem comes out with the official release. Over at the AVS Forum there are a lot of work a rounds that you may find helpful. As it stands, only a few people have had luck running the beta version of ARC but my suggestion is to set everything up manually. I'm sure once Anthem gets ARC up and running correctly these units are going to be hard to beat at their price point. Hope this helps a little.Money Talks, Mine says Goodbye Rob!!!!
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Life has it's up's and downs but generally speaking I'm doing great, thanks for asking. How have you been?
Anyway Yes I had to setup everything manually and not use ARC which I was disappointed as ARC in the past has been very good. I used to Install Anthem quite a bit years ago and now I'm back at it with these new models. As I said I was strongly considering the 1140 as a replacement for my Sony ES but after the Install I left disappointed , not in sound quality but overall setup and calibration.
The issue is the setup even in the speaker array, ARC didn't even work or respond over IP so that sucked.
I'm gonna have a lengthy conversation with the engineers at Anthem , give them an earful and learn why these models where rushed out not working properly.
My client is totally enjoying it but I'm very disappointed at the moment.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
I am also in the market for a new Prepro, I narrowed it down to 2 models below but now I am just waiting to see how these software updates go with the manufacturers before I buy either model.
I have been reading that a couple people have had to send there Anthem & Emotiva Prepro units back recently. I do not know if it was because of the ARC software bugs or another issue, there posts did not elaborate on the subject.
I did hear this version of ARC has some bugs that are needing worked out & the Emotiva has some issues also with its program.
I was also looking at the Emotiva's XMC-2 and I have always heard great things about Dirac program, but over the last year it seems like you might want to hold off on the Anthem or Emotiva Pre-Pro units until future updates/fixes happen.
That is what I am doing for now, I can wait until all of these issues are corrected, only then will they get my $3000 or $3500. Let me know of any information you find about Anthems prepro, it is still the model I am leaning towards buying. Cheers! -
Well, from owning the AVM60 and now the AVM70 I can honestly say I'm very pleased with my purchase. Other than the whole ARC thing I've had no issues setting up the AVM70 and or using the web UI. I used REW to setup my 70 in conjunction with the MiniDSP 2x4HD to control and setup my 4 SVS subwoofers. Hoping when ARC finally gets officially released hoping it will be just as good or even better than using the MiniDSP (I doubt it will) cause it sure would be nice to rid of some of the cabling and extra boxes within the audio rack, LOL! I still have the AVM60 packed up just in case the 70 has to go back but I'm pretty sure I'll be hanging onto it for quit some time. If I decide to sell the AVM60 I'll post it here before any place else so keep an eye out for it in the for sale section of the forum, LOL!Money Talks, Mine says Goodbye Rob!!!!
