Anthem AVR's

17174 Views 55 Replies 13 Participants Last post by David Susilo, Mar 18, 2012

rocket9

Discussion Starter · Feb 16, 2011

I was looking at the Pioneer Elite SC line as a possible future replacement for my aging Onkyo (someone in a forum told me I have a "legacy" amp...lol...me and it are getting old!

Anyway, I talked over the phone to my fave dealer who usually is a minor propagandist for all things "Elite" and he kinda surprised me by raving about the Anthem line of AVR's. He knows that I play a lot of 2 channel music and he thinks they have the best sound going.

Does anyone have any opinion on them? I noticed an earlier thread but that seemed to be in the early days of their development. Would really like to hear what people think on this one.

41 - 56 of 56 Posts

eimaj

· #41 · May 13, 2011

"I appreciate Anthems professionalism .. designing, constructing a wonderfully sounding, and performing AVR."

Not to sound facetious, but I thought these were built in China? Only the 900's are built in Canada?

I have always loved the look and sound of Anthem gear and this will definitely be on my short list when I am looking to upgrade.

Thanks for the Great reviews from you and David!

David Susilo

· #42 · May 13, 2011

True that they were made in China. However Anthem didn't skimp on built quality, heft and sturdiness of the receivers unlike many other China-made receivers.

pharsyde

· #43 · May 13, 2011

... no reference to country of assembly or manufacture has been made. Athem is the maker, concieved, designed by - and all that entails, component source, makeup, outcome (from Anthem's point of audio-ology)

Origin of manufacture, assembly, under the careful guidance and inspection of Anthem.

I'm pretty sure, for now. the 900 is shelved ? it's positioning .. to be determined, evaluated perhaps. (i can't back that up, general discussion, from additional. there's alot of excitment, discussion on the MRX going on)

always loved the look and sound of Anthem gear

you will be very happy with the Anthem. It's very good value, outstanding performing AVR. Sounds really nice. Very high quality make ..etc.

Thanks for the Great reviews from you and David!

Cool ! The MRX is a fun AVR

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eimaj

· #44 · May 21, 2011

Do you think the 500 or 700 would have issues driving 4 towers (2 Energy Veritas 1.8's in the front, 2 Energy rc50's in the rear), an Energy rc-lcr centre, and 2 Paradigm Studio 20's v.1 on the side without an additional amp? I may look at adding the Marantz 7025 2ch. amp to my current receiver (Marantz 6003, 7ch. running=approx. 90 watts/ch 8 ohms according to some benchmark tests on the web) ,if it can't handle all this, to power the Energy Veritas when I but them from my brother. All the speakers are over 90 db efficient except for the Paradigm Studio 20's which I believe are either 87 or 89db efficient.

David Susilo

· #45 · May 21, 2011

No problem whatsoever. One of my client is now using the 700 with PSB Image T6 full-tower, Image C5 for centre and (can't remember the model number -- they're B&W THX from more than a decade ago) for sides.

eimaj

· #46 · May 21, 2011

That is only 5 speakers though. Do you think it would struggle with 7, 4 of which are towers?

David Susilo

· #47 · May 21, 2011

No, 7 speakers: 4x T6, 1x C5, 2x B&W THX sides.

n

eimaj

· #48 · May 21, 2011

Ah, Very Good! Thank you.

pharsyde

· #49 · Jun 13, 2011

rec'd the recommended USB-Serial cable from Anthem (simply call parts and service) ...

I updated the machine with released firmware, main software updates. This corrected little quirks such as muting at the start of playing CD's. Additional fixes such as pass through of 1080P /24 video. Everything works great.

I ARC'ed the MRX last night. It's a straight forward process, albeit more of a task than was required with my previous AVR for example. I must say .. the results were noticible. The audio sounds more in control, in comparison. I have a very reflective room (which am planning on treating). Previously, the sound was echoing, and as great as it did sound initially ... ARC certainly has tamed my room. Interesting really .. I am surprised how much contrast there is.

Attached are the results of ARC. Sorry, if the image is a little small, perhaps I will find a way to enlarge. David ...(and others welcome of course) .. could you have a look please and interpret for me ? In particular, please note the drop in my fronts L/R/C ..10k - 20k ...from target (dashed) curve, and resulting calculated (green curve). Target and calculated pretty much follow along with each other .. until this 10K - 20K portion.

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David Susilo

· #50 · Jun 13, 2011

the drop (mostly above 10kHz from target) is due to the high reflectivity of your room so ARC EQ-ed the fronts to not produce as much high frequencies to control the echoes in your room. Once you treated your room and re-do the ARC you will see the higher frequencies will be closer to target.

pharsyde

· #51 · Jun 27, 2011

thank you david for your input. yes, hoping to get to treating the room soon. am looking forward to it.

*i was in your area couple of weeks ago .. passed pioneer's home office on ferrier. had ideas of stopping by .. but, perhaps not a good idea unannounced.

David Susilo

· #52 · Jun 28, 2011

^^^ should've just called me or PM me. (I receive my PM through my Blackberry).

pharsyde

· #53 · Mar 10, 2012

I am considering the purchase of a DAC by CIAudio.

The idean being to rip my cd collection to flac and combine with my HD downloads. The pathway, generally speaking, will be

WD external hard drive > OPPO BDP 93 > CIAudio VDA2 DAC (optical or coax input, analogue out) > Anthem MRX500 analogue input

Prior to purchase I am wondering how will the MRX "treat" the analogue input from the DAC ? Will the feed be digitized ?

Will the benefit of the DAC be reduced by, say the MRX using its own DAC ? I want to up the AQ coming from the OPPO DAC.

Am I thinking this through correctly ?, believing the VDA2 will provide significant increases in AQ (its a very good DAC, from my understanding and research).

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David Susilo

· #54 · Mar 17, 2012

as long as you use ARC, any input will go through the ADC and then back through DAC within the Anthem receiver.

pharsyde

· #55 · Mar 18, 2012

Thank you

Am going to play around with a borrowed DAC soon (shipped out a previously owned DAC to my brother last year)

For good reason, many will avoid multiple conversions, maintaining the most direct path for best audio. Have to try it out, compare on the MRX.

David Susilo

· #56 · Mar 18, 2012

depending on your room acoustics, often times (although not ideal), room correction trumps in importance than DAC quality. Just FYI.

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