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Anthem AVM60 Review (AV Processor)

Rottmannash

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Thanks. That's a shame-Onkyo get routinely bashed for their unfortunate HDMI board failures years ago and it would be interesting to see how this series measures, as they are supposed to be their best performing AVR's. I have the RZ810 and it sound good on Atmos soundtracks but awful on 2 channel listening, even on Direct mode. I'm afraid of how it would measure...but still would like to know. Too heavy to ship to Amir.
 

Newman

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....It’s easy to recognise hiss and hum because they are present without music; recognising the difference between 1% THD and 0.5% THD is much harder (if possible at all) and requires level-matched AB switching or something like that, and someone in the know pointing out the differences.

That’s the difference between -40 dB and -46 dB.
 

LTig

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London Grammar's "If you wait" and "Truth is a beautiful thing" would be other prime examples with horrible digital clipping.
Funny, the track Hey now from the former has been played on demos at Highend Munich.:eek:
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Funny, the track Hey now from the former has been played on demos at Highend Munich.:eek:
Well the recordings themselves are very well done otherwise.

I suspect the problem was probably that her voice was recorded too hot.
One the mix arrived at the engineers desk, there was very little he could do about it.

Regarding the demos: well these halls are pretty noisy are they not? Could have easily masked the imperfections. Either that, or they had access to a different master. Who knows.
 

danzilla31

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Hey guys long time lurker now a new member

This has just been over time my favorite forum and I decided to leave some and join the ones I really love.

I know some complain about the tough measurements but I've come to really respect it and it's one of my main reasons for joining.

My technical expertise is not as high as many but I love home theater for years and have finally had a dedicated space done and look forward to learning

My current system is mainly the JBL 590 and a mix of JBL but I've fallen in love with RBH speakers and plan to make them my end game speakers in a year or 2 I started with they're subs the 1212NR which smoked my SVS tried they're on wall surrounds and love them so much that's the path to nirvana (yeah right) for now maybe lol :D:D once I do one of my contributions will be to send in these to Amir so we can finally get a review

I just wanted to introduce myself before I ask my question related to this thread in my next post
 
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danzilla31

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Okay here's where my question is.

I own the AVM 60 and as you can imagine was less then happy with the measurements an understatement :D

I'm really hoping Anthem follows through and it really is a defective unit.

Because once I get my RBH speakers in I want the best gear realistically to drive them

But if not what are these measurements implying?

I'll be the first to admit I couldn't tell anything was wrong but since no other system was put in this room when built in the new house I had no comparison point

Just not happy moving forward there were no published measurements before this review so I bought Anthem based on all the praise from my friends and owners in the audio community

But know I'm wondering if this is correct they misled about those specs May be all they're gears specsis off? Because I went all anthem on Amps and everything

Now I'm thinking I should have gone with monoprice and outlaw amps and saved a ton of money I know those amps measure well at least and done the same on the processor

I understand it may not be audible but for me it's the principle. If I'm going to invest so much of my money into this they better deliver what they say they can.

I really appreciate any feedback on my concerns and any help you can give me On the measurements

Unhappy or at the least concerned Anthem owner here looking for clarity thank you for your time

Dan
 

DuncanTodd

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Okay here's where my question is.

I own the AVM 60 and as you can imagine was less then happy with the measurements an understatement :D

I'm really hoping Anthem follows through and it really is a defective unit.

Because once I get my RBH speakers in I want the best gear realistically to drive them

But if not what are these measurements implying?

I'll be the first to admit I couldn't tell anything was wrong but since no other system was put in this room when built in the new house I had no comparison point

Just not happy moving forward there were no published measurements before this review so I bought Anthem based on all the praise from my friends and owners in the audio community

But know I'm wondering if this is correct they misled about those specs May be all they're gears specsis off? Because I went all anthem on Amps and everything

Now I'm thinking I should have gone with monoprice and outlaw amps and saved a ton of money I know those amps measure well at least and done the same on the processor

I understand it may not be audible but for me it's the principle. If I'm going to invest so much of my money into this they better deliver what they say they can.

I really appreciate any feedback on my concerns and any help you can give me On the measurements

Unhappy or at the least concerned Anthem owner here looking for clarity thank you for your time

Dan
The thing is there hasn't been a single AVP that measured well here. Your AVM is at least not as expensive as the other ones :)
 

StefaanE

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That’s the difference between -40 dB and -46 dB.
Well, I would be interested to find out if people can hear such a difference in speakers (if I’m not mistaken, those are quite decent distortion figures for speakers).
 

danzilla31

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The thing is there hasn't been a single AVP that measured well here. Your AVM is at least not as expensive as the other ones :)
I wish I could say I'm surprised but the skeptic in me has always wondered. It's why I couldn't stand definitive technology it's not that the speakers were terrible but the specs were horribly misleading I hate that

Well siiiggghhh let's see if Anthem comes through if not I'm going to put all my gear up for sale and go another route

Is there a home theater build on this thread so I can post pics equipment room measurements and info so when I switch to RBH and buy the new equipment you guys have useful background info when I ask you for input?
 

danzilla31

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The thing is there hasn't been a single AVP that measured well here. Your AVM is at least not as expensive as the other ones :)
I will probably go with the monoprice if I sell my stuff it doesn't measure too horrible. :) and I'm very curious about Dirac I can't stand room correction but want to give this a shot at least for bass management.
 

rccarguy

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I wish I could say I'm surprised but the skeptic in me has always wondered. It's why I couldn't stand definitive technology it's not that the speakers were terrible but the specs were horribly misleading I hate that

Well siiiggghhh let's see if Anthem comes through if not I'm going to put all my gear up for sale and go another route

Is there a home theater build on this thread so I can post pics equipment room measurements and info so when I switch to RBH and buy the new equipment you guys have useful background info when I ask you for input?

I wouldn't get of your anthem gear just because a review in all likelihood, is a faulty item.

As for definitive technology I know what your mean I have bp-2x bipoles and they state 40hz....not a chance from small ported speakers. Likely 80hz or so. Still for the price they are great speakers I bought a second pair for upstairs system for £35!
 

danzilla31

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I wouldn't get of your anthem gear just because a review in all likelihood, is a faulty item.

As for definitive technology I know what your mean I have bp-2x bipoles and they state 40hz....not a chance from small ported speakers. Likely 80hz or so. Still for the price they are great speakers I bought a second pair for upstairs system for £35!
Yeah that's what I'm hoping believe me I'm going all out on this RBH gear so if I don't have to switch my gear all to the better so I'm willing to wait and hopefully Anthem straightens this out with Amir
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Unhappy or at the least concerned Anthem owner here looking for clarity thank you for your time
Dan
Does it sound bad to you?
Do you get audible distortion/noisefloor?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

If no, ignore the measurements. Keep in mind that this site searches for engineering excellence not necessarily for audible problems.

Unless there was some problem that I can hear, I needed more power or newer features/compatibility, I would not change gear just for better spec sheets.
 

LTig

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I will probably go with the monoprice if I sell my stuff it doesn't measure too horrible. :)
Don't do this. Wait until your speakers have arrived and the room has been EQed. Then, and only if you are dissatisfied, come back, state your problems and ask for advice.

On the technical side all AVRs and AVPs measured so far did not deliver performance comparable to decent DACs. However keep in mind that (a) an AVR/AVP is a much more complex unit than a DAC and (b) there is hard competition on the market forcing companies to offer lots of features for small money.

The reviews here expect that a unit should offer transparency in all possible environments and if it cannot guarantee this it's seen as problematic. However in many home environments one can live with much lower SINAD values, e.g. if your noise floor is high and you cannot play really loud because of your neighbours.
and I'm very curious about Dirac I can't stand room correction but want to give this a shot at least for bass management.
You definitely should use room EQ to improve FR in the bass.
 

danzilla31

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Does it sound bad to you?
Do you get audible distortion/noisefloor?

[ ] Yes [ ] No

If no, ignore the measurements. Keep in mind that this site searches for engineering excellence not necessarily for audible problems.

Unless there was some problem that I can hear, I needed more power or newer features/compatibility, I would not change gear just for better spec sheets.
No to the first question I like the way it sounds
but yes to the 2nd

allow me to explain

first problem I noticed was a hum that would come and go through my back right rear speaker that eventually resulted in a blown 530 speaker which I equated to room size and they're difficulty to drive compared to the 590's

once I ruled out ground loops now I'm wondering could it have been the balanced output issue and or that noise floor issue. Since I had to boost the 530's so much to level match them to the 590's I'm suspecting the difficulty to drive not the AVM 60

but that hum has been they're with other speakers it comes and goes.

Also I had a really bad what I thought was a hum or ground loop with my RBH SV1212 PR sub but not with my SVS PB 4000 subs through rca connects and now I'm wondering is it picking up something through the noise floor issue you guys mentioned? No other sub I put in they're has the RCA issue but I'm thinking it might be a rca glitch in the 1212PR's amp BUT when I lift the ground it's not they're

So I'm wondering if they're is an issue with the AVM 60's balanced and unbalanced outputs

But soundwise I'm not unhappy at all just concerned with some of the weird hums and quirks that don't seem connected to a ground loop issue
 

danzilla31

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Don't do this. Wait until your speakers have arrived and the room has been EQed. Then, and only if you are dissatisfied, come back, state your problems and ask for advice.

On the technical side all AVRs and AVPs measured so far did not deliver performance comparable to decent DACs. However keep in mind that (a) an AVR/AVP is a much more complex unit than a DAC and (b) there is hard competition on the market forcing companies to offer lots of features for small money.

The reviews here expect that a unit should offer transparency in all possible environments and if it cannot guarantee this it's seen as problematic. However in many home environments one can live with much lower SINAD values, e.g. if your noise floor is high and you cannot play really loud because of your neighbours.

You definitely should use room EQ to improve FR in the bass.
Okay great advice and will save me some money thank you very much!
 

danzilla31

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Thanks for the helpful feedback guys I'll hold off selling if you guys think of anything else please let me know
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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[...]a blown 530 speaker [...]

Since I had to boost the 530's so much to level match them to the 590's I'm suspecting the difficulty to drive not the AVM 60
No clue but if you force the amp into hard clipping by overdriving it, yes you can fry the tweeter.

AVRs have really weak amps and it is very easy to max them out. Mine for instance has 70W @ 2ch driven @6Ω.
That corresponds to around 54W @ 8 ohm. Drive 5 speakers for a 5.0 and you get 108/5 = ~21.6W of power per speaker.

At a sensitivity of e.g. 87dB/1W/1m that's measly ~100dB. AT 1 METER. If you sit 3m from your speakers and try to drive them at home cinema reference levels ... yeah forget that. You're lucky if the AVR simply shuts down, if you're unlucky your tweeters die first.

Not to mention that speaker impedance/phase and thus sensitivity varies with frequency, so you might actually need even more power at low frequencies.
 

danzilla31

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No clue but if you force the amp into hard clipping by overdriving it, yes you can fry the tweeter.

AVRs have really weak amps and it is very easy to max them out. Mine for instance has 70W @ 2ch driven @6Ω.
That corresponds to around 54W @ 8 ohm. Drive 5 speakers for a 5.0 and you get 108/5 = ~21.6W of power per speaker.

At a sensitivity of e.g. 87dB/1W/1m that's measly ~100dB. AT 1 METER. If you sit 3m from your speakers and try to drive them at home cinema reference levels ... yeah forget that. You're lucky if the AVR simply shuts down, if you're unlucky your tweeters die first.

Not to mention that speaker impedance/phase and thus sensitivity varies with frequency, so you might actually need even more power at low frequencies.
Ugghhh see this is what I think was the issue they are 86db efficient and the 590 are 92db efficient I'm at 3 meters back from the surround speakers

So I had to run the channel trims on the AVM 60 up like 7 to 8 units higher for the 530 maybe a little more to level match them to 75db with the 590 mains

Top that off those rears were on the PVA 7 which with all channels driven is not putting out much juice yeeeaaahhh I'd say it's probably safe to say I clipped them and blew the tweeter oh well not my first goof up sure it won't be my last :facepalm:
 
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