Anthem MRX 1140 fan noise

[ArturoKiwi]

For music, the Integra is Roon Ready, if you use Roon. Anthem has said Roon support is coming for close to 3 years, but no dice.

If in Europe Integra arrives at 3300€ I definitely cheaper than 1140 8k

 

[ryaneagon]

For music, the Integra is Roon Ready, if you use Roon. Anthem has said Roon support is coming for close to 3 years, but no dice.

I see, I don't use Roon yet, but it looks enticing, hopefully Anthem will get their act together.

I'm guessing you enjoy the Anthem over the Denon and Arcam? May I ask why you went Anthem, and separates? I'm looking at the Anthem 1140 8K and possibly the soon-to-be-released Integra 8.4. Both seem fairly similar on paper, actually, the Integra looks better, I listen to 50/50 music and movies, and I'm leaning towards the Anthem based on what other reviewers have said about the Anthem, that it is one of the best products for music, but also great for Home Theater. Thoughts?

I ended up going with the AVM 70. I think in the long run having a dedicated processor and separate Amplifier will yield better results in clarity and detail. Also, In my 40 years I've never spent any more than $1,000 on an AVR, and never had separates, I'm super stoked! Guess, I'll know in a few weeks.

 

[Steve356]

I'm guessing you enjoy the Anthem over the Denon and Arcam? May I ask why you went Anthem, and separates? I'm looking at the Anthem 1140 8K and possibly the soon-to-be-released Integra 8.4. Both seem fairly similar on paper, actually, the Integra looks better, I listen to 50/50 music and movies, and I'm leaning towards the Anthem based on what other reviewers have said about the Anthem, that it is one of the best products for music, but also great for Home Theater. Thoughts?

I'm still enjoying the MRX 740 and yet to hear any fan noise. I went with the Anthem after trying both Denon and Arcam. The Denon was returned because I just didn't think it sounded very good. Lacked any dynamics and sounded flat in my system. This was despite investing in the MultEQ app to try to help things. The Arcam had a serious bug that affected the way it operated in my system in that it would not pass LFE to the front speakers when set to Large. Arcan Support confirmed the bug, but could not give any estimate on when it would be fixed in firmware, so it was also returned. It did sound far more dynamic than the Denon during testing though.

The Anthem worked straight out of the box. It sounds far better with both movies and music. Especially noticeable on Concert Blu Rays, which I actually have more of than movies, so this was very important to me. For stereo music, it sounds very good too, but in such cases, I usually listen direct from my Lyngdorf TDAi 3400, which is better still and has my FL & FR speakers connected to it along with my subwoofer. So for stereo, yes I tested the Anthem, as I did with the others, but although the Anthem sounded the best in my opinion, it wouldn't have been a deal breaker due to the Lyngdorf being in circuit.

On a non-sound aspect, I've also found the Anthem to have a fast strat-up and is super flexible in use. ARCg can actually be used in conjunction with Lyngdorf's Room Perfect correction system, which is a first as Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues. The front display is much better on the Anthem too as it is very clear from my seating position, although the Arcam was very good too.

Hope this helps.

Steve

 

[peng]

ARCg can actually be used in conjunction with Lyngdorf's Room Perfect correction system, which is a first as Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues. The front display is much better on the Anthem too as it is very clear from my seating position, although the Arcam was very good too.

Hope this helps.

Steve

Can you elaborate on "Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues."? I am puzzled, as I found Audyssey and Dirac (without any manual tweaks) integrated my subs and mains better, much better based on actual measured (by REW) results. Obviously, on subjective measurement basis (ears/brains), any of the 3 could be "better" than the other two.

It is possible that ARCG does not like my room/speaker/placement combinations, but still, to say the other two caused phase issues seems far-fetched thought they may all have issues to some extent.

 

[peng]

One week in and I definitely think the Anthem receiver was a great choice. Love the sound. Sounds great out of the box, but ARC blends the speakers and sub together beautifully. Really like the option for defaulting stereo sound for a given input to Dolby and it does an amazing job. I use a Channels DVR and Spectrum streams everything in stereo for TV Everywhere. Mainly used it for the NCAA tournament this week and I’m really impressed with how it places the sound from a stereo signal. Announcers voices are centered and game and crowd noises are appropriately placed around the room. Music sounds great and playing some of my favorite movie scenes is fantastic. Also impressed with the Dolby Audio post processing. For instance, in The Dark Knight Rises (my UHD streaming copy is only Dolby Digital, I guess they haven’t given this the Atmos treatment) after Commissioner Gordon is pulled from the water John Blake visits Bruce Wayne and the dialogue is really quiet. Was tough to hear with my old receiver. With the Anthem without ARC, I had to crank it about to about -20, after ARC -40. With the dynamic range leveled using Movie mode in the Dolby Audio post processing, it is easily heard at -60. Powering on via CEC is not working well, but I don’t mind picking up the receiver controller to power up and switch inputs if needed. Volume adjustments with any remote over CEC works great. No fan noise, but I’ve got it behind a glass door in the entertainment center and I went ahead and got the aircom T8 to help with cooling.

Congrats! Apparently, only some units have the fan related issues, but the beta FW is supposed to fix it anyway, for those who ended up with those that do have the issue/bug.

 

[Steve356]

Can you elaborate on "Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues."? I am puzzled, as I found Audyssey and Dirac (without any manual tweaks) integrated my subs and mains better, much better based on actual measured (by REW) results. Obviously, on subjective measurement basis (ears/brains), any of the 3 could be "better" than the other two.

It is possible that ARCG does not like my room/speaker/placement combinations, but still, to say the other two caused phase issues seems far-fetched thought they may all have issues to some extent.

Sorry if I caused confusion. What I meant was that Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues when used in combination with Lyngdorf's Room Perfect system.

 

[ryaneagon]

I'm still enjoying the MRX 740 and yet to hear any fan noise. I went with the Anthem after trying both Denon and Arcam. The Denon was returned because I just didn't think it sounded very good. Lacked any dynamics and sounded flat in my system. This was despite investing in the MultEQ app to try to help things. The Arcam had a serious bug that affected the way it operated in my system in that it would not pass LFE to the front speakers when set to Large. Arcan Support confirmed the bug, but could not give any estimate on when it would be fixed in firmware, so it was also returned. It did sound far more dynamic than the Denon during testing though.

The Anthem worked straight out of the box. It sounds far better with both movies and music. Especially noticeable on Concert Blu Rays, which I actually have more of than movies, so this was very important to me. For stereo music, it sounds very good too, but in such cases, I usually listen direct from my Lyngdorf TDAi 3400, which is better still and has my FL & FR speakers connected to it along with my subwoofer. So for stereo, yes I tested the Anthem, as I did with the others, but although the Anthem sounded the best in my opinion, it wouldn't have been a deal breaker due to the Lyngdorf being in circuit.

On a non-sound aspect, I've also found the Anthem to have a fast strat-up and is super flexible in use. ARCg can actually be used in conjunction with Lyngdorf's Room Perfect correction system, which is a first as Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues. The front display is much better on the Anthem too as it is very clear from my seating position, although the Arcam was very good too.

Hope this helps.

Steve

This is very helpful. Thank you. I ended up pulling the trigger on the AVM 70 Processor. I figured after 30 years of mid-level AVR's It was time to jump up to separates. Now I need to figure out what Amp to get....Class AB or D. I was initially thinking of the Monolith 9-channel, 200w for the LCR, 100w for the surround and heights. I've also read many reviews on the Buckeye class D amps, also seeing they measure very well. I'll be powering Polk r700 fronts, L400, center, R100, rears, and R900 Atmos speakers. The fronts are towers (2-8" driver 3 way) and the Center is a 3-way, large speaker and both can dip down below 4ohms. Anyway, I'd love some advice on Amps from you all . Thank you.

 

[peng]

Sorry if I caused confusion. What I meant was that Audyssey and Dirac caused phase issues when used in combination with Lyngdorf's Room Perfect system.

Thanks, I did'nt realize you can use both together and get good results.

By the way, can you post some rew graphs that show the combined bass response of the mains and subs for the 200 to 300 Hz range using just ARCG?

Thanks again.

 

[Steve356]

Thanks, I did'nt realize you can use both together and get good results.

By the way, can you post some rew graphs that show the combined bass response of the mains and subs for the 200 to 300 Hz range using just ARCG?

Thanks again.

Not sure when or if I'll get around to that. Sorry. Too many other things grabbing my attention at the moment.

 

[peng]

Not sure when or if I'll get around to that. Sorry. Too many other things grabbing my attention at the moment.

No rush at all.

 

[2inquisitive]

Well, Anthem is not meeting my expectations. I bought an 1140 to go with our new room and the fan noise made me crazy enough to push my local retailer. They did the right thing and got me a new one. The bad news is that the replacement is just as noisy if not even a little more! 8 to 10 db of noise from this @#$% cheap fan they chose. Doesnt even seem to variable speed. Its either on and noisy or off, nothing in between. Its fine for most movie watching, but for 2-channel listening, especially to well recorded acoustic, its hugely distracting.

I worked with Anthem support and installed the beta 2.2.203. No difference on noise level. The beta only seems to delay when it comes on (higher threshold) but does nothing to alter fan speed/noise.

This is REALLY disappointing and its clear they know they have an issue (all of us are complaining and they bothered to do a firmware change). After spending this much having a noisy cheap fan is a rude slap in the face. I guess I have to buy one of those AC Infinity units. They must be partly owned by Paradigm/Anthem? :-/

 

[DaveN]

Well, Anthem is not meeting my expectations. I bought an 1140 to go with our new room and the fan noise made me crazy enough to push my local retailer. They did the right thing and got me a new one. The bad news is that the replacement is just as noisy if not even a little more! 8 to 10 db of noise from this @#$% cheap fan they chose. Doesnt even seem to variable speed. Its either on and noisy or off, nothing in between. Its fine for most movie watching, but for 2-channel listening, especially to well recorded acoustic, its hugely distracting.

I worked with Anthem support and installed the beta 2.2.203. No difference on noise level. The beta only seems to delay when it comes on (higher threshold) but does nothing to alter fan speed/noise.

This is REALLY disappointing and its clear they know they have an issue (all of us are complaining and they bothered to do a firmware change). After spending this much having a noisy cheap fan is a rude slap in the face. I guess I have to buy one of those AC Infinity units. They must be partly owned by Paradigm/Anthem? :-/

I recently purchased an Anthem 1140 and have never heard the fan. Just to cover myself with my new investment I bought an AC Infinity Aircom T8 Fan Cooler and I can just hear that when everything is quiet (mind you my hearing is not the greatest!)

 

[ban25]

Well, Anthem is not meeting my expectations. I bought an 1140 to go with our new room and the fan noise made me crazy enough to push my local retailer. They did the right thing and got me a new one. The bad news is that the replacement is just as noisy if not even a little more! 8 to 10 db of noise from this @#$% cheap fan they chose. Doesnt even seem to variable speed. Its either on and noisy or off, nothing in between. Its fine for most movie watching, but for 2-channel listening, especially to well recorded acoustic, its hugely distracting.

I worked with Anthem support and installed the beta 2.2.203. No difference on noise level. The beta only seems to delay when it comes on (higher threshold) but does nothing to alter fan speed/noise.

This is REALLY disappointing and its clear they know they have an issue (all of us are complaining and they bothered to do a firmware change). After spending this much having a noisy cheap fan is a rude slap in the face. I guess I have to buy one of those AC Infinity units. They must be partly owned by Paradigm/Anthem? :-/

If you're up for it, consider replacing the fans in the MRX 1140 with Noctua (either 120mm or 140mm depending upon whats in there). I have used Noctua fans in several other applications to reduce noise successfully.

Noctua

Noctua's premium fans are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality.

noctua.at

If you don't want to do that and can't live with the Anthem, give the Integra DRX-8.4 a look. Very quiet, solid 11-channel AVR with Dirac, Roon (coming this month), etc.

 

[Chrispy]

Well, Anthem is not meeting my expectations. I bought an 1140 to go with our new room and the fan noise made me crazy enough to push my local retailer. They did the right thing and got me a new one. The bad news is that the replacement is just as noisy if not even a little more! 8 to 10 db of noise from this @#$% cheap fan they chose. Doesnt even seem to variable speed. Its either on and noisy or off, nothing in between. Its fine for most movie watching, but for 2-channel listening, especially to well recorded acoustic, its hugely distracting.

I worked with Anthem support and installed the beta 2.2.203. No difference on noise level. The beta only seems to delay when it comes on (higher threshold) but does nothing to alter fan speed/noise.

This is REALLY disappointing and its clear they know they have an issue (all of us are complaining and they bothered to do a firmware change). After spending this much having a noisy cheap fan is a rude slap in the face. I guess I have to buy one of those AC Infinity units. They must be partly owned by Paradigm/Anthem? :-/

AC Infinity units turned out to be far noisier than I expected (I got a T8). There are quieter ways to go, like a set of fans I had from coolerguys.com already (but have two models from them, the other is noisier than the T8). I've never had audible noise from the fans inside any of my avrs (Denon and Onkyo, not sure my Sony even has one); I use the external fan due to tight space.

 

[peng]

AC Infinity units turned out to be far noisier than I expected (I got a T8). There are quieter ways to go, like a set of fans I had from coolerguys.com already (but have two models from them, the other is noisier than the T8). I've never had audible noise from the fans inside any of my avrs (Denon and Onkyo, not sure my Sony even has one); I use the external fan due to tight space.

I know people like the looks of the T8 as they seemed to tailor made them for AVRs/AVPs. Unfortunately, as their specs indicate, they are not quiet enough. The cheap and ugly (not really too bad, due to the black color, if used with black color AVRs) S7 are quieter, that's 19 dB vs the T8's 24 dBA. Even the S8, or S5, it is only acceptably quiet (to me anyway, from 10-11 ft) if set to the lowest speed. So, the 120 mm ones are better, because then you can just place one on top or blow from back to front, at the lowest speed.

The really quiet ones are some of Noctua's, I have the NF-S12A ULN, it's spec is 8.6 dBA at maximum speed. They don't offer USB connection so there is a little bit of work to put one to use, and I am not sure if they make a black one. For quietness, I am not aware of anything better.

Amazon.ca

 

[peng]

Well, Anthem is not meeting my expectations. I bought an 1140 to go with our new room and the fan noise made me crazy enough to push my local retailer. They did the right thing and got me a new one. The bad news is that the replacement is just as noisy if not even a little more! 8 to 10 db of noise from this @#$% cheap fan they chose. Doesnt even seem to variable speed. Its either on and noisy or off, nothing in between. Its fine for most movie watching, but for 2-channel listening, especially to well recorded acoustic, its hugely distracting.

I worked with Anthem support and installed the beta 2.2.203. No difference on noise level. The beta only seems to delay when it comes on (higher threshold) but does nothing to alter fan speed/noise.

This is REALLY disappointing and its clear they know they have an issue (all of us are complaining and they bothered to do a firmware change). After spending this much having a noisy cheap fan is a rude slap in the face. I guess I have to buy one of those AC Infinity units. They must be partly owned by Paradigm/Anthem? :-/

You should request another replacement. Not every Anthem has the noisy fan issue so I would think the 3rd one should be fine. If not, then I guess it is time to consider getting a refund unless you must have the 1140, and in that case, $20 on an usb Infinity fan such as the S7 should stop the internal fan from kicking in. At the lowest speed setting, the S7 would likely be only barely audible from 11 ft in a reasonably quiet room.

 

[2inquisitive]

If you're up for it, consider replacing the fans in the MRX 1140 with Noctua (either 120mm or 140mm depending upon whats in there). I have used Noctua fans in several other applications to reduce noise successfully.

Noctua

Noctua's premium fans are internationally renowned for their superb quietness, exceptional performance and thoroughgoing quality.

noctua.at

If you don't want to do that and can't live with the Anthem, give the Integra DRX-8.4 a look. Very quiet, solid 11-channel AVR with Dirac, Roon (coming this month), etc.

I'm digging around for articles on replacing the fan to be sure I can do so without making it obvious the warranty would be void. I've only found one with details and pictures and not sure I can make the swap without making it unnoticeable should I ever need to swap back in the old one and ship the unit for repairs of some sort.

 

[ban25]

I'm digging around for articles on replacing the fan to be sure I can do so without making it obvious the warranty would be void. I've only found one with details and pictures and not sure I can make the swap without making it unnoticeable should I ever need to swap back in the old one and ship the unit for repairs of some sort.

It probably takes a 3-pin header, or possibly a 4-pin PWM header. So it should be a plug and play swap. As long as there are no security stickers or anything like that, you should be fine.

 

[2inquisitive]

You should request another replacement. Not every Anthem has the noisy fan issue so I would think the 3rd one should be fine. If not, then I guess it is time to consider getting a refund unless you must have the 1140, and in that case, $20 on an usb Infinity fan such as the S7 should stop the internal fan from kicking in. At the lowest speed setting, the S7 would likely be only barely audible from 11 ft in a reasonably quiet room.

If I wasn't such a fan of ARC-G and overall sound quality of the 1140 I would have returned it already. I'm tired of having to deal with this issue and pretty frustrated at Anthem's approach on this issue. They are clearly not interested in just taking care of it and making it right at the slightest push from a customer. Their poor response to this clear quality control problem AND the 3 year delay in Roon RAAT support leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

I emailed Infinity AC asking about the sound levels of their fans not only at the highest RPM but also at the lower speeds. I'm assuming the specs on their products are for full RPM/CFM, which is not needed. I'm starting to think a Noctua or one of the cheap and quiet (~10db) Inifinity fans will be how I go. I might consider opening it up and replacing the internal unit, but with such an expensive and complicated device I'm very sensitive to voiding the warranty. Clearly Anthem has shown they would not handle that properly given experience on this issue so far.

 

[2inquisitive]

It probably takes a 3-pin header, or possibly a 4-pin PWM header. So it should be a plug and play swap. As long as there are no security stickers or anything like that, you should be fine.

thanks. If anyone comes across other articles/pictures/videos of people doing this please share.