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Anthem MRX1120 Home Theater AVR Review

Tks

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We could pick a few points from it and put it in the review tables.

I like it as is. No real need on my end (aside from expanding it to a nigher output on devices that offer crazy high power output I suppose). What was wondering is running whatever test you run just to get that graph a lengthy process?
 

vkvedam

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Thanks for the review!
Could you please review an Arcam one @amirm?
 

Carbo

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I still have a RX-Z9 and man it still sounds great. If it didn't weigh 100lbs I would love to send it and see how it measures.

AND FYI but the Yamaha CXA5100 and CXA5200 use the ESS 9016 and 9026 respectively on all channels.
 

eycatcher

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I bet the Z9 would measure superbly. They don't make em like they used to. I recently had my hands on a Yamaha with the ESS 9026 DAC for my personal testing to compare to my Anthem that I've had for a few years. I considered sending it for Amir but I sold it so quickly. On paper the ESS looks great. I tried it with all their filter modes which was handy for a tweaker to have, going from sharp, slow, short and also with their ultra lower pll jitter settings. To me it sounded best for music slow the jitter filter off, movies was sharp or short. It was a really nice piece of engineering. Personally I like the AKM implementation in the Anthem better. I found it a bit better for system music and movies overall to my ears. I miss the days when the mfr's used one stereo DAC per channel in differential mode.
 
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amirm

amirm

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What was wondering is running whatever test you run just to get that graph a lengthy process?
No, it is pretty quick and I will be running it on AV products in the future since this is a major area of differentiation between them.
 

North_Sky

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Where's the fan at the back panel?

It's below that small circuit board atop (blue circle - below post). We can't see it with the top cover removed because exactly that circuit board.
And there's another one in the amp section, parallel to the heatsink (yellow circle - below post); that one we can see easily.
 
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North_Sky

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20200308_121759.jpg


Blue circle: The circuit board blocks the view to the small rear fan.
Yellow circle: Near the amp transistors attached to the heatsink.
 

KarVi71

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I owned a MRX 300 for years, with which I was really happy.

It too had a fan attached to rectangular (hollow, like a tube) heatsink, with fins on the inside. In all my years of using this amp, I never heard the fan spin (not saying it didn't, I just never noticed it).
That said, I did run my two main speakers on separate amps, so the built in amps only ran center and rear speakers.

The ARC room correction (even if it was an old version), was the best thing about the MRX300.

The pre-outs / sub out connectors, was a rather low quality, regrettably.
 
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MarcT

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It's interesting how big the difference is between Anthem MRX1120 and MRX520 in Amplifier SINAD. Is that big a difference common within the same brand and series of AVR?
 

temps

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It's interesting how big the difference is between Anthem MRX1120 and MRX520 in Amplifier SINAD. Is that big a difference common within the same brand and series of AVR?

The MRX1120 has a better power supply than the 520 and 720, which may explain the difference.

The previous series (510/710) all had the toroidal power supply and also measured out much better performance-wise. It's disappointing to see such a steep decline in performance when a manufacturer updates a product line.

re: cost of the amplifier, when my 510 amplifier failed the replacement board was just over $500 Canadian installed.
 

ElNino

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I still have a RX-Z9 and man it still sounds great. If it didn't weigh 100lbs I would love to send it and see how it measures.

I'm always on the lookout for an RX-Z9 locally -- that's a legend. If you ever feel like repurposing it into a two-channel DAC, check out the service manual. You can force it into a variety of test modes that bypass almost everything.
 

SimpleTheater

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And licences for sound processing for those channels. There are hints that there is a disproportionate cost for licensing those additional channels. Perhaps reflecting the rarefied heights it is assumed such systems are destined for. (So both lower volume and fatter wallets.)
I'm curious as to those costs, because the 720 still does processing for 11 channels, but only has 7 built in amps. From the Anthem website, I got the feeling you could buy four additional amplifiers and have, essentially, an 1120.
 

LTig

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In a receiver this is probably not true. The first thing you need to do is convert the output to single ended to drive the amplifier. So balanced is wasted. True balanced amplifiers designs exist, but are little more than an excuse for overly complicated designs with dubious actual advantages in performance, and some very real down sides.
Yep. Balanced is a win for connections, but not necessarily inside an electronic unit. In fact to get rid of the common mode noise reaching the balanced input one must perform the difference of both signals. The output of such a differential input stage is unbalanced and it makes no sense to convert it back to balanced and then implement twice the number of processing stages to advertise it as "true balanced".:facepalm:
 

SynthesisCinema

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New Anthem models 1140, 740, 540 possibly introduced at end of year! Similar story as with the leaked Yamaha 2020 receivers, no verification from manufacturer yet. Picture was linked to AVSForum.

93oCGQX.jpg
 

MarcT

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New Anthem models 1140, 740, 540 possibly introduced at end of year! Similar story as with the leaked Yamaha 2020 receivers, no verification from manufacturer yet. Picture was linked to AVSForum.

93oCGQX.jpg
Hmm, that might be good if it results in some opportunities to snag a nice used 720 at a great price!
 

kernelpanic

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It's interesting to see this measure basically the same as the Monoprice HTP-1 using 4493 DAC's. If the measurements are the same, would one expect any audible advantages of the 4493's over Anthem's implementation of the 4458's?
 

peng

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I have this in my cinema room, with the stereo speakers and subs driven by a Lyngdorf 3400 from the pre-outs on the Anthem. So thanks for reviewing my setup!

It would be interesting to see how well the room correction performs quantitatively.

To my ears, the Anthem is not good enough for music - not even close. But the Lyngdorf does sound excellent. The Lyngdorf is also way better than the Arcam AVR 850 that I also have - although a lot of review sites rate the Arcam for music, I never found it good enough either.

Exactly, that's the thing about objective testing results vs subjective listening experience. One is affected by the instrument used, methodology, and the person who conduct the bench test measurements. The other is based on one's subjective experience so if the individual's assessment of product A better than product B would apply to that one individual but not always applicable to another individual.
 

pkane

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Exactly, that's the thing about objective testing results vs subjective listening experience. One is affected by the instrument used, methodology, and the person who conduct the bench test measurements. The other is based on one's subjective experience so if the individual's assessment of product A better than product B would apply to that one individual but not always applicable to another individual.

The small difference is that in an objective testing you can directly compare results from a few individuals and methodologies as well as using different instruments. When done properly, these will agree and confirm the findings beyond a doubt.

In subjective (uncontrolled) listening results, even a thousand people agreeing with each other is just an anecdote with no real confirmatory value other than as someone’s personal opinion. And you know what they say about opinions...
 
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Flak

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It's interesting to see this measure basically the same as the Monoprice HTP-1 using 4493 DAC's. If the measurements are the same, would one expect any audible advantages of the 4493's over Anthem's implementation of the 4458's?
I don't know but, in my admittedly biased opinion, the Monoprice HTP-1 should get his panter's head back... after all, it's a 16 channels unit which supports Dirac Bass Control
 
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