Arcam AVR390 AVR Review

[Blumlein 88]

Assuming all goes well, I plan to review Dirac in this AVR.

I look forward to it, but considering its digital woes otherwise is this the best candidate for that? Or is it just this is what you have on hand with Dirac?

 

[Dj7675]

Assuming all goes well, I plan to review Dirac in this AVR.

Great to hear.

 

[amirm]

I look forward to it, but considering its digital woes otherwise is this the best candidate for that? Or is it just this is what you have on hand with Dirac?

For my type of analysis, it doesn't matter a lot what its DAC is doing.

 

[Chilli]

Thanks so much for this, Amir. Very interesting results.
I still have an avr300 from 2005, and was thinking of updating. After seeing all the avr results on here, no wonder it didn't sound as good as my 2ch amp. Perhaps a Denon next?

 

[Blumlein 88]

I have a serious question for anyone that "does" HT. Why? I totally get good/ excellent stereo kit. There is a joy to reproducing music as well as possible.

But , for me, once you have a big enough, well set up TV and a sound device that can produce enough volume to be engaging, whats the appeal? The sound on a movie is its least compelling facet. With music its everything.

I can't square investing so much $$ and room space to try and replicate the horrid overbearing sound experience in cinemas.

FLAME ON!

I've currently settled on a Marantz pre/pro. Performance for analog and digital is good enough. Though it doesn't represent great engineering for audio. This lets me use quality outboard amps, and speakers. I do get additional enjoyment from good sound to go with a good projector picture. And I can have it loud, but clean and not obnoxious the way some commercial theaters are. So I don't know if you would consider that what you'd do or not. This isn't SOTA theater sound, but it is more than just loud enough to go with the movie.

As for AVR's they look if anything to generally be even worse than in the past. Recent AVR's seem to overall be insufficient on sound. Mostly due to wimpy amps.

 

[North_Sky]

I have a serious question for anyone that "does" HT. Why? I totally get good/ excellent stereo kit. There is a joy to reproducing music as well as possible.

But , for me, once you have a big enough, well set up TV and a sound device that can produce enough volume to be engaging, whats the appeal? The sound on a movie is its least compelling facet. With music its everything.

I can't square investing so much $$ and room space to try and replicate the horrid overbearing sound experience in cinemas.

FLAME ON!

Hollywood, Disneyland's cash register?

Mono is awesome, stereo is expansive, multichannel is dimensional.

Thanks. I can finally give up on home theater gear. Arcam was my last hope.

Don't give up yet, the best is yet to come ...
• https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...vr-and-processor-with-dirac.9007/#post-229149

Assuming all goes well, I plan to review Dirac in this AVR.

In digital stereo?

 

[stunta]

Thanks. I can finally give up on home theater gear. Arcam was my last hope.

I am not clear on how audible the differences are. For music, I use an external DAC with analog outputs into my HT processor and since I don't do any DSP in my processor, I am assuming its pass-through. For movies and stuff, I feel like the sound quality is adequate given a good chunk of my brain is focused on what is on the screen.

So my question is, how good is good enough for HT processors/receivers? [Edit: I mean in terms of measurements]

 

[North_Sky]

So my question is, how good is good enough for HT processors/receivers?

Made in USA?

• https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/home-theater-processors/MX170

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

TBH we need a thorough Dirac review before it's really worth recommending to most people, given how much more expensive and painful it is to use Dirac compared to Audyssey XT32, which does a good job as was already noted in its review.

I'm not really that interested in Dirac until they finish their bass module, and IMO you aren't going to achieve good bass without at least 2 subs no matter what your room looks like.

Anthem ARC works. Top of line measured pretty well.

 

[MattS]

These currently retail for $3995AUD in Australia.

 

[MarcT]

Well, at least it does beat my PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC/pre-amp!

 

[MarcT]

I have a serious question for anyone that "does" HT. Why? I totally get good/ excellent stereo kit. There is a joy to reproducing music as well as possible.

But , for me, once you have a big enough, well set up TV and a sound device that can produce enough volume to be engaging, whats the appeal? The sound on a movie is its least compelling facet. With music its everything.

I can't square investing so much $$ and room space to try and replicate the horrid overbearing sound experience in cinemas.

FLAME ON!

Hmm, for me, it's not that way at all. With the advent of the lossless audio formats, the music in film scores is just so good and really contributes at least 50% to my enjoyment of movies, especially with dramas. Actually, after watching a movie, I will often be inspired to listen to the film score. Now, many of the scores are only available for two channel in 16/44.1 versions. To me, they just never seem to sound as good as it did in the movie. But I do need to upgrade my DAC, as it is a really poor one.

 

[A800]

HT only makes sense when you can incorporate the 15Hz horns into the building.

 

[amira]

Made in USA?

• https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/home-theater-processors/MX170

This is essentially the Lyngdorf MP-60 with a different case and some added analog boards, so 80% or more is manufactured in Denmark.

 

[amirm]

In digital stereo?

Yes.

 

[AudioJester]

I have a minidsp unit with dirac, a Marantz pre with Audyssey. I think for HT use they both will do the job, looking forward to the formal dirac review.

For stereo/music -Mitcho's method of generating filters using Acourate to plug into a convolution engine in Roon or HQP is still king.

Are we saying that top notch Room coorection with Dirac outweighs the digital shortcomings of this device?

 

[bogart]

Thanks so much for this, Amir. Very interesting results.
I still have an avr300 from 2005, and was thinking of updating. After seeing all the avr results on here, no wonder it didn't sound as good as my 2ch amp. Perhaps a Denon next?

My AVR100 (circa 2001) is still an analog delight, but was never 'pleasant' in HT use. Things were primitive back then, but the digital subsystem was the first thing to fail in my unit. I just pressed the "direct" button and keep using it for analog. I ended up getting a Denon with Audyssey and put hi-fidelity HT aspirations on the shelf. I'll enjoy the movies and get plenty of great movie sound, but I'm just not willing to chase this goal to perfection like I will for music.

 

[Bachemar]

Are we saying that top notch Room coorection with Dirac outweighs the digital shortcomings of this device?

The digital inputs are actually not completely terrible (80dB SINAD) when using the built in amps. It’s really the preamp outputs that are completely broken (70dB SINAD), with much more distortion than the Dac on its own

 

[beefkabob]

Depends on your definition of broken. It would be interesting to hear from @amirm on which is the least broken... This one or the NAD T758. I would think the NAD would be the least broken because the DAC only gets terrible at -6 or worse. SINAD at 1V if 88/89. The amps in the NAD are also not rated well compared to other units either. You could, however get an external amp like an Outlaw 5000 that does not require more than 1V to be driven fully And make it work, but that is a lot of work just for Dirac in my opinion. If you read the Denon X3600 review the DAC and Amps both perform very well. Amir also did a review of Audyssey XT32 with the app and gave it very good marks as well. I had the T758 and sent it in for Amir to review and have since went with a Denon X3500H for my living room and an X8500H for my theater. In my 2 channel system I do use Dirac (minidsp shd) and like it very much. I’m just not sure either of these units are worth it considering their basic DAC performance.

SHD Studio here. The difference between off and on is SIGNIFICANT. If the DAC hits 100db SINAD, I'm fine. If I'm going 5.1, room correction is a must, but I am not convinced that other options come close to what Dirac does.

 

[Chilli]

My AVR100 (circa 2001) is still an analog delight, but was never 'pleasant' in HT use. Things were primitive back then, but the digital subsystem was the first thing to fail in my unit. I just pressed the "direct" button and keep using it for analog. I ended up getting a Denon with Audyssey and put hi-fidelity HT aspirations on the shelf. I'll enjoy the movies and get plenty of great movie sound, but I'm just not willing to chase this goal to perfection like I will for music.

Agree. Not a HT delight with my avr300 either. I did have a lot of delight with the older Yamaha dsp a1, but the display started failing and some amp channels started to go... sounded good, but didn’t last. The avr300 got a blown power board early, but has played solidly since then. Hard to know what to do these days... but at least we know how these things measure now!