Arcam AVR390 AVR Review

[audioBliss]

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

Hold down the Menu button on the unit for more than 4 seconds and an extended menu will appear. Check what version you are on. It should be 7.14 - if it is not it is no use to test Dirac because it is broken on previous firmwares. Latest firmware can be found here https://www.arcam.co.uk/product,fmj,av-receivers,avr390.htm at the bottom.

As for Dirac do not download from Arcams website since this version is years old.. Download here
https://live.dirac.com/download/

When setting up Dirac Arcam does not ship with any target curves or anything so only Dirac default is used. This is only a baseline to start with. You can find better curves here
https://mehlau.net/audio/dirac-live-2/

Config
https://mehlau.net/audio/dirac-live-2-mic-speaker-levels/

I would also like to add that these units where announced back in 2015(https://www.facebook.com/AVSforum.n...live-at-cedia-expo-2015-arc/1023783854351750/) and people started using them 2016 so they have been in the market for a while. They were the first to market with Dirac in the cheaper segment, years before the competition. That was the draw to these receivers. Before this it was basically the Datasat RS20i for $20 000 that had Dirac.

Edit: This receiver needs care when setup..for every input
Use the setting "As Speaker Types" and make sure you have the speaker types set correctly(large if no sub in system, small otherwise).
Follow the instruction for firmware update very carefully (if upgrade needed) or all sorts of stuff messes up in the AVR (I.e. make sure to reset to factory defaults after upgrade)

 

[audioBliss]

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.

I'm using 6 subs with the AVR390 Yes, it will be better with the new Dirac Bass Control but even with only one sub out on this unit I'm able to calibrate a flat response from 7Hz-300Hz. I use sealed subs which, as you might know, will need boosting in low frequencies for a flat response. But with Dirac I don't even have to pre-boost with miniDSP or anything I just use Dirac.

I'm for sure keeping an eye on the HTP-1 and will probably upgrade to something like that but let's be honest the price difference is HUGE considering all the amps I'll need as well.

I'm sure Audyssey XT32 has become really great with the years with the app and all but it was not the last time I heard it..not even close.

 

[mgood]

So it seems Denon is the way to for a reasonably performing AVR, or top-of-the-line Anthem if you really want ARC. In my own experience, the Denon X4500 with Audyssey XT32 (Dynamic Volume set to "Light") easily beats the Anthem MRX 720 (ARC and Dolby Volume engaged) for movies. For music it seems to be a toss-up, with the Denon doing a more than respectable job. Of course, YMMV.

 

[vkvedam]

Thanks for the review @amirm, that's really sad that the digital section is crap. I hope they rectified it in the new HDA range which would be replacing the FMJ line of receivers in future. Their amps are solidly built though.

 

[Dj7675]

When I was looking for a replacement for a NAD T758, I contacted Arcam and asked about the preamp voltage and was told it was a maximum of 1. I asked about their new receivers and was told this was not a limitation. So I think it is reasonable to think the new models could perform much different. I checked the specs on the AV30 and it does show different specs. Until it gets bench tested I don’t think we should assume it performs like this. Hopefully it will get tested soon.

 

[Krobar]

As far as I can tell they claim -100dB THD+N the preamp outputs for the new units with the same 110dB analogue claim as the AVR390.

Would be interesting to see if the more expensive AV860 prepro does better. Preouts that broken in a prepro would surely be worthy of the headless panther.

 

[audioBliss]

When I was looking for a replacement for a NAD T758, I contacted Arcam and asked about the preamp voltage and was told it was a maximum of 1. I asked about their new receivers and was told this was not a limitation. So I think it is reasonable to think the new models could perform much different. I checked the specs on the AV30 and it does show different specs. Until it gets bench tested I don’t think we should assume it performs like this. Hopefully it will get tested soon.

Those are the same specs as av390. 1V RMS, 5V RMS max. People have emailed about the FMJ line of receivers and were told 5V so I would not get my hopes up. But they did not say RMS so not sure exactly..

Good afternoon

Thank you for your email. We've got it to around 5v without clipping in the past, but that would likely be more than anybody would ever need.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards

Ed
Customer Support Coordinator,
ARCAM, JBL Synthesis, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Revel

Stirling House, Waterbeach
CAMBS, CB25 9PB, UK
Phone: +44 (0)1223 203200

 

[peng]

[German, test] https://audiovision.de/arcam-fmj-avr390-test/

Resized, clarified and optimized

View attachment 61897

It looks to me the cheaper Denon even has a cleaner layout, aside from having two more power amps.

 

[Bast75]

Hello everyone and a thank you to @amirm !!

Thank you for all these technically very informed reviews!

For protection mode complaining about excess DC on the output there is normally a solution. there is a soundspeaker sensitivity setting in the writing menu at the top of this page. this sensitivity is set by default to High (some have encountered the same protection problem in this position with complicated sounspeaker), it must be set to medium or low to avoid protection. Maybe that will change the measures?

Then I saw on an internet test (I can't find it anymore ...) more in depth than the others and with internal photos showing the presence of a DAC TI BURR BROWN stereo PCM51xx series near the 2 cirrus logic. I wonder when this dac comes in ...

I noticed while passing by the hdmi, that the music was systematically converted into PCM (even if I put the player in bitsream mode). while the behavior of this same player is different if I play a film (I can choose pcm or bitsream) and there, the arcam indicates the applied mode, pcm or bitstream).
the sound of this player is better through SPDIF than HDMI ...?
I conclude that the spdif does not pass through the same DAC ...?

I find it strange and wonder if the data "music" only by the dac burr brown instead of cirrus ?? which could partly explain the stereo measurements of hdmi in / out ?? because dac burr brown is not as good as cirrus.

I would like to be sure that the arcam does not use only the Burr brown in hdmi in stereo ... how to know?

Thank you again for your reviews!

PS: my english is bad because i'm french ... sorry .

 

[peng]

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.

At the 1.3 V level, I bet even the X3500H could do >90 dB SINAD, way ahead of the AVR-390, if 7 channel is all one needs. The Arcam has impressive numbers for the amp section using analog inputs, but that's just SINAD, linearity, IMD are important factors too, I don't know how much improvements on those can be expected with analog inputs and in direct mode.

 

[peng]

Doesnt the Denon 3600 do everything you want at a much cheaper price??

Amir's review of the Audyssey correction busted the myth that only dirac can do the job....

Agreed, I don't see any evidence of Dirac being better, for the range from 10 Hz to the room transition frequency, say 300 Hz.

 

[clockton]

Well, this is depressing having just ordered the AVR30. Do we think the new line would offer a substantial improvement?

 

[Dj7675]

Agreed, I don't see any evidence of Dirac being better, for the range from 10 Hz to the room transition frequency, say 300 Hz.

When looking at real rooms, it seems the room can affect frequency up to 800-1K. I know many people are pretty cautious about the cutoff frequency, but if you know your speakers measure flat and your are seeing large deviations in averaged frequency response in your listening area, I would recommend increasing the cutoff higher than the traditional quoted number of 300. At least that has been my experience. YMMV

 

[Dj7675]

Well, this is depressing having just ordered the AVR30. Do we think the new line would offer a substantial improvement?

Has yours shipped yet? If not possible to arrange to get it tested by Amir? If you don't like the results and are within the return period it could be sent back...

 

[peng]

Those are the same specs as av390. 1V RMS, 5V RMS max. People have emailed about the FMJ line of receivers and were told 5V so I would not get my hopes up. But they did not say RMS so not sure exactly..

Not according to the manual:

THD+N is -100 dB, that is SINAD 100 dB but that's probably based on analog input and direct mode engaged, and is at 1 V output. No maximum specified, but it should be able to reach 4 V and the 1.3 V output limit is mostly likely self imposed as a form of protection.

 

[clockton]

Has yours shipped yet? If not possible to arrange to get it tested by Amir? If you don't like the results and are within the return period it could be sent back...

Will look into it.

 

[Luminous White]

Really want to see a JBL Synthesis or AudioControl measurement. I'm hoping those will be it for AVR endgame. JBL has slightly better DAC as it uses the Sabre 9028 whereas AudioControl uses the 9026, but AudioControl probably has the better amp ans they use an in house made class H instead of a class G. While I certainly don't expect it to this good, if I recall the Benchmark is a class H, so that gives me some hope. I have heard an AudioControl Avalon G4 amp driven by a Marantz CD player and it was fantastic, well at least my ears wanted to think so. Even better than $20k worth of McIntosh.

 

[thunderchicken]

I have an Arcam A80 that's been in my main system since 2005 or so. Wasn't planning on replacing it any time soon, but now I'm interested in how it measures.

 

[tecnogadget]

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

Great! But beware that many users in the different forums have reported a myriad of glitches concerning this generation of Arcam (AVR390, AVR550, AVR850). For what I've read they mostly complain about not being intuitive, bad firmware, not so great implementation of Dirac, lack of support by Arcam team, etc. It looks like the typical case where you have engineers that excel at analog, but short of digital implementation.

As you said before, the bad SINAD won't affect the corrections made by Dirac, but hell I'm still trying to figure out which is the correct way to implement it in the audio chain since yet an affordable and good performer AVR with built-in Dirac hasn't made it here yet. Which way have you gone with your system, an HTPC, or Processor?

A good resource was the miniDSP Nano AVR...but it was capped by an underpowered chipset and old HDMI standard and they have discontinued it. The good news is they are working on a new version...but they are very secretive about it and I suspect COVID may have delayed its development to some extent.

 

[tparm]

I have an Arcam A80 that's been in my main system since 2005 or so. Wasn't planning on replacing it any time soon, but now I'm interested in how it measures.

Are you planning to send yours to Amir for testing?