Best AV Processor under $3k? Lexicon MC-10, Anthem AVM 60, or something else?

[jtremble]

Hello -

I was heavily into HT throughout the 90's and 2000's, but stepped away during the past 10 years to pursue other interests.
I moved in 2015 and I am finally finishing out a bonus space into a 21' x 27' x 9' dedicated HT / music room.

I bought Revel F208 front speakers last year and recently added a Rythmik G25HP subwoofer (which I love).
I am planning on buying the matching Revel C208 center and some NHT C1s to use as side and surround speakers until I upgrade to Revel side and surround speakers down the road a bit.

With that background, I am looking at the best AV Processor for $3K or less. I am going to start with a 7.1 system and may expand up to a 7.2.4... but that would be the most. I expect my split between TV & Movies and Music Listening to be pretty close to 50/50.

My top priorities are sound quality and simplicity. I don't have the time or patience to spend hours futzing around with my AV system dealing with bugs, etc.

The dealer that I bought my Revel speakers from is recommending that I look at the Lexicon MC-10, which is a rebadged Arcam AV860. At its original price of $6K, it was above my price range, but it looks like they are clearing them out now and I can pick one up under $3k. I had a Lexicon DC-1 back in the 90's and loved it, but there are next to no reviews of the MC-10.

I am also looking at the Anthem AVM60... it is getting a bit dated, but it looks like it will do what I need to do and should have all the bugs worked out by now. Several reviews mentioned specifically that it sounded great with 2-channel music - which is a plus in my book.

So I am looking for any suggestions as to the direction I should be looking... Lexicon MC-10, Anthem AVM60 or something else?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[tripitz]

I posted a thread on this forum about looking for a "good" AV processor. At your price point, the AVM60 is probably the best option. I returned mine after having HDMI issues and just purchased one again today (figured out a solution for my specific use case). I do not know where, except I read a few less than positive things about the Arcam units.

For the few days that I did not have the Anthem, I ran a slightly older Marantz that I own. Audyssey out of the box stinks, especially for HT in my opinion. ARC does a much better job - I believe this is well documented. Dirac and Roomperfect solutions are probably going to cost you quite a bit more. I am incredibly happy with what the Anthem did to my speakers and is ultimately why I ended up going back to it after my dealer worked with me to resolve my HDMI issue.

 

[JBH129]

What can ARC and Dirac do that Audyssey (XT 32) cannot? With the Audyssey app you can create custom curves and limit the correction frequency. Audyssey also does a good job dual subs.

 

[tripitz]

What can ARC and Dirac do that Audyssey (XT 32) cannot? With the Audyssey app you can create custom curves and limit the correction frequency. Audyssey also does a good job dual subs.

You are correct - apparently if you download the app and use a few other tools and mess with it, you can get an identical outcome (Amir has it in his Marantz review). ARC out of the box beats Audyssey out of the box.

 

[ex audiophile]

Another big thumbs up for the AVM60. I've had mine for several years, also Revel speakers all around (7.2). Given the percentage of music you will be listening to it's hard to beat the Anthem. ARC Genesis is a recent update and I love it, you can create profiles for your music listening preferences e.g. mains/sub or mains alone or both profiles so you can easily assess the contribution of your sub(s) and of course a separate profile for your TV/movies. You just choose which profile you want under input settings and you're good to go. Anthem logic mode for music is fun to play with and you can use all your speakers in a unique profile, comparing it to stereo. And you don't have to spend more for a streamer; the AVM60 has built in PlayFi which streams up to 24/192 so you can enjoy Tidal or Qobuz without any loss of audio quality. The built in wifi also means it's super easy to run ARC as you don't need a wired connection to the AVM. The PlayFi app has been rightly criticized in the past but the current version is stable and works well. I use it for Qobuz and Spotify.

Just be sure to read the test results of the Arcam products here at ASR before deciding.

Last but not least the AVM has balanced subwoofer outputs. So if your sub has a balanced input it's a great way to get rid of "hums" assoc with RCA connects.

 

[jtremble]

I am leaning strongly towards the AVM60. With Cedia being next week, my plan is to wait and see if Anthem announces anything new. If they do, I will have to decide if it worth waiting for the newer unit. If not, I will likely go ahead and order a AVM60.

 

[Vasr]

What can ARC and Dirac do that Audyssey (XT 32) cannot? With the Audyssey app you can create custom curves and limit the correction frequency. Audyssey also does a good job dual subs.

In my experience with all of them, ARC is the best for brain-dead auto correction setup for people that don't want to mess around. Their heuristics for automatically generating filters and crossovers are brilliant.

Dirac is best for its extra secret sauce in handling multi-reflections, etc but requires some tweaking after auto correction but can sound better than ARC even with tweaking.

Audyssey can be tweaked to 90%+ of either of the above but requires tweaking and some learning curve to get the best out of it and sometimes fighting with unintended consequences with its Dynamic EQ feature, etc. Not as good as others for surround sounds but not deficient by any means.

 

[CtheArgie]

Has anyone downloaded updated software and ARC for a Anthem MRX 520? Mine has 2017 software and I just saw Anthem has updates. Any help will be appreciated!

 

[poopy]

Same for me waiting for an official announcement from Anthem at CEDIA. Otherwise, I may go for a Lexicon MC-10 given its reduced price compared to the AV860 which should measure better than the AV40....

 

[poopy]

AVR850 measured slightly better than the Anthem MRX1120. I would then expect the AV860 to measure slightly better than Anthem AVM60. AV860 is still very expensive (in Europe at least). Lexicon MC-10 with its discounted price seems to be the best bang for your bucks.

Specs of AVM60 give max XLR output = 8.4 Vrms. Max is 5 Vrms for the MC-10 according to specs. With the AV40, best SINAD @ 91dB for 3.1V. For 4V it seems to be around 88 dB.

 

[Dj7675]

AVR850 measured slightly better than the Anthem MRX1120. I would then expect the AV860 to measure slightly better than Anthem AVM60. AV860 is still very expensive (in Europe at least). Lexicon MC-10 with its discounted price seems to be the best bang for your bucks.

Specs of AVM60 give max XLR output = 8.4 Vrms. Max is 5 Vrms for the MC-10 according to specs. With the AV40, best SINAD @ 91dB for 3.1V. For 4V it seems to be around 88 dB.

Be careful..
-As we have seen from one model year to the next, performance does not necessarily get better. Many times it has been shown they can get much worse. For example the AVR390 vs AVR10
-Can’t assume that a processor will out perform an AVR
-Can’t trust manufacturer specs on gear that hasn’t been bench tested.
On the other hand SINAD is just part of shopping. You of course have to be happy with other things: EQ system, reliability, stability, ease of use, warranty etc. But it seems something almost needs bench tested these days to make sure performance is ok and nothing is broken, which is pretty sad.

 

[rccarguy]

The lexicon mc-10 is a rebadged arcam.

Apparently it's quite awful.

 

[krizvi786]

go 4 k and get monoprice htp-1

 

[poopy]

go 4 k and get monoprice htp-1

If I were based in North America, I would consider this one. But based in EU with transport, VAT and custom duties that becomes more than 5k!

 

[poopy]

The lexicon mc-10 is a rebadged arcam.

Apparently it's quite awful.

It's nothing but the AV860, about half-price and with Logic 7.

 

[poopy]

I am leaning strongly towards the AVM60. With Cedia being next week, my plan is to wait and see if Anthem announces anything new. If they do, I will have to decide if it worth waiting for the newer unit. If not, I will likely go ahead and order a AVM60.

Haven't heard anything about Anthem and new releases (CEDIA). Doesn't seem to be for next year (at least first-half). Their tweeter page is dead silent since December last year.

I wrote 2 messages to ask a few technical questions about the AVM60 and indicating I was envisaging to buy it. Never replied. Being based in Europe, I don't want to pay for the phone call. I then gave up.

Same by the way with Lexicon. 1 email no reply and I did mention I was interested in buying the MC-10.

That's funny because during this critical time of Covid-19, I would have thought that companies selling expensive stuffs were desperate to sell products. They don't seem to care a shxt.

In view of how much they sell their products with such a poor quality of components and design, I should be less surprised. Fair price of an AV prepro like AV40 is certainly no more than 1,500 bucks.....

 

[rccarguy]

It's nothing but the AV860, about half-price and with Logic 7.

It's stripped down logic 7. It only works with two channel pcm. And not DD/DTS.

I've got a lexicon mc-8 I do like logic 7, it's dead easy, I use logic 7 or logic 7 music modes
I don't have to fart about like the other avr, ie auro3d, striaght, Dolby Pro logic iix movie, Dolby Pro logic iix mocie, etc etc etcs.

 

[rccarguy]

Someone had the Mc-10 and sent it back after a week, since it's based on the buggy arcam, not suprised.

I was going to get it, £2000 is very good value, but after finding out it's just rebadged arcam...

 

[cbrents73]

Has anyone downloaded updated software and ARC for a Anthem MRX 520? Mine has 2017 software and I just saw Anthem has updates. Any help will be appreciated!

Hello,

If your 520 hasn't had any updates since 2017, go to the menu either on screen or scroll through on the front of the unit and go to System Information at the bottom of the menu to just verify which Firmware version you have. Our current firmware is v1.4.095. If it hasn't been updated since you purchased it, you will likely get Dolby Vision added to the unit after the update along with some minor feature updates and added internal stability. I can't exactly remember when we added Dolby Vision, but seemed like it was at the end of 2017.

On our Support Page: https://www.anthemav.com/support/latest-software.php
Go down to the MRX520 and you'll see a Zip File with a "Software Upgrade". You'll need to extract and load that file on a Blank Thumb Drive, then plug the drive into the port behind the door on the front of the Receiver, hold the select button a couple of seconds, and it will automatically load everything for you as long as the file has been loaded properly on the thumb drive. Once the Update is fully complete, then you can run ARC Genesis on the unit.

Here's the ARC Genesis link so that you can load it onto your computer: https://www.anthemarc.com/downloads/index.php

You'll need to get your 520 hooked up to your router via ethernet so that it's on your network in order to load ARC Genesis.

If you ran our older ARC2 Software on that unit, ARC Genesis has a button "Remove ARC Settings from a Device" that will allow you to remove the old ARC File from the unit - you'll want to do that first before overlaying a new ARC Profile over the old.

Hopefully this gives you enough info to get what you need accomplished, but you can certainly reach out to me if you need further help.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[CtheArgie]

Hello,

If your 520 hasn't had any updates since 2017, go to the menu either on screen or scroll through on the front of the unit and go to System Information at the bottom of the menu to just verify which Firmware version you have. Our current firmware is v1.4.095. If it hasn't been updated since you purchased it, you will likely get Dolby Vision added to the unit after the update along with some minor feature updates and added internal stability. I can't exactly remember when we added Dolby Vision, but seemed like it was at the end of 2017.

On our Support Page: https://www.anthemav.com/support/latest-software.php
Go down to the MRX520 and you'll see a Zip File with a "Software Upgrade". You'll need to extract and load that file on a Blank Thumb Drive, then plug the drive into the port behind the door on the front of the Receiver, hold the select button a couple of seconds, and it will automatically load everything for you as long as the file has been loaded properly on the thumb drive. Once the Update is fully complete, then you can run ARC Genesis on the unit.

Here's the ARC Genesis link so that you can load it onto your computer: https://www.anthemarc.com/downloads/index.php

You'll need to get your 520 hooked up to your router via ethernet so that it's on your network in order to load ARC Genesis.

If you ran our older ARC2 Software on that unit, ARC Genesis has a button "Remove ARC Settings from a Device" that will allow you to remove the old ARC File from the unit - you'll want to do that first before overlaying a new ARC Profile over the old.

Hopefully this gives you enough info to get what you need accomplished, but you can certainly reach out to me if you need further help.

Cheers,
Chris

Thank you Chris!

I did manage to update the software, I feel rather smug about it.

But I was afraid dealing with ARC Genesis. The MRX520 was set up by the dealer using a PC. I only have Macs. Also, the router is in a different room and I don't have an ethernet cable long enough. Can I connect the ethernet straight to my Mac?

Thanks, you were very helpful!