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Help! Home Theater Processor

Todd k

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I need some advice for a home theater/music processor for my main listening room. My Emotiva XMC 1 just stopped outputting sound. I hated the damn thing anyway and have been cussing it for years. Talk about ****** user interface. I put back in my old carver grand theater processor for the time being so I would have sound, at least the carver is caveman easy. My setup consists a 5.1.4 setup with a Sony 75”tv. Having been an avid ASR reader for the last 5 years opinions on processors is all over the place. I have some very simple needs. I want an easy user interface, I know it will probably never be as easy as I would like. I need balanced connections since my main amp LRC is 15’ away from my processor and the balanced cabling is routed thru my crawl space under the floor. Also all my amps have balanced connections. Most of todays units have way more channels than I need but I am pretty set on the 4 subwoofer requirement since I have become accustomed to the awesome sound 4 15” subs can provide. I think it would be easy for me to add 2 more channels to my system (back or side) since I have plenty of extra amps. All of the room correction formats confuse me, I never ever did use the room correction on the emotiva just because it was hell to get the damn thing to sound decent just for pro logic. I listen to music 80% tv movie 20%. Fortunately I am not too budget constrained. My room is 18’ x 24’ with a cathedral ceiling. I have revel salon 2 for main speakers, and I love them. 2 monoprice 15 thx subs and Tyler acoustic custom dual 15” sealed sub. Can any of you knowledgeable members give a clue on a unit that is not too difficult to set up and easy to use?
 
 
Cheap -Used Outlaw 976
$$ - Marantz AV10
 
Looks very nice. My budget however is not unlimited and set up looks like it mite be above my pay grade.
 
My budget however is not unlimited and set up looks like it mite be above my pay grade.
What's your budget and does this fit it better?


JSmith
 
Looks very nice. My budget however is not unlimited and set up looks like it mite be above my pay grade.
lol…
I ran some AIYAMA &70 amps and still one in awaiting funds. (Fosi may also work.)

just start with the centre channel and work out from there…
 
What's your budget and does this fit it better?


JSmith
Thanx for the reply. I’am probably ok up to 6-7g. Looking at marantz 10. Anthem 90. And similar.
 
That Denon looks nice for a unit but I don’t need the amplifier and it has no balanced output. Also looking for a processor that can easily handle 4 subs.
Thanx for the reply. I’am probably ok up to 6-7g. Looking at marantz 10. Anthem 90. And similar.
 
lol…
I ran some AIYAMA &70 amps and still one in awaiting funds. (Fosi may also work.)

just start with the centre channel and work out from there…
I have more amplifiers than I need or could use . In 40 years of my audio journey I have collected way too many. You should see my audio junk room, it’s obscene.
 
any of you guys have any experiences with the Anthem or Marantz. Asking in terms of set up and use. My Emotiva was awful.
 
Damn already sold out.

'Sometimes' a 'sold out' listing is added by Accessories4Less dot com as a foreshadowing that they are expecting delivery of inventory to sell. I would not be surprised if they show inventory next week of the Marantz AV10.
 
'Sometimes' a 'sold out' listing is added by Accessories4Less dot com as a foreshadowing that they are expecting delivery of inventory to sell. I would not be surprised if they show inventory next week of the Marantz AV10.
Thanx for the heads up. I’m interested. Also I’d like to thank all of you for your advice.
 
any of you guys have any experiences with the Anthem or Marantz. Asking in terms of set up and use. My Emotiva was awful.
I have the AV10, coming from an Emotiva. It was the best thing i have done. The AV10 just works. Well
The emotiva was a cluster f
 
I had AV 10 for more than a year and really happy with it. No glitches, just works. I did consider Anthem 90 as well but decided to take AV 10 on basis of reliability and dual room correction capability. Dirac with DLBC is darling of the most and definitively very good. For my particular system Audy offers more options and ultimately I ended up using Audy with MultiEQ-X app. AV 10 might apparently get Dirac ART compatibility in the future (2025), but that is uncertain and yet to be confirmed.

Anthem 90 is also a beast, but at least initially had some glitches, not sure if all ironed out as not following any more. It features Anthem's own ARC room correction system that is pretty good, especially for people that like ease of setup and not too many options to tempt them to tweak, tweak and then tweak some more. Both Anthem and Marantz measure similarly awesome on the bench so it's really their feature set you need to explore.

There are some cheaper options if you are willing to explore like Monoprice HTP-1 for $4K, but also check for glitches on the user forums. That one was pretty buggy for a while - again not sure if that was sorted. Also will have less channels in total than the above models.

As far as pricing, in EU you can often get new AV-10 for EUR 5K which makes it pretty good deal compared to 7K listed price. There were some deal for Black Friday at this price (or 10K with the Marantz amp).

If you are buying refurbished, I would stay away from the early production batch that is September 2022. That was the only batch that was problematic on reasonable sample of units (perhaps 10 or so reported on AVS Forum). All other production batches were without any issues that I am aware.

Final word is that D&M are in financial troubles and their owner Masimo was/is trying to sell them for quite a while but not successfully. D&M are now in restructuring and downscaling/consolidating their operations. While there is no sign of major distress or customer service disruption, the price that Masimo paid for Sound United (including D&M) was quite high compared to some recent transactions in this space. They also decided not to launch new products based on the historic release schedule.

Anthem on the other side seems pretty stable and their parent company recently acquired GoldenEar brand. Without commenting on the merits of the acquisition, it is likely they would not be doing it if did not feel financially stable for expansion.

Good luck with your project and hope you will enjoy the new toy, whatever it will end up being.
 
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I had AV 10 for more than a year and really happy with it. No glitches, just works. I did consider Anthem 90 as well but decided to take AV 10 on basis of reliability and dual room correction capability. Dirac with DLBC is darling of the most and definitively very good. For my particular system Audy offers more options and ultimately I ended up using Audy with MultiEQ-X app. AV 10 might apparently get Dirac ART compatibility in the future (2025), but that is uncertain and yet to be confirmed.

Anthem 90 is also a beast, but at least initially had some glitches, not sure if all ironed out as not following any more. It features Anthem's own ARC room correction system that is pretty good, especially for people that like ease of setup and not too many options to tempt them to tweak, tweak and then tweak some more. Both Anthem and Marantz measure similarly awesome on the bench so it's really their feature set you need to explore.

There are some cheaper options if you are willing to explore like Monoprice HTP-1 for $4K, but also check for glitches on the user forums. That one was pretty buggy for a while - again not sure if that was sorted. Also will have less channels in total than the above models.

As far as pricing, in EU you can often get new AV-10 for EUR 5K which makes it pretty good deal compared to 7K listed price. There were some deal for Black Friday at this price (or 10K with the Marantz amp).

If you are buying refurbished, I would stay away from the early production batch that is September 2022. That was the only batch that was problematic on reasonable sample of units (perhaps 10 or so reported on AVS Forum). All other production batches were without any issues that I am aware.

Final word is that D&M are in financial troubles and their owner Masimo was/is trying to sell them for quite a while but not successfully. D&M are now in restructuring and downscaling/consolidating their operations. While there is no sign of major distress or customer service disruption, the price that Masimo paid for Sound United (including D&M) was quite high compared to some recent transactions in this space. They also decided not to launch new products based on the historic release schedule.

Anthem on the other side seems pretty stable and their parent company recently acquired GoldenEar brand. Without commenting on the merits of the acquisition, it is likely they would not be doing it if did not feel financially stable for expansion.

Good luck with your project and hope you will enjoy the new toy, whatever it will end up being.
Thank you for your reply. Currently reading and consuming as much info as I can on these two units. These both will fit my budget and needs. I think whichever I choose I will be happy. Especially after 10 painful years of emotiva hell.
 
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