Is Anthem overrated? Considering switching to Denon

[amicusterrae]

Not necessarily. I prefer ARC Genesis to Audyssey personally - ARC is a real room correction system that handles bass management internally and has simple but useful target curve adjustments - but with the iOS app you can get good results from Audyssey XT32 too. However, if you go immersive and like to up mix music unfortunately IMO Anthem is out of the running because they have thus far failed to license Auro3D/Auromatic.

I have been very happy with ARC through several generations. I, too, find it very easy to use. I tried Dirac Live and never could get the subs and mains to balance right. Drove me crazy. It felt like I was changing phone operating systems All that said, I only apply EQ up to the transition zone, so the arguable added sophistication Dirac arguably offers is of no interest to me.

I do upmix stereo recordings though and do not care for DTS:X or Dolby Surround for music. FWIW, my last gen Anthem receiver's Anthem Cinema and Music modes, which I like a lot, do utilize my ceiling height speakers. It's subtle and not comparable to the Atmos content I stream from Apple Music. I would love to hear Auro3d/Aromatic in my room, but am not willing to give up ARC for it right now.

Denon is a quality brand, and the stellar measurements in the numerous reviews posted here indicate the company is focused on science. Seems hard to go wrong with any Denon unit that has the features you need.

I don't think about longevity much with A/V receivers/processors anymore. Competent repair technicians are few and far between these days, and I question the durability of such complex devices. The shift to digital amplification and less heat should help longevity, but, it may be a moot point, as the pace of new features has been outpacing lifespan anyway. Then again how much longer can the manufacturers keep marketing upgrades?! I've had six receivers since 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS was introduced, plus a couple of demos. Maybe I am part of the problem

 

[Head_Unit]

Maybe I am part of the problem

Well you're not a problem for the AVR maker's profits

As for Denon (AVR-X3600H) versus Anthem (AVM 70 + ATI 525NC) we felt the sound was excellent, and now it's...excellent! The image of the sound has a different shape, if that makes any sense. Different, not $6k better. The ARC I do feel does a quite good job, better than Audyssey default (with the Audyssey App I call it a tie maybe with a bit of edge to ARC). The setup on the Anthem was more of a pain in the butt-I gotta make a Google Home account WHY?!? Oh, so Google can target me adds for cable risers I guess. Gee why can't I just find the network in the setup menu and input the password like a Denon. I *think* ARC can store multiple positions onboard unlike Audyssey.

 

[Chrispy]

. Gee why can't I just find the network in the setup menu and input the password like a Denon. I *think* ARC can store multiple positions onboard unlike Audyssey.

FWIW the 4700 (and assume the others in the series and beyond) has two on board speaker presets for storing Audyssey setups.

 

[jhaider]

I do upmix stereo recordings though and do not care for DTS:X or Dolby Surround for music. FWIW, my last gen Anthem receiver's Anthem Cinema and Music modes, which I like a lot, do utilize my ceiling height speakers.

What I don't like about Anthem's upmixers is, they basically pretend the center channel is not there.

 

[amicusterrae]

“What I don't like about Anthem's upmixers is, they basically pretend the center channel is not there.”

For sure that’s the case with Anthem “Music” mode, but on my MRX 730, Anthem “Cinema” mode uses the center. I presume Anthem did that as a marketing distinction for stereophiles.

 

[amicusterrae]

The setup on the Anthem was more of a pain in the butt-I gotta make a Google Home account WHY?!? Oh, so Google can target me adds for cable risers I guess. Gee why can't I just find the network in the setup menu and input the password like a Denon. I *think* ARC can store multiple positions onboard unlike Audyssey.

I don’t remember the Google requirement with ARC Genesis, though maybe that’s just an alternative to creating a separate Anthem account. That sucks if Google account linking is now required!

Yes, ARC allows saving multiple profiles. Whether more than one can be uploaded to the receiver though has depended on the model.

 

[TinCanFury]

Call me new-school, but I much prefer the PDFs. I keep the print manual, but it just sits in the box.

That said, I agree, the Anthem MRX remotes have much to be desired. My original 510 remote also got that sticky plastic syndrome issue, and it lived the last 5 years of its life in a plastic bag in a drawer, where it became sticky. I much prefer my universal remote.

 

[amicusterrae]

“What I don't like about Anthem's upmixers is, they basically pretend the center channel is not there.”

For sure that’s the case with Anthem “Music” mode, but on my MRX 730, Anthem “Cinema” mode uses the center. I presume Anthem did that as a marketing distinction for stereophiles.

I was just browsing the online manuals for the current Anthem models. Can anyone confirm that they no longer have the Anthem Cinema and Music upmixing modes?

 

[peng]

I was just browsing the online manuals for the current Anthem models. Can anyone confirm that they no longer have the Anthem Cinema and Music upmixing modes?

Where did you get that from? As far as I can tell, those modes are still there.

 

[Steve356]

I was just browsing the online manuals for the current Anthem models. Can anyone confirm that they no longer have the Anthem Cinema and Music upmixing modes?

They are still there.

 

[Hattrick]

I would recommend getting a stand alone DIRAC and getting the cheapest AVR with the outputs, formats and wattage you need.

Interesting concept. Have you done this, and what AVR did you use? Are you using Mini DSP for room correction?

 

[blucupp]

I own a mrx500. I would never buy another anthem avr. The instruction manual was written on a Friday at 4:59 PM.

I bought it over ten years ago and it sat unused as I couldn’t deal with their janky software, website and nonsensical set up instructions.

And running arc was a pita which at the time I bought worked only with a windows pc.

I think they have arc genesis now but I wouldn’t go near any software released by them.

Product support and reliability is poor. If you like to fiddle with your gear then this is the company for you.

 

[Head_Unit]

nonsensical set up instructions.

To set up our AVM 70 we had to dig out a tablet, set up a Google Home Account (why the #$@& do we have to do THAT) to set up the network or some crap like that. Gee, on the previous Denon AVR-X3600H you go into a menu and pick the WiFi and BAZOOM you're DONE. Anthem was really a lot of F-ing around. Ridiculous.
In the end the $7k "upgrade" (with ATI 525NC) sounded a bit different in the size/shape of the music image, but NOT "better"

 

[peng]

Interesting concept. Have you done this, and what AVR did you use? Are you using Mini DSP for room correction?

You can use one of those miniDSP devices, or a PC with the standalone version, but you will be limited to without DLBC if you use miniDSP's, or if you use PC standalone version you will be limited in the surround formats without the Atmos, Auro3D kind of newer formats (unless there's something new that I am not aware of yet).

 

[blucupp]

To set up our AVM 70 we had to dig out a tablet, set up a Google Home Account (why the #$@& do we have to do THAT) to set up the network or some crap like that. Gee, on the previous Denon AVR-X3600H you go into a menu and pick the WiFi and BAZOOM you're DONE. Anthem was really a lot of F-ing around. Ridiculous.
In the end the $7k "upgrade" (with ATI 525NC) sounded a bit different in the size/shape of the music image, but NOT "better”

Browsing current AV forums I see anthem still hasn’t solved the audible “popping” noises their products seem to make when video is paused/played or the various codecs switch over depending on the source.

Unpolished products from a “high end” company.

Nope never again.

 

[peng]

Browsing current AV forums I see anthem still hasn’t solved the audible “popping” noises their products seem to make when video is paused/played or the various codecs switch over depending on the source.

Unpolished products from a “high end” company.

Nope never again.

I am surprised you picked that up, there are so many pages of posts on AVSF, and only a few brought up the issue with such pops, and not all of the posts were clear about how they got the pops either. Such pops only happened occasionally, but when it did, it could be really loud, scarily loud.. It is not a show stopper for me, and I don't think it is easy to get fix because a) not a show stopper for a lot of users because it is almost avoidable, by not doing those things that would cause such pops, and b) Anthem users appear to be very forgiving for whatever reasons, so they don't/won't blame Anthem for those minor issues.

 

[blucupp]

I am surprised you picked that up, there are so many pages on AVSF, and only a few brought up the issue with such pops, and not all of the posts were clear about how they got the pops either. Such pops only happened occasionally, but when it did, it could be really loud, scarily loud.. It is not a show stopper for me, and I don't think it is easy to get fix because a) not a show stopper for a lot of users because it is almost avoidable, by not doing those things that would cause such pops, and b) Anthem users appear to be very forgiving for whatever reasons, so they don't/won't blame Anthem for those minor issues.

Indeed but when you buy a premium product you should be rewarded with refinement.

I guess they are wearing beer goggles and just see the badge on the amp.

The mrx 500 is over 10 years old. I read a post where this is happening to someone with a mrx1140 which is supposed to be close to flagship and was released not so long ago! They should have fixed this issue.

Anyways for anyone out there who is pulling their hair out wondering how to stop the “snap crackles and pops” if you are outputting audio from a source over hdmi do it as an uncompressed pcm. This will make your avr behave and don’t pass through audio to avr if your source is an Xbox.

 

[peng]

Indeed but when you buy a premium product you should be rewarded with refinement.

I guess they are wearing beer goggles and just see the badge on the amp.

The mrx 500 is over 10 years old. I read a post where this is happening to someone with a mrx1140 which is supposed to be close to flagship and was released not so long ago! They should have fixed this issue.

Anyways for anyone out there who is pulling their hair out wondering how to stop the “snap crackles and pops” if you are outputting audio from a source over hdmi do it as an uncompressed pcm. This will make your avr behave and don’t pass through audio to avr if your source is an Xbox.

I don't know about the other models, but I can say that since updated to FW80 (could even be the version before that) my AVM70 has not made those "pops" or "crackles", though I still always tried to avoid or at least minimize using the pause, start, fast back, fast forward kind of buttons when streaming movies from my PC. Changing formats between DS, DTS etc., is not a problem. Just want to be fair... I do understand the frustration for those who got bothered by such nuisance in the beginning, especially the early adopters.

Hopefully owners of the flagship AVR, such as @Beershaun, who must have updated to the latest FW (80), could chime in to confirm if pops and crackles are finally behind us, or at least 99% of the time lol...

 

[Beershaun]

I don't know about the other models, but I can say that since updated to FW80 (could even be the version before that) my AVM70 has not made those "pops" or "crackles", though I still always tried to avoid or at least minimize using the pause, start, fast back, fast forward kind of buttons when streaming movies from my PC. Changing formats between DS, DTS etc., is not a problem. Just want to be fair... I do understand the frustration for those who got bothered by such nuisance in the beginning, especially the early adopters.

Hopefully owners of the flagship AVR, such as @Beershaun, who must have updated to the latest FW (80), could chime in to confirm if pops and crackles are finally behind us, or at least 99% of the time lol...

Let me check. I do remember a loud pop when the anthem would switch modes between Atmos and stereo on the Tidal app. This would happen for hdmi inputs (firetv) where the Mode Preset for stereo sources was set to stereo, and the Mode Preset for multichannel sources was set to surround for the same input. When it would switch Mode Presets you would get a loud buzz or pop as it switched between stereo and surround. I worked around this by just setting both to surround. There was no switching so no buzz/pop. The use case for this is if you are listening to a music app like Tidal and one song is in stereo and. The next song is in Atmos. It would pop or buzz when attempting to switch. Note this doesn't happen when switching between inputs! I can switch between firetv input surround and Chromecast input stereo and it's perfectly fine.

I'll need to check and see if switching between modes for the same input is fixed or not.

 

[Beershaun]

Just tried it again setting the mode Preset for stereo source to Anthem music. No pop or buzz switching between stereo and Atmos when listening to Tidal. They fixed it!