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Question regarding AVRs built in room correction and using a 3rd party

GalZohar

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I can try to get a used x4700h or a new x3700h and sell my x2700h. The used one has the risk of having something wrong with it and the new x3700h will require waiting for shop to get stock (currently unknown when) and pay full price. But in any case it sounds like the difference is small with a good potential sound upgrade compared to anything else I could think of upgrading which would cost way more. I currently have the x2700h with svs ultra bookshelf for fronts and svs prime booksehlves for surrounds, and single svs pb-2000 subwoofer. If I understand correctly upgrading to XT32 would be better value for money than anything else I could add? Seems like it is considering that it's the only thing that I can upgrade that won't be a large $ investment. But again not that simple to replace (need to gamble with 2nd hand or try get a hand on some stock as well as sell mine).

As far as I understand what I get from XT is basically extremely minimal tweaks to bass and nothing at the high frequencies (as I limit it with the app as was recommended in many places and seems to sound worse if I don't limit it), along with the obvious distance and level adjustments that just about any AVR does.
 
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Beershaun

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I can try to get a used x4700h or a new x3700h and sell my x2700h. The used one has the risk of having something wrong with it and the new x3700h will require waiting for shop to get stock (currently unknown when) and pay full price. But in any case it sounds like the difference is small with a good potential sound upgrade compared to anything else I could think of upgrading which would cost way more. I currently have the x2700h with svs ultra bookshelf for fronts and svs prime booksehlves for surrounds, and single svs pb-2000 subwoofer. If I understand correctly upgrading to XT32 would be better value for money than anything else I could add? Seems like it is considering that it's the only thing that I can upgrade that won't be a large $ investment. But again not that simple to replace (need to gamble with 2nd hand or try get a hand on some stock as well as sell mine).

As far as I understand what I get from XT is basically extremely minimal tweaks to bass and nothing at the high frequencies (as I limit it with the app as was recommended in many places and seems to sound worse if I don't limit it), along with the obvious distance and level adjustments that just about any AVR does.
If you already have an x2700 and have room correction I'd stick with what you have. I wouldn't want you to lose money selling something you just bought and then spend more again to get something else. For someone who doesn't already have room correction get the best you can.

If you already have it and the Odyssey app works for your device, then I'd suggest installing Room EQ Wizard on your laptop, buy a umik-1 microphone, and start taking your own measurements to see if you can manually tweak your settings to improve on what you have.
 

GalZohar

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I have a unik-1 with rew which I used to help tweak the subwoofer delay for phase matching and also for trying to find best position for speakers (not sure if I did it right, I mostly tried to minimize a dip at ~108Hz which was less bad ~1m from wall). As for EQ it seems to mostly just lift the higher half of the subwoofer frequencies which are otherwise not as loud as the lower ones (probably due to corner placement and/or strong room modes at 21Hz and 27Hz), but there are still peaks and dips which are audible during the REW sweep. I disabled the high frequency eq as it seemed to be doing more harm than good, although in most tests it was difficult to tell the difference (but in some tests it seemed to be worse). The graphic display of the EQ in the receiver shows very little being done to the front speakers (I suppose the 1m distance from the wall removes most room gain, and it doesn't have the resolution to handle narrow peaks/dips), and for surround speakers which are wall mounted near corners it does some reduction of the bass. I guess I can just try with REW to see with/without audyssey graphs, although I still won't know really how much better the XT32 would be in my case.
 

Beershaun

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Beershaun

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I have a unik-1 with rew which I used to help tweak the subwoofer delay for phase matching and also for trying to find best position for speakers (not sure if I did it right, I mostly tried to minimize a dip at ~108Hz which was less bad ~1m from wall). As for EQ it seems to mostly just lift the higher half of the subwoofer frequencies which are otherwise not as loud as the lower ones (probably due to corner placement and/or strong room modes at 21Hz and 27Hz), but there are still peaks and dips which are audible during the REW sweep. I disabled the high frequency eq as it seemed to be doing more harm than good, although in most tests it was difficult to tell the difference (but in some tests it seemed to be worse). The graphic display of the EQ in the receiver shows very little being done to the front speakers (I suppose the 1m distance from the wall removes most room gain, and it doesn't have the resolution to handle narrow peaks/dips), and for surround speakers which are wall mounted near corners it does some reduction of the bass. I guess I can just try with REW to see with/without audyssey graphs, although I still won't know really how much better the XT32 would be in my case.

Well for the mains (above say 150-200hz) it's less about room correction and more about equalizing their predicted in-room response of your speakers. If you choose to follow Harman's published research on listening preference and Amir's guidance to the same curve, then you are looking to create a frequency response that is a straight line sloping slightly downward from low frequencies to high. Trying to keep the variance from the target to less than +/- 1.5db (ideally). So you would use REW to record your in room response and generate the equalization filter numbers to apply manually in the Audyssey app.
 

GalZohar

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How would adding filters to the audyssey app help much? If it doesn't have the resolution to EQ the low frequencies and doesn't do a good job EQing high frequencies? Overall I like the dynamic EQ curve, it seems to be doing a decent job filling in the bass as I don't listen at reference volume and not always the same volume... Also the frequency response does seem to have some room mode effect up to 500-600Hz, although obviously much less as you get above 150-200, but only completely gone after 600Hz. But maybe I'm reading the results wrong. In any case it seems like very little EQ is applied anyway between 200Hz and 600Hz.
 

Beershaun

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How would adding filters to the audyssey app help much? If it doesn't have the resolution to EQ the low frequencies and doesn't do a good job EQing high frequencies? Overall I like the dynamic EQ curve, it seems to be doing a decent job filling in the bass as I don't listen at reference volume and not always the same volume... Also the frequency response does seem to have some room mode effect up to 500-600Hz, although obviously much less as you get above 150-200, but only completely gone after 600Hz. But maybe I'm reading the results wrong. In any case it seems like very little EQ is applied anyway between 200Hz and 600Hz.
Here's a good video that @joentell created that could help you get the most out of what you have.

 

Alice of Old Vincennes

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Not sure about the ARC performance itself but Amir's reviews of Anthem receivers are consistently poor because they always seem to have problems and don't work properly.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/anthem-avm60-review-av-processor.20155/
Anthem answers the phone in English. They will solve problem over phone or replace if required. I purchased 520 despite review. The proprietary room correction outweighs inaudible measurements. I have owned all the major brands. I compare Anthem customer service to Costco.
 

Beershaun

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Anthem answers the phone in English. They will solve problem over phone or replace if required. I purchased 520 despite review. The proprietary room correction outweighs inaudible measurements. I have owned all the major brands. I compare Anthem customer service to Costco.
Glad you like it. Hope you don't have to replace it often and it keeps working for you.
 
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