Anthem 540 Gen2 vs. Marantz Cinema 60 vs. Emotiva BasX MR1

JPS911

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Considering these 3 going into the Anthem 525 amplifier. Thoughts/experience head to head?

  • I live in a loft (old converted warehouse building) with the main area 11' ceilings, 30'x35' living space. The living area is of course more intimate, but the sound waves don't know that.
  • I live in NYC, so space and neighbors are a thing
  • Current 5.2 setup:
    • Mirage OMD-15 fronts (can be bi-amped or bi-wired...I'd kinda like to bi-amp them)
    • Matching OMD-C1 center
    • I gave up the matching Mirage surrounds for in-ceiling with a higher WAF, Polk Audio RC80i
    • Twin SVS SB-1000 Pro subs (I gave up my Epik Legend for a higher WAF)
    • Marantz 8200 AV receiver
    • Marantz CD (forget the model)
    • I also have a mid-grade turntable and have been getting some vinyl
    • Sony 77-in A80J TV (I don't use the built-in sound)
  • Uses:
    • Family is mostly home theater and TV shows
    • I'm a much more critical home theater user
    • I also listen extensively to music, as close to HD/Lossless/Original as possible, but of course I often just stream like the rest of us)
    • I do want some modern bells and whistles such as the Apple TV remote turning it on and off, streaming easily, etc.
    • I'd like a bit of an upgrade path I think, but an 11 channel ATMOS is unlikely in this apartment
 
It's worth noting that the Emotiva is the only one of those that offers more than two extra channels, if that was your considered upgrade path.

Also, the Cinema 60 only offers the lower version MultEQ XT and not XT32. It will only EQ one subwoofer channel, unlike the Anthem or the Emotiva.

Have you considered that the MR1 and MC1 are the same, except for the inclusion of internal amps, so another idea is to take a step to pre/pro. Get an MC1 and a lower powered multi-channel amplifier for the lower peak channels (e.g. a BasX). Then, you have a clear upgrade path for the future with maybe a better processor?
 
I can offer feedback as I own a tonewinner AT-300 so it'll be similar to the Emotiva MR1 processing side.

The adjustability is quite limited, it does it's job but if you want lots of things like multiple speaker presets, web control, streaming, good automatic room correction- it isn't the product for you.

Going av budget av pre is one option and it adds upgrade /replacement options later on, say if you want more channels, more power, different brand of power amplifiers, change the av pre etc. Wheras with a AVR it's just one item

The AT-300 resamples 192khz to 48khz so be aware of that, also it lacks analogue bypass so that would be important for two channel analogue sources. I'm not sure if the Anthem MRX AVR's have analogue bypass, the AVM's do though. If the Emotiva AVR is basically the AT-300 board copy or version it could do the same thing, so I'd avoid if >48khz music is your thing. Luckily I don't have SACD or things like that.

Emotiva do have buggy firmware though so be cautious of that. Maybe pickup second hand Emotiva MC-700 those are available cheap, make do with that until decide on long term upgrade (ie AVM70)

The Emotiva don't have streaming features. tbh I haven't been impressed with AVR streaming anyway as one I used connect via DNLA/UPNP which is much more cumbersome than my squeezebox (which are available for good price)

Looking at the Emotiva AVR I think it's too expensive, it should really undercut the competion in pricing, offering more channels for less- so rather than expensive risk albeit a bargain to boot (as I did with my tonewinner)
 

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