This forum has been very helpful - so I thought I'd give back some help.
I've been trying out an AVR10 - and thought I'd pass on some set up hints for anyone who gets one - and this would probably apply to the other AVR's in the range. There doesn't seem to be the steps to set up from scratch in the manual - so here goes...
First off - before you buy - the AVR10 has a more simple power supply - and on mine there is an audible humming noise. I bought an Audiolab DC blocker - but this made no difference. Not good for something relatively expensive.
So I'm swapping the AVR10 for an AVR20 which has a toroidal power supply. Hopefully this one will be silent - and apparently the DC blocker should be more effective for a toroidal based unit. Will post an update after the swap. The hum isn't terrible - and probably in many setups would be barely noticeable - but it's not something I'll be happy with longer term.
So, connect two stereo speakers, connect WiFi antennas, connect AVR HDMI out to eARC/ARC socket on the TV. Press power button - then press 'Menu' to change from Stand-by to On.
OK - at this point the sticker on the front is saying to update the firmware - and I think it is important to update the firmware. So we should connect to WiFi?
Wrong! You can not connect to WiFi using the front panel - or the remote - or the Arcam app (as far as I could tell) - or the TV. I then followed the link in the manual - went to Arcam's website - downloaded firmware etc - copied files on to USB drive. All worked OK. As a side note it says to use a USB smaller than about 8GB. I couldn't find one that size but was able using Ubuntu to wipe a 32GB USB drive, set it up with a 4GB partition formatted to FAT and that worked OK.
But still no way to connect to WiFi.
So - power down - and connect the AVR to a internet router using an ethernet cable. If DHCP is available then the AVR is given an IP address - which you can then read using the front panel (press Menu - go to network settings - press OK). Now - put that IP address into a browser on a laptop connected to the same LAN and you'll see the AVR control panel. It may well have been possible to update the firmware from this control panel and not have to bother with a USB drive - I wish I'd tried that first.
Update:
Yes it is. Plugged into router via ethernet, pressed power, pressed menu to start, pressed menu, pressed network and noted the IP address. Then entered the IP address into a laptop on the same network, went through setup. The setup offered to update the firmware:
From: Firmware version: 0.100.764.0xa8dc310
To: New version found: 0.100.1542.0xff21fd0
Then the browser sticks with 'Device is installing, wait for device boot up'. Go to the AVR and the front screen will say something like 'Update is available, press OK to continue...'. I then pressed OK. The AVR panel then says 'PSD (or something) updating' and the precentage counts up - slowly. This seemed to cycle through several updates - and it took hours - I left it running overnight. Then in the morning the front panel had the option to 'reset' or not 'reset'. I went for 'reset'.
So now - go to your browser - enter the AVR's IP address - and now in the control panel you can set up the WiFi connection! So - ethernet connection first - get IP address from front panel - then using browser based control set up the WiFi.
Phew!
Next - using the browser control panel (much easier than the AVR's front panel) set up the speakers - v important - by default the front L/R speakers are set to small so there will be no bass unless they are set to large.
Playing sound from the TV. This seemed to be relatively OK - but not perfect - but then I have a 2015 Sony Bravia with ARC not eARC. Generally when I switched on the TV the unit switched to 'Display' mode which played the TV sound - lipsync was OK. Note there doesn't seem to be a button on the remote for Display mode (which seems to be the mode to get sound from the Display connected via HDMI) - I just switched the TV off/on etc. I think from the browser control or the control app you should be able to switch to Display mode.
Playing some music. The Tidal android app was able to play music via Tidal Connect - which I wasn't expecting to work. Then there is the Arcam/Harman MusicLife app. This app is a bit buggy - but I was able to connect it to my Tidal and Amazon Music accounts (currently testing out both).
In my opinion both the Tidal app and the MusicLife apps sound good - but when playing Rock the MusicLife app sounded cleaner and clearer - louder volumes were less harsh. Shame is that the MusicLife app sometimes gets stuck just saying 'Empty'. The only way I found to fix it was to force close the app (hold down on the icon, app info, force close) and start it again. This is fairly bad - and the only app I've ever had to do that with. The app interface is not too bad - but could probably be better. I would suggest Arcam/Harman put some investment into the app - get another team on it - because the app is not nearly as good as Bluos - and I very nearly swung to getting a NAD because I like how the Bluos app works.
But - (hopefully final) problem.
Playback of tracks using MusicLife app using Amazon Music as the source. There is a very occasional every three tracks or so) glitch in the playback - it's like the track skips half a second forward. And weirdly - it does it at the same point in the tracks. I tested Amazon Music directly and the tracks are OK - playing the same track using Tidal as the source does not glitch (AFAIR). Really annoying - not sure if to send the unit back. I'll post separately about this glitch to see what feedback I get.
I've been trying out an AVR10 - and thought I'd pass on some set up hints for anyone who gets one - and this would probably apply to the other AVR's in the range. There doesn't seem to be the steps to set up from scratch in the manual - so here goes...
First off - before you buy - the AVR10 has a more simple power supply - and on mine there is an audible humming noise. I bought an Audiolab DC blocker - but this made no difference. Not good for something relatively expensive.
So I'm swapping the AVR10 for an AVR20 which has a toroidal power supply. Hopefully this one will be silent - and apparently the DC blocker should be more effective for a toroidal based unit. Will post an update after the swap. The hum isn't terrible - and probably in many setups would be barely noticeable - but it's not something I'll be happy with longer term.
So, connect two stereo speakers, connect WiFi antennas, connect AVR HDMI out to eARC/ARC socket on the TV. Press power button - then press 'Menu' to change from Stand-by to On.
OK - at this point the sticker on the front is saying to update the firmware - and I think it is important to update the firmware. So we should connect to WiFi?
Wrong! You can not connect to WiFi using the front panel - or the remote - or the Arcam app (as far as I could tell) - or the TV. I then followed the link in the manual - went to Arcam's website - downloaded firmware etc - copied files on to USB drive. All worked OK. As a side note it says to use a USB smaller than about 8GB. I couldn't find one that size but was able using Ubuntu to wipe a 32GB USB drive, set it up with a 4GB partition formatted to FAT and that worked OK.
But still no way to connect to WiFi.
So - power down - and connect the AVR to a internet router using an ethernet cable. If DHCP is available then the AVR is given an IP address - which you can then read using the front panel (press Menu - go to network settings - press OK). Now - put that IP address into a browser on a laptop connected to the same LAN and you'll see the AVR control panel. It may well have been possible to update the firmware from this control panel and not have to bother with a USB drive - I wish I'd tried that first.
Update:
Yes it is. Plugged into router via ethernet, pressed power, pressed menu to start, pressed menu, pressed network and noted the IP address. Then entered the IP address into a laptop on the same network, went through setup. The setup offered to update the firmware:
From: Firmware version: 0.100.764.0xa8dc310
To: New version found: 0.100.1542.0xff21fd0
Then the browser sticks with 'Device is installing, wait for device boot up'. Go to the AVR and the front screen will say something like 'Update is available, press OK to continue...'. I then pressed OK. The AVR panel then says 'PSD (or something) updating' and the precentage counts up - slowly. This seemed to cycle through several updates - and it took hours - I left it running overnight. Then in the morning the front panel had the option to 'reset' or not 'reset'. I went for 'reset'.
So now - go to your browser - enter the AVR's IP address - and now in the control panel you can set up the WiFi connection! So - ethernet connection first - get IP address from front panel - then using browser based control set up the WiFi.
Phew!
Next - using the browser control panel (much easier than the AVR's front panel) set up the speakers - v important - by default the front L/R speakers are set to small so there will be no bass unless they are set to large.
Playing sound from the TV. This seemed to be relatively OK - but not perfect - but then I have a 2015 Sony Bravia with ARC not eARC. Generally when I switched on the TV the unit switched to 'Display' mode which played the TV sound - lipsync was OK. Note there doesn't seem to be a button on the remote for Display mode (which seems to be the mode to get sound from the Display connected via HDMI) - I just switched the TV off/on etc. I think from the browser control or the control app you should be able to switch to Display mode.
Playing some music. The Tidal android app was able to play music via Tidal Connect - which I wasn't expecting to work. Then there is the Arcam/Harman MusicLife app. This app is a bit buggy - but I was able to connect it to my Tidal and Amazon Music accounts (currently testing out both).
In my opinion both the Tidal app and the MusicLife apps sound good - but when playing Rock the MusicLife app sounded cleaner and clearer - louder volumes were less harsh. Shame is that the MusicLife app sometimes gets stuck just saying 'Empty'. The only way I found to fix it was to force close the app (hold down on the icon, app info, force close) and start it again. This is fairly bad - and the only app I've ever had to do that with. The app interface is not too bad - but could probably be better. I would suggest Arcam/Harman put some investment into the app - get another team on it - because the app is not nearly as good as Bluos - and I very nearly swung to getting a NAD because I like how the Bluos app works.
But - (hopefully final) problem.
Playback of tracks using MusicLife app using Amazon Music as the source. There is a very occasional every three tracks or so) glitch in the playback - it's like the track skips half a second forward. And weirdly - it does it at the same point in the tracks. I tested Amazon Music directly and the tracks are OK - playing the same track using Tidal as the source does not glitch (AFAIR). Really annoying - not sure if to send the unit back. I'll post separately about this glitch to see what feedback I get.