Thinking of trying an Anthem

DodgeTheViper

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Inbetween Upgrades !
I've had Pioneer, Onkyo, Yamaha and Denon so it's possibly time to try out an Anthem. Currently I have a Denon.
It would be used with a Arcam P7 Power Amp.

Would the Arcam detract from anything that the Anthem may offer ?

One of the biggest features of Anthem is their ARC Room Correction. What benefits can I expect to see (hear) over other room correction systems ?

I also have dual subs. So while the Anthem only has a single sub preout meaning I would need a splitter. How does it deal with dual subs, just EQ'd as one I presume ?

Cheers
 
Which Anthem did you have in mind? The Arcam won't have any negative impact on the Anthem sound, far more likely the opposite.

ARC offers a fair bit of flexibility and is very good at integrating your sub(s) with the main speakers.

I think ARC treats dual subs as one, so it depends a lot on what your subs are, if they are the same, if they have their own EQ etc.

From a personal point of view, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised :)
 
Thinking of the 710, most likely used pending finding one.

So do you think the P7 wouldn't have any influence at all ?

Subs are dual Arendal's.
 
@DodgeTheViper

Speaking of projectors...


The Arcam won't take anything away from the Anthem - it has better amplification in it. I know have owned all 3 gens of these AVR's (currently rocking a 720) and use it as pre amp only.

The ARC room correction takes anything Audyseesy ever did and stabs it in a dark alley - I turned it off on my Denon, it was utter shite.

Most things have dual sub outs but only eq them as one, this is only problematic when they are at the front and back of the room for the most case.

Anthem doesn't molest the video signal - Denon and others do and cannot be disabled. As to which room correction is best, well I've heard them all, how they'll be in your room is another matter entirely.

I made my choice with Anthem vs Arcam this time. While Arcam might take the edge on room eq - most people don't use it properly and ARC is much more user friendly without quality compromise. the Anthem is likely to better supported than the Arcam given my history with them over decades.
 
Just for reference, I'm not talking about the differences to a Arcam 550 AVR for example.

So using the 710 as a preamp with the P7 Power Amp isn't a particular issue.

I've got dual subs, one in each front corner of my room.

How would something like the Denon 7200 differ to the Anthem 710 in terms of integrating the subs ? Like the Denon would ask for each sub to be adjusted individually.
 
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Just for reference, I'm not talking about the differences to a Arcam 550 AVR for example.

So using the 710 as a preamp with the P7 Power Amp isn't a particular issue.

I've got dual subs, one in each front corner of my room.

How would something like the Denon 7200 differ to the Anthem 710 in terms of integrating the subs ? Like the Denon would ask for each sub to be adjusted individually.


I get what you're talking about - using the p7 isn't an issue.

The Denon doesn't do anything with subs, Audyseesy doesn't eq them.
 
I'm guessing it does something with them. With the Anthem, how is each sub calibrated ?

It's calibrated as one sub. Since your distance is the same from both subs you won't suffer any phase issue, you'd set the level individually tho on their gain controls to 72db or whatever it is these days. It'll Eq them as a whole. Audyssesy at least some incarnations do Eq the subs, my bad on that.

I don't see any world were the Denon is better with Audyseesy than Anthem is with ARC it's pretty straightforward.
 
Audyssey XT32 HT does EQ the sub.

On the Anthem, how is the gain control measured for each sub ?
 
By the quick measure feature or a separate spl meter. Ask @KelvinS1965 he's a massive mulling nerd - I set most of this stuff by ear pre and post eq anyway - it's pretty obvious if one sub is louder than the other.
 
You've met me before Ross, so you know I'm not massive (although perhaps you meant my stomach :)). Anyway, I measure in triplicate, send all copies to Matt Khan for approval...then change them to taste anyway. ;)

No reason to think that the Anthem wouldn't work well with the P7 though. It was on my radar at one point, but I'm familar (and happy) with Dirac. If I did change from 6010 plus P7 it would be to the Arcam AV390, since I don't need the built in power amps anyway I might as well save £700 over the AV550. Latest mulling suggests to stick with what I've got though and focus on the new room.
 
So back to original query. Does anyone have one of these with dual subs ?
 
@SeriouslyCinema does but the principal is exactly the same as it's always been.

It's measured how I said, it's eq'ed as one sub and you won't have phase issues because they're at the front of your room.

There really is little else to it.
 
I appreciate it EQ's two subs as one, as the signal is .1 But I'm used to seeing two separate signals on screen, each sub seperately and adjusting levels accordingly. Just spoilt here with features I suppose.

I guess for the Anthem, just set the gain to same on both, measure with SPL and press go :D
 
I appreciate it EQ's two subs as one, as the signal is .1 But I'm used to seeing two separate signals on screen, each sub seperately and adjusting levels accordingly. Just spoilt here with features I suppose.

I guess for the Anthem, just set the gain to same on both, measure with SPL and press go :D
Pretty much, you'll find the features less important when the audio quality is considerably better. Anthems quick measure can give you levels and more information than anything Demon has on offer - so I wouldn't worry about it.

Side note: check out the movie The Cell.
 
Since your subs are equidistant, then you don't need a separate delay for them and they ought to be set to the same dB level as well. Then, as Ross says, the Anthem eqs them as if there was only one sub. It might be that your current set up shows a small difference between each sub, but I'd wager that if someone changed the setting to the same delay you'd never notice.

I did a lot of testing with different delays for my subs as they weren't equidistant (4.5 metre in front and 2.5 metre behind in my last set up). I could make a bit of difference on a REW chart, but playing with delays while listening, I have to confess I couldn't hear a difference until I got them quite a long way off (as confirmed with REW).
 
Since your subs are equidistant, then you don't need a separate delay for them and they ought to be set to the same dB level as well. Then, as Ross says, the Anthem eqs them as if there was only one sub. It might be that your current set up shows a small difference between each sub, but I'd wager that if someone changed the setting to the same delay you'd never notice.

I did a lot of testing with different delays for my subs as they weren't equidistant (4.5 metre in front and 2.5 metre behind in my last set up). I could make a bit of difference on a REW chart, but playing with delays while listening, I have to confess I couldn't hear a difference until I got them quite a long way off (as confirmed with REW).

Absolutely correct. Current setup shows a very slight difference in delay, something like .3m from memory, system isn't on at the minute. So delay time is negligent, and measure SPL with sub gain and meter ?
 
I have a 550 and a P7. Upgraded from a Yamaha 1030 and Lexicon G7.

I have had dual paradigm sub 25s and sub 1s in the last year. My practical knowledge of dual sub integration is limited however, so my input to whether the Arcam is better than other options is limited. On saying that, I struggled to get a better response with 2 subs that I did with one.

On the flip side, Dirac is pretty amazing so I would imagine it could only help. Whether it is 'worth' it is another matter though.
 
Absolutely correct. Current setup shows a very slight difference in delay, something like .3m from memory, system isn't on at the minute. So delay time is negligent, and measure SPL with sub gain and meter ?

I think this is just down to the mic position at the intial MLP reading (IIRC your seating is slightly offset anyway?). So Audyssey measures that slight difference. I'll bet if you change the difference to 0.0m then you wouldn't notice any difference though.

I previously focused on a single MLP which is dead centre (widthways) of the room, however part of my improvement is to give a wider spread of even bass for width, length and height, so the other seats shouldn't suffer such huge peaks as previously. I'll still optimise for the MLP though. ;)
 
If you really, really, really wanted to account for that tiny delay then you'd have to get something like a miniDSP 2 x4 box. That just seems like adding a whole extra level of complication and REW testing for negligible gain.
 
I think this is just down to the mic position at the intial MLP reading (IIRC your seating is slightly offset anyway?). So Audyssey measures that slight difference. I'll bet if you change the difference to 0.0m then you wouldn't notice any difference though.

I previously focused on a single MLP which is dead centre (widthways) of the room, however part of my improvement is to give a wider spread of even bass for width, length and height, so the other seats shouldn't suffer such huge peaks as previously. I'll still optimise for the MLP though. ;)

You are spot on again, my seat is just slightly off centre and I don't think I would notice that delay difference if I changed it manually. I do notice a difference with front imaging if I move my head but I guess that would be pretty similar with ARC and its calibration.

If you really, really, really wanted to account for that tiny delay then you'd have to get something like a miniDSP 2 x4 box. That just seems like adding a whole extra level of complication and REW testing for negligible gain.

Agreed, not worth the hassle.
 
ARC will still sort your offset position wrt the left/right speakers anyway, same as Audyssey does now. So the main difference will be that ARC reportedly does a better job than Audyssey (and in particular the blend between the speakers and subs).

I think you can also limit the range that ARC corrects as well, which you can experiment with. If Audyssey had allowed this I'd have just restricted it to below 1 or 2Khz as it was the upper end I really didn't like with Audyssey (Onkyo 818 so perhaps part of the problem as well, despite the P7 PA).
 
Thanks, Kelvin, your help is invaluable :smashin:

Back to the subs, duals is easy enough to do ? I think I have a splitter already, can get one easy enough if I haven't.

The Denon is also good for allowing the user to change settings on the fly with a screen overlay, I guess I would lose such a facility ?
 
I think you can also limit the range that ARC corrects as well, which you can experiment with. If Audyssey had allowed this I'd have just restricted it to below 1 or 2Khz as it was the upper end I really didn't like with Audyssey (Onkyo 818 so perhaps part of the problem as well, despite the P7 PA).

That's very interesting.
 

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