allgonoshow Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Looking at one of these. Does it have enough power to run my stuff in a 20 x 37 family room. Mostly moderate volume rock music and TV sports. There will be a separate media room for movies. RF7ii, RC52, AND RB61ii, powered rwd10 http://www.anthemav.com/products/anthem/a-v-receiver/mrx-500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 May be fine powerwise, I suggest you look at pro reviews as to issues/shortcomings.I read the 700 has a few issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allgonoshow Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Any specific issues... I read a fair bit on the series. A few users had static issues. The only thing I read people complain about was the lack of 7.1 analogue input, which I don't think is an issue for me, but then I may not fully understand that. Some had an issue with Dolby correction, but that apparently resolved by turning it off My input is a Cambridge Azur 650 blue ray with sacd etc, hd cable , [bought yesterday] hdmi cable from my laptop for itunes and occaisonal movie. I have an Onkyo cd player but that would likely be hooked up to another system. Is there a reason I might need 7.1 analogue . Again if there was something I missed in searching for info, please fill me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 The Anthem MRX 700 evidenced a couple of head-scratchers on the test bench, but its performance was otherwise exemplary. Frequency response from all digital sources save one was essentially perfect, and distortion was consistently very low. Power delivery was generous: The MRX 700 very nearly doubled output into 4-ohm loads (in stereo mode), which is rare for a receiver, and also delivered a very healthy 94 watts with five channels driven simultaneously, which is far above average. The oddities encompassed our unique tests of digital-to-analog linearity and “noise modulation,” which examine D/A behavior at exceedingly low signal levels, and an oddity of 96-kHz/24-bit playback. Taking the latter first: On a stereo 96/24 frequency-response sweep, the Anthem’s output remained perfectly flat to roughly 5 kHz, beyond which point it rolled off at about 2 dB per octave, reaching -6 dB at 32 kHz, where output essentially disappeared. I’m completely at a loss to explain this anomaly. Returning to the low-level stuff, the MRX’s D/A linearity showed virtually perfect response to signal levels as low as -80 dB (re: 0 dB full-scale), but was 6 dB negative (too small) at -90 and unlockable at -100, which suggests a least-significant-bit flaw, or a math error at some point in the conversion or resampling processes. S/N on both PCM and Dolby Digital signals also measured about a decibel “too quiet,” which tends to support this idea. On the same track, our “noise mod” test, which requires the converters to track a midfrequency tone that repeatedly sweeps amplitude between “very low” and “very, very, very low” signal levels, failed to execute fully since the receiver would not resolve the 251-Hz tone over its full level sweep, which extends well below -100 dBFS. Noise mod results above that point looked fairly good, though obviously incomplete. — DK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allgonoshow Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 That's little too technical for me but doesn't sound good, no pun intended. Could that be related to the dolby volume a number of users and reveiwers commented on. quote Trolling other forums reveals that most users of Anthem receivers left Dolby Volume ON, (which it is by default.) Turning it off produced a remarkable difference. I wonder if those who returned their units on this forum tried it with Dolby Volume off and were still unsatisfied? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Youthman Posted February 12, 2012 Moderators Share Posted February 12, 2012 allgon, unfortunately the rc-52 cannot keep up with the rf-82 much less the superior rf-7s. im afraid you will be underwhelmed by its performance. an rc-7 or rc-64 would be a much better fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 allgon, unfortunately the rc-52 cannot keep up with the rf-82 much less the superior rf-7s. im afraid you will be underwhelmed by its performance. an rc-7 or rc-64 would be a much better fit. Good catch, the 52 is a non starter with 7's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allgonoshow Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 I intend to upgrade my center channel.. So, the Anthem not ready for prime time? One reason I was looking at it was the great reveiws on the room correction. What would you recommend in the same price range? I kind of like THX music, 5.1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 If you can get it local and audition the 500 at home (being able to return it) I would give it a try.Sometimes technical or mathmatical flaws don't effect what you hear in a bad way.I only pointed out that there are some issues, they may not even matter, just fyi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allgonoshow Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 That's kind of what I was thinking. Same dealer that I bought the Cambridge Azur bd from has anthem and lots of other stuff. Is the lack of 7.1 analogue anything to be concerned about? What is the significance of that issue? My universal palyer has hdmi output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I personally like every unit I have to be 7.1 in and out.In reality today it's not as important as it once was.There was a time when you could only get sacd or DVD audio through 7.1 in.The other reason would be to get DTS HD etc...from a bluray player, but today br outputs hi rez through hdmi.It is still OK if you want true pass through analog but many today have direct anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Thanks for that post Fish… I guessing that quote was from this Sound and Vision article... http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article/test-report-anthem-mrx-700-av-receiver The actual review reads quite positive despite those odd findings… I’m curious to your feedback allgonoshow as I’m intrigued by the ARC software yself... In reality today it's not as important as it once was.There was a time when you could only get sacd or DVD audio through 7.1 in.The other reason would be to get DTS HD etc... My understanding was that the Blu-ray consortium stopped allowing HD Audio to be output on analog outputs RCA on units designed after a certain 2011 date… so it’ll become more and more of a mute point in the long run. ROb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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