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Anthem ARC and Subwoofers - A quick review

For a while now I’ve been saying that a good room correction system was the best choice for most music lovers looking to integrate a subwoofer. Getting a subwoofer to sound glorious is hard work and ARC systems like the Anthem Genesis system promises to fix.

I’ve recently gotten to use an Anthem MRX 540 and evaluated it’s performance. To make a long story short it does a lot of things right, and stops juuuuuust short of doing great.

Like many ARC systems before it, Genesis leaves your system sounding too bright and lean. Not enough bass and too much treble. Here’s the good news: These issues are relatively easy to overcome and what it does right is the hard part:

  • Setting the crossover slopes and points
  • Minimizing bass nodes
  • Integrating multiple measurement points

The overall process to getting great sound with Genesis is the following:

  1. Measure the room
  2. Let Genesis do it's math magic and accept all of the settings but then ...
  3. Change the slope of the subwoofer and main speakers
  4. Raise the bass about 4 dB

I’ve written about the technical steps in detail here:

 

erik_squires
sebna
15 posts
 

Hi @donquichotte,

I wonder which Anthem AVR / Pre were (are?) you pairing with your Martin Logan's speakers and if ever got it to happy place with your initial dislike or ARC?

Was the sound ever bright / too bright?

Thanks

donquichotte
133 posts
 

@sebna : ARC was integrated in my powered speakers (and applied only to the dynamic part, not to the electrostatic panel). It never convinced me at all. I've sold my speakers since then. Yes, you could call the sound bright but not in a sense there was too much treble, rather the bass (with ARC engaged) was light, not present enough and the midrange (regardless of the ARC contribution, it is simply these speakers' signature I'm afraid), albeit detailed and effortless in a very enticing way, lacked some warmth / body / color making the rendition of some timbres like violin somewhat unconvincing. This with Accuphase electronics, noted for their warm and colorful midrange, and with copper cables throughout.

sebna
15 posts
 

@donquichotte ahh ok, That is completely different setup and use case I guess. My system us purely HT, 0 music and multichannel vs stereo. I hope your experience will not translate 1:1 to my.

Thank you for getting back to me on it.

erik_squires OP
16,176 posts
 

I should update this. While I could get the Anthem ARC to work, what I can’t get it to do is use Dolby Surround correctly, and I cannot set my own parametric EQ settings. It also seems to have trouble synching with my LG television, requiring several power cycles to get Atmos working correctly via streaming.  Also, it seems to get too hot and the Roku signal starts flickering. 

My recommendation has therefore shifted to the Marantz units with advanced Audyssey capabilities.

sebna
15 posts
 

I bought AVM90. Lets hope my experience is better than yours. Although my system is quite simple.

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