Anthem ARC - Well, it's not that great.

Also, I think the mic is kind of crap int he upper octaves

The mic I use for Audyssey Pro is calibrated to my system and software, it is a step up from the mic's supplied by either Marantz or Anthem.

There was a blog post by the president of Bryston on this

He’s got a dog in the race but I know the processor they have that does Atmos uses Dirac.

Hoenstly, prior to Atmos, DD and DTS were really amazing

You nailed it on this one. The budget studios get for the blueray mix is peanuts compared to the film track. I stream MCH with an X-Box which has an amazing feature. It has a menu to select the format you want to stream in, lossless 2,5,or 7 channel, DD, DTS, and with a paid upgrade Atmos or DTS-X. If I am watching a musical from the 40’s and want to stream it in atmos, done. If I am listening to tidal stereo recordings and want to stream them in DTS, done. Live recordings sound better to me upmixed in DTS. House and pop sound better in my room in atmos. Sunday morning I like two channel stereo with my coffee, and on and on we go.

@erik_squires 

interested if you have ever used/ heard a Trinnov altitudeprocessor. I’m in the middle of a way too long, home theater, build and have been considering the anthem Avm90, the new Marantz cinema, or the trinnov.  The only challenge being the trinnov dealer is many hours away and twice the price as the other alternatives. Those who have it seem to swear by it but I find that when people buy expensive things they usually think they’re better anyways, sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it is not.  It is supposed to have absolutely amazing room correction and bass correction, great support and easy upgrade ability.  

Hi @esthlos13 - Unfortunately I have not. Maybe I should solicit processors to review? :)

I may suffer from NIH (not invented here) syndrome when it comes to room integration. I really liked the setup I had when I was using hand crafted curves via miniDSP, so I could be that guy who is only satisfied when he makes it himself. :)

OTOH, I had really high hopes for ATC to simplify the amount of gear and cables I needed to have not to mention the time and effort needed for calibration.  At least with Anthem, I was not at all impressed.

What firmware are you using?

Maybe not super, but better than the Audyssey competition. I have been running an MXR310 with updated software quite happily as HT in two houses now in 5.1   Could also be that Anthem amplifier sections are better than most in the price range.  I have no interest in Atmos and really would be happy with 3.1 as I just don't care much for special effects.  Yes, I have heard a super high end 9. something with 3D and I would not pay 1/10 the price for it. It is not my music system. 

One problem is many rely on the DSP to fix speaker problems where it really is better just on lower frequency room issues. EQ alone won't fix room imaging or crappy speakers. The better you start, the better the result. 

Another problem is when many people first experience getting the humps beat down, it seems a bit flat.  No more 4K boost  and no more bass boost. Those issues may be easier to see the difference playing music, not movies. 

Perfect? No but I am not ware of anything better I could afford. Mini-DSP is the only alternative I would pursue if my Anthem died.  It may also be difficult to separate  what is DSP and what is the DAC and amp. Well, might go to 3.1 and the Schiit SYN. 

The mic was designed when ARC only handled low frequencies. As the software improved, the mic did not change.  Without decrypting the calibration file, we'll never know. I imagine it is the same Panasonic capsule ( or clone) as in most cheap condenser mics