Marantz NR1504 Audyssey Calibration Mic Replacement

[Seth=L]

Recently purchased a gently used Marantz NR1504 for a song and wondered where the best place was to get a replacement Mic for the Audyssey Auto Calibration. I found some on eBay as little as $16.00 with free shipping but wanted to verify it was hunky dory before I buy it and to be sure it's worth my money to do so.

To clarify. I'm only doing a 2.1 setup here and I want to know if using Audyssey with just the two speakers and subwoofer is even worth doing. If it's not I can just skip getting the Mic all together.

 

[tcarcio]

From what I have read you need to contact Marantz about a replacement mic because each mic is calibrated to the AVR it comes with. If you just buy any mic off ebay or somewhere else it will not work correctly.

 

[slipperybidness]

Recently purchased a gently used Marantz NR1504 for a song and wondered where the best place was to get a replacement Mic for the Audyssey Auto Calibration. I found some on eBay as little as $16.00 with free shipping but wanted to verify it was hunky dory before I buy it and to be sure it's worth my money to do so.

To clarify. I'm only doing a 2.1 setup here and I want to know if using Audyssey with just the two speakers and subwoofer is even worth doing. If it's not I can just skip getting the Mic all together.

My 2 cents....

I only activate the MCACC room correction on my Pio for movies or maybe TV if the audio is decent on the broadcast.

For 2 channel music (technically I run 2.1), I don't use the room correction. I do typically leave the "phase correction" activated though. If I activate room correction for well recorded music, it tends to make the music seem a bit "distant" and not quite as dynamic. The sound improves dramatically when I go to "direct mode". On my AVR, direct mode = L/R + sub, but pure direct = L/R only.

As always, your mileage may vary.

 

[Seth=L]

From what I have read you need to contact Marantz about a replacement mic because each mic is calibrated to the AVR it comes with. If you just buy any mic off ebay or somewhere else it will not work correctly.

That seems unlikely and to be honest it sounds more like a way for these companies to milk their customer's money. I understand why though. Why limit yourself as a business. It's the same reason that Microsoft wanted to make selling video games in the used market a thing of the past. They don't make any money off of the resale market.

A4L sells the Audyssey Mic as a general purpose for use with Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo receivers.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/maracm1h/marantz-acm1hb-audyssey-setup-microphone-for-marantz-onkyo-denon/1.html#!more

 

[Seth=L]

My 2 cents....

I only activate the MCACC room correction on my Pio for movies or maybe TV if the audio is decent on the broadcast.

Most of what I'll be doing is Netflix, Blu-ray, and XBOX ONE gaming. This system doesn't see as much use for music.

For 2 channel music (technically I run 2.1), I don't use the room correction. I do typically leave the "phase correction" activated though.

Running through the NR1504s settings last night I didn't see a feature labeled as such, but then I didn't access the Audyssey application at all so maybe that's why I didn't see it. What does the Phase Correction do exactly?

If I activate room correction for well recorded music, it tends to make the music seem a bit "distant" and not quite as dynamic. The sound improves dramatically when I go to "direct mode". On my AVR, direct mode = L/R + sub, but pure direct = L/R only.

On the NR1504 both Direct and Pure Direct appear to disable the subwoofer. I'm not sure if there's a setting that changes this.

 

[slipperybidness]

Most of what I'll be doing is Netflix, Blu-ray, and XBOX ONE gaming. This system doesn't see as much use for music.



Running through the NR1504s settings last night I didn't see a feature labeled as such, but then I didn't access the Audyssey application at all so maybe that's why I didn't see it. What does the Phase Correction do exactly?



On the NR1504 both Direct and Pure Direct appear to disable the subwoofer. I'm not sure if there's a setting that changes this.

It's tough to predict the results without trying it. One of the problems in this hobby-- it would be nice if you had a friend local that already had a mic to let you borrow before spending the $.

I can try to look up a little info on phase correction later. I know that the manual on my Pio VSX-82txs gives a brief description. If I remember, I think it is something like "keeps each speaker output phase coherent at the listening positioin". On my AVR, this seems to be not bundled in the MCACC routine, at the very least it has its own button on the remote to activate/deactivate, and it has its own light on the front panel distinct from the MCACC light.

There would be a 2nd option to keep the sub active--use the L/R pre-outs to the sub and let the sub xo handle the xo duties. Assuming the sub has xo and that you aren't using the pres for an external amp already. i had mine set up like this for a while when I first bought my sub. Making changes on my rig is a chore due to limited space, so it was easier to plop the sub down and hook up to the L/R pres than the LFE channel at that time. Usually, I start making a list of the changes that I want to make, then pull it out and make all the changes in 1 session, so I now have my sub connected as LFE.

 

[Seth=L]

According to the manual the Marantz comes with the Audyssey ACM1HB setup and measurement microphone.