Anthem AVM 60 11.2CH Preamp/Processor Review

[MainHill]

Q I posted in 'Room Acoustics' but no takers. For you AVM 60 owners:

In reviewing the OM for the AVM 60 it appears that you can save 4 profiles for the Anthem ARC.

Does this mean that with the Anthem you could run room correction for your 5.2.4 setup then run it again, say in 2.0, then in 2.2 modes (and save them as Profiles 1, 2 an 3)? Would the room correction be different when you eliminate speakers? I would have to imagine it would be.

For those of you with AVM60s are you using multiple profiles as above or is this an invalid concern?

Thanks.

Hi ChGr, based on my personal experience with my MRX 710, which has ARC-1M with 2 profiles, yes you can save wholly different room correction configurations, and room correction will be different for each.

For example, I have a 7.1 config for movies, for which my MLP is on a sectional sofa in the corner of the room, and a 2.1 configuration for which the MLP is on a chair in the center. For each configuration, ARC-1M evaluates the listening area in five points, or more if desired. The adjustments are then made for the selected speakers, depending on each listening area.

I think that might answer your specific question, but there are many more options and adjustments possible with ARC-1M as a whole.

 

[ChGr]

That's a big help, thanks.

I hadn't thought about multiple MLPs, I was thinking more about multiple speaker configuration as you mentioned. But now it's made me think that if I were to run the ARC for movies I would take the measurements all on the seating but if were to run ARC when in 2.0 or 2.1 that I might take measurements not only at the MLP but in adjoining rooms where we're listening to the music. Would that have a significant negative effect? How long are the microphone cords?

 

[MainHill]

The cord is approximately 15', but if you use it with a laptop that means you can take it as far as it can connect to your wireless network, so that shouldn't be a problem.
That being said, I wouldn't recommend using ARC, or any room correction software, for such a big area as adjoining rooms. It evaluates an average room curve depending on a Main listening position, and therefore I don't think that it would be of much use for a General listening area. The data collected would be too far apart from one speaker to another, and pretty much irrelevant. I think at that point you could rely on the speaker and amp quality and specs to do the job.
As far as I'm concerned, I've used Audyssey MultEQ XT, XT32, and ARC-1M, and Anthem's is certainly the best room correction software. But, while I think that it has some really interesting results for movies, I've never resolved myself to use any of these for music. Having done extended comparisons with and without RC, I always find the uncorrected sound wider and fuller. That is the conclusion my humble ears and Brodmann areas 41 and 42 bring me to.

 

[MrWest]

“DTS Play-Fi won't do multi-room audio with the AVM 60 as a hub”. Please say more about this topic.

 

[CB22]

“DTS Play-Fi won't do multi-room audio with the AVM 60 as a hub”. Please say more about this topic.

You can do 2 zones with the AVM 60 but not any more. If you had three zones of audio the AVM 60 will not be capable of running all 3 zones. Only 2. Some units give you the 3,4,5 zones:
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-Eks0TD78Tta/learn/learningcenter/home/multiroom_power.html

The back of the unit has a zone 2 pre-out, which means you'd need two extra channels of amplification to get a second room audio up and running:
https://www.anthemav.com/downloads/AVM-60_Datasheet.pdf

To answer your question, PlayFi's "Multi-room audio" set-up (built into the PlayFi app) is not compatible with the AVM60. Hopefully that makes sense, I can see why its confusing.

fyis, there's a setting called "zone 2 follow main," if you turn this off you can play xbox on zone 1 and in another room have Spotify running via PlayFi, which I think is a cool feature. From my experience the actually Play-Fi UX is not great. Tedious menus and not super easy to control the apps. Personally, I'd stay away from PlayFi if you can avoid it.

 

[MrWest]

Thanks

 

[TheoN]

“DTS Play-Fi won't do multi-room audio with the AVM 60 as a hub”. Please say more about this topic.

With DTS PlayFi in the AVM 60 the AVM 60 appears as a speaker. You cannot use the AVM 60 as a source to stream music to another DTS Play-Fi speaker like you can with MusicCast.

So let’s say you have a CD player connected to the AVM 60, you can’t stream that input to a Paradigm DTS Play-Fi compatible speaker in another room.

That’s a real disappointment in my book with the implementation. I wish I could take any source on the AVM 60 and stream it to any DTS Play-Fi enabled device.

 

[VonMagnum]

Are "Featured Reviews" on the main page (or rather this was on the 'Product Reviews' page) cycled or something? I clicked on this thinking it was a new review only to then notice the 2016 date.... When I went back there was a 2017 subwoofer review there instead (that was the "home" page). Somehow, I expected the newest stuff first.

 

[gene]

Are "Featured Reviews" on the main page (or rather this was on the 'Product Reviews' page) cycled or something? I clicked on this thinking it was a new review only to then notice the 2016 date.... When I went back there was a 2017 subwoofer review there instead (that was the "home" page). Somehow, I expected the newest stuff first.

We do cycle older reviews in the featured review section for our sponsors to increase visibility of that content. The content to the right top of the homepage is most current as is the content below the fold.

 

[Cjamrr]

We do cycle older reviews in the featured review section for our sponsors to increase visibility of that content. The content to the right top of the homepage is most current as is the content below the fold.

Isn’t the Anthem STR preamp the same purpose as a Anthem AVM 60?

 

[gene]

Isn’t the Anthem STR preamp the same purpose as a Anthem AVM 60?

No the STR is 2CH and built to a higher calibre of performance for that function.

 

[Cjamrr]

Nice. Thats what I was hoping to hear. Within 2 months I will be purchasing the STR preamp. Already have the Anthem MCA 325 for center and surround speakers and have a Carver M-1.0t mk II for fronts, Which in the future plan to replace with Anthem STR Amp for Fronts. Onkyo TX RZ 1100 is AVR.

 

[Cjamrr]

I’m waiting to hear a Don Sachs preamp that my neighbor custom ordered 2 weeks ago. Then I will demo the Anthem STR preamp and compare the 2 using a line level audio router.

I’m hoping to achieve a good 2 channel sound system for my system while playing records.

In the future, my Onkyo will be for HT only.

Any thoughts on the 2 preamps mentioned
is much appreciated.

 

[Danzilla31]

I just purchased an Anthem AVM 60 and am enjoying it so can can anyone tell me what the reference level is for the volume? On my onkyo if you went to 82 on the volume level it would tell you that was reference. It was helpful because I like keeping my systems below that point.

I can't to find it or any info on it anywhere for the AVM 60.

Maybe it's not necessary or this is a pointless question. I don't know I try to be careful on my volume anyway using my ears and common sense but if anyone knows the answer to this question I would greatly appreciate it

 

[lovinthehd]

I just purchased an Anthem AVM 60 and am enjoying it so can can anyone tell me what the reference level is for the volume? On my onkyo if you went to 82 on the volume level it would tell you that was reference. It was helpful because I like keeping my systems below that point.

I can't to find it or any info on it anywhere for the AVM 60.

Maybe it's not necessary or this is a pointless question. I don't know I try to be careful on my volume anyway using my ears and common sense but if anyone knows the answer to this question I would greatly appreciate it

It appears to use the reference scale instead of the absolute scale you used before. 0 would be equivalent to 82 on your old unit...at least it looks that way from the various volume information in the manual, altho it really doesn't discuss the scale.

 

[Danzilla31]

It appears to use the reference scale instead of the absolute scale you used before. 0 would be equivalent to 82 on your old unit...at least it looks that way from the various volume information in the manual, altho it really doesn't discuss the scale.

Thanks lovin well then I'm quiet fine then in the new theater room I like it at 35 it's sounds fantastic at that level. It's just good to know I'm not overpushing it knowing where the limits are is just helpful just a few more tweaks and I'll be completely happy with the setup.

The new rooms acoustics are so good those 3 590's up front paired with the PB 4000's? Man lovin they steal the show sound fantastic

Thanks for your help on this!

Dan

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks lovin well then I'm quiet fine then in the new theater room I like it at 35 it's sounds fantastic at that level. It's just good to know I'm not overpushing it knowing where the limits are is just helpful just a few more tweaks and I'll be completely happy with the setup.

The new rooms acoustics are so good those 3 590's up front paired with the PB 4000's? Man lovin they steal the show sound fantastic

Thanks for your help on this!

Dan

Is it + or - 35? Did you run calibration?

 

[Danzilla31]

Is it + or - 35? Did you run calibration?

+35 but it starts from like +90 and gets louder as it works it's way back to 0.
I ran ARC just like every other room correction I've tried I was like meh so I switched it all off and just calibrated manually like I always do.
Came out sounding great.
I'm not knocking them but I've never met a room correction that I've really liked yet just me tho I think for a lot of people they work great

 

[lovinthehd]

+35 but it starts from like +90 and gets louder as it works it's way back to 0.
I ran ARC just like every other room correction I've tried I was like meh so I switched it all off and just calibrated manually like I always do.
Came out sounding great.
I'm not knocking them but I've never met a room correction that I've really liked yet just me tho I think for a lot of people they work great

I thought I saw max volume at 0....but it may not be the reference scale, just their own. Get the spl meter out....

 

[VonMagnum]

The picture I'm looking at here shows -25 on it (not +) so I assume it's -90 to 0 like most AVRs today (Marantz can be set either way. I've looked at about 20 different photos and they all show negative numbers on the front panel. I like the reference at 0 as it makes more sense to me. It does go positive on the Marantz 7012 I'm using, but that's amplified pre-amp values. 0 is maximum "passive" before the amp in the preamp kicks in. It goes up to +18 I think.

-35 would be pretty low volume after calibration, I think. I watch most movies at -6 to -11 here (I've watched a few at 0, especially Disney titles that seem lower level). Some compressed music needs to go back towards -18 or so. Uncalibrated is anyone's guess.