Issue with Anthem ARC

[hifihillbilly]

Good luck. That's some picky software....curious, what version of Windows are you running?

I am running windows 10 Pro / 64 bit operating system. I will ask them for the device list and post it here. It may be helpful to someone else.

 

[lovinthehd]

I am running windows 10 Pro / 64 bit operating system. I will ask them for the device list and post it here. It may be helpful to someone else.

Curious what in the device is the limiting factor, too....

 

[hifihillbilly]

So, I was able to complete the room correction process. It was the Surface Pro2 I was trying to use but only the microphone setting. I had to go into the privacy settings, tap on the microphone icon on the left side of the screen and turn it on. Simple as I expected but I learned something new. I hope others can learn from this as well. Atmos ceiling-mount speakers will be here Thursday. Anxious to get these installed. Thanks again everyone!!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So, I was able to complete the room correction process. It was the Surface Pro2 I was trying to use but only the microphone setting. I had to go into the privacy settings, tap on the microphone icon on the left side of the screen and turn it on. Simple as I expected but I learned something new. I hope others can learn from this as well. Atmos ceiling-mount speakers will be here Thursday. Anxious to get these installed. Thanks again everyone!!

So no life-changing experience yet with the auto room correction?

 

[hifihillbilly]

So no life-changing experience yet with the auto room correction?

Not life changing but much better sound stage (at least it sounds like it to me). My wife even commented on the difference . No regrets going with the Anthem.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Not life changing but much better sound stage (at least it sounds like it to me). My wife even commented on the difference . No regrets going with the Anthem.

Seems like you made the right choice then. No regrets. Living the dream.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yeah when the wife notices, you know you've reached audio nirvana

 

[mlstexas]

I have been reading everything here on this forum and other forums diagnosing the "Critical Audio Issue" and "check your microphone and speaker connections" error for three days for my Anthem AVM 60. ARC worked fine until I reformatted my hard drive and reloaded Windows 10. It would do quick checks but not get past the first speaker in the full process without this error. I read everything online and nothing worked. I made sure the privacy settings were correct for the PBK mic. Finally called Anthem support. Went through everything I did. Multiple computers tried, installed fresh copy of Windows, different mic cables, reloaded software, reloaded drivers, reset the AVM 60 multiple times. Tech only could suggest getting a new microphone. Nothing worked till one thing - I thought "privacy settings" with Windows 10 which the Anthem tech and I went through which checking did not work. Then - I thought maybe because the Windows 10 install I did was logged into Microsoft after the install with my admin user ID and email account vs. using a local account in the OS?? Could that be it? It was! You need to be sure your not logged into any OS account online related to privacy protection etc - it interrupts the Anthem ARC process!! It was a User ID/privacy protection issue, but not obvious being logged in to my Microsoft account. Not sure about a MAC, but definitely make sure you are offline using a local PC user ID, and rebooted before ARC will work.

 

[Notnow10]

It is the Microsoft software. I was using windows 10. The microphone instals automatically when it is connected. Go to control panel and click audio devices. Make sure the new microphone is on the list of devices. Set it as the default microphone. Click the properties tab of the microphone and you will see a tab marked Levels. Click and set to 100%. Microsoft default is 50% and that causes the critical error message in the ARC software.

 

[Milomax]

Thank you to all who not only post issues, but return to describe the solution. I was stumped by the "Critical Audio Issue" error when trying to run ARC on a pre-owned Anthem STR - I was able to resolve the issue using the Privacy setting in Windows, and by adjusting microphone volume.

 

[Phaedrus212]

I have a verified answer. All of these things above are true, but I had an additional answer. First, the microphone level was a problem that I coulnd't solve. I just bought an MRX 540. When I started ARC Genesis the program would autocorrect the volume to 35%.

The answer came from another forum. You have to not have your input set to HDMI 1. I changed it to Analog and ARC immediately started working.

Now here's the kicker. The person who posted this last year received the information in an Anthem support email. A known bug. What???? Why would this information not be in the online manual? It's an easy edit.

 

[CB22]

I have a verified answer. All of these things above are true, but I had an additional answer. First, the microphone level was a problem that I coulnd't solve. When I stated ARC the program would autocorrect the volume to 35%.

The answer came from another forum. You have to not have your input set to HDMI 1. I changed it to Analog and ARC immediately started working.

Now here's the kicker. The person who posted this last year received the information in an Anthem support email. A known bug. What???? Why would this information not be in the online manual? It's an easy edit.

I've had the same problems with my MRX720. Good to know about HDMI 1. Thanks for sharing

 

[PENG]

I have a verified answer. All of these things above are true, but I had an additional answer. First, the microphone level was a problem that I coulnd't solve. When I stated ARC the program would autocorrect the volume to 35%.

The answer came from another forum. You have to not have your input set to HDMI 1. I changed it to Analog and ARC immediately started working.

Now here's the kicker. The person who posted this last year received the information in an Anthem support email. A known bug. What???? Why would this information not be in the online manual? It's an easy edit.

Anthem's manual is a joke, just look at the number of pages.70 pages, covering all MRX AVRs and AVMs. You have to figure things out yourself and/or frequent forums and hopefully found some of the more reliable posters such as Bob Pariseau. Anthem support staff are pretty good too, you may get a response within a day or two but could also be up to a week or two. I feel sorry for those who bought their units in the early days, the bug list was long at launch time.

 

[Phaedrus212]

I edited my comment to reflect that it is ARC Genesis. I didn't have the problem with the original ARC that came with my MRX 700.

 

[PENG]

I edited my comment to reflect that it is ARC Genesis. I didn't have the problem with the original ARC that came with my MRX 700.

If it is the ARCG, it surely had a lot of bugs in the beginning but by now most should have been fixed already in the latest FW version, the latest one is the 76, or 78 if you count the Beta:

https://www.anthemav.com/support/change_log.php?version=2.2.203

For ARCG, the latest version is the 1.7.4:
ARC: Downloads (anthemarc.com)

 

[Phaedrus212]

If it is the ARCG, it surely had a lot of bugs in the beginning but by now most should have been fixed already in the latest FW version, the latest one is the 76, or 78 if you count the Beta:

https://www.anthemav.com/support/change_log.php?version=2.2.203

For ARCG, the latest version is the 1.7.4:
ARC: Downloads (anthemarc.com)

I was using the most recent version as of 4/8/23. Just bought a new receiver and updated the firmware as well. I'm also getting "popping" referenced at the end of the file though I don't have a cable box. It happens whenever there is a shift to surround sound.

 

[PENG]

I was using the most recent version as of 4/8/23. Just bought a new receiver and updated the firmware as well. I'm also getting "popping" referenced at the end of the file though I don't have a cable box. It happens whenever there is a shift to surround sound.

If you are getting the occasional "pop" and other noise that cannot be explained, you may want to request an exchange and see what happens. My first unit (it's an AVM, not MRX) would make such occasional noise, but the second one has been fine so far. It is hard to imagine there may be some sort of hardware issue with some units, but you never know. It never really bothered me as it wasn't loud, and happened only occasionally, usually when there was an abrupt change of some kind when watching a show, never happen with music listening.

 

[Will Brink]

Bumping this thread vs start another. I wanted to try some of those manual tweaks Gene recommends for 2ch and Arc via his vid (1) but ARC genesis (v1.11.3) will not allow me to open saved ARC files to do any manual adjustments. Any advice why that would be? I'm using STR integrated as 2ch and it will not open any ARC file I have saved. Using "open saved ARC files" from menu or "open" no love.

 

[PENG]

Bumping this thread vs start another. I wanted to try some of those manual tweaks Gene recommends for 2ch and Arc via his vid (1) but ARC genesis (v1.11.3) will not allow me to open saved ARC files to do any manual adjustments. Any advice why that would be? I'm using STR integrated as 2ch and it will not open any ARC file I have saved. Using "open saved ARC files" from menu or "open" no love.

What is "vid"?
I don't have the STR so I can only confirm that it works fine in my AVM70. As to his tweaks, he did a good job obviously, we are talking about Gene. Tweaking ARC G, in my experience, you have to use REW (and Gene did that), and in my setup I have to spend hours, as it is really trial and error. Gene said it's better than Audyssey in terms of accuracy target vs actual but I found the opposite true, that is is a worse than Audyssey and a lot worse than Dirac Live. So, I have to suspect this is very set up dependent (ie room, speaker, placements, subwoofer integration etc.

I got much better corrected response curve than his (the specific one shown in his) using Audyssey or Dirac, with ARC G, no matter how hard I tweak, the best I could achieve was no better than Gene's in that video, may be even a little worse, so, good luck to your upcoming tweaks. Please share your REW curves.

 

[PENG]

Bumping this thread vs start another. I wanted to try some of those manual tweaks Gene recommends for 2ch and Arc via his vid (1) but ARC genesis (v1.11.3) will not allow me to open saved ARC files to do any manual adjustments. Any advice why that would be?

Anthem support typically response to questions within 24-48 hours so you probably should submit a ticket.

If you look at the log, there isn't any changes that could cause the issues you are getting, but may be windows 11 vs 10 created some special cases, again Anthem should have the answer, if it is a bug, they need feedback so that can fix it.

Version 1.11.3:
- Added official support for the Paradigm Defiance S10 and Defiance S12 subwoofers
- Updated bundled firmware for Paradigm Defiance S10 and Defiance S12 subwoofers to version 1.1.378
- Updated bundled firmware for MartinLogan Dynamo 10, Dynamo 12, Abyss 8 and Abyss 10 subwoofers to version 1.1.378
- [macOS] Firmware updates are only offered for direct USB Connections, not Bluetooth LE

Version 1.11.2:
- Initial Windows 11 on ARM support (through x64 emulation). Direct USB connections to devices are not supported, network only
- Added firmware update checks when connecting to systems that support it (such as: Anthem MRX SLM (Version 1.3 or later) and Paradigm SVX-1202 (Version 1.3 or later))