I agree. I set up my Anthem by ear... the software works OK... but I needed to tweak the settings for my liking.
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:
- Measure the room
- Let Genesis do it's math magic and accept all of the settings but then ...
- Change the slope of the subwoofer and main speakers
- Raise the bass about 4 dB
I’ve written about the technical steps in detail here:
- ...
- 12 posts total
Went through a very similar situation with my Anthem AVM60 a while ago. I did not like the dynamic limitation that ARC seemed to give. I ended up adding a MiniDSP 2x4HD and using REW to create my sub correction curves. I set distances, crossovers and levels manually in the Anthem and removed any ARC settings. |
Hi @bjp9738 I never tried Anthem ARC before but I think you didn't yet have access to Genesis. I will say that miniDSP and ARC Genesis is a completely different ballgame. What I love about miniDSP is the ability to personally select every single filter, not to mention that the delay measurements were far more precise than with my AVM 50. With the MRX and Genesis I have achieved a happy balance between not doing it all myself and getting it to do what I want via the tilt and bass boost settings. It's more of a happy partnership approach, where I let it do what it's good at and then color the final sound to taste. I lack however the ability to go in and tweak any given part of the ARC curve but the final results for me have worked out really really well. |
PS @bjp9738 One of my goals in this upgrade was also to get rid of excess gear. So yes, I've given up some control but I also gave up a miniDSP, 3 external monoblocks and about 13-15 cables associated with all of it. 🤣
To simplify I had to let go, and while I do feel the loss of control, I'm also reaping the benefits of consolidation here. |
- 12 posts total