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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:

  1. Measure the room
  2. Let Genesis do it's math magic and accept all of the settings but then ...
  3. Change the slope of the subwoofer and main speakers
  4. Raise the bass about 4 dB

I’ve written about the technical steps in detail here:

 

erik_squires
bjp9738's avatar
bjp9738
64 posts
 

Hi @erik_squires 

I was using ARC2 initially for a couple years, but did upgrade to Genesis when it was released. It was pretty buggy when it first came out.  The latest version is much better.

It's probably just a matter of personal taste.  I wish Genesis allowed more of a peek under the hood to see what it's actually doing.  Even if I limit the max correction frequency to below the crossover point between mids and bass, I still feel like it's doing something that limits the overall dynamic range when ARC is engaged.  I do recall reading somewhere that the new Anthem MRX and AVM models allow for more correction filters, so maybe that accounts for the difference in experiences.

erik_squires OP
15,872 posts
 

I still feel like it’s doing something that limits the overall dynamic range when ARC is engaged.

 

Hmmm, that’s not the impression I have so far, but I do feel the initial curves were too bright. I’ll keep an ear out.  With a receiver I'm locked in though, there's no way for me to insert miniDSP except if I use it as a pure pre. 

bjp9738's avatar
bjp9738
64 posts
 

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.  🤣

@erik_squires Interesting you should mention this.  I was very recently thinking about selling my AVM60 and associated Rotel RMB1585 5-channel HT amp and replacing with an Anthem 740.  My system is set up for dual duty 2-channel music and multi-channel HT.  I don't need the power of the Rotel anymore as I've added in some separates for 2-channel and using the HT passthru feature for movies.  I'd only get rid of one box in the end, but that'd free up a good amount of space and weight in my cabinet.  I'd love to hear your opinion on how the Anthem's internal amps do with loud, dynamic movie soundtracks.

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erik_squires OP
15,872 posts
 

hi @bjp9738  - So I feed L and R to my Luxman 507.  I just played Battlefield Los Angeles and it was pretty awesome. 5.1, all speakers high passed at 80 Hz.

 

I will say that even before calibration the MRX 540 sounded significantly more open and transparent than the AVM 50 it replaces.  Absolutely no complaints.

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