Upgrading from my Anthem MRX 300 and need some help please!

[Lok3sh]

Hey guys!

Almost exactly 3 years ago, I posted on here looking for help with purchasing a receiver. After making an error with purchasing garbage, a member here was kind enough to give me a heck of a deal on this Anthem that I currently use. Unfortunately, I will need to move to one with 4K HDR 10 & Dolby Vision now as I have purchased a TV that supports those formats.

My setup currently is as follows:
Vizio P75-F1 TV
Anthem MRX 300 that does not support 4k
2x Klipsch Synergy F1 Speakers (L+R) 8ohm max 100W
1x Klipsch Synergy C10 (Center) 8ohm max 50w
Sony BDP S5200 BluRay player which I will upgrade last to a 4k player
EDIT - I have now bought a Sony UBP X700 4K player.

My budget is ~$300 CAD. The two receivers I was looking at:

Onkyo TX-NR575
Denon AVRS540BT

I remember, the last time I asked about receivers, I was told that most of the RMS ratings on receivers are deceptive and if they say 80w/channel, they usually deliver that for 2 speakers, and every additional speaker added drops the watts per channel. My knowledge of this is quite limited, so I'm hoping someone can help with letting me know if these receivers would give me a similar experience to what I have currently with my Anthem.

Any advice and insight would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Scarriere]

I would save for a bit and increase that budget. Try not to buy an avr for less than $550,$600. More is better.

Another option is to get a 4K player that has two hdmi outs. Then you could run one output to the tv and the other to the avr.

Keep that Anthem. You may want to use it for powering your front 3 , or if you go Atmos, your heights.

[Lok3sh]

Thanks for the advice!

What is it that I'll be missing audio wise with either of the two that I've listed above vs my Anthem?

I will definitely not be getting anything more than the 3 speakers that I currently have. There is no room at all in my condo unfortunately, and I'm not moving anytime soon.

[sonic_debauchery]

Originally Posted by Scarriere

I would save for a bit and increase that budget. Try not to buy an avr for less than $550,$600. More is better.

Another option is to get a 4K player that has two hdmi outs. Then you could run one output to the tv and the other to the avr.

Keep that Anthem. You may want to use it for powering your front 3 , or if you go Atmos, your heights.

This is great advice.

Your not going to get a better receiver than Anthem in the $600 range.

ARC is very valuable and any of the room calibration systems in a $600 receiver will be inferior.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by sonic_debauchery

This is great advice.

Your not going to get a better receiver than Anthem in the $600 range.

ARC is very valuable and any of the room calibration systems in a $600 receiver will be inferior.

So I tried to work with this receiver. Looks like it's a no go Things are getting complicated with my setup and this receiver.

Bought a Sony UBP X700 player. One HDMI to the TV and one to the receiver. Sound cuts out from the receiver in about a second. I have to pull out the HDMI out cable from the receiver to get any sound to work.

Once the sound DOES work, there is horrible lag when playing stuff with Dolby Vision on because my TV obviously is slow at processing the video. 150 ms of delay still isn't enough on the receiver.

So for now, I have audio and video from the player going to the TV, and then the TV sending the audio to the receiver with an optical cable. This works, but then no DTS titles give me surround obviously.

Basically I think it's time I upgrade. I am not worried about having a good calibration setup on the receiver - I've never used it anyway.

Would anyone have any recommendations for what I could get? Still looking for the same features I've listed in my OP. I will stretch my budget a bit though. I was looking at these two:



Onkyo TX-NR686

Yamaha RXV585

Thoughts?

[sonic_debauchery]

Sorry to hear that.

I would suggest looking at accessories for less.

I bought a Denon 3808 there 10 years ago when it was dark art and use it everyday.

Still going.


You ,Ishtar be able to get more for your money.

[refractor1]

Have you considered looking at a new unit that is no longer in production. I just purchased an Onkyo RZ-810(BNIB)for less then half($499)of what the RZ-830 sells for.
Also a refurbished unit may also be a good choice.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by sonic_debauchery

Sorry to hear that.

I would suggest looking at accessories for less.

I bought a Denon 3808 there 10 years ago when it was dark art and use it everyday.

Still going.


You ,Ishtar be able to get more for your money.

Thanks for the tip, had never heard of accessories4less.

Originally Posted by refractor1

Have you considered looking at a new unit that is no longer in production. I just purchased an Onkyo RZ-810(BNIB)for less then half($499)of what the RZ-830 sells for.
Also a refurbished unit may also be a good choice.

I'm totally fine with refurbs or open box, but I need to first figure out what I need to buy before I start shopping around. Hoping to get some advice to narrow it down to a few models before I start looking at finding them cheaper.

[sonic_debauchery]

I see it is $300 Canadian.

That makes it tough, unless you cross the border to pick up your item.


There are sites like canauckaudiomart.com or ca not sure? That can help you out.

I think in Canada they have something called kijiji that you can find used items on.

$300 is not very much to put on a receiver. I would save 600 then get something.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by sonic_debauchery

I see it is $300 Canadian.

That makes it tough, unless you cross the border to pick up your item.


There are sites like canauckaudiomart.com or ca not sure? That can help you out.

I think in Canada they have something called kijiji that you can find used items on.

$300 is not very much to put on a receiver. I would save 600 then get something.

That was my initial budget, but I've realized that that isn't going to get me far. The two new models I've been looking at are about $500 CAD each.

Onkyo TX-NR686

Yamaha RXV585

My big issue is that I do not know how to compare these with my MRX 300. I don't know if and why these would be worse than my MRX 300.

[sonic_debauchery]

Originally Posted by Lok3sh

That was my initial budget, but I've realized that that isn't going to get me far. The two new models I've been looking at are about $500 CAD each.

Onkyo TX-NR686

Yamaha RXV585

My big issue is that I do not know how to compare these with my MRX 300. I don't know if and why these would be worse than my MRX 300.

Call Ryan Peddle at 905 898 7133 Liptons Audio video. I deal with them on occasion. He has an electronics degree and knows his stuff. He is honest to.

He will tell you what to do.

[kansashoops]

An alternative would be to keep your Anthem and run two HDMI cables from your blu ray player, one to the TV for video, and one to the receiver for audio. The one downside here would be that you would need to switch inputs on the TV depending on the source, but that can be automated with a Harmony remote. I think you might be disappointed with the inexpensive receivers you are looking at. I recently upgraded from a Yamaha 3050 to an Anthem AVM 60, and the improvement in audio quality was substantial.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by sonic_debauchery

Call Ryan Peddle at 905 898 7133 Liptons Audio video. I deal with them on occasion. He has an electronics degree and knows his stuff. He is honest to.

He will tell you what to do.

Thanks, I might give him a ring!

Originally Posted by kansashoops

An alternative would be to keep your Anthem and run two HDMI cables from your blu ray player, one to the TV for video, and one to the receiver for audio. The one downside here would be that you would need to switch inputs on the TV depending on the source, but that can be automated with a Harmony remote. I think you might be disappointed with the inexpensive receivers you are looking at. I recently upgraded from a Yamaha 3050 to an Anthem AVM 60, and the improvement in audio quality was substantial.

This is exactly what I've done, but the audio cuts out unless I remove the video out HDMI from the receiver. I've detailed my issues with this setup a few posts above.

With a 2.1 setup, will I really notice all that much of a difference in sound?

[sonic_debauchery]

Originally Posted by Lok3sh

Thanks, I might give him a ring!



This is exactly what I've done, but the audio cuts out unless I remove the video out HDMI from the receiver. I've detailed my issues with this setup a few posts above.

With a 2.1 setup, will I really notice all that much of a difference in sound?

Have you tried this combination with a different receiver?

Checked the cable?

Looked in the audio settings on the player?

Is the cable 1.4 or 2.0

You only need to my knowledge a 1.4 HDMI cable for audio.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by sonic_debauchery

Have you tried this combination with a different receiver?

Checked the cable?

Looked in the audio settings on the player?

Is the cable 1.4 or 2.0

You only need to my knowledge a 1.4 HDMI cable for audio.

I don't have another receiver to test with unfortunately. My cables are all 2.0. I've tried different cables as well as different inputs on the receiver + TV. I've turned off all the ARC and CEC options as well just to make sure that was not interfering. I've also messed with a whole bunch of different settings on the TV/Receiver/BD player. Still no difference. The audio lag is due to the time taken by the TV processing the DV signal I believe.

[kansashoops]

Originally Posted by Lok3sh

This is exactly what I've done, but the audio cuts out unless I remove the video out HDMI from the receiver. I've detailed my issues with this setup a few posts above.

With a 2.1 setup, will I really notice all that much of a difference in sound?

Sorry. I didn't read the whole thread.

Do you have ARC enabled on the TV and receiver for that HDMI connection (not Anthem Room Correction, Audio Return Channel)? If so, that might be the source of the problems. In my old set up (Yamaha 3050, Sony TV), I tried to use ARC so I could use the 4K Netflix app on my TV and run the sound through my receiver. I had nothing but problems with that arrangement. They all went away when I disabled everything to do with ARC on both the TV and the receiver, and ran a separate optical audio line from the TV to the receiver. Anyway, that's the first thing I would check.

I don't know whether you would or wouldn't notice a big difference. I noticed a very pronounced improvement when I went to the AVM 60, but it is most noticeable in the surrounds and height channels, and less so up front. I don't know exactly what the source of the improvement is, but I suspect it's a matter of ARC doing a better job than YPAO at room correction.

[Lok3sh]

Originally Posted by kansashoops

Sorry. I didn't read the whole thread.

Do you have ARC enabled on the TV and receiver for that HDMI connection (not Anthem Room Correction, Audio Return Channel)? If so, that might be the source of the problems. In my old set up (Yamaha 3050, Sony TV), I tried to use ARC so I could use the 4K Netflix app on my TV and run the sound through my receiver. I had nothing but problems with that arrangement. They all went away when I disabled everything to do with ARC on both the TV and the receiver, and ran a separate optical audio line from the TV to the receiver. Anyway, that's the first thing I would check.

I don't know whether you would or wouldn't notice a big difference. I noticed a very pronounced improvement when I went to the AVM 60, but it is most noticeable in the surrounds and height channels, and less so up front. I don't know exactly what the source of the improvement is, but I suspect it's a matter of ARC doing a better job than YPAO at room correction.

No worries. To avoid the ARC issue, I tried plugging the receiver into the HDMI 2 input on my TV which does not aupport ARC (only HDMI 1 has ARC). This did not solve the issue of the audio cutting out. I am not sure if my receiver supports ARC, my Google search just kept bringing up the room correcting stuff. Silly that they decided to name that ARC as well :/ I will have to look into it further, but I don't think that that's the issue in this case. I hope it is though, because then I can fix it and maybe just keep my current receiver.

[kansashoops]

In Audio/Video Setup, make sure HDMI Audio Output is set to AVR, and HDMI CEC is off.

If that's not it, you might try searching this thread and/or asking about the problem there:

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-re...guide-574.html