Anthem ARC Genesis - Getting the Best Sound

Get the slope right

There are dozens of online video reviews of the Anthem MRX receivers as well as tutorials on how to use the ARC Genesis software to automatically calibrate your room.  This page is about what to do after you let it do it's thing. 

 

Honestly any ARC is a mixed bag of pros and cons.  On the plus side, configuring 6 speakers for distance, level, crossover frequency and parametric EQ settings is a complicated endeavor even for an expert with the right tools. The Anthem ARC Genesis package does a lot of things right and two things wrong and we'll show you here how to fix those things.  Both of these problems are related to the slope of the target curves. 

In general after the automatic configuration is done the system will sound bright and missing bass.  Sure you could turn up the subwoofer level alone, but we'll go over how to make your system sound even better than that.

 

Preparation

If you have any trouble running ARC Genesis skip to the bottom where I discuss bugs and how to fix them. 

 

The first thing to do is to run ARC normally and let it run automatically.  When you are done, save the ARC file, we'll use that as the basis for the next steps. 

The Tilts

ARC, like many many room correction systems before it, wants to be too flat so the final result is too bright and bass doesn't do justice to films. This isn't just about the level of the subwoofer, but the tilt.  We'll discuss that in a bit. 

 

1. Launch ARC Genesis.
2. Select Open a Saved ARC File and load the file you created after your first run. 
3. Click on ( 3 ) Adjust Arc, then below that Adjust Targets where you'll see this: 
   

 

 

 

We work our way up from the bottom.  Set Tilt Start Frequency between 80 and 100 Hz, and set Tilt Level to -2.  This gives you a more natural sounding curve from the mid-bass through the treble.  It will eliminate that "small TV speaker" sound you get immediately after running ARC. 

 

The next part is a little kludgy because we dont' have a subwoofer tilt but desperately want one.  Set the frequency for the lowest point you can that your sub supports.  My sub goes down to about 15 Hz in this room (yes really) and boost it just a little bit to get you a slope that goes from that point down to 80 by about 2-4 dB.  

 

Room Gain

The Anthem documentation is pretty poor here so let me help you out a little.  Turns out that after many studies we like a bass boost.  Somewhere between 2-4 dB.  The Room gain setting helps you replicate this curve.  That's fine, but the truth is you can't really control it except in the ARC Genesis application.  For this reason I suggest you set it to about 1 dB and instead boost the subwoofer level about 3-5 dB.  It's almost the same but you have an easier time adjusting it from your couch.

 

The Final Shape

The goal of the steps above is to give us two slopes, one for the subwoofer and one for the rest of the system.  The thick blue line on top of the chart below helps clarify our targets here. Essentially we want the subwoofer and main speakers to tilt downwards but we want the subwoofer to tilt down faster. 

The subwoofer tilt is essential to getting you the T-Rex walking effects correct but without making every door opening and closing sound like a bomb.

 

The Subwoofer Level

Great, so you got to here, but we aren't done.  Go ahead and apply these new settings and then go to the Web interface and look for the subwoofer level.  You probably want to boost it by about 2-4 dB, maybe even more.  With the tilt I've shown you above you'll be able to do this without making your romcom sound like Godzilla. 

 

These are starting guidelines but I think that if you follow my instructions you will have a system which may not be as bright or zingy but will sound huge and immersive.

ARC Genesis / MRX Bugs

As of this writing there are a a couple of functional issues which can prevent you from using ARC Genesis: 

• The web based interface won't properly update the firmware. Have to use the on-screen display to update it. Without the latest firmware ARC won't connect.
  
• If you are playing from a video source ARC may not be able to start it's test signals.  You'll get an ambiguous message saying ARC couldn't connect to the microphone or speakers.  Turn off all sources and restart your MRX.