Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater AVR or pre amp recommendations? Going 4K

Onkyo has Dirac.

Well now the friggin thing is working again. It powered up without a hitch. I did have to cycle it a couple times to sync up to the input devices, so I suspect there is something inside it with a headache.

I am still going to replace it though. Confidence level that it will continue working is about zero.

Now I'm wondering if I ought to just buy an A/V processor, and get a 3CH amp for the R/L/C channels, and I can still use my two 5 CH amps for the rest of the speakers. I'm surprised to see so many dedicated processors on the market now. Even Monoprice is making one. Emotiva has several (very confusing line up).

I'm not buying Onkyo. Or Pioneer. Or Yamaha. Or Sony.

Are you allowing for adequate ventilation?

The EQ rack is a four-corner post design with glass shelves. Open on all four sides and free-standing in the room behind the seats. Plenty of room above the equipment on each shelf too. I can't imagine any restrictions to ventilation.

I have a suspicion the problem is the actual temp sensor itself. The Aircom unit has an inlet temp display. It pulls air from the top of the AVR. I have not seen temps in excess of 80 deg. Seems to me that's not very hot for an AVR?

Seems fine to me. The temp sensor is a reasonable theory. It may be worth to contact Anthem and find out if there are any service bulletins for this issue - if they even have a process for such things.

ive been using my Anthem AVM60 pre-amp for more than 3 years and had zero issues with it. Well, some like every once in a while the HDMI gets mixed up, but I am not sure if that is a timing issue with the FireTV Cube or the AVM. to fix it, sometimes you need to power down the AVM and power it back up and its fine. Other times its the FireTV Cube that needs to be rebooted. But this is a once every 6-7 months type of thing. Anthem has said it's got to do with the sending remote control signals through HDMI timing thing. I live with it.

I did speak with an Anthem tech rep when this initially happened. I got the very distinct impression they were not interested in assisting a DYI'er in troubleshooting the issue, and told me to just send it to them for repair.

I could always try again.

I really want to like Anthem. When it works, my HT has not ever sounded this good. I'm not opposed to trying them again, but if I do, it'll be through an authorized dealer with a full warenty.

I watched a couple of reviews on the AWM70. Seems like that unit puts an X in a lot of boxes for me. I am not sure if I like the web-based user interface though. I think I'd rather just have a good GUI, verse having to use a laptop.

Anthem has a 3 Channel amp that looks quite good as well. Suppose I should look at Axiom's amps too. Hope they are more reliable than their subwoofer amps have been. I have had to replace several over the years.....

NAD has a couple units that have Dirac onboard. Been using a 777 for 4 years or so no issues. I like it and find it to be entirely customizable for my setup. Audiosciencereview panned it….. but I have zero issues with it in real world use. The T778 is its replacement I believe

I had and Arcam AVR360 for 7 or so years as my main AVR and still use to this day to drive my ceiling height channels. No issues. I did find Arcam to be pricey for what you get and dealer/firmware support a little lacking.

Thanks Trevor. Appreciate your input.

I'm leaning towards moving to separates this time. I had a preference to go with a mainstream AVR, due to HDMI glitches and the larger company's ability to sort them out, but now - It seems as though many companies are making excellent pre-pro's with all the bells and whistles the AVRs have.

I've always like NAD. I'll give them a look and see what they offer.

I was looking at Axiom's 3 channel amps. Looks like I would need to go with the 1250 to get balanced inputs. Seems odd they are not included on all the amps? The 1000 series would be more than enough to drive my M80's and VP 160.

Be very interested in what you land on. Dunno what is down the road for me, but recently I’ve lost track of what is available. Construction is nuts right now, so any AV jobs have been shelved. I’m out of the loop for cutting edge for sure.

If cost no option the new NAD master series are where my dollarydoos would likely go.