The Upgraded Anthem AVM-20 2.0 Thread (2 Viewers)

[Mifr44]

"Thanks for confirming (as far as we can tell) that it is indeed most likely a board swap."
It would appear that this post is saying the same thing.
"I got my AVM 20 back from the dealer on Saturday and reinstalled all the wiring on Sunday."
Desperately trying to avoid the kitchen with the plethora of sharp knives there. Sigh.
Michael

 

[Bob-N]

*in a loud bullhorn voice*
MICHAEL, STEP AWAY FROM THOSE KNIVES. YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND OTHER AVM20 OWNERS STILL LOVE YOU.

 

[Mifr44]

Has anybody on the west coast of the US gotten their hardware upgrade for the AVM-20? I am still waiting for the DSP board to arrive and was wondering if I was the only one.

Michael

 

[Mark Dubeau]

I live 30 minutes from the factory and I still don't have mine.. urgh..

 

[Mifr44]

"I live 30 minutes from the factory and I still don't have mine.. urgh.."
I am thinking dark clothes, a flashlight, bolt cutters, a crow bar, and a couple of beef steaks for the guard dogs! LOL!
BTW, where are all of the reviews? Is the upgrade so insignificant that it did not provide much of an improvement in your systems?
Michael

 

[Evan S]

Didn't Brian Florian say on this board that SECRETS of HOME THEATER were going to run a second AVM-20 review once the hardware upgrade came out? I distinctly remember him saying that. Seeing as the original SECRETS review is what prompted most of us to look into this unit in the first place, I'm interested in what he has to say about any perceived improvements.

Michael, I realize you are talking about reviews from OWNERS, but I wouldn't mind a third party independent reviewer chiming in as well.

As for the upgrade delivery time, I ordered my upgrade on Monday the 9th and was told that it would be at the dealer within a week's time. That was 10 days ago...still no word.

 

[Camp]

I think most of us are still waiting.

I'd like to see an updated review on Secrets too.

 

[Chas_T]

BTW, where are all of the reviews? Is the upgrade so insignificant that it did not provide much of an improvement in your systems?

I am not a pro reviewer so I am not even going to try and ellaborate on the upgrade in a detailed manner. I too am hoping that Brian Florian will do a professional review on the upgrade. No matter what he writes, I'm sold on the Anthem either way.

All I know is I love the Pro-logic 2 sound fields for Sat. viewing and the cost if I had to pay for it, would have been a no brainer after playing/listening to it for the past few weeks. The flexibility that I now have with the crossover settings also has improved the listening experience of my system.

I would not consider the upgrade earth shattering, but at the other end of the spectrum, it far from insignificant IMHO.

 

[MikeAF]

I was one of the lucky ones who only needed the software upgrade. Since then I ahve spent more time enjoying music and DVD's than I have spent on the internet which may explain the lack of reviews. I have not played around with all the new features yet but the ones I have used the most I have really enjoyed. The THX Ultra 2 and EX options have made watching movies a new experience especially since I can now enjoy my rear two speakers and a much improved surround field. I played around with the new sub settings but kept coming back to the 80 hz crossover for all my speakers. For me and my room this was the best in my opinion. I'm running Diva 6.1's, C3 and R3's. DPL2 has been okay for some music but I prefer two channel myself. My only weakness is my rear two channel speakers which I hope to upgrade before this year is up. All in all I say the upgrade was definitely worth the time and I feel even better knowing that I paid around 2900 for the whole thing. Now onto the AVM20 and more enjoyment
Mike

 

[Bob Wilson]

Last night I sat down and listened to the Fifth Element again. Since I have used this disc after every change in the system i know what it sounds like. with DTS NEo 6 on the upgraded AVM 20 the sound was definately more transparent than in 5.1 DTS on the original AVM 20. My wife's comment on this and on LOTR was that teh sound was more believable with the new system. How much is due to the room boundary adjustment and how much to the new modes I can't tell. The upgrade is definately significant from a sonic basis. on 2 channel material played in stereo I did not notice any difference, nor would I expect to. The DPL II on TV is quite nice.

 

[Dennis Oblow]

How would you compare watching TV through DPLII as opposed to using Cinemalogic?

 

[Chas_T]

I always find it difficult to describe sound. After reading your post, I went and listened to the same program for about 30 minutes switching back and forth between sound fields.

Best description is the Prologic II soundstage seems to more centered at the TV, versus the Cinemalogic, which seems to be spread evenly towards the fronts versus the focus on the center channel.

Personally, I prefer the ProLogic II. Don't know if this makes sense.

 

[Mifr44]

To all AVM-20 owners with v2.0 software,
According to this thread on the AVS Forum, there seems to be a bug in the v2.0 software (or maybe the hardware?). In short, if you power on the AVM-20 to a source that was last left in DPL II mode, you will experience an erratic sound behavior from your system (some speakers not playing, weak or inaudible levels, etc.). Changing to some other mode and then back to DPL II returns the system to normal.
Has anyone else here tried this with their system and do they experience the same thing as the first two posters in the above thread? I wonder if this is why the hardware has not made it's way to my dealer and why Anthem has not responded to my emails?
Michael

 

[Chas_T]

Michael, I was just about to post a reference to the same thread on the AVS forum. You were quicker to the draw.
Here is my comment on the post and the test sequence itself is in quotes.
***************************
Brian, (The poster on the AVS Forum)
I tried your test:

"Simply select a 2 channel source as input (with Analog-DSP), set DPLII-Movie as the mode. Turn off the AVM-20. Wait 5 seconds. Turn on the AVM-20. You should now hear the bug; sound coming from the "wrong" channels and/or low volume levels. "

YOU ARE CORRECT about the problem as my system only reproduced sound out of the left channel. The others were very weak or inaudible.
The fix was to just change the sound field and then come back to DPLII Movie and it was back to normal.
I did the test about 5 times and was able to produce the same results. However, I used the 555ES CD player and not the Sat. box as it has a digitial connection. The 555ES is only connected via 2 channels.

 

[Mifr44]

Chas_T,

I have already sent an email to Nick in Tech Support at Sonic Frontiers pointing him to the thread over at the AVS Forum. The email I sent last Wednesday to the sales group at Sonic Frontiers had not been responded to, so I decided to forward my email to him and mention the post at AVS. Hopefully, he can provide some insight to this apparent software bug (and the shipping status of my hardware upgrade!).

Have you tried this test with a digital connection? You mentioned that your Satellite receiver is using a digital connection, so maybe you can test that too.

Michael

 

[Chas_T]

Michael:
I would like to add to your comment:

In short, if you power on the AVM-20 to a source that was last left in DPL II mode, you will experience an erratic sound behavior from your system (some speakers not playing, weak or inaudible levels, etc.).

The key here seems to be 2 channel mode, which is what the AVS poster Brian, has suggested in his testing method. I tried the same test in NON-2 channel modes and did not experience the problem.
The work around is simple in nature, which is change the sound field and then back to ProLogic II. However, it appears the "BUG" is there in 2 channel mode.

 

[Mifr44]

Chas_T,

"The key here seems to be 2 channel mode, which is what the AVS poster Brian, has suggested in his testing method. I tried the same test in NON-2 channel modes and did not experience the problem."

Just so I understand, if the input source is set to Analog-DSP mode (which defaults to the 2 channel analog inputs) AND you leave the DSP mode to DPL II-Movie, then when you power back up your AVM-20 the problem appears. Is that correct?

I wonder if this same problem occurs with DPL II-Music or any other 2 channel DSP mode (AnthemLogic, DTS Neo:6, All Channel Stereo, etc.)?

Michael

 

[Marc_E]

Hey guys,
I tried to repeat the procedure that michael posted and I did not get any problems.
Marc

 

[Camp]

You guys aren't concerned about this, are you? At worst it's a minor annoyance.
Nice catch by the original poster at AVS though. I'm just glad it's not something more serious.

 

[Mifr44]

"You guys aren't concerned about this, are you?"

My concern at this point is that Anthem knows about this and will delay delivery of the hardware for the v2.0 upgrade.

"At worst it's a minor annoyance."

As an operating issue, true. It should be no more than a software fix for this bug (although why when using the analog inputs and not the digital inputs?). But from a PR standpoint, ouch! Most supporters of the AVM-20 have been backing the delay with the reasoning that Anthem wanted to get it right the first time.

"I tried to repeat the procedure that michael posted and I did not get any problems."

I sort of wished you had found the problem. It would have indicated an obvious bug that should be easily tracked down. This just means it might be difficult to isolate the problem.

Michael