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The Anthem MRX700 Home Theater Receiver offers practical features and excellent performance for your home theater setup. With HDMI 3D pass-through, analog to HDMI video conversion and 1080p upscaling, Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and Dolby Pro Logic IIz processing, Internet Radio, iPod connectivity, and Anthem's own room correction and speaker setup system, the Anthem MRX700 is definitely worth consideration.

After reading this review, also check out my supplementary Photo Profile and Video Performance Tests.

Product Overview

The features of the MRX700 include:

1. 7.1 channel Home Theater Receiver delivering 120 Watts per channel (2 channels driven) or 90 Watts per channel (5 channels driven) RMS at .02% THD into 8 ohms.

2. Audio Decoding: Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1/EX/Pro logic IIx/IIz, DTS 5.1/ES, 96/24, DTS Neo:6, Dolby Virtual Speaker, and Dolby Headphone.

3. Additional Audio Processing Options: AnthemLogic (Music/Cinema), All Channel Stereo, and Dolby Volume.

4.Anthem Room Correction speaker setup system (setup kit with microphone and software included).

5. Audio Inputs (Analog): 7 Stereo Analog.

6. Audio Inputs (Digital - Excluding HDMI): 3 Digital Optical, 2 Digital Coaxial.

7. Audio Outputs (Excluding HDMI): 2 Sets - Analog Stereo, 1 Digital Coaxial, 1 One set of 7.1 Channel Analog Audio inputs, Zone 2 Analog Stereo Pre-outs, 1 Subwoofer Pre-out, 1 Headphone output.

8. Speaker connection options for Surround Back, Vertical Height, and Zone 2 speakers provided.

9. Video Inputs: 4 HDMI ver 1.4a (3D pass through capable), 3 Component, 4 Composite. One set of AV inputs mounted on front panel.

10. Video Outputs: 1 HDMI, 1 Component Video, 3 Composite Video.

11. Analog to HDMI video conversion (480i to 480p) and upscaling up to 1080p/60. HDMI pass-through of native 1080p and 3D signals.

12. AM/FM/HD Radio Tuner with 30 Presets.

13.vTuner Internet Radio via Ethernet Connection.

14. iPod/iPhone connectivity/control connectivity available via USB or optional docking station. Rear mounted docking port connection.

15. 2 USB ports for access to media files stored on flash drives and other USB storage devices.

16.RS-232 and 12 Volt Trigger connections provided for custom install control capability.

17. One Switched AC convenience outlet ( rated at 120v, 60Hz, 50 watts, .5 amps)is provided.

18. Built-in fan assembly, which helps to maintain a relatively cool running temperature, even after extended use. However, it is always advisable to have ample space for air circulation on the sides, top, and rear of the unit.

19. Two Wireless remotes provided for Main and Zone 2 operation, supported by large front panel LED display and full color onscreen menu system.

20. User Manual.

For a closer look at the features and connections of the Anthem MRX700, also check out my Photo Profile.

Hardware Used

The additional home theater hardware used in this review included:

Home Theater Receiver (used for comparison): Onkyo TX-SR705

Blu-ray Disc Player (2D and 3D): OPPO BDP-93.

DVD Player: OPPO DV-980H.

Loudspeaker/Subwoofer System 1 (7.1 channels): 2 Klipsch F-2's, 2 Klipsch B-3s, Klipsch C-2 Center , 2 Polk R300s, Klipsch Synergy Sub10.

Loudspeaker/Subwoofer System 2 (5.1 channels): EMP Tek E5Ci center channel speaker, four E5Bi compact bookshelf speakers for left and right main and surrounds, and an ES10i 100 watt powered subwoofer.

Loudspeaker/Subwoofer System 3 (5.1 channels): Cambridge Audio Minx S215 featuring Min10 satellite speakers and X200 powered subwoofer

TV/Monitors: (2D and 3D) Panasonic TP-50GT30 1080p 3D Plasma TV (on review loan from Panasonic), (2D) Westinghouse Digital LVM-37w3 1080p LCD Monitor,

DVDO EDGE Video Scaler used for baseline video upscaling comparisons.

Audio/Video connections made with Accell, Interconnect cables. 16 Gauge Speaker Wire used. High Speed HDMI Cables provided by Atlona for this review.

Additional Level checks made using a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter

Software Used

The software used in this review included the following titles:

3D Blu-ray Discs: Avatar, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Despicable Me, My Bloody Valentine, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Space Station, Tangled, Tron: Legacy, and Under The Sea.

2D Blu-ray Discs: Across The Universe, Hairspray, Inception, Iron Man 1&2, Kick Ass, Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Shakira - Oral Fixation Tour, Sherlock Holmes, The Expendables, The Dark Knight, The Incredibles and Transporter 3

Standard DVDs used included scenes from the following: The Cave, House of the Flying Daggers, Kill Bill - Vol 1/2, Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut), Lord of Rings Trilogy, Master and Commander, Outlander, U571, and V For Vendetta.

CDs: Al Stewart - Sparks of Ancient Light, Beatles - LOVE, Blue Man Group - The Complex, Joshua Bell - Bernstein - West Side Story Suite, Eric Kunzel - 1812 Overture, HEART - Dreamboat Annie, Lisa Loeb - Firecracker, Nora Jones - Come Away With Me, Sade - Soldier of Love.

DVD-Audio discs included: Queen - Night At The Opera/The Game, Eagles - Hotel California, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Uninvisible, Sheila Nicholls - Wake.

SACD discs used included: Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, Steely Dan - Gaucho, The Who - Tommy.

How The Anthem Room Correction System Works

The Anthem Room Correction System works by having your PC or Laptop instruct the MRX700 (via the RS232 serial connection) to generate a series of test signals into each connected speaker and subwoofer. As the test signals are generated by the MRX700 and reproduced by the connected loudspeakers and subwoofer, they are picked up by the provided microphone, which, in turn, sends the signal to your connected PC or Laptop via a USB connection. It is recommended that this step is repeated for at least five listening positions.

Once the series of test signals is collected by the PC, the software calculates the results and matches the results against a reference curve. The software then corrects the response of the loudspeakers that are affected by room characteristics to more closely match the reference curve, thus optimizing speaker and subwoofer performance as much as possible for your specific listening space, correcting for the negative effects that the room adds to the mix.

Once this process is completed, the results are saved in both the MRX700 and your PC/Laptop, where the results can be displayed in graph form on your PC/Laptop monitor or screen. Check out a real-life example of how the results are displayed

Audio Performance

The MRX700 has a well-laid out rear connection panel, making it easy to connect components and speakers. Using both analog and digital audio sources, the MRX700, in both 5.1, and 7.1 channel configurations, delivered an excellent surround image.

The MRX700 is robust over long listening sessions. I fed both uncompressed two and multi-channel PCM signals via HDMI from the OPPO BDP-93, as well as undecoded bitstream output via HDMI and Digital Optical/Coaxial to get a comparison between externally processed audio signals and the internal audio processing of the MRX700. In both cases, using a variety of music and movie source material, the MRX700 did an excellent job. There was no sense of any strain or recovery time issues with demanding music or movie tracks.

In addition to the standard Surround Sound processing modes, Anthem offers its own AnthemLogic surround processing system. AnthemLogic operates in a similar fashion to Dolby Pro Logic II or IIx and DTS Neo:6. AnthemLogic Music is designed to bring out up to a 6.1 channel sound field (no center channel inclusion), while AnthemLogic-Cinema brings out up to a 7.1 channel sound field from incoming two channel material. I found that AnthemLogic is effective, and provides the user with an alternative to Dolby Prologic II, IIx, or DTS Neo:6 offerings.

As mentioned above, the AnthemLogic Music setting disables the center channel, but retains the left, right, and surround channels. The intent is to recreate a more traditional stereo image where the left and right front channel speakers are used to create phantom center channel. After listening, I don't know if this variation is really necessary, but it does add another listening setup option.

Proceed to Page 2: More on Audio Performance, Internet/USB, Video Performance, and Final Take

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