I'll play with the None setting. That's actually currently where I have stereo content from this input set. For multi-channel its set to something else. I thought that it still was sending a sub signal but that's easily testable. The manual says that the listening modes upmix content to take advantage of all speakers. But I don't think none=pure per say. I'm guessing there is still a signal going out the LFE. I'll check. If that's the case, I'll have to switch speaker profiles to do what I want.

I don't object to the ARC processing from what I'm hearing. So my main priority is to eliminate the boosted sub signal from music listening.

T Cobe, my first impressions are very good. I didn't mean to imply I needed a long time to tell if I liked it, I just am not one to hook something up and then go straight to my keyboard. Also I've not spent a ton of time listening critically. After hooking it up I've spent more time watching movies with my kids and I'm not complaining about that.

In the "none" setting, I don't believe I'm getting any LFE for music playback in my system. Did you try the "mode" button and the the arrow up and down buttons on the remote? That will let you switch on the fly to the various playback modes. I believe you will hear the difference and when the LFE engages.

Cheers,

T Cobe

If None excludes the subs, I won't need to switch, I'll just set 2-channel content to none in the menu. I'll leave just the Triton subs hooked up and switch modes to see if the subs are getting a signal and report back.

Imahawki,
What universal remote do you have?
I am using ARC on an anthem 710. When I first tested the Anthem I wanted to quickly toggle ARC on/off to see if I could hear a difference. I just programed a button on the remote to do that. It's a simple macro that automatically mimics what you would do to turn ARC on/off manually.
I do a different macro to switch between inputs one and two on my receiver, when testing various xovers. You could use that for music/movies as well. Hope this helps

OK, a few comments

1) I have a Harmony Touch, which is the same as the Ultimate but without the the Hub thing. So I could setup some macros if I wanted.

2) On a 2 ch source, the NONE mode is indeed L/R only with no sub. On any other mode, the signal is upmixed in one way or another including adding subs unless you have them turned off in that speaker profile. So that problem is solved. If I want pure stereo, I just set the listening mode to none. Although I've been playing with AnthemLogic music. More on that later.

On impressions with AVM 60... now that I've had a bit more time to live with this unit I'm seriously impressed. I know I led off with some gripes, maybe its my nature. I'm a career external and now internal auditor. We come in, we look at and assess a whole bunch of stuff and then we report, not exclusively but certainly primarily, on what is wrong.

I think I may repeat a bit on what T Cobe has reported. For music, I think this unit excels in a few areas. Primarily it could be summarized by saying the unit gets out of the way. Or, it commits no sins of commission. More specifically I think relative to my Onkyo AVR it is more dynamic, it is more detailed, and ARC is doing wonders for the frequency response. As I've mentioned already, I set the cutoff at 500 Hz, so I'm living with my speaker/room interaction above that but I'm using it to correct the lower midrange and bass. And it does a great job. I still want some room treatments but ARC is so clearly superior to Audyssey.

For movies, the story is more of the same but, while the clarity and dynamics certainly stand out, the bass is so much better than before. I played a couple demo scenes and the bass just feels so much more impactful without sounding overtly louder... just better. Like REALLY good.

This was a big purchase for me. Moving from a $1000 AVR to a $2000 (used) amp and $3000 pre/pro was a big jump. If I didn't think this unit was a large improvement, I'd return it and go for something like the Marantz 7xxx unit that is more along the lines of one of their AVRs with the amps removed. That won't be happening. I can tell you now I'll be keeping this unit.

So the other thing I mentioned is AnthemLogic. For the music version, what it does from my understanding is it derives surround channels from the source similar to DPL IIx but it doesn't add any echos or delays (Anthem is explicit and adamant about this) and it cuts the sound coming out of the rear speakers significantly so they end up providing a sense of width and depth to the front soundstage. There is (in my setup at least) absolutely NO sense that there is even any sound coming from the surround speakers. In addition, unlike DPL IIx Anthem does not derive a center channel. The only speakers playing are the main L/R and either two or four surrounds depending on your setup. Its an interesting effect. I wanted to say subtle but its actually quite a significant effect. I think the reason subtle came to mind is because of what I said earlier... its so skewed towards just enhancing the stereo imaging with no delays to add "ambiance".

Great feedback, Imahawki. Thanks for the report. I'll have to check out Anthem Logic a bit more. I've watched a few movies today and am continuously impressed by what I am hearing. I agree, $3,000 is a considerable amount of money on a processor. I have no regrets and am not looking back. I think your comment about hooking it up and simply enjoying movies with your family speaks volumes.

Cheers,

T Cobe