Room Correction Features of the Anthem Statement D2

[AVRevForum.com]

Anthem, a division of Paradigm Electronics Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-end electronics for music and home theater, announces a new addition for the Anthem® Statement D2 digital audio/video processor— the Anthem Room Correction System (Model ARC-1). This system will also be available as an add-on to any existing Anthem Statement D1 or D2 processors.

Even when speakers are properly spaced and positioned, the room still can have a dramatic impact on the speakers’ performance. Dead spots, archways, furniture placement, ceiling height and countless other factors can turn a room into an instrument itself, playing alongside musicians or movie scores with unwanted contributions of coloration and resonance. Anthem’s Room Correction technology compensates for these acoustic problem areas by automatically configuring each speaker’s tonal balance for optimized sound.

The process starts when a test signal is sent from the Statement processor to each connected speaker. The signal is played and then picked up by an individually calibrated microphone, which is placed in various listening positions. The system puts each speaker through a full frequency sweep to highlight the problem areas and determine the necessary adjustments. Configurations are saved and can be accessed accordingly, allowing the user to optimize the system for multiple configurations. The system is extremely precise because the connected PC’s 64-bit floating-point processor calculates the correction curves. Truly an audiophile solution, the Anthem Room Correction system is compatible with any incoming audio signal without reducing the bit rate.

Anthem’s Room Correction system is based on equalizer filter requirements created during the Athena Acoustic Research Project performed by Canada’s National Research Council (NRC). The goal of this study was to determine the correct in-room “target response” and then develop a system to adjust each speaker to achieve this in any given listening room. Based on this analysis and research, and with the computing power already in place courtesy of the Statement processors’ twin-DSP engine design, Paradigm and Anthem’s design team created the Anthem Room Correction system to identify those characteristics and enable the Statement processor to make the necessary adjustments to achieve the desired in-room acoustic result.

Features of the Anthem Room Correction technology include an intuitive set-up wizard for new users, choice of auto or user mode, an interface that displays measurements for advanced users, Infinite Impulse Response Filters to prevent delay that would affect lip-sync and video game play, and PC backup.

Some additional features of the Anthem Statement D2 that aren’t related to Anthem Room Correction are:

• Four HDMI™ Inputs – Allow for digital video, digital audio and multi-channel high-resolution audio;

• Video Transcoding – Allows S-Video and Component Video inputs to be digitally processed and enhanced and then routed through the Component Video and HDMI™ outputs;

• Leading-Edge Video Format Conversion – Utilizes Gennum VXP™ image processing with Anthem’s custom firmware, boasting fourth-generation broadcast-quality image processing algorithms for conversion of any SD or HD video standard to other video standards, up to a resolution of 1920 x 1080p;

• On-Screen Displays – Both the Setup Menu and the Status Update (which is superimposed onto the picture during normal use) are displayed on the Component Video and HDMI™ outputs, at any resolution up to 1080p, providing the first “true single-connection solution” to an HD projector/display;

• Macrovision Support – Allows VCR tapes to be processed and output through HDMI™;

• Aspect Ratio Conversion – Allows Letter-box and Pillar-box addition or removal through various user settings;

• Zone 2 Component Video Output – Allows the second set of Component Video outputs to be used for HD video switching of sources for the second zone video;

• Advanced Hardware Framework – Allows much longer cables to be driven without degrading the signal, or losing it entirely, and provides support for ultra-high bandwidth 1080p/60 Hz;

The D2 with Anthem Room Correction has an MSRP of $7499. The ARC-1 system will also be available as an add-on for existing Statement processors, estimated price is $399.

[deacongreg]

Anthem, a leader in its own right of superior audio products of great value, continue to improve and push the envelope to take it to the next level.

[kennyt]

I'm looking to get one of these once they ship, the D2 is a great unit, and our demo of the room correction software was very impressive, can't wait to try it out at home.

[kennyt]

Well, I've had the unit in my rig for a week or so now and can say the ARC is awesome!

I messed around with the advanced settings (despite being warned not to in the manual) and it gave this weird bassy warble sounded like a microphone in a very windy environment so I redid the measurements and the change is really good!

I'll have to write this up in much more detail!

[J.J.]

Will the add on work with the AVM50 or only the Statement products?

[kennyt]

J.J.

as far as I know it is only for the D2, but if you were so inclined to add it, Anthem will upgrade the AVM-50 to the D2, they even told me for the right amount of money they'd take an AVM-20 to D2 status, but it might be cost prohibitive.

Call them and see, given their history of trickle down I suspect it will soon be available for the AVM 50 as well.