Arcam AVR350 7.1 Receiver, Review
June 26, 2006
Last week (after getting the Dwin shipped off) I had the pleasure of reviewing Arcam’s latest 7.1 surround receiver, the AVR350. To the un-initiated Arcam’s products might appear a bit different, perhaps even nondescript versus the likes of Denon, Pioneer and Harmon Kardon. With further examination however you just may discover what scores of other British hi-fi enthusiasts found years ago, the proof is in the sound.
Arcam like many of their compatriots believe that any bell, whistle or heaven forbid useless DSP mode incorporated into a surround receiver, should add to the overall sound performance, not detract from it. In other words don’t expect a lot of fluff with Arcam products, expect great sound. The real trick however is to find that perfect balance of sound and functionality, which is exactly the yardstick I wanted to measure the AVR350 by.
Arcam AVR350 specifications:
• 2-way HDMI switching (video only)
• 7 x 100 watts per channel continuous power output (all channels driven)
• Dolby Digital EX, DTS ES, DTS 24/96 & Dolby Pro logic IIx decoding
• HDTV compatible component / RGB switching
• Composite and S-video up conversion to component or RGB
• Second zone output with audio and video
AVR350 Set-up:
You know setting up new A/V gear can be an amusing (and even frustrating) process, live with a specific piece of gear long enough and its easy to assume all gear operates in the same manner, we’re all creatures of habit in the end.
The Arcam AVR350 was one of the easiest AVR’s I’ve set-up in recent memory. If you haven’t set-up a AVR lately, you might find it odd to learn that some manufacturers don’t ship their receivers with the corresponding audio and video inputs paired by default.
I’m happy to report the AVR350 defaults DVD Video with DVD Audio and so forth. Outside of selecting my speaker sizes and level balance, I really didn’t have to change much at all via the on-screen menu before I was up and running.
Quick note about balancing speaker levels with the Arcam AVR350, the 350 does not include mic-based auto set-up, if I had to surmise why I’d say that Arcam chose to allocate any budget that would have went into any auto set-up functions back into the audio portion of the receiver itself, in my opinion they made the right call.
I used a SPL meter and the Arcam’s internal pink noise generator to balance my speakers, it was quick easy and accurate, really makes me wonder if the auto-calibration functions in many AVR’s are really that necessary after all. A SPL meter for someone willing to drop over $1500 on an AVR, would seem to be an inconsequential purchase and well worth the investment
Look, Feel and Design:
I’m really interested in industrial design, it’s fascinating to me to see the differences in how manufacturers approach logical design. It was quickly obvious to me that Arcam subscribes to my particular flavor of design, function over fluff and build quality over useless features.
The AVR350′s case is solid, not that tinny pressed steel feel, more akin to a solid sheet of steel, I also liked the heavy aluminum volume control, while details like this really don’t account for how something sounds, it does add to the over all feel of the product.
Initial Impressions:
I knew this was going to be an interesting review because immediately after finishing my speaker connections the first source cable I grabbed was the output of my Airport Express, I plugged it into the AUX optical input of the AVR350, spun it around and hit the power button, what I got surprised me.
No no it worked, that wasn’t the surprising part, what I was taken aback by was the immediate improvement in sound quality versus my Marantz SR-7500. I hadn’t really expected that a 128kbps stream from iTunes radio would ever really sound better between any two pieces of equipment, given the already low bit rate.
The sound was immediately more open, spacious and detailed. I have no other explanation for this other than the quality of the digital to analog converters in the Arcam.
Results with Comcast Digital Cable:
As it turned out the first bit of surround I heard through the Arcam was from an AMC airing of ‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ as mediocre as the video was I still enjoyed the movie, the dialogue was easier to follow than I remembered with typical cable programs, but obviously I needed to move onto some reference material to get a real idea of what the Arcam was capable of.
Later I caught ‘London Live’ on INHD, which happened to feature one of my favorite new bands, ‘The Editors’. The Dolby Digital audio wasn’t exactly stellar but the Arcam made the best it could of the situation.
Tom Smith’s voice exuded much of the same resonance it does on the CD, which was somewhat impressive considering the relative quality of the audio feed. I couldn’t wait to hear what a real source would sound like.
DVD Results:
Moving on to Pearl Harbor (Attack Scene DTS 5.1) I noticed better rear-channel panning from the Japanese Zero’s flying over head. The bomb that fell into the ships galley had a very distinct metallic thud when it landed, as opposed to the dull boom in previous viewings.
Bass was slightly more pronounced and had a bit more presence, or rather thuds, booms, and crashes all had a distinct sound rather than just sounding like bass noise. My rear channels were alive with information where as before they had been slightly less active.
One of the biggest improvements I experienced with the Arcam was better resolution at low volume. This in my book is one of the most important “features” of any piece of surround gear. Being able to hear more at lower volumes is just a real-world luxury.
I don’t know about you, but from time to time I can’t play my system as loud as I’d like to. Being able to listen at lower levels without the feeling I was missing something, almost felt like I was cheating in some weird sense.
The sound from the Arcam was good enough that it peaked my interest to hear some music. I popped in ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ (New Line Platinum Series) and skipped forward to Chapter 14, ‘Wig in a Box’, the piano was much more musical and compelling than in previous viewings.
Skipping forward to Chapter 17′s ‘Wicked Little Town’, again the Arcam got the piano right, which is no small task. Pianos are notoriously hard to reproduce with the bit-rates afforded by surround tracks.
But there was something else going on that I was surprised by. I had the distinct impression there was more resolution being fed to the center channel than it could fully resolve, this was the first time I really doubted what my center channel was capable of.
From there I went to Chapter 24, ‘Midnight Radio’. This time I was struck by the guitars and kick drum. Yeah I was getting punchy, dynamic bass extension and I liked it.
I wanted to check out one last SD-DVD before I moved on to HD-DVD’s. I couldn’t think of a better sound track for giving the Arcam a work-out than the DTS track on Master and Commander.
I skipped forward to Chapter 31, once the battle started I again noticed much more rear channel information was going on than in previous viewings. I had the distinct impression of a sound stage, where before I had sound effects by comparison.
HD-DVD: Chronicles of Riddick, Jarhead and Cinderella Man
With the HD-DVD of Jarhead the Arcam made gunfire sound realistic and the voice over was very easy to follow along with. Again I was struck by how well I could understand the dialogue at low volume. Bomb blasts were rendered with their own distinct tones, and never sounded as if they were muffled or distorted.
The Strings at the beginning of Cinderella Man were very convincing and realistic. During Jimmy’s Come Back the score played up the mood perfectly, the excitement of the crowd was spot-on and really lent itself to the scene.
From the first deep boom of Riddick’s DTS sound track to the last “You Keep What you Kill” from Riddick sitting on the throne, this disc continued to wow me with its precision and impact. Again I noticed the Arcam’s rear-channel presentation, it was never distracting and panned very well from side to side and front to rear.
Summary:
Ok recommendation time, first off given the Arcam AVR350′s excellent two channel and multi-channel audio performance I’d say that the Arcam would be a no-brainer, if your music system is in need of an upgrade just as much as your surround system.
For those with systems that already have solid 2-channel and multi-channel audio playback, I still feel that the Arcam AVR350 is a serious performer but my recommendation would have to include a one caveat.
The Arcam AVR350 does not support audio over HDMI, the AVR350′s HDMI inputs offers video switching only. Other receivers in this price range (The AVR350 retails for $2499) are capable of extracting audio from HDMI 1.1 but even so, I’m not sure this would outweigh the Arcam’s overall rock-solid surround performance.
Until we start seeing receivers with HDMI 1.3, (full bandwidth support for lossless next generation surround formats) I’m of the opinion that the end-user will have to decide how important the lack or inclusion, of HDMI audio is in their final purchase. As of this writing, HDMI 1.3 support on surround receivers isn’t expected until late 2006 or early 2007.
Posted by B.Greenway | | Filed Under Reviews, Surround Receiver Reviews
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