Hello everyone,
My M700s are on the way! Since this is my first post I’ll ask for a little lead way lol.
I will be running the amps into an Anthem Mrx720. My speakers are Ascend towers with the raal tweeters. The 720 doesn’t have xlr connections, so m looking for recommendations for the rca interconnects. I also plan to add a pre amp with ht bypass so I don’t want to go to crazy with the cables, but I understand the importance. The second part is for power cables. While I’ve seen many topics on the subject I haven’t come across any specific to the M700s. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time in advance!
Hi Jimfinn,
I think you mean the MRX720 will be driving the M700. I have the Ascend Sierra 2, love them, driven by M700. I also have a MRX520 but my HT and 2ch are completely separate, except subs are shared.
I wouldn’t stress the RCA cables coming from the MRX to M700 nor the power cables until you get a proper preamp. Use whatever you’ve got, don’t spend real money here, yet The MRX series is a fine HT AVR but doesn’t hold a candle to a proper dac and preamp.
In the future, when you’ve got gear that can resolve the differences, then worry about evaluating better cables.
Do you plan to share the Ascends for both HT and 2ch, ultimately?
The plan is to share the towers. I have my eyes on the BHK preamp and probably the gain cell dac. I like the option of the ht bypass. Music and movies are my thing, but music certainly takes precedence! And I want to hear it the best way I can afford to.Thanks for the advice on the cables. I was stressing out a little lol!
If you’re considering the BHK, skip the GC dac (which is also a preamp) and get the Directstream DAC (either model). Or just start with the GC dac and use it’s preamp abilities.
No need for both BHK and GC, in my opinion. FWIW, I have both the BHK pre and DS (not the Junior).
I’m sure that system you have is awesome! I love the towers! Sometimes my jaw drops at how good it sounds. But I know it can be better. The BHK pre and one of the dacs is the way I will go. Thanks for your help and time!
You’re welcome. Let us know how your system evolves, lots of helpful folks here.
We all (most) have fun devolving into the dark places known as cables and tubes Just remember it’s more about enjoying the music and less about the gear.
Here’s another question for you. I have an svs PB 4000. It has xlr outs. Can I run an xlr out to the amp and bypass the anthem? And then just use the low pass filter on the sub. I’m always fiddiling with it. It seems it takes quite a bit of volume for the sub to kick on.
If the svs will output on xlr with rca inputs, no reason it won’t work. But you said bypass the Anthem, do you have another source?
No other source. I thought I saw one of Paul’s videos about the best way to hook up a sub. And it was to hook it up directly to the amp. Maybe I’m mistaken which is certainly possible.
That’s right, feeding the sub a high level signal is preferred. But that means speaker level signal, not XLR or RCA.
XLR is really a benefit with long runs, like ~30ft or more. It’s 6dB higher too which is great but doesn’t negate the value of RCA (or single ended) connections.
I would connect it like this, the Anthem outputs to sub via RCA and then the sub outputs to the M700 via XLR. M700 don’t have outputs other than speaker level, of course. That’s one hell of a sub but it doesn’t accept speaker level inputs. Jensen makes a transformer that will allow it to accept high level but that’s down the road.
However, if the SVS doesn’t duplicate the RCA input to the XLR output, I would just leave the Anthem connected to the sub as you do now, and connect the Anthem to the M700.
Ideally, leave the M700 on all the time, or use the blue logo standby button to disable the outputs but leave all other circuits on/warm. Expect they will take a good number of hours to sound their best.
Once again thanks so much for taking the time!
So if you have to go from the 720 to the sub via rca, what is the advantage to sending the xlr outputs to the M700s? And I’m assuming you would send one xlr to each amp?
Thanks for the tip about leaving the amps on all the time. I’ve read a lot about the burn in period. I’m really curious to see what happens when the amps are up and running!!
Happy to help,
It would just avoid one connection from the Anthem, no real advantage. Yes, one xlr to each mono amp.
I wouldn’t expect too much difference vs. the Anthem amp, until you get the other pieces. The towers are fairly efficient at 92dB/m and I’m sure the 720 drives them well.