Anthem Integrated 225 -opinions

this thread is ancient but i'll respond. A local hiifi shop that sells Klipsh, paragigm, and revel loudspeakers uses the anthem 225 in their hi end room swearing that it drives their most difficult speakers (revel) with ease. I auditioned the F 208 and F32 at the store, I was able to enjoy the music and asked to take the anthem demo home to see how it likes my system. I bought a new unit after the home demo It replaced my Krell kav300il that couldn't stay out of the shop. You can biamp the anthem and they say in the brief you can even use y splitters on the pre outs, The unit doesn't have a tape loop though so an active crossover is going to relegate the I225 to pre only and there are probably better pre only for the same money. I prefered the sound of the krells mid and treble smoothness, the Anthem can be harsh, but, it is getting better as it breaks in. My kef 105/3 sounded stunning, my 107/2 a little shrill and usually the 107 is the more forgiving speaker. Anthem makes an A2 seperate amp that should mate perfectly if you go this way.

I will chime in here-
last year spent some time w/ the Anthem 225. It has both high power & high current -enough to drive (t perfection) the Thiel C 2.7 and CS 3.7 models. This is not an easy feat, as Thiel, craves high power + high current from its power source. I was impressed to say he very least. I am a separates guy, but, I could easiy live w/ the Anthem- my highest suggestion. Happy Listening! =JA

I've seen the Anthem get labeled as "tube-like." Has that been yours (or any other owners) experience with this unit?

Hi, maybe too late but I own the Anthem 225i. I find it sounds great with plenty of power. I'm not an expert with tubes vs ss, but it gives me everything I want.

I went from a tubed preamp and ss amp, and the Anthem is plenty transparent to my ears. I don't find it harsh or edgy. I use it with tone controls bypassed. Sounded great with Usher, Sonus Faber, and Silverline Minuets.

Hope this helps.

Gary

The 225 is from Anthem's entry level line up. I had their entry level TLP-1 pre and found it veiled and underwhelming. I'm not sure if the pre amp section is the same as the TLP's was, but you can certainly do a lot better.