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Anthem AVM/20 upgrade to Integra or Marantz??

Greetings all,

I've enjoyed and stretched out the life of my Anthem AVM/20 paired with a Lexicon CX-7. My sources are Oppo, AppleTV, Roku, vinyl, and cable if you are interested. These are all being driven through Revel Performa M22 monitors, C32 center and B15 sub and Revel in-ceiling for surrounds. The speakers are in a 7.1 setup in a formal living room, not dedicated HT.

I need HDMI compatibility in my Pre-pro at this point but I don't want to lose or compromise the sonic quality I've had with the Anthem. Given that another, newer pre-pro from Anthem that isn't north of 5k isn't in the near future I'm looking to either Integra or Marantz as sonically they seem to be given top billing.

So here is my issue: I *love* 2-channel and I don't want any sonic compromise at all in soundtage bredth and depth, tonal accuracy, and sheer emotional involvement in the music. In fact, I want *better* performance than my AVM/20 currently offers.

So,will the Marantz AV7005 or Integra 80.3 do the trick? I've read Kal and Michael Fremmer's reviews of the AV7005 and they are excellent. Michael even bought the review sample and I think Kal has the integra 70.2. However the Integra offers the newer Audyssey room correction. The Anthem is just such a well put together piece that I am afraid that my upgrade will be a sonic downgrade. Are my fears justified or not?

Looking for some sage advice and guidance! Many thanks to all in advance.
internetmin
martykl
3,563 posts
 
Further to Kal's point, at a dealer demo, I expect that the Velodyne set-up will be poor.

I've never heard the SMS at a dealer - but I have heard the DD subwoofers demoed (albeit a few years back). If you ask the dealer how the EQ works, they will generally say - "one button" and demo the automatic EQ mode (which sucks). It's possible that this is just a sales pitch and that they go back and do a manual set-up (the only method that works, IMHO) after you leave, but I doubt it.

Marty
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
What is happening is that the complexity of multichannel and/or digital setup has made it nearly impossible for one to judge much from dealer demos. Not only are there so many more variables to complicate the decision but dealer competence can neither be assumed or assessed. What if he says that they did a very extended and successful EG (with whatever system there is)? How do you know unless you are already well-informed and willing/able to ask detailed questions?

Kal
internetmin OP
258 posts
 
Let me ask a question about performance and DACs. If I'm looking at the specs of the preamps of the Marantz, Integra 80.3, Anthem 50v, and Carey Cinema 12, then the Integra and Carey should blow the others away because it has a Burr Brown 192/32 and the Anthem 50v appears to still have the older Burr Brown of the AVM30. So in theory, the Anthem should sonically come in *last* of all of them. And, in theory, the Integra should sound as good as the Carey, which is 4x the price of the Integra.

Now, I'm purposely hyperbolizing, but I don't understand why, in theory, a processor with a better DAC would not sound as good as a processor with a lesser DAC. Is there something at play here that I'm missing.

Can someone help educate me?

If we were looking at the Marantz 7005, Integra 80.3, Anthem AVM50v, and Carey Cinema 12, how would they rank in terms of their 2-channel and multi-channel performance?
samski's avatar
samski
78 posts
 
be carefull what you wish for, I went from a b&k ref 50 to a maranz av 7500 and was not happy at all with the sound quality, I feel that todays mas market prepro's are built to a price point where as the older prepro's were built for sound quality, I sold the marantz and went back to the b&k I hook all my video sources directly to my tv and avoid all the hdmi 1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4 ,ect. issues, just my opinion, good luck
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
"Now, I'm purposely hyperbolizing, but I don't understand why, in theory, a processor with a better DAC would not sound as good as a processor with a lesser DAC. Is there something at play here that I'm missing. " Because there's more to it than the chip. There is the supporting circuitry and the implementation.
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