My unbiased review of ANTHEM VS NAD in terms of sound quality

whitecamaross

I have been building my dream home theater for a long time. I have gone from JVC receivers (back when they made them), to Denon, then to Onkyo, to be followed by Marantz and lastly the ANTHEM MRX 300.
I have owned parasound amplifiers that i successfully used to power my home theater about 3 years ago. Later, i used a rotel RMB 1095 which i sold a few months back. Unfortunately, hard times came about and i was forced to sell off my equipment (i am sure many of you have been there) and started to slowly buy everything little by little once again.
I went from infinity speakers to definitive technology, polk audio lsi's, and currently monitor audio rx silver series. I always found myself trying to find that blend of speakers and amplification that didnt make me cringe when i cranked it up. I have been on a quest to locate that perfect blend of a preamp or receiver along with the right amplifier and speakers that make my music and home theater sound huge with an open soundstage and where i didnt have ear fatigue.
Fast forward to the present. I had the marantz sr 7007 receiver connected as a preamp to a rotel rmb 1095 pushing monitor audio rx6's. I felt the sound was thin, perhaps a bit on the bright side (could be the audessey xt) so i started to just use the marantz by itlsef and noticed a pretty good sound quality (thought not extremely better) so i felt that i didnt need to keep the rotel amp so i sold it. I had always wanted to try the NAD M25 because i had never heard anything bad about it. Everyone raved about its sound quality and finesse, but i couldnt afford it until the right deal came along and i finally bought it. I drove 6 hours to meet up with the guy who had it and was getting rid of it but didnt have the shipping boxes and i didnt want him to ship it without the original boxes.
At that point, i had already posted my marantz receiver for sale because i STILL felt it wasnt giving me the sound so many people raved about. I found it boomy EVEN after running audessey multiple times. I connected the NAD M25 and it sounded louder of course, but i just didnt hear a wow although perhaps most of you would have been impressed with the sound.
The marantz finally sells a few days later so i am left without a preamp/processor and so the search begins. I considered emotiva umc 200, anthem receivers, etc.
I found a great deal on the anthem mrx300 that i coudlnt pass up. I knew it didnt have the power i desired but i didnt care because i was looking just for a processor anyhow so the power was irrelavant since i had the m25 to power things.
The mrx 300 finally arrives last week and i decided to just give it a listen without using the m25. What i heard was astonishing to say the least.... I had gone on a looooong journey looking and looking for the right blend of power, neutrality, non fatiguing sound and if there is anyone here looking for that type of sound, please consider anything anthem. I have spent 5 days just watching movies, listening to music, cranking this little mrx 300 receiver and i simply cant get enough of it. I connected the m25 last night and i must say, even though it hurts to admit it, i WISH i had not bought the NAD M25... The anthem sound quality is THAT GOOD. I really thought the m25 would take things to a whole new level when connected to the anthem, but no guys. It simply amplified things and i felt it took away some of the detail the anthem receiver had on its own and i havent even ran the room correction because it sounds THAT GOOD
Simply put, the anthem sound is STILL ahead of anything else i have ever heard. I own NAD's best amplifier ever built by them and it STILL does not give me the clarity and soundstage that the tiny anthem mrx300 has. It simply amplifies but it doesn't keep the clarity and spaciousness that anthem has. I thought i was crazy,but the truth is that i was in self denial and thought i must have been doing something wrong. I can tell you, if you are looking for a receiver or preamp for your set up, dont waste your money buying receivers in the $1000-$2000 range. Do yourself a favor, find a good deal on a used anthem receiver and call it a day. I have living proof that you wont have to go big and powerful in order to be better than small and detailed.
Forget about audessey, or all those 35 different surround modes most receivers give you. If you are all about sound quality, have a room that isnt accoustically perfect or feel there is room for more improvement in your system, go the anthem route.
It is as of this week, after years of listening to different brands, my standard in terms of sound quality.
Hope my humble opinion can help a few of you that are in need of direction as far as purchasing audio equipment.

TNHNDYMAN

Nice write up, thanks for the review and opinion. I'd like to get my ears on an anthem and hear for myself. Glad you have found what you've been searching for.

whitecamaross

TNHNDYMAN wrote: »

Nice write up, thanks for the review and opinion. I'd like to get my ears on an anthem and hear for myself. Glad you have found what you've been searching for.

It has been years since i had been looking for something that pleased my ears. I can tell you, most people follow the hype, the advertising, gimmicks that most manufacturers pitch. I love anthem, all it took was one single piece of equipment and my jaw dropped. I changed nothing else. Same cables, speakers, and now i know why anthem is so raved about. I cant see why anyone would want a denon receiver from best buy for 999 dollars over the anthem mrx300 or mrx 310. Wait, i can see why, th denon has more power, more sound modes, more marketing and is more accessible than the anthem. I was one of them, and i was sad to see marantz join that bandwagon because it has now become a receiver that is in the same side of the fence as onkyo, denon, pioneer etc.
I can speak from first hand experience and not just from reading reviews. I won't recommend anything else simply because i dont want to lie to others that work hard for their money.

tonyb

Nice write up my good man, but let me offer a few observations. Btw...Anthem does have great SQ in anything they build. That said, you stated you ran the room correction multiple times on other receivers to no avail, to no improvement of the sound. Common mistake people make is to take those settings as gospel. You have to tweek the settings in the receiver, no auto calibration gets everything 100% right. Second, the Nad amp. You claimed it sounded thin, took away from what the Anthem brought to the table. Did you ever consider it was the cables ? Many times when you switch gear, add new pieces, there's a synergy between gear and cables that can make all the difference in the world.

Now, with that said, if your happy with just the Anthem, rock on bro, sell the Nad, maybe move up the chain in Anthems receivers.

whitecamaross

tonyb wrote: »

Nice write up my good man, but let me offer a few observations. Btw...Anthem does have great SQ in anything they build. That said, you stated you ran the room correction multiple times on other receivers to no avail, to no improvement of the sound. Common mistake people make is to take those settings as gospel. You have to tweek the settings in the receiver, no auto calibration gets everything 100% right. Second, the Nad amp. You claimed it sounded thin, took away from what the Anthem brought to the table. Did you ever consider it was the cables ? Many times when you switch gear, add new pieces, there's a synergy between gear and cables that can make all the difference in the world.

Now, with that said, if your happy with just the Anthem, rock on bro, sell the Nad, maybe move up the chain in Anthems receivers.

I tweaked just about anything and even if i ran zero room correction and let the marantz receiver play as it came, it did NOT come even close to the sound of the anthem without room correction either. The bass in the anthem is NOT BOOMY. It is tight, quick, agile and not bloated and again, this is prior to any room correction !
The rotel was what sounded "thin" somewhat. The NAD sounds good, not thin, but it kinda masks a little bit of the soundstage and detail the receiver has on its own. I feel i have pretty good cable otherwise the anthem wouldn't sound so good with the same speaker cables, but i do get your point. I just have never really cared to look into better cables than the ones i bought which i thought were pretty good, but maybe you could be right.

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Now, with that said, if your happy with just the Anthem, rock on bro, sell the Nad, maybe move up the chain in Anthems receivers.

Tony, I agree with everything else you said, however given the very few differences between the MRX-300 and MRX-500 and even the 700 IMHO not worth it. You dont really get anything extra between the 300 to 700 besides a iPod port on the front, a few watts more per channel, and in the case of the 700 a better transformer.

I really wanted one myself given ARC and its capabilities, but unless they have something with more than 4 hdmi ports, I just dont see myself buying one.

That said I really have enjoyed the demo's I have had with their gear, and who knows, maybe the 300 will end up in my setup paired with my Integra instead of a Pioneer SC.

To the OP, thanks for the write up, glad your enjoy it!

whitecamaross

EndersShadow wrote: »

Tony, I agree with everything else you said, however given the very few differences between the MRX-300 and MRX-500 and even the 700 IMHO not worth it. You dont really get anything extra between the 300 to 700 besides a iPod port on the front, a few watts more per channel, and in the case of the 700 a better transformer.

I really wanted one myself given ARC and its capabilities, but unless they have something with more than 4 hdmi ports, I just dont see myself buying one.

That said I really have enjoyed the demo's I have had with their gear, and who knows, maybe the 300 will end up in my setup paired with my Integra instead of a Pioneer SC.

To the OP, thanks for the write up, glad your enjoy it!

The differences between the mrx300 and the 700 are a few that will really only apply if you have the use for them. The sound is identical, the preamp section is the same ( i spoke to anthem about this) so you are pretty much getting more power, a much better transformer, network capabilities, pandora, etc, but you dont get better sound quality. Just more power and volume so in reality the mrx 700 is better for a person who doesnt have a power amp. I considered selling the NAD m25 after hearing this small receiver play in front of me. YES IT IS THAT GOOD. however, i got the m25 for a great deal that i could probably make $300-400 dollars more than what i paid for it so i feel i will hold on to it and see if i decide to just buy the anthem avm50 preamplifier to really feed it some better signal and go from there.

I would say to you, forget about getting the pioneer or denon or onkyo or even marantz as your preamp. I will say one thing, yes you can pick up an onkyo or a pioneer that will play louder, but can you sit in front of it for hours while playing it loud and not be tempted to turn it back down? probably not and this is NOT THE CASE with the anthem. Go and find a good used mrx 300 for about $600 and enjoy the best investment you could probably make. Marantz, who alot of people love, is probably 75% of what the anthem is. I paid $1200 dollars for that marantz 7007 and paid 700 for the anthem and it is not even funny how much better the anthem is. Like i stated earlier, Marantz is NOT the marantz we all knew before. Ever since they got bought out by D&m, it is as if their quality is decreasing. They weigh much less, no toroidal power supplies anymore, and nothing close to those receivers they built years ago that were gold in color, heavy, and around $4000 dollars. those days are gone for them.
i think of denon as toyota, marantz as lexus (both good and realible, but lexus has more class) and onkyo as acura (yes a little better than denon in my opinion) and the anthem would be any car manufacturer better than those mentioned.

EndersShadow

whitecamaross wrote: »

I would say to you, forget about getting the pioneer or denon or onkyo or even marantz as your preamp. I will say one thing, yes you can pick up an onkyo or a pioneer that will play louder, but can you sit in front of it for hours while playing it loud and not be tempted to turn it back down? probably not and this is NOT THE CASE with the anthem. Go and find a good used mrx 300 for about $600 and enjoy the best investment you could probably make. Marantz, who alot of people love, is probably 75% of what the anthem is. I paid $1200 dollars for that marantz 7007 and paid 700 for the anthem and it is not even funny how much better the anthem is. Like i stated earlier, Marantz is NOT the marantz we all knew before. Ever since they got bought out by D&m, it is as if their quality is decreasing. They weigh much less, no toroidal power supplies anymore, and nothing close to those receivers they built years ago that were gold in color, heavy, and around $4000 dollars. those days are gone for them.
i think of denon as toyota, marantz as lexus (both good and realible, but lexus has more class) and onkyo as acura (yes a little better than denon in my opinion) and the anthem would be any car manufacturer better than those mentioned.

Not to threadjack but since you mentioned it, the only frontrunner for my HT (LSi based) is a Pioneer SC reciever simply due to being able to consolidate down to the amps in the unit, and possibly a stereo amp for my Left/Right.

Onkyo, Denon, Marantz etc are not necessarily in the running for my setup because they dont allow me to consolidate anything, I still need one dedicated amp channel per speaker. Even the Anthem doesnt fix that for me as IIRC its not 4 ohm rated. Hence why the Pioneer is my front runner. Would be able to sell the 5 channel amp I have and all the nice but expensive interconnects as well.

polkfarmboy

I did love my Anthem MRX 300 when I had it and mirror your enthusiasm. Many polkies on the forum tend to go with the pioneers because they had ice amps once upon a time and ice amps sound great for movies. Unfortunately no one really give the Anthem a whirl as it does have that crystal clear top end like ice amplification but also has a little bit better bass and fuller mids so its a great mix and then add the room correction system and your loving those blurays like never before.

I felt like I never had to mess with the volume with my 300 and really drove my martin logans well. I did get rid of the 300 as my avm 40 with arc just edged it out on SQ, especially on music. I got rid of that avm 40 and scored an Anthem D2 and holy crap does that sound good, way better for stuff thats not true HD etc.

leftwinger57

I also liked your rite up. I have to agree w/ you that all those exrta effect modes that are piled on avrs are a waste of time and take away from any real time desired effect. Like in the music mode of the Yamaha I have. They have different venue type sounds so they say,check this out. Hall in Munich,Hall in Vienna,Chamber music setting,Cellar Club,The Bottom Line,and The Roxy Theater.If you think there is ANY reproduction of sound from any of these venues your nuts ,all it is are varitations on echo and delay and maybe some phasing and then for certain sources for movies they have specticle,sci-fi,adventure,and standard.These settings might fill an owners manual but do nothing to enhance anything.Also Tony has a good point, running an auto calibration program just gets you so far.I after many attempts went the way of manually adjusting my avr.

polkfarmboy

leftwinger57 wrote: »

I also liked your rite up. I have to agree w/ you that all those exrta effect modes that are piled on avrs are a waste of time and take away from any real time desired effect. Like in the music mode of the Yamaha I have. They have different venue type sounds so they say,check this out. Hall in Munich,Hall in Vienna,Chamber music setting,Cellar Club,The Bottom Line,and The Roxy Theater.If you think there is ANY reproduction of sound from any of these venues your nuts ,all it is are varitations on echo and delay and maybe some phasing and then for certain sources for movies they have specticle,sci-fi,adventure,and standard.These settings might fill an owners manual but do nothing to enhance anything.Also Tony has a good point, running an auto calibration program just gets you so far.I after many attempts went the way of manually adjusting my avr.

You have to try ARC as its the best system out there, unlike AVR's you can store 2 ARC setups. Lets say you move the 5 or 7 speakers into place and do a fantastic setup, well that may not work for music. You can run a second setup and place your two mains differently for 2 channel and enable or disable a sub. How many prepro's have that flexibility let alone AVR's

tonyb

Enders,

As good as the ice amps in the Pioneer is, I would still rethink running a full LSI system off just the receiver. It still won't have the current to drive all of that to optimal performance. Just sayin......you could go with an added 2 channel amp.

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Enders,

As good as the ice amps in the Pioneer is, I would still rethink running a full LSI system off just the receiver. It still won't have the current to drive all of that to optimal performance. Just sayin......you could go with an added 2 channel amp.

The Carver M1.0t was purchased for the 15s. Pioneer will drive the rest

mrbiron

Nice write-up . Love my mrx300......even though I haven't turned it on in a couple months (newborn).
I went from two Onkyos to this and haven't looked back. Anthem is throughout the house and i very much enjoy their products.
The only thing is, ARC has not yet been run due to lack of time. I can only imagine how much better it can really get.

Midnite Mick

Great...I want one now. Wonder how it compares to the Arcam's

whitecamaross

Midnite Mick wrote: »

Great...I want one now. Wonder how it compares to the Arcam's

arcam is great too, but the anthem has that arc that audessey will never touch... I will say it again, if you are looking for a receiver for under 1000 dollars, please get yourself an anthem mrx300 or the new mrx 310. DO NOT WASTE your time or hard earned money on a pioneer, onkyo, denon. i have owned all of those and i can tell you first hand experience the anthem is years ahead of all of them
You will NEVER hear a bad sounding anthem. Guys, Anthem spends millions of dollars in the room correction and designing them to levels that others wish they could. Right now, i am listening to my anthem connected to the nad m25 and it is probably at around 50 percent of the volume which is plenty of power since the nad is rated at 160x7 when in reality it is 194 x7. I am in no need to turn the volume down because i dont feel like the sound is making want to do that. I can sit here as i sip on my drink and just listen to this amazing sound.
i will say it again, STOP wasting your money on gimmicks, surround modes you wont ever use!
If you are looking for a power amp to drive your lsi speakers then you could look for different amplifiers to suit your needs, but if you need a receiver that WILL NOT leave anything else off the table, get an anthem. I promise you will NOT be wondering if your music could sound any better. It won't cross your mind and you will STOP looking for another receiver for a loooooong time.
i feel like anything better sounding than this anthem/nad combo i have would cost me THOUSANDS more and the law of diminishing returns kicks in big time. I probably could get a mark levinson amp or something like that for thousands more and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE improve my sound around 10%.
I have owned lsi speakers and loved them so much that my ex took them when we split because she knew it would hurt me lol, but i manage to hide a pair of lsi9s that i eventually sold
I decided to switch gears into a new brand and something different. I ran into a pair of monitor
audio rs6 speakers that stereophile magazine raved about and i saw why. They were amazing for the money and then of course, i ended up selling them and buying a pair of rx6s in like new condition and well they are a speaker that can rival anything for under 1000 dollars. I can honestly say i loved my lsi15s, but these rx6s have an amazing clarity, soundstage and they are relatively light when compared to the lsi15s. I feel that they are more gentle, but a little more detailed than the lsi15s. However, i do feel the lsi15s can take more of a beating from a power amp and still stand strong.

whitecamaross

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I did love my Anthem MRX 300 when I had it and mirror your enthusiasm. Many polkies on the forum tend to go with the pioneers because they had ice amps once upon a time and ice amps sound great for movies. Unfortunately no one really give the Anthem a whirl as it does have that crystal clear top end like ice amplification but also has a little bit better bass and fuller mids so its a great mix and then add the room correction system and your loving those blurays like never before.

I felt like I never had to mess with the volume with my 300 and really drove my martin logans well. I did get rid of the 300 as my avm 40 with arc just edged it out on SQ, especially on music. I got rid of that avm 40 and scored an Anthem D2 and holy crap does that sound good, way better for stuff thats not true HD etc.

man dont tempt me into buying another anthem piece. I will go bankrupted
I do wonder if that preamp can make my nad m25 sound better than the preamp in the mrx300 and if so, by how much? i love movies so i need to have one that can do movies and music and sound amazing on both.
For being my first time with an anthem, i will stay here for as long as i can until another manufacturer decides to outperform them. I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER BOUGHT THE SAME ELECTRONIC TWICE. if it breaks, i try something new. I am not the type of person that goes to a restaurant and orders the same thing everyday. I feel that the beauty of this hobby is to try new technologies and either be happy or dissapointed for doing so.

ps. I spoke too early, my neighbor just called me to tell me he can't hear the music loud but he can hear the bass in his room and all i have is 2 front speakers playing with every setting flat.
maybe i should turn it down

Nightfall

I take it they aren't rated for 4 (and less) ohm loads?

whitecamaross

Nightfall wrote: »

I take it they aren't rated for 4 (and less) ohm loads?

my friend is running his martin logans withthe mrx700 and has had no issues with it...

ZLTFUL

unbiased or unbiassed (ʌnˈbaɪəst)

— adj
1. having no bias or prejudice; fair or impartial
2. statistics
a. (of a sample) not affected by any extraneous factors, conflated variables, or selectivity which influence its distribution; random
b. (of an estimator) having an expected value equal to the parameter being estimated; having zero bias
c. Also called: discriminatory (of a significance test). Having a power greater than the predetermined significance level


I too have heard several Anthems. And I have listened to many other brands from relatively inexpensive to the "You paid *WHAT*?" expensive.
And, in my "unbiased" opinion, there are better options out there in the price range.

But I digress. My only argument is that an opinion, in and of itself, is by its very definitely, biased.

whitecamaross

DSkip wrote: »

In all fairness, sometimes you have to look at the system as a whole and not at each individual part. For example, my Shuguang 845's work GREAT with my Usher 6311's, but have yet to sound that good on any other speakers I've tried. Its not that they sound bad on other things, its just that the sound doesn't compare to the synergy of the 6311.

There is no 'one size fits all' for each situation. With that said, its great to see another product get some recognition on this forum. It seems as if the brand recommendations have gone stale lately.

i agree with speaker and component compatibility being important. I let go of my lsi15s, lsi7s, lsi9s and read alot before i decided to get the monitor audios. I love the speakers, but it is as if anthem came in and made my jaw drop to the floor and i couldnt pick it up. It was just instant recognition of quality sound. NO bloated bass in the room, no harsh fatiguing sound at loud volumes. No need to really look elsewhere.
However, i do hate the fact that it takes near a month to get your gear fixed through them. They still fix everything in Canada so the turn around time is insane. As far as Nad, i dont like their customer service. They sound like they want to get off the phone so fast because their being charged by the minute. I also feel like their masters series is NOT as solid as perhaps parasound is. I took a peak inside the NAD m25 and i felt like although their pretty well built, parasound really impressed me the most.
if i had to choose another man, i think i would go with the a51 halo. I am a sucker for sweet, warm sounding pieces.

whitecamaross

ZLTFUL wrote: »

unbiased or unbiassed (ʌnˈbaɪəst)

— adj
1. having no bias or prejudice; fair or impartial
2. statistics
a. (of a sample) not affected by any extraneous factors, conflated variables, or selectivity which influence its distribution; random
b. (of an estimator) having an expected value equal to the parameter being estimated; having zero bias
c. Also called: discriminatory (of a significance test). Having a power greater than the predetermined significance level


I too have heard several Anthems. And I have listened to many other brands from relatively inexpensive to the "You paid *WHAT*?" expensive.
And, in my "unbiased" opinion, there are better options out there in the price range.

But I digress. My only argument is that an opinion, in and of itself, is by its very definitely, biased.

i respect your opinion and if you feel there are better options for the money, then it means that particular component pleases your hearing better. i just know based on personal experience that anthem brought a level of clarity, soundstage and 3d presentation that i had never heard before. I think good sound is subjective and also based on how much "time" you have been auditioning good equipment. By that i dont mean best buy equipment, but rather equipment from those high end audio places. I love it when someone really impresses me. i thought no other piece of equipment would wow me as the nad m25 did when i heard it so i had just decided to feed it better sound and then i met anthem.. and the rest is history to the point that i am contemplating replacing the m25 for an anthem power amplifier. however, per my conversation with nad, i DID tell them that i felt a receiver was more detailed and clearer than their so cold MASTER SERIES AMP and they said that this amplifier DOES NOT forgive any bad signal and or cables. If i feed it crappy signal, i will get crappier sound in return. I am going to attempt to buy a good quality preamp such as the anthem avm50 perhaps and see if it brings it to life. With that said, i am here only to share my personal experiences so that others don't have to gamble with their money. This is the point of sharing experiences and not just " oh i heard this is good or bad". I believe in taking a chance and sharing my experience here so those who can't buy a $3500 M25 AMPLIFIER can at least hear it from those who can and be steered in the right direction.

Lietuvis91

Maybe sometimes we blame one component when a different component is actually causing most of the difference. When you compare an integrated with a combo that includes an amp it's really hard to make FAIR comparison. Cables are a big reason for this. I just recently swapped a marantz receiver for an outlaw pre 975 and knew i was going to swap IC cables due to needing more length. So before I swaped the pre's I did an a to b comparison of the cables on the maratz, and i couldn't believe how different the two cables sounded. There was a CLEAR night and day difference in the tone and detail. I found I really didn't like the audioquest cable (too sharp and edgy) and much prefered the exp1 cable for smoother sound.

So... if your cables connecting the NAD to the anthem are not a good fit, then that's a big reason for your disapointment. The anthem integrated has an upper hand just by being integrated, having a solid amp section and not having the potential impact of the IC cable.

mantis

whitecamaross wrote: »

arcam is great too, but the anthem has that arc that audessey will never touch... I will say it again, if you are looking for a receiver for under 1000 dollars, please get yourself an anthem mrx300 or the new mrx 310. DO NOT WASTE your time or hard earned money on a pioneer, onkyo, denon. i have owned all of those and i can tell you first hand experience the anthem is years ahead of all of them
You will NEVER hear a bad sounding anthem. Guys, Anthem spends millions of dollars in the room correction and designing them to levels that others wish they could. Right now, i am listening to my anthem connected to the nad m25 and it is probably at around 50 percent of the volume which is plenty of power since the nad is rated at 160x7 when in reality it is 194 x7. I am in no need to turn the volume down because i dont feel like the sound is making want to do that. I can sit here as i sip on my drink and just listen to this amazing sound.
i will say it again, STOP wasting your money on gimmicks, surround modes you wont ever use!
If you are looking for a power amp to drive your lsi speakers then you could look for different amplifiers to suit your needs, but if you need a receiver that WILL NOT leave anything else off the table, get an anthem. I promise you will NOT be wondering if your music could sound any better. It won't cross your mind and you will STOP looking for another receiver for a loooooong time.
i feel like anything better sounding than this anthem/nad combo i have would cost me THOUSANDS more and the law of diminishing returns kicks in big time. I probably could get a mark levinson amp or something like that for thousands more and MAYBE, JUST MAYBE improve my sound around 10%.
I have owned lsi speakers and loved them so much that my ex took them when we split because she knew it would hurt me lol, but i manage to hide a pair of lsi9s that i eventually sold
I decided to switch gears into a new brand and something different. I ran into a pair of monitor
audio rs6 speakers that stereophile magazine raved about and i saw why. They were amazing for the money and then of course, i ended up selling them and buying a pair of rx6s in like new condition and well they are a speaker that can rival anything for under 1000 dollars. I can honestly say i loved my lsi15s, but these rx6s have an amazing clarity, soundstage and they are relatively light when compared to the lsi15s. I feel that they are more gentle, but a little more detailed than the lsi15s. However, i do feel the lsi15s can take more of a beating from a power amp and still stand strong.

You have many strong opinions and rightfully so for yourself. But I have compared the Anthem MX700 to the Mighty Pioneer Elite SC models and I find the Elites to edge them in overall sound quality. Pioneer is all about sound quality and so am I. Where I use to work , we carried all of the above and a whole lot more. The Anthem receivers are very nice and sound awesome. It was on my list when I was getting out of my SC-07. I was going back to separates in my mind at the time or maybe switching over to NAD which is amazing in all regards. But the Pioneer Elite pushed it over the edge especially with the built in USB DAC. It's such a complete receiver.

mantis

polkfarmboy wrote: »

You have to try ARC as its the best system out there, unlike AVR's you can store 2 ARC setups. Lets say you move the 5 or 7 speakers into place and do a fantastic setup, well that may not work for music. You can run a second setup and place your two mains differently for 2 channel and enable or disable a sub. How many pre pro's have that flexibility let alone AVR's

Pioneer Elite does 6 setups.

mantis

tonyb wrote: »

Enders,

As good as the ice amps in the Pioneer is, I would still rethink running a full LSI system off just the receiver. It still won't have the current to drive all of that to optimal performance. Just sayin......you could go with an added 2 channel amp.

In Enders case I believe he will be extremely happy with no external amps driving the Lsi's. I guess we will have to wait for him to report his findings. I was pretty shocked on how damn good the internal amps are in the SC models of all years. The 6 and now 7 series are the best ever.

mantis

DSkip wrote: »

In all fairness, sometimes you have to look at the system as a whole and not at each individual part. For example, my Shuguang 845's work GREAT with my Usher 6311's, but have yet to sound that good on any other speakers I've tried. Its not that they sound bad on other things, its just that the sound doesn't compare to the synergy of the 6311.

There is no 'one size fits all' for each situation. With that said, its great to see another product get some recognition on this forum. It seems as if the brand recommendations have gone stale lately.

In all fairness thats exactly what most people miss when building a system. There is nothing better then a matching system and even more matching it to the room it's going in.
Nicely said my man.

EndersShadow

mantis wrote: »

In Enders case I believe he will be extremely happy with no external amps driving the Lsi's. I guess we will have to wait for him to report his findings. I was pretty shocked on how damn good the internal amps are in the SC models of all years. The 6 and now 7 series are the best ever.

Well I am still running my old system as it didn't sell.

One of these days I will get a SC model. Even if I do I will still probabaly keep running my LSi15s off a dedicated amp.

tonyb

DSkip wrote: »

There is no 'one size fits all' for each situation. With that said, its great to see another product get some recognition on this forum. It seems as if the brand recommendations have gone stale lately.

Not really Skip. Most want recommendations in cheaper price classes, which make it somewhat narrow. Many of us have experience with upper end gear of names most have never heard of. We don't recommend that type of gear to go with Monitor 30's. Most members who frequent this forum are not into the higher end stuff, just your big box store gear. May sound a tad harsh, but it's the truth. Many come in here looking for speakers for HT, but only want to spend 500 clams. Same with receivers, they want one to drive 7 speakers, have all the bells and whistles, but only have 400 bucks to spend. Amps....they want power on the cheap so they gravitate to Emo products. Takes awhile for us to set some on the path to higher end audio, mostly because it costs more. You'll find we recommend some of the same brands a lot because they represent a good bang for your buck, perform above what their price tags dictate.....AND have a history of dependability along with SQ.

While true many of us are into that higher end gear, the majority here are not and for various reasons. One obviously is the cost, and todays economic conditions puts those expenditures, the audio ones anyway, on the back burner.

tonyb

Eh, wasn't trying to read between the lines pal, just making conversation is all. Anthem is a fantastic brand, but seems when recommended around here, people go for the more bells and whistles types rather than SQ, so we usually don't throw out that name in receiver threads much.

Thing is also, in audio the choices are nothing short that a gazillion in any category or budget. Lots of dogs, but also a lot of solid performers, we tend to gravitate to the solid ones for our recommendations. Just an example, OPPO when first arriving on the scene wasn't viewed as a solid recommendation due to lack of experience with the unit. Now with some trial time under their belt, they have a proven track record and we highly recommend them.

ZLTFUL

whitecamaross, I was more poking fun at your use of the word "unbiased" in the review title more than anything.

Home audio is one of the most subjective hobbies out there. Fact is, there are people who love horns...there are people who can't stand them. There are those who want nothing but tubes and then those who swear that SS is the only way to go. Digital music versus analog...

Point is, audio is very subjective and reviews, such as yours, are most assuredly biased in that you are touting what sounds good to you.
Nothing at all wrong with that...just that it is the very definition of biased. Hehe.

Listen on my friend...listen on.