Anthem Statement A5 vs. Earthquake Cinenova 3
Musophile
Posts: 89
I know everyone is always curious about amps so I thought I'd give my thoughts on the two amps I currently own. I was originally going to go with an Earthquake setup. I got the Cinenova 3 for a deal and I know a few people on this forum have the Earthquake as well. Then two weeks ago I picked up the Statement A5 for a great price.
First and foremost, I think the biggest difference between the two is bass. The Earthquake creates powerful bass without needing to really push the volume to extreme levels. The high and midtones suffer a little on the Earthquake but what punchy bass! I didn't notice until I hooked up the Statement and watched the same movie, Matrix, and used the same chapter to test the two amplifiers.
The Anthem is much crisper in the midtones and I could really differentiate a lot more sounds during scenes. I used the entry into the lobby to rescue Morpheus as a repeat test chapter as well as the Neo vs. Morpheus fight scene. When I first hooked up the Anthem with the exact same settings as my Earthquake I thought something broke. There was almost non existent bass in places where I had heard it before. With the volume up it comes back and does a good job. To be fair to the Anthem, I don't think it has broken in yet. The former owner had it for a month or two before he had to sell it. I'm going to give it another month of use before I evaluate it again vs. the Earthquake.
The second most noticeable difference between the two is the background noise. On the exact same setup, there is a tiny hum from the Earthquake. The Anthem is quiet. There is no line noise at all. I know with tweaks there are ways to get rid of it. I'm just saying from a out of the box and plugged into the wall, the two had that as a difference.
The soundstage on the Anthem feels a little wider. I tested SACD (Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, DVD-A, Diana Krall, and various DTS movies. The Anthem has a tiny bit more brightness than the Earthquake and a bit more distinction of where the instruments are during playback. Generally I've heard that Anthem has a super neutral output. I'm not saying the Earthquake is bad, just that the Anthem is slightly better at soundstaging.
I'm super happy with boths amps, but I definitely think people here would not go wrong with either. It'll just depend on what you like to hear from your amps.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have as this is my first review of equipment I've been purchasing.
First and foremost, I think the biggest difference between the two is bass. The Earthquake creates powerful bass without needing to really push the volume to extreme levels. The high and midtones suffer a little on the Earthquake but what punchy bass! I didn't notice until I hooked up the Statement and watched the same movie, Matrix, and used the same chapter to test the two amplifiers.
The Anthem is much crisper in the midtones and I could really differentiate a lot more sounds during scenes. I used the entry into the lobby to rescue Morpheus as a repeat test chapter as well as the Neo vs. Morpheus fight scene. When I first hooked up the Anthem with the exact same settings as my Earthquake I thought something broke. There was almost non existent bass in places where I had heard it before. With the volume up it comes back and does a good job. To be fair to the Anthem, I don't think it has broken in yet. The former owner had it for a month or two before he had to sell it. I'm going to give it another month of use before I evaluate it again vs. the Earthquake.
The second most noticeable difference between the two is the background noise. On the exact same setup, there is a tiny hum from the Earthquake. The Anthem is quiet. There is no line noise at all. I know with tweaks there are ways to get rid of it. I'm just saying from a out of the box and plugged into the wall, the two had that as a difference.
The soundstage on the Anthem feels a little wider. I tested SACD (Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, DVD-A, Diana Krall, and various DTS movies. The Anthem has a tiny bit more brightness than the Earthquake and a bit more distinction of where the instruments are during playback. Generally I've heard that Anthem has a super neutral output. I'm not saying the Earthquake is bad, just that the Anthem is slightly better at soundstaging.
I'm super happy with boths amps, but I definitely think people here would not go wrong with either. It'll just depend on what you like to hear from your amps.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have as this is my first review of equipment I've been purchasing.
Home Theater In Progress
Samsung 4272
Denon 3910 Universal Player
Anthem AVM-20
Anthem Statement A5
Fronts LSI-25
Center LSI-C
Surround LSI-FX
Getting closer to complete!:D
Samsung 4272
Denon 3910 Universal Player
Anthem AVM-20
Anthem Statement A5
Fronts LSI-25
Center LSI-C
Surround LSI-FX
Getting closer to complete!:D