Yes, Marantz is considered to be very good. I have no experience with Anthem, so I can't speak to that, but Denon and Marantz are the same parent company and share a lot between brands. Marantz is the "higher end" brand and is more expensive, but both are very well regarded in general.
I agree with delta76's reply, and I'd add that if you didn't have a crossover applied to the mains while testing both both circumstances (to match what you will do when you have a sub connected), then it's literally impossible to judge how that would actually play out once the power demands of the mains is substantially reduced by using a crossover.
Ok. I'm not sure if they did what you're saying but I can ask them to set it up next time I visit.
Got it, thanks. Is Anthem MCA 225 a good amp?
How To Calibrate and Level Match Your Speakers
We walk you through the process of manually calibrating and level matching your speakers so you can double-check the results of auto-calibration. You'll just need an SPL meter to get the job done.www.audioholics.com
Here is how to do it. You would need a spl meter.
This can be a redundant advice but if the retailer tries to upsell you expensive cables of any kind (power, interconnect, speaker), then stay away. They have no effect whatsoever on the sound quality. I found retailers who push expensive cables to be questionable at best and unethical at worst.
Also just to be clear, if you have the fund and if you want to, adding a good power amp definitely does not hurt. In case of denon avr which is known to run hot it can help to cool it down. Some people would even say that it reduces noises that added by other channel amps. I just don't think you need it. You can just start with a good avr.
I don't know about MCA 225, can't comment, however audioholics which is a reputable site seems to be pretty positive about it https://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/anthem-mca-225-325-525-amplifiers
Thank you so much.
Adding an external amplifier to external AVR like a Denon/Marantz will generally only be of tangible benefit if you are running out of power with the on board amps (i.e. clipping). If you aren't running out of power, there are very few reasons to add them. When you are integrating a sub at home, the AVR will apply a crossover (likely around 80 Hz) to your main speakers, cutting frequencies to the speakers below that crossover point and sending them only to the sub. This drastically reduces the amount of power you need to drive your speakers since your sub will handle the deep powerful bass. So, if you were testing the speakers full range in the store and comparing amps to determine if you needed a more powerful one, it's not at all a valid test for how you will use it at home. The best advice would be to skip the amp now, take it all home and set it up, and then see if you think you need one. They are VERY easy to add later.
Got it, so this is where I get confused. x4700h is 125 Watt per channel and the Anthem is 225W per channel. The 936's are at 300W , wouldn't the additional power automatically improve the performance?
Yes, for the Aria 936's 300W is max power, but that's without any crossover. The number of watts needed is far lower if you have them crossed over at 80 Hz. Even then, 300W of power is only if you need to drive them to maximum volume, but let's pretend you were not using a crossover for a second and see what that looks like. The 936's are 92 dB sensitivity. If your seating position is 10' away from the speakers, then 300 watts gets you 113 dB (you can calculate this here). I'm not sure about you, but I'd tap out WAY before that. That's deep into hearing damage territory if you listen for very long at all (damage in less than 1 minute). The 125 watts in the Denon will get you to 109.3 dB, which is still way louder than I'd listen (damage in less than 2 minutes), but still leaves plenty of headroom for transients in home theater and such. That's all WITHOUT a crossover.
I don't classify most of those as quality sources of information. Too much conflict of interest, voodoo, and misinformation most of the time.
That just means that the speakers can take 300 watts of power without damage. It doesn't mean the 936 really need a 300 watt amp at all.
936 has sensitivity of 92.5dB iirc. That means it needs 1w/2.83v to produce 92.5dB sound at 1m distant. To make 10dB louder it needs 10x power, and if you are 3x in distant you will also lose 10dB.
Got it. Makes sense. Why do people then opt for separates? To get more clarity?
Because people read audiophile blogs that tell them they should. Or sometimes people have uniquely demanding speakers. Or they like the ability to swap components. Maybe the like how it looks. Or it makes sense for the system they want to put together (i.e. I have a small Topping PA5 amp paired with a miniDSP Flex in my office). Or many other reasons other than power.
Well, in my case, I don't have a home theater room and I do listen to a lot of music as well as movies, maybe 50/50. My system is in our family room. I wanted to try separates for my two channel listening and I wanted to try a powerful amplifier. So, I have a pre-amp that has home theater bypass and it feeds the power amp. For two channel listening the AVR is not involved. Then, when watching a movie, the front L/R channels are still powered by the big amp, while the other channels are driven by the AVR. It makes for quite a mess with cables, and the pre-amp and amp take up some space, but I enjoy it.
not necessarily more clarity. people can, and will blindly follow advice that were repeated over and over. This is particularly true for audio products as what you actually hear, and what you think you hear can be very different. people hear things that simply not there. you will probably not find any other industry plagued with as much snake oil as audio.
Ok, just to clarify. We have AVR for surround / movies & the other speakers. Pre-amp with HT bypass + Power Amp which drives the front L/R channels.
Got it, thanks.
What happens with my pre-amp is that when I want to watch a movie, I hit the Standby button on the remote for the pre-amp. This turns off the preamp and triggers a relay, which sends the front L/R channels through the pre-amp and on to the power amp.
