Anthem AVM70 Review (AV Processor)

[peng]

I like the summary: 9/10

Pros

• Superb sonic performance
• Four separate subwoofer outputs
• ARC Genesis produces excellent sound with zero hassle
• Rock solid build quality
• Tremendously easy to use
• Comprehensive set of connectivity options

Cons

• ARC Genesis may be too straightforward for some
• Cheap remote
• The AVM 70 exists!!!

Actually, half of the cons he listed are pros to me too because I did get the 70 and Anthem has since addressed the "straightforward for some" part by adding some target curve adjustability features as well as phase adjustments for all speakers.

Cheap remote is true but the app is quite easy to use, not sure if the one for the 90 is better. For the huge price jump, everything better be much better anyway.

 

[Descartes]

Actually, half of the cons he listed are pros to me too because I did get the 70 and Anthem has since addressed the "straightforward for some" part by adding some target curve adjustability features as well as phase adjustments for all speakers.

Cheap remote is true but the app is quite easy to use, not sure if the one for the 90 is better. For the huge price jump, everything better be much better anyway.

Good for you! True at that price point the remote should have been in aluminum rather than cheap plastic!
What version of ARC do you use!

 

[peng]

Good for you! True at that price point the remote should have been in aluminum rather than cheap plastic!
What version of ARC do you use!

The lastest one, 1.6.10 iirc. It is now very tweakable, and I am going to need those latest features for sure. Will also find out how well tbe added phase adjustment feature work, using REW obviously because the Anthem graphs, like Audyssey App's always look great, can't rely on those.

 

[peng]

Good for you! True at that price point the remote should have been in aluminum rather than cheap plastic!

At least it is light,even with the batteries.

 

[MacCali]

Just bought one from audio advice, the anthem sale is 3299 now Audio Advice is 2999 still probably last day. I already have that order in for 2999 as well from anthem.

Still think the 230 off using CC is worth it too to drive the price down. Really hate paying tax, especially 10.25%

It's a 132 dollars off if you have a 1% cc + rakuten

 

[pfgiv]

How do you like your AVM70 and you Monolith 8250

The AVM70 is awesome, haven't even run ARC Genesis yet. I still need to purchase my last two sets of speakers (going to take some time as they are not cheap). There's probably some benefit to running it now with the setup I have, but IMO the sound out of the box is fantastic. I've tried to compare 2ch through HDMI, as well as through a topping D90 with the AKM 4499 DAC, and I personally can't hear much of a difference. The D90 sounded maybe just the tiniest bit clearer, but that is likely nothing more that user bias. There's no way I'm picking between the two in a double blind A/B.

The 8250 is great, it originally was powering my bed layer 7 channels and one atmos, with the other 3 atmos powered by outlaw 2200's. My long term speaker plans are Focal Sopra 2 or 3's for my LR, and I recently found a second hand pair of Apollon PNC 1200 monoblocks, so I purchased those. I will likely never need the 400wpc they deliver, but the Sopra 2's are rated up to 350wpc and the 3's 400wpc. So the apollons are now powering my Sopra 1's and the 8250 powers the center and 7 of the 8 other channels. Since my use long term for this amp is the surrounds/rear surrounds/atmos, I probably could have gotten away with the 8125 and been fine, but meh, headroom. In terms of functionality, it's dead quiet, very powerful, doesn't get warm. I like it at the sale price I got it at, but find it much less attractive at 3k.

 

[pfgiv]

At least it is light,even with the batteries.

Personally, I would prefer a heavier remote. I have the Panny DP-UB9000, and that remote feels like you're holding a remote of a $1,000 4k blu ray player. Going from that to the anthem remote makes it feel like a fisher price kids toy. Hell, the kids toy probably weighs more. To me it feels cheap, and more prone to breaking, which in my house containing an 8 year old and 4 year old, I'm always concerned with.

 

[peng]

Personally, I would prefer a heavier remote. I have the Panny DP-UB9000, and that remote feels like you're holding a remote of a $1,000 4k blu ray player. Going from that to the anthem remote makes it feel like a fisher price kids toy. Hell, the kids toy probably weighs more. To me it feels cheap, and more prone to breaking, which in my house containing an 8 year old and 4 year old, I'm always concerned with.

Good point, I hope this cheap and light plastic minimalistic remote won't cost much to replace if necessary. I wonder how the C$9,000 AVM90's look?

 

[MacCali]

The AVM70 is awesome, haven't even run ARC Genesis yet. I still need to purchase my last two sets of speakers (going to take some time as they are not cheap). There's probably some benefit to running it now with the setup I have, but IMO the sound out of the box is fantastic. I've tried to compare 2ch through HDMI, as well as through a topping D90 with the AKM 4499 DAC, and I personally can't hear much of a difference. The D90 sounded maybe just the tiniest bit clearer, but that is likely nothing more that user bias. There's no way I'm picking between the two in a double blind A/B.

The 8250 is great, it originally was powering my bed layer 7 channels and one atmos, with the other 3 atmos powered by outlaw 2200's. My long term speaker plans are Focal Sopra 2 or 3's for my LR, and I recently found a second hand pair of Apollon PNC 1200 monoblocks, so I purchased those. I will likely never need the 400wpc they deliver, but the Sopra 2's are rated up to 350wpc and the 3's 400wpc. So the apollons are now powering my Sopra 1's and the 8250 powers the center and 7 of the 8 other channels. Since my use long term for this amp is the surrounds/rear surrounds/atmos, I probably could have gotten away with the 8125 and been fine, but meh, headroom. In terms of functionality, it's dead quiet, very powerful, doesn't get warm. I like it at the sale price I got it at, but find it much less attractive at 3k.

I am definitely pumped man. Probably by Q2 23' I will finally be back to a more relaxed schedule and I can spend more time watching movies. I just see this as a long term investment, and now I can move my Marantz to my living room to replace my Onkyo. Also feel like nothing really good came out of this recent black friday, this one definitely peaked my interest as soon as I saw it.

 

[peng]

I am definitely pumped man. Probably by Q2 23' I will finally be back to a more relaxed schedule and I can spend more time watching movies. I just see this as a long term investment, and now I can move my Marantz to my living room to replace my Onkyo. Also feel like nothing really good came out of this recent black friday, this one definitely peaked my interest as soon as I saw it.

In my opinion based on having the unit for less than a week, this thing is the best AVP at its current price point. Just don't expect to hear those night and day difference some of the online reviewers and Anthem fans as you may or may not hear the same kind of improvements over what you currently have. It seems relatively bug free but I did come across a couple that I suspected might have been bugs (very minor ones even if they were real bugs imo) and I will email Anthem about those.

 

[pfgiv]

In my opinion based on having the unit for less than a week, this thing is the best AVP at its current price point. Just don't expect to hear those night and day difference some of the online reviewers and Anthem fans as you may or may not hear the same kind of improvements over what you currently have. It seems relatively bug free but I did come across a couple that I suspected might have been bugs (very minor ones even if they were real bugs imo) and I will email Anthem about those.

I agree with this. I came from a Marantz SR7012, but the sound to me was a bit warm. The anthem to me sounds more neutral. But as @peng mentions, it's not like it's going to make a $200 speaker sound like a $2,000 speaker. It's not a night and day difference, but I do think it sounds better. YMMV

I'm happy to no longer have to look at a display that looks like a late 1980's hand held LCD video game, or calculator screen. That stuff won't matter to those with an audio closet or cabinet, but mine is on top of my entertainment stand directly under my tv. Always hated the screens on D&M products.

 

[peng]

I agree with this. I came from a Marantz SR7012, but the sound to me was a bit warm. The anthem to me sounds more neutral. But as @peng mentions, it's not like it's going to make a $200 speaker sound like a $2,000 speaker. It's not a night and day difference, but I do think it sounds better. YMMV

I'm happy to no longer have to look at a display that looks like a late 1980's hand held LCD video game, or calculator screen. That stuff won't matter to those with an audio closet or cabinet, but mine is on top of my entertainment stand directly under my tv. Always hated the screens on D&M products.

I also thought overall it sounded clearer, better steering to me for movies, bass not as deep but that's just different tweaking to taste. Hard to say for sure though without being able to do a side by side AB. I admire people who could just throw out all kinds of flowery words without doing a proper AB, as I know my auditory memory for such a task isn't great and hence rely heavily on measurement to see if there are correlation between the data and my perceived sound quality. I have not listened to music much with it yet, initial impression is also very minor sonic difference, it sounded very good, but the Denon sounded very good to me too but the AVM seems to do better in terms of transparency, again not scientific, subject to expectation bias for sure but suffice to say it makes my happy.

 

[ArturoKiwi]

I also thought overall it sounded clearer, better steering to me for movies, bass not as deep but that's just different tweaking to taste. Hard to say for sure though without being able to do a side by side AB. I admire people who could just throw out all kinds of flowery words without doing a proper AB, as I know my auditory memory for such a task isn't great and hence rely heavily on measurement to see if there are correlation between the data and my perceived sound quality. I have not listened to music much with it yet, initial impression is also very minor sonic difference, it sounded very good, but the Denon sounded very good to me too but the AVM seems to do better in terms of transparency, again not scientific, subject to expectation bias for sure but suffice to say it makes my happy.

It should be interesting to know how much "sounds better" in comparison with the previous gen, like avm60 or mrx1120

 

[peng]

It should be interesting to know how much "sounds better" in comparison with the previous gen, like avm60 or mrx1120

As you know, as it has been said many times that subjective measurements don't mean much. We both know if you do a search on AVM90 vs the 70, the 90 is supposed to sound a lot better whatever that means. At the dealer, all the reps told us the same (was with another person much younger and presumable have much better hearing) but even in their very well sound treated high end demo room, we didn't feel the 90 demoed there sounded noticeably better than the 70 in my carpeted but not treated HT room. So what does that tell us? That we don't have golden ears lol..

 

[ArturoKiwi]

As you know, as it has been said many times that subjective measurements don't mean much. We both know if you do a search on AVM90 vs the 70, the 90 is supposed to sound a lot better whatever that means. At the dealer, all the reps told us the same (was with another person much younger and presumable have much better hearing) but even in their very well sound treated high end demo room, we didn't feel the 90 demoed there sounded noticeably better than the 70 in my carpeted but not treated HT room. So what does that tell us? That we don't have golden ears lol..

That theoretically I could buy a avm60 for half the price and live happy with it

 

[peng]

That theoretically I could buy a avm60 for half the price and live happy with it

If it has the features, bells and whistles you need on the 60, then I don't see why not. The 60's measurements weren't as good but who can tell the difference between 90 dB vs 100 dB SINAD? I know I can't.

 

[pfgiv]

That theoretically I could buy a avm60 for half the price and live happy with it

Possibly. Depends on the DAC chips used, their implementation, room correction software, etc, etc, etc. the 70 and 90 are built with the same software and have minor differences, 90 has a better dac and 4 sub capabilities.

I honestly don't know if ARC Genesis runs on the older anthem models or if it is only for the current series.

 

[peng]

Possibly. Depends on the DAC chips used, their implementation, room correction software, etc, etc, etc. the 70 and 90 are built with the same software and have minor differences, 90 has a better dac and 4 sub capabilities.

I honestly don't know if ARC Genesis runs on the older anthem models or if it is only for the current series.

Excellent point that I forgot, thank you. If it can run the latest Genesis version, great, if not then I would trade it in (or sell it) and get the 70. As far as I know only the latest versions (or may be the one before that) has the phase correction, that to me is a big one if it works well, great in theory for sure.

 

[Music707]

Possibly. Depends on the DAC chips used, their implementation, room correction software, etc, etc, etc. the 70 and 90 are built with the same software and have minor differences, 90 has a better dac and 4 sub capabilities.

I honestly don't know if ARC Genesis runs on the older anthem models or if it is only for the current series.

This is what Anthem says:

Anthem Room Correction | Compatibility Chart

www.anthemarc.com

 

[Descartes]

As you know, as it has been said many times that subjective measurements don't mean much. We both know if you do a search on AVM90 vs the 70, the 90 is supposed to sound a lot better whatever that means. At the dealer, all the reps told us the same (was with another person much younger and presumable have much better hearing) but even in their very well sound treated high end demo room, we didn't feel the 90 demoed there sounded noticeably better than the 70 in my carpeted but not treated HT room. So what does that tell us? That we don't have golden ears lol..

So are you saying that Anthem just told dealers the are the same and we should all buy the AVM70?
But they get more money by pushing the AVM90 especially with margins being 40 points off MSRP