Is it that hard to build a decent A/V Receiver or Processor? I understand that the margins are so small and competition for features so high on the lower end of the market that they may make serious design compromises for the cost, but this is marketed as a high end unit. I can see no excuse for the poor test performance of some of the high end receivers and processors that you have tested. You would think that these "high end" manufactures would put some effort into making a product that tests (and performs) well.
I bought my first Anthem combo, a AVM-20v2 processor and PVA-7 Amp, a couple of years after I graduated college. I wasn't making a ton of money, but I didn't have a ton of bills either, so I had plenty of disposable income. I still use that PVA-7 amp today 16 years later in my home theater. I sold the Anthem Processor when Dolby True HD and DTS EX came out and replaced it with a Onkyo Pre-Pro that had HDMI and supported the new audio formats, and lightning finally ran in and disabled the HDMI board but not long after that I moved and lost my dedicated theater. In the new house I was limited to a 3.1 system in the living room, so I bought an Anthem MRX300 as my receiver as it reportedly could handle 4ohm speakers such as my Dynaudio Audience 52's. Ironically, a lightning strike also took out that HDMI board. When I built my new theater last year, I just didn't feel like I could spend the money on a high end processor such as the Anthem AVM60 or Marantz 8805 and instead paired a Onkyo RZ830 Receiver with my old Anthem PVA7. I'm sure my Onkyo doesn't test great, but it was $500 and apparantly the higher end units don't test well either so I'm glad I saved the money.
