Is Anthem overrated? Considering switching to Denon

[JamesP1701]

Hi all,

I'm running a 5.1 system with a separate Anthem Amp (a PVA 7 I think) and an Anthem 720 for a few years. Now, don't get me wrong, it's good, but I've never quite understood the hype.

Recently, it's developed a few problems, which despite one repair job, are still ongoing. I confess, this has somewhat put me off keeping it.

Whilst it was being 'repaired,' my local Richer Sounds lent me a Denon 3700. I confess, to my ears, it sounded as good as the Anthem (and actually, the surround felt more 'enveloping' which i really liked).

I;m now wondering about selling the Anthem and going for a Denon. However, my questions are:

1. Would I be silly to do this?
2. Are Anthem overrated?
3. Purely in terms of sound quality, is there any difference between a Denon 3700, 4700 and 6700? (And similarly with the 800 series?)

With thanks for the thoughts,

James

 

[Peluvius]

Hi James, I would make a choice here based on reliability, room EQ, features and functions and value in that order. I propose that the sound quality from either will be so similar as to be largely irrelevant in terms of a purchase decision.

I can't stand gear that breaks down more than once.... I once owned a Jag and that was enough of a lesson for me.

 

[voodooless]

I;m now wondering about selling the Anthem and going for a Denon. However, my questions are:

1. Would I be silly to do this?

Possibly. Note that newer models are te be released in a few weeks' time. X3800h would then be the logical choice. It also has the bonus of getting a (paid) upgrade to Dirac Live.

2. Are Anthem overrated?

Maybe. The Anthem that was measured by Amir wasn't bad, so I may suspect that yours is probably fine as well.

3. Purely in terms of sound quality, is there any difference between a Denon 3700, 4700 and 6700? (And similarly with the 800 series?)

Not due to component choices, DAC chips or amps. The processing is the most important aspect, and there it's hard to say. How good is the Anthem room correction? The 3700 (and up) gives you the option to buy a $20 Audyssey app to customize the result in detail. Dirac Live will add even more on top of that. If you like upmixing stereo the Denon offers Auro 3D, which is superior to the DTS Neural:X (which the Anthem even doesn't have?). The main question here is: do you need the extra channels and power?

 

[SKBubba]

The Denon avr-x3800h is available for pre-order.

 

[Golfx]

Couple of years ago I waited for the Anthem AVM90 which is now just starting to be released. Reading through their owner’s forum it struck me that the Anthem user manuals are bare skeletons compared to Denon’s which give detailed instructions about how to enable and use enhanced functions. Anthem user’s forum is full of questions generated by this lack of user instruction and now filled by trial and error answers from other users.

 

[ryanosaur]

The newest Anthems were interesting... up until SU is releasing the new D&M offerings. I've had very little complaint with my 4-5 yr old Marantz. I am considering a Denon 3800 for a different room and looking at the new Marantz processor pretty hard for an upgrade to my main system next year.
Anthem is a smaller company which has it's charms. But they also have to sell at a higher price because they can't produce at scale to compete with larger companies like D&M or Yamaha.
(Yes, it is well documented that SU service can be a pain in the a$$, but very few are the companies aren't, and you pay for that up front.)

I think you do actually get more in the D&M products than you will from Anthem. If you have the ability to wait a few more months (rather than be an early adopter) it will be seen just how well behaved the new Denon product is. After taking a year off releasing product... SU has basically given themselves a sizeable chunk of developement time for these new designs. Considering the last batches of AV product from D&M and Yamaha and the resulting issues (especially related to HDMI), I don't think SU will disappoint in this release.

 

[Recluse-Animator]

I would recommend getting a stand alone DIRAC and getting the cheapest AVR with the outputs, formats and wattage you need.

 

[jhaider]

I;m now wondering about selling the Anthem and going for a Denon. However, my questions are:

1. Would I be silly to do this?

Not necessarily. I prefer ARC Genesis to Audyssey personally - ARC is a real room correction system that handles bass management internally and has simple but useful target curve adjustments - but with the iOS app you can get good results from Audyssey XT32 too. However, if you go immersive and like to up mix music unfortunately IMO Anthem is out of the running because they have thus far failed to license Auro3D/Auromatic.

2. Are Anthem overrated?

I don't think so. They have a good room correction system and nice looking products. The hardware is not particularly special, but it also doesn't need to be.

3. Purely in terms of sound quality, is there any difference between a Denon 3700, 4700 and 6700? (And similarly with the 800 series?)

Doubtful, but no direct experience. As long as they all have Audyssey XT32 and you buy the $20 or whatever iOS app all should be fine.

 

[Chrispy]

Always been my impression. If they could compete on economies of scale could be more interesting?

 

[Head_Unit]

selling the Anthem and going for a Denon

Once upon not that long ago, we switched from a Denon AVR-X3600H to an Anthem AVM 70 + ATI 525NC. Sounds wonderful, but not any better than the Denon. Some difference in image...shape, I don't know how else to describe it is probably due to Audyssey XT32 versus ARC. So I don't think your idea is crazy at all-presuming you don't play super duper loud and the Denon remains unclipped.

 

[TonyJZX]

I would probably go with a Denon + external amps if you really want.

To me the Japanese are leading on the tech front... I'm not super impressed with the lag that the really high end companies have on tech and continuing support.

 

[fyton2v]

A few weeks ago I bought an Anthem 740 8K and returned after a couple of days. HDMI passthrough was buggy and the Anthem comes equipped with a pretty noisy fan. Beyond those two issues it may be amazing, or it could have many other problems... I wouldn't know. I couldn't stand the fan so I didn't give it a chance. I'm now looking at getting the x3800. Quite a while ago I had a Marantz AVR. The thing just worked. Replaced that with a NAD T777, and the NAD is junk. I'm done accepting bad software for perception of sound quality. It's better to have an AVR that works most of the time.

 

[TinCanFury]

I recently had the Denon 4700 (refurb) and the Anthem 740, and even with the Anthem being more than 2x expensive I felt the Anthem was significantly enough better to keep it over the Denon. If all you watch is movies you'll be happy with the Denon for less money, but for music the Anthem is more than 2x as musical and fun to listen to.

 

[Music707]

What a pity that we do not have a direct measurement for "musicality" ...

 

[voodooless]

What a pity that we do not have a direct measurement for "musicality" ...

We do:

 

[Music707]

TEAC has a lot of good gear. I wasn't aware that they are already that advanced.

 

[N1ck]

I recently had the Denon 4700 (refurb) and the Anthem 740, and even with the Anthem being more than 2x expensive I felt the Anthem was significantly enough better to keep it over the Denon. If all you watch is movies you'll be happy with the Denon for less money, but for music the Anthem is more than 2x as musical and fun to listen to.

Funny when so much of a film sound track is actually music.

 

[TinCanFury]

Funny when so much of a film sound track is actually music.

can't tell if trolling or just that clueless?

 

[Chrispy]

can't tell if trolling or just that clueless?

Who's clueless? So music in movies is "musical", just from other media it's not somehow? "Musical" as a descriptor of electronics always struck me as trolling....

 

[Beershaun]

I have both a Denon x3100 and an Anthem mrx1140. To answer your questions.
1) no it's not silly to make the switch as long as you are happy and it has all the features you want.
2) no I don't think Anthem is overrated. Their current generation has an excellent pre amp section, multiple independent subwoofer support and great headroom in their class a/b amp channels. Also ARC is excellent and their software is very flexible and the web interface is much better than using an onboard UI like my old Denon.
3) the main difference would be ensuring you get Audyssey xt32 so you can adjust the target curve, getting true multiple independent subwoofer outputs, and the extra power gets you more headroom in the amplifier section which improves things like "impact." So pick the one that best meets your needs.

Here is a good article from Audioholics on the current gen mrx measurements.

Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV Receivers Comparison Bench Test Results!

In this bench test report of the Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV receivers, preamp & amplifier performance is evaluated and compared. We cover Bass management and amplifier matrixing performance recommendations.

www.audioholics.com