Anybody able to compare Athem AVM/Sunfire G III ?

I recently had both in my system hooked up to Aragon 8008BB amp and B&W 805N speakers. The Anthem AVM20 is in a different class. The Carver sounds flat and lifeless (IMO). It also has this annoying auto input switching feature that gets confused a lot. The Anthem has an almost tube like sound. When it comes to customer service, I would give the nod to Sunfire. Sonic Frontiers customer service can be frustration at times. I had an AVM2 that died and sent it back for repair. Service beat the hell out of the unit and when I got it back there were scratches on the face and case and the unit was still dead. Sent it back a second time and they returned the unit in the same condition (still not working and with scratches) and said that they replaced the face and case. They even sent me an invoice for this repair! Afer many phone calls and threats of legal and criminal action they agreed to replace the unit. They few times I call Sunfire with questions they were curtious and they even returned phone calls when they said they would!!!!! I ended up returning the Sunfire to the dealer who loaned it to me while he was on vacation.

I sat down yesterday and watched the Matrix Reloaded yesterday. I kept getting distracted from the movie because the sound was so da__ good in some of the scenes. I guess that says a lot about the Anthems HT capibilities.

I currently have my DVD player hooked up 4 different ways to the Anthem: 2 channel analog for bypass and stereo and 2 channel SACD listening, coax digital for stereo listening with sub, Toslink digital for movies, and 6 Channel input for Multi-Channel SACD. That should give you an idea of how flexible the inputs are on the Anthem.

All balanced using Cardas Golden Cross IC's. I did turn of the auto select feature. I ran into another use with the Sunfire. If you have both an analog and digital inputs going to the same source input on the Sunfire, it always defualts to the digital input. So, if you want to listen to your CD player using the analog input you have to unplug the digital input. I called Sunfire and they said that there's no way to defeat this "feature".

I aslo used Cardas Cross SE and AQ Viper balanced cables. In addition, I also used SAR and Aragon 2004MKII ampliefiers in place of the Aragon 800BB. The Aragon 2004 was SE only and the SAR was run in SE and Balanced. When I listened to the Anthem there was just a lot more information there. The soundstage was wide and deep and I could here things that I could not with the Sunfire. My wife, who is not into audio, could also here the difference. I was really hoping the Sunfire TGIII would work out because I was very upset with Sonic Frontiers with the way that they had handled my AVM2 repair.

I guess this is all just personal opinion anyway. If I get a chance over the next few days, I'll check the pinout on the Anthem XLR's compared to the Sunfires.

Thanks,

Yes, I'm talking about the TGIII. I had it in my system for over a month. It was on loan from a local store while I was working out my differences with Sonic Frontiers. I watched at least a dozen movies through it and listened to at least 60-80 CD's. I really wanted the Sunfire to work because I was really pissed at Sonic Frontiers. I was changing cables, amps and moving speakers around to get it to work. I made many calls to Sunfire to get help. When I received my new AVM20 fro SF I wasn't even going to hook it up. I had decided to sell it on Agon and use the proceeds to maybe buy a Parasound, Krell showcase, Aragon or Rotel processor. A friend of mine convinced me to try it before selling it. As soon as I put it in the system I heard a big improvement. And, the unit was not even broken in yet. There was more information and a huge soundstage.

I've been in this hobby for about 25 years. My wife says that my hearing is so good that I can hear her think. I've recently had a hearing test (my wife needed to have one so while I was there....) and the DR. confirmed that my hearing is excellent. I just wanted to make it clear that I'm no ameture. I have a few friends that own High-end audio stores and I hang out at the stores too much.

YBA_US - have you had the chance to compare the AVM20 and SUnfire TGIII in your room? In my room, I think the AVM20 is a better sounding product. We are all intitled to our opinions. And, I did everything I could think of to make the comparision fair. I even invited a few friends over, and they agreed that the AVM20 sounded better.

PS-The sound stage is so big on the AVM20, that I liked to invite people over and have them listen to 2 channel audio. I get the same response everytime that we are listening to surround sound because they can here things behind them. Then I show them that the surround amps are switched of and the processor is in stereo. I love the look on their faces.