I used to own the AVM 30, and the sound was STELLAR. In fact when I recently built a system again around vinyl, I considered long and hard using an Anthem AVM as the preamp with a phono preamp, but Home theater was just not that important, so I went a different direction. I have not heard the Yamaha, but the sound quality from the Anthem's is comparable to almost any dedicated stereo preamp I have heard.
Anthem.
Anthem.