I never auditioned the Anthem, but I own a B&K and the 2ch listening is great! I use the B&K Ref 30/Ref 7250 combo and the Martin Logan Aerius i. The sound is awsome (at least for my ears). The B&K has a great feature which is the ability to choose how many speakers you want to use together with the listening modes (mono, stereo, surround, etc.) With this you have unlimited combinations, like 4 speakers stereo (sends the stereo signal to front left, front right, rear left and rear right), let's say, for a party...
