B&K Ref 50 or Anthem avm20


I'm quite limited on good equipment where I live and it boils down to these two preamps. I am using the Anthem MCA5 and MCA2 for my amps and klipsch RF7 speakers. The two stores we have in town both have great sales pitches. I am hoping for some outside input on which would be better
jdwright
I have not owned the REF 50, but I have not been happy with B&K components that I have owned. From my point of view, B&K did very well with signal amplification, but not so well with component control & switching (preamp stuff). Anthem has a good reputation in the price/performance category, so I would opt for Anthem. I haven't heard the Anthem AVM20, however. Good luck.
Take a look at AVSFORUM.COM and HOMETHEATERSPOT.COM.

Lot's of info. I own the ref.30 and have had zero trouble with it.

Tim
with the recent price drop on the b&k, it would be hard not to give the ref 50 some serious consideration over the anthem. i have not heard the anthem, but know that at the $3000 price point, the b&k and anthem are in the same price/performance category.
first of all be wary of sales pitches,most hifi salesmen will tell you that what they have is the best thing scence instant gravy & when you get the gear home & it sounds like shit they say its the fault of your other gear,also keep in mind that the demo rooms at dealerships are setup to make even sony crap sound like gold ,my preference would be the b&k,i have never owned any b&k but i have owned anthem & sonic frontiers(same gear)& i thought they both sucked with my klipsch cornwalls.