Mcintosh MX136/MC205 vs Anthem D2v/A2


Hello Audiogoners,
I am planning to upgrade my system use 50/50 on both home theater and music.
Current have
B&W804s speakers
B&W ASW825B Sub
B&W HTM2 Center
805 Cary Audio monos
98LP Cary Audio pre
Rega CD player
Denon Reciever
Will buy B&W802D in future
I don't want to replace equipment again when get 802. I haven't listen to MC pre/pro, but did on Anthem.
Anthem sound very clear, but heard a lot of people said Mcintosh go with B&W better.
Please post opinion.
Thank you very much.
kd8606

Showing 1 response by theo

Tough decision here. I am a McIntosh guy so let's be honest up front on that. I think for the use of both HT and 2 Channel the pros and cons I see are that on the HT side the Anthem will bring you better video processing and has the new BluRay codecs. Also the Anthem is upgradeable.
On the 2 channel side the MX136 (I have a 135) has the front 2 channles is basically a C46 pre amp and the rest is a ver well built pre-pro for HT. But no codec decoding for blu ray. I think on the amp side I would go with the MC205 amp. Once again honest bias here I own one. I use a MC402 for the front 2 channels but used the MC205 for a while while waited for the 402 to arrive. It is a excellent amp and does a great job. I think it is very musical and extremly deep in reserve when the demand arises. One other pro that I think I would add to the Mcintosh amp is resale will most likely be better down the road in addition to sounding very good with B&W.