What tier do you consider Anthem integrated?


Anthem has an STR integrated amp with the ARC room correction. The integrated teams loaded with a lot of features such as built in room correction, stable into low ohms, big toroidal transformer, etc. Would a 15 year old Pass labs amp walk all over a 3 year old anthem? The Anthem is newer and has more features, Anthem is rated class A by Stereophile review, but Stereophile seems to only give amps with phono stages class A ratings, and the Pass labs doesn't have that. So what would you grab? An older Pass labs that may have age issues, or a newer amp with good reviews and room correction? Looking for best sound, not to impress people with brand names. Thanks.

128x128labguy

This is kind of a weird question.

I’d say I’d apply these two products differently.

Pass has a distinct sound which IMHO does best with certain speakers than others. Anthem is a high value integrated with an ARC that will help even a noob get the most out of their subwoofer.

If Anthem ever actually releases Roon support I'll be udderly (hahah) shocked!

I've owned the Anthem and thought it was really good- especially for the price 

room correction is the real deal

i thought the sound was transparent and reliably good. Wont compete with amps orders of magnitude more expensive but I believe that's typical 

excellent value and personally I'd take a relatively new Anthem over comparably priced fifteen year old gear 

After years od having spectral gear, my expectations of solid state build quality are high.  When you looki inside the anthem the boards were flimsy appearing, on angles , bevel my Yamaha avr was better quality construction.   I beautiful casework with midfi guts     Stick to their avr which are competent 

@labguy As a contributor to a couple of your other threads I am just wondering what your current thoughts are regarding system development. Are you still interested in the development of a 2 channel 'synergistic system' for under $5000? What speakers are you considering?

Please understand I am not trying to be snarky, 

There are SO many undefined variables that have to be considered. Not just that amp itself. Things like a particular interconnect that might work well o one but not so well on the other. then of course there are the design features like what class of AMP each is ruining and so on. Also the purpose you use the amp for. i.e. is it for analogue sources like a turntable, Or Digital sources like CD/DVDs? I see people here asking those exact questions and they must be answered first.