daydayyea

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Over Priced.

Strengths:
Does everything average only.

Weaknesses:
Cheap/Poor Build Quality.

Who in this thread know this amp is build and base on a cheapo Yamaha board? and adding some tubes.

Snoppy buttons and nobs.

Similar Products Used:
Kr Audio, Cary, Classe, Simaudio, YBA/Audio Refinement, Sophia Electrics, Mastersound, Atoll, Cayin...etc.

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Price Paid:  $0.00 from USED

Summary:
I bought this amp used for my brother and ended up keeping it for myself for a while at least. Performance is better than expected. With not a whole lot of experience with tube amps, the Anthem, I feel, definitely gives you that tube sound. The sound is open and warm with a soundstage thats wide and relatively deep. I didn't expect the SS to be as deep as it is. The amp is also very musical and non-fatiguing making it easy to listen to for extended sessions. In fact I now like it more than my Acurus DIA100. Even though its not as accurate as the Acurus esp at the frequency extremes, it more than makes up for it by giving the listener an engaging sound. On the power side of things, the Anthem appears to be able to drive most speaker loads effortlessly. Although not as good as my Bryston 3B-ST, I had it driving the Magnepan 1.5s with never any hint of strain. Currently, I have it paired with the NHT2.5i's which I think is a great match-up. The more I use this amp, the more I like it. I highly highly recommend the Anthem Integrated 2.

Strengths:
Musical and engaging. Good looks and build quality. Remote control for volume.

Weaknesses:
None yet.

Similar Products Used:
Acurus DIA100, Bryston-60B, Musical Fidelity, etc.

Price Paid:  $895.00 from Jeff's Sound Values

Summary:
A musical & revealing amp. Very well built, heavy as a tank with quality components used throughout & a great warranty (5 years) The only minor fault is that Sonic Frontiers (the parent company) cheaped out on the screws that hold the cover on. They're flimsy & easy to snap the heads off. Not a big point, but a pain since most people are going to tube swapping. At its list price of $1799 there are a lot of choices & it's not a clear cut winner over other integrateds in the same price range. But who pays list now a days? The reality is that this is a discontinued model & they are going out the door for less than $1000. I paid $895 (barnd new) from Jeff's Sound Values in CA & that makes it a steal. You are in Japanese mass market terriority at that price with there being nothing even remotely close that matches its sound quality. Grab one, you won't be disappointed. The best sounding integrated I auditioned was a Classe CAP151, but the Anthem is real close in sound quality. However, the Classe costs substantially more ($2000 best discount I could get) & with the Anthem once you throw in the right tube you're in triode heaven. A few if the previous reviews mentioned a veiled sound. That's the stock Sovteks at work. As Horace Greenley once said (ok, he didn't but he could have if there was tube equipment in his time)"swap those tubes young man". This is one fine sounding unit, but you need to lose the Sovteks for it to reach full potential. The Anthem replaced a Musical Fidelity A300, which went on the fritz. At first I thought there might be a problem driving my speakers (PSB Stratus Gold i's) since the Anthem had 100 less watts into 4 ohms (145 w/ch vs 250), but suprise, suprise. Not only was it not a problem but the Anthem had deeper bass. Both are fine sounding amps & they really let the details shine through as well as throwing a nice wide soundstage. The Anthem provides a little more in the way of low level resolution and ambient cues with this becoming even more apparent when I switched from the Sovteks to NOS Sylvanias. The Sylvanias are cheap (around $10 ea), easy to find & improve the dynamics. Eventually a pair of NOS GE's (made in England ,not the USA ones)were tried with monster results. The GE's made this unit boogie. It's tap your feet & enjoy the smooth, life-like sound pouring forth. The Anthem is not sterile sounding,it makes music!

Strengths:
Can change sound w/tube swapping. Sweet, detailed sound. Overall build quality. Great warranty.

Weaknesses:
Cheapo cover screws are out of character with rest of build quality.

Similar Products Used:
Musical Fidelity A300, Vintage Fisher Tube amp, Classe CAP 151, NAD

Price Paid:  $695.00 from ebay

Summary:
Wow. That's about all I can say after listening to this integrated for the past 3 days. Yes only 3 days and a review. Perhpaps it was the disappointing sound of the Caspian that makes this unit sound so good to my ears. I replaced the stock Sovtek 6922's with JJ/Tesla 6922 tubes when I got the unit, didn't even listen to the russian tubes. The first thing I noticed was the body that the music suddenly had to it. I never had this type of effect with my Yamaha RX-V795A or the Caspian Integrated. I can actually listen to the music with my eyes open and see the images. It's like having people here playing for me. It is wonderful to say the least. Very engaging sound. I have it paired with a Rotel RCD-975 CDP and NHT 2.5i speakers. My interconnects are homemade cat5 speaker cable bi-wired to the 2.5i's and homemade silver interconnects between the CDP and Amp. The sound is very detailed compaired to the Caspian and it is NEVER fatiguing. This was a huge problem for me with other amps, this is the first that I have come across that didn't hurt my ears at moderate volumes. It does have it's weak points right now I must admit, as the sound is somewhat recessed, it sounds too midrangy. I am hoping this is an attribute to the tubes that I am using right now. It has plenty of power to drive the 2.5i's which are believe are rated at 4 ohms 87db which is quite low. The Caspian could not handle this load and I clipped it a few times and what i felt was incredibly low volumes compared to what I was used to with the Paradigm Monitor 7's I had previously. The low end is very nice but just oh so slightly rolled off at the extreme end below 40hz. The high end could be more extended and sweeter but I am satisfied as is, I can live with this. If anyone can give me any advice or feedback on replacing the tubes to some good NOS please let me know. I also have yet to try connecting the pre-out to the ssp-in with good interconnects as I dont have an extra pair to use, and if anyone has experience with that shoot me an email as well. All told I think I got a great deal for this amp @ $695 shipped plus another $30 for the JJ/Tesla tubes for a total of $725. Not bad eh ? I haven't heard anything that sounds better than this yet, but I am still in the lower range of audio equipment and am very young at 20yrs. old. Give me time and I will be a snide, cynical old audiophile(to you old folks reading this, yes you =Þ). If you can find one of these I don't see how you can go wrong if the price is under $850 IMO. This is my first time using any tubed gear...so far I am liking the experience.

Strengths:
Holographic tube sound, detail without sounding analytical, bass authority

Weaknesses:
It sounds recessed, sorta like a dark tone, probably just the cheap tubes I am using.

Similar Products Used:
Roksan Caspian Integrated

Price Paid:  $850.00 from used/Audiogon

Summary:
I had a chance to get a Jolida 1501RC w/ upgraded tubes for 600.00. The list is around 800.00 w/ the upgraded tubes. Then I found a used Anthem int.2 for 850.00 including shipping. I ran out to listen to one at a dealer. And I loved it. I still got alittle brightness on some recording. But, most things sounded very smooth.I never got a chance to listen to the Jolida. But since they were the same money and the anthem listed for 1799.99 and the jo listed for 750.00 w/the stock tubes. I just had to get the Anthem.I feel I made the right decsion.

Strengths:
Nice Bass. Musical.

Weaknesses:
Still alittle bright on some recording. But, Still beats any fully solid state interated amp.

Similar Products Used:
Krell 300I, Jolida 1501rc