I have had the following in the same system and same room over the past 3 years:
Rotel RSP-980
Anthem AVM-20 v2.1
EAD 8000Pro
EAD 8800
EAD 8800Pro
Of course, many other components in the system changed along the way, too, but there was always a transition period between old & new processors of at least 1 week that I used for comparisons. That did not always allow for a truly fair evaluation because the new units were not fully broken in before the old units got shipped out, but I did get some basic view of the differences/advantages of each.
In any case, I found the EAD's to be really great pre/pro's - better in my situation then each preceeding unit and several notable notches above the AVM-20 in all aspects, both audio and video. You do loose the on-screen menus of the Anthem, but the video quality increase that I noticed with the EAD's was not subtle, so I would never go back now. And it really is no problem once I got used to the difference in operation since the front-panel display is very easy to use and read from a reasonable distance.
The 8800 series also features Dolby ProLogic II, which I didn't really think would be that big of an deal. But in use with satellite TV signals that are not native Dolby Digital, the difference between DPL and DPL2 is very striking. So if you are planning to use this system for video sources, keep that in mind.
The 8800Pro model will give you 8 channels of fully-Balanced outputs, which I must have for the Electrocompaniet amps that I use for all 5.1 channels - including a balanced LFE input on my REL Stadium III subwoofer. But, if you don't have amps/subs/cabling that can take full advantage of balanced connections, I would think the 8800 non-pro model should be a great 'sweet-spot' in the models you have mentioned.
I hope that helps, but YMMV....
