Anthem AVM/20 upgrade to Integra or Marantz??

while the integra stuff gets good reviews, my experience has been less than satisfying....bought the 80.1, after afew months noticed it would not pass a 1080p signal...weeks of back and forth with integra..they took the unit back and sent me an 80.2 (for a small upgrade price)....after nine months, the front panel locks up on the 80.3...local dealer says "its a known problem"...after weekes of back and forth...integra says send it back and we will upgrade to the 80.3 for $350...ok.....it has been three weeks since i sent the unit back ups over night...

last night...dealer calls and says 80.3 back ordered until late february....i am done with integra....

is an anthem dv2 the next step up in peformance and quality???

on a seperate customer service note...i also have the revel speakers you mention...they were in the room when i bought the house two years ago (so the speakers are at least 8 years old)...a woofer went out (my diagnosis) on the ceneter channel.....called revel tech support....AT NO CHARGE they sent a full set of drivers and recommended a shop if i did not want to do the repair...thats service...

Thanks to both for your input. Everything I'm reading ironically is pushing me to the Marantz even though its a slightly older unit and doesn't' have the latest Audyssey (though MultiEQ Pro had advantages over the XT32 version).

I was reading on one review of a user of Krell and Anthem AVM20 who upgraded to the Marantz and loved it. So, I know you'll always find those types; but given the age of the Anthem AVM20, the advancements in D/A converters, etc. if a $1,500 preamp today truly trounces a $3,000 preamp from 10 years ago. My gut is telling me "yes" more and more.

Additionally, the integration of AirPlay, which is now a free upgrade is also a nice to have feature as I do tend to like the Apple ecosystem and also love to have the flexibility of DLNA as I do have a prototype server setup for sending FLAC files over the network.

I have also thought about the Anthem 50v but at 5k am I getting that much more for audio quality?? It appears that there is now only one major difference (at least on specs) between the D2 and the AVM50v if I recall correctly and it was something to do with the analog input or output. Listen, I love my Anthem, but I just can't afford 5k for a preamp at this point.

Finally, let me confirm what you said about Revel and Harman support. They rival Apple with their rabid (in a good sense) focus on customer service. Questions about my Revels and an issue with DC Offset with my Lexicon were handled in ways I just cannot begin to explain. Just the highest, highest praise for Jason and the team over at Harman tech support. You are not just buying a stellar product, you are getting incredible, personal support after that for as long as you have the product. I do have to say that Anthem tech support has been A+++ as well.

So, if I'm to summarize here, from an audio quality perspective, I basically should here no real difference between the Marantz and the Integra in terms of audio quality and processing in both two channel and multichannel.

The Marantz at that price point is looking better and better all the time. I do truly appreciate and welcome any other thoughts and comments on this! It's our hobby and we love it, breathe it, and take any opportunity we can to talk about it :-)

I just got an Onkyo 5508 (AKA the nearly identical cousin of the Integra 80.1) to replace an ARC LS25 + NHT X-2 + Velodyne SMS-1 + Cambridge DacMagic in a music only 2.2 system. One box vs 4 and very, very good sound thru Maggie SMG or Ohm 100s with a pair of 12" Rythmik subs. I'm very happy with that decision.

FWIW.

Marty

Neat, Marty. The thing really works!

BTW, the 5508 is equivalent to an 80.2; just what I use.

Kal

Sorry, Kal. 80.2 instead of 70.2 :-) So my recollection was correct on that one.

Don't mean to put you on the spot, but is it a fair shot to say that either the Marantz or Integra would do me well for my purposes going from an Anthem PrePro? I don't need the extra HDMI settings of the Integra and I don't need the added streaming services like Spotify, etc.

The only nice feature that I do use is separate crossover settings between music and movies. I run my M22s down to about 50Hz with the music setting and I pretty much leave the M22s close to 80Hz for movies. I also use the notch filter in the Anthem, but that would likely be taken care of via Audyssey.