Anthem AVM/20 upgrade to Integra or Marantz??


Greetings all,

I've enjoyed and stretched out the life of my Anthem AVM/20 paired with a Lexicon CX-7. My sources are Oppo, AppleTV, Roku, vinyl, and cable if you are interested. These are all being driven through Revel Performa M22 monitors, C32 center and B15 sub and Revel in-ceiling for surrounds. The speakers are in a 7.1 setup in a formal living room, not dedicated HT.

I need HDMI compatibility in my Pre-pro at this point but I don't want to lose or compromise the sonic quality I've had with the Anthem. Given that another, newer pre-pro from Anthem that isn't north of 5k isn't in the near future I'm looking to either Integra or Marantz as sonically they seem to be given top billing.

So here is my issue: I *love* 2-channel and I don't want any sonic compromise at all in soundtage bredth and depth, tonal accuracy, and sheer emotional involvement in the music. In fact, I want *better* performance than my AVM/20 currently offers.

So,will the Marantz AV7005 or Integra 80.3 do the trick? I've read Kal and Michael Fremmer's reviews of the AV7005 and they are excellent. Michael even bought the review sample and I think Kal has the integra 70.2. However the Integra offers the newer Audyssey room correction. The Anthem is just such a well put together piece that I am afraid that my upgrade will be a sonic downgrade. Are my fears justified or not?

Looking for some sage advice and guidance! Many thanks to all in advance.
internetmin
Internetmin,

I know you wont pick the receiver series due to XLR, but did you ever happen to test the anthem receivers to compare with 50v on MOVIES? I would really like to know how superior it would be with ARC over 5Khz and all the better circuitry implementations 50v has, if someone has compare it, please comment.
and btw, how much did you pay 50v for eventually? I am thinking of buying one too seriously.
I was able to get it at 50% off. So the price between that and a new/used Integra was minimal.
Dealer demo from a local dealer I've done business with for a long time. I did *not* do a direct comparison with the MRX.

1) I have all balanced cables in my setup and
2) I didn't want a limited ARC system