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ask and you shall receive my audiophile friend. Last week I had the distinct listening pleasure of auditioning Anthem's new STR Integrated amp. My dealer/retailer is Cohen's Electronics. These guys have been in business for 5 decades and back in the 1990's were a real audio/hifi force. Times change and so do the customers. Since the early 2000's they bought into the home theater scene. Last year we had talked about bringing back the Audio side full on. Associated gear was a Yamaha universal BD-A1040 spinner, Goldenear Triton Three loudspeakers and Monster interconnects and speaker cabling (house brand cabling since the 1990's). Surprisingly,
this combination of gear and cabling proved to be an excellent match.
The amp weighs 40 pounds, very solid in build and construction. Sleek styling and Silver in color was my review sample that came from my area Anthem sales rep/manager whom had around 150 -200 hours play time.
This gentleman owns a pair of Thiel CS 3.7 loudspeakers in his system as it turns out. I am in the process of finding out the rest of his system and musical tastes. Also, there is another gentleman whom lives in my area that bought his STR last month and uses a turntable set-up (hopefully I can connect with him for a follow-up soon).
Auditioning took place in a dedicated room that is very well damped, dead quiet. I would say it is 15x15x12 maybe larger and still under 20x20x12 in size.
I sat 8-10 feet away from the system. The Yamaha player is impressive using its coaxial output into the STR DAC input. The sound and presentation was excellent. Powerful, energetic, robust, dynamic (micro/macro) a touch warm of neutral is my description. For those who have heard the Anthem 225 integrated, the STR, represents the next level of musical enjoyment. These (2) amps are not lean, dry, thin nor anemic, for the record. I was easily able to hear deeper into the music on my reference CD titles than I can recall from previous demos. The same is reported for SACD playback via the analog output from player into the analog input of amp (no HDMI on the Anthem), PRaT was in effect big time.
Again, this system was very musical from top to bottom. I can only imagine the synergy of my speakers and the STR. MSRP is $4499, even at full retail, this amp is a steal. One is going to spend much more for separates or a different brand's integrated of equal quality and power ratings. Later this week I will make an offer on the review sample. Highest marks across the board.
Happy Listening!
