Anthem AVM-70 8K

I have the AVM 70 - their software is fantastic - it is my 3rd Anthem - every Anthem I have owned (some of them were avr) have failed so make sure you have a good dealer to stand behind the product.  I only buy them because my dealer is great.  I don't believe their software will blow a speaker.  There are problems with the HDMI handshake and CIC control on these units.

I recently purchased an Onkyo to replace my Anthem which was in for repair - it uses the Dirac system that ARCAM uses.  I was shocked at how good the onkyo was - no glitcyness that was inherent in the Anthems.  Now the Onkyo is single ended - but I think I would rather have something that just works and sacrifice a little sound quality.  

My kid tried an Arcam - balanced great with Dirac - but the Amp in it blew up in 3 weeks.

When the next Anthem dies - I'm going back to Onkyo.

I was weighing an anthem avm 70 too against Sony’s new 5000, and after trying both, surround and dialogue clarity was better with the Sony. Both were better than my previous Marantz. Yes, the Sony is a receiver, but I use it as a processor.
 

obviously, surround and dialogue clarity depends a ton on your speakers and room, but this is my anecdote, and I save 1.5k too as the Sony is 2.1k vs the 3.7k.

Am using an Anthem STR preamp with HT pass through to an older Marantz 7.1 prepro (7102?) for TV/Movies. My room is odd and there is little I can do acoustically, so I need DSP help. Short story is that I tried Audessey on the Marantz, didn’t like the results at all. Used ARC on the STR (which I use for 2 channel critical listening) and the results are jaw dropping good. The client software for measuring the room and adjusting curve targets is not completely obvious to use, but I figured it out. 
 

I’ve measured my room many times, after changing components, moving speakers, etc. Never did the volume get loud or seem in danger of damaging my speakers. 
 

Regarding ARC support, I had some trouble getting their USB mic to work with the old MacBook I use to run the ARC client and stream using Roon. Took a couple of days, but I ended talking to a guy from their help desk in Canada who helped me troubleshoot the problem. (In this case, a screw loose behind the keyboard. 😉)