Hi KEW,
Thank you so much for your reply. I have read the review of the Outlaw model 5000 in Audioholics review article. Awesome review! Talks about all the measurement and really dig into the amp to see how it performs, sadly not all review websites does that. Hence why I don't have a comparison on the Rotel and Anthem. Strangely enough, it seems Audioholics has much less review on Anthem and Rotel products...are they less popular?
I currently have the Anthem MRX 510 receiver, from the spec sheet it is claiming 100W continuous for 2 channel driven, and 75W x 5 for 5 channel driven. The speaker I have is the Paradigm monitor 11 v7 for front main channels and Paradigm Monitor Cener3 v7, surround is the Paradigm Atom monitor.
So I am not sure if the Anthem PVA5 will be the best match (as it is the same brand as my receiver) compare to Rotel and Outlaw. The audioholic have such a positive review for the Outlaw which makes me hard to pass this one, but other review websites also commented that the Rotel is a good amp too. Anthem PVA.... not many reviews out there...It did thought about Marantz 7055, but wan't sure how it will mate with Anthem in terms of sound.
what do you think KEW?
Cheers
Don't hurt your head worrying over how well any of these amps will mate with the Anthem. I know many professional reviewers talk like that, but consider that the reviewer would be out of a job if he just said this amp performs just like any other modern well-designed amp which produces X number of watts. However that is more the reality than what the reviewers say about night and day differences and sound signatures!
Think about it this way. Class AB amps (which I am pretty sure all of the units you are looking at are) have been around for several decades. It is a mature science and any major company producing them can be relied on to make a competent amp! If a power amp imparted its own sound signature on the signal, that would be a form of distortion (at an audible level). However, you will see distortion levels below 0.1% for these amps, which is not audible.
I forgot that the Outlaw is probably a better amp than the others because Outlaw is specifying
120 watts for all channels driven at once (and Audioholics measured 135W X 5). Marantz, Rotel, and Anthem are using the more standard rating of power when only two channels are driven.
Marantz is probably the highest volume (production quantity) among these. Rotel is European, and while available here, are not a big player in the US. Anthem is a comparatively low volume manufacturer compared to companies like Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo, etc. Outlaw is an ID company, so wants reviews to have a better market presence. So that kind of explains the availability of reviews. Audioholics does, indeed, do a great job of taking thorough measurements.
If I was in your shoes, I would get the Outlaw 5000 and use it for the front three channels and let your Anthem MRX 510 drive the 2 surrounds (assuming the Anthem is in good condition). Figure the 5000 does 170W @ 2 channels and 135W @ 5 channels, so it is probably something like 155 to 160W @ 3 channels. That should make for an easy load for both units and provide a good distribution of power (the front 3 are generally more demanding and the surrounds do lighter duty on standard HT content). You are not using two of the Outlaw channels, but that just keeps it cooler for a good long life (and I don't believe you can find a better 3 channel amp for the same $650 as the 5000)! If you later go to 7.1 or add atmos, you can tap into the other amps (both Anthem AVR and Outlaw) with the lighter loads from the extra channels.
