I knew you weren't taking a stab, I just wanted to clarify my position for other potential readers who might not bother reading the whole thread that is becoming a little long. That's because I know if taken out of context, one would indeed get the feeling that I am not recommending Anthem's. That would be fine if that's the case, except that I actually would highly recommend Anthem's, if one is aware of the feature set and the potential issues. Ever since I planned on returning from AVR to AVP, my choice had been between the AVM70 and the CX-A5300 (that never came).
Since you are in fact concern about the fan noise thing, I was so disappointed when I first heard that unwelcoming noise, and wish I was aware of that issue prior. Well, I didn't, so it costed me $400, because had I known it wasn't "normal" (that as you can see, Anthem support said so to at least one person), I would have returned the unit within a few days instead of waited almost 3 months!!
Now that you know about it, there isn't much to worry because if you get one like that, you will most likely know within an hour, if not, just wait until it turns on and then you will know for sure. Just make sure your dealer agree to a no question ask return/exchange period. The chance of getting the second one with the same issue should be very slim. So far I have experience with 3 units, and only one has the issue.
@Cos said his was fine too, I didn't count that one not that I don't trust him, but I only want to count the three that I have my fingers on.
Worst case, as you said, it is easy to replace the fan, or do what I did for 2-3 months, mount the fan externally, without risk voiding the warranty. My only other slight disappointment was the way ARCG handled the bass, it rally messed it up for me, but that's an easy fix/tweak too. Again, if you need help on that, just let me or other users on AVSF know.
