Tough Decisions: Yamaha, NAD and Anthem

[Bryguy]

Right now I am getting ready to upgrade my Yamaha RX-V1400. It has served me very well and currently still runs great. Since this receiver does not have any HDMI hookups it is time to upgrade.

I am presently looking at the Yamaha Aventage 1040 (I do like the A-2040 but I will never use the 9.2 or zone 2), the NAD 758 and thinking about the Anthem. Since I have a Yammi and have never had any problems with it, it is so far the shoe in. Plus, the WiFi connectivity is a hard driving plus. The only issue I am having with the NAD 758 is that it only has 4 HDMI in's and if I want a comparable to the A-1040 I would need to increase to the NAD 777 which is $3k. I could swing it but I really do not want to sink that kind of cash into a receiver. The dealer I went to also sells Anthem which sounded good but I really don't know much about them and their website really is not the greatest.

I am still running everything 2 Channel through the speakers in my by-line and am now hooked through DirecTV. Since we've added a Roku 3 we really don't use the DVD player and most music is streamed through a tablet or netbook (a lot through Archive.org). I do listen to copious amounts of music from old school blues through classic rock to the Dead to metal.

Just putting my thoughts out there.

Bryguy

 

[slipperybidness]

Anthem is the sister-company of Paradigm, and they certainly make good AVRs.

All this comes down to is "which AVR has the features that I need and will use (for the cheapest price)". You may also consider "which AVR has the best room correction".

That's all that you really need to worry about for an AVR.

Personally, I would be looking at the Yammy or Anthem, and take the NAD off the list.

 

[Bryguy]

From what I saw the Anthem has the best room correction but you have to hook the mike up to a computer and then the computer to the AVR. The more and more I think about it the Yammi has a couple of extra options that I would definitely use. The Anthem is bare bones.

 

[penpitt]

Another option would be the Yamaha 1030. Spec wise is is identical to the 1040 but you lose the Bluetooth and Wifi. But it is $400 less then the 1040. Amazon is currently selling it for $699.95

 

[PENG]

Of the 3 you narrowed down to, the 1030 or 1040 is the best in terms of feature set, audio specs and perceived reliability. Anthem would be my second choice.

 

[Bryguy]

I think I've decided to go with the Yamaha 1040 for now. I really do like the wifi feature and have been satisfied with my current Yamaha. If I need more power I'll just get nice amp.

 

[PENG]

I think I've decided to go with the Yamaha 1040 for now. I really do like the wifi feature and have been satisfied with my current Yamaha. If I need more power I'll just get nice amp.

Good choice, but I have to say the Denon AVR-4520 seems like an unbeatable buy right now if it is true that you can get a new one with warranty for 1K. I would have preferred Yamaha too but only if it had Audyssey XT32. XT32 really does a good job especially if you have two subwoofers. People who claim Anthem's better really has no proof as no one has compared theirs with XT32. If you go by hearsay then there are two or three camps out there. As usual, each has their own fans.

 

[3db]

Congrats on the Yammy. I have two of them, an RX-V1800 and an RX-V1500 which I picked up for a $100 a couple of months ago to replace a Technics AVR. I needed more inputs than the Technics offered. Love the Yamaha quality and sound.