While Vader has supported his preference for the AVM-20 over the 950 with absolutely no supporting facts, except for that his balanced interconnect cables cost a lot of money...

1) Cost has absolutely nothing to do with performance. Even if the Anthem sounds "better" than the 950, gosh dern it, it ought to because it lists for 4x the amount the 950 does. But who wins "bang for the buck"?

2) I had the opportunity to audition a 950 with a 755 amp, and the AVM-20 with the 5 ch Anthem amp. My comments are posted elsewhere in this forum, but try as I might, with both music and movies, I could not tell a difference between them. And I wanted to! I firmly believe that you spend more money, you should get better performance. But I didn't hear it. The AVM-20 is certainly more "tweakable", but for raw 2 ch performance? No diff.

3) It has been proven, that unless a component has fully balanced operation, and not quasi-balanced as most cheaper components are, using the balanced connection can actually result in *worse* sound. Mr Vader- please dig up a reference such that you can prove that both the Anthem AVM-20 and the amp you are using it with is actually fully balanced. (For example, I just read a review of the Rotel RMB-1095. 200w/ch, weighs 70 lbs. *Not* fully balanced.)

4) I had a 950 in my system. I had absolutely no complaints with 2 ch stereo sound. But, I liked the 7.1 CES modes on the 950 so much, I went for my dream pre/pro and got a Lexicon MC-8. I have also posted this elsewhere, but I found absolutely no difference in 2 ch music stereo sound quality. The best test a multichannel preamp can undergo. And Mr Vader, I'd wager that the balanced power unit *I* have, costs more than the amplifier that you have. But that don't mean squat neither.

5) Mr Vader- Have you ever compared an AVM-20 to a 950 in your system? No? Then how can you intelligently comment on a 950 vs the AVM-20? Oh wait, I said "intelligently."


[This message has been edited by Kevin C Brown (edited November 04, 2003).]