anthem avm 20

[drotti2004]

I have a anthem avm 20 and was wondering which of my 2 channel amps would be the better one to use with. I have a solid state hafler xl280 which I beleive is 155wpc and a tube counterpoint sa12 which is rated 85wpc. I am wondering which will have more power
and which will sound best with the anthem avm 20.

[Mr Peabody]

I vote for the Hafler. For music the Counterpoint would be great but for home theater I'd stick with solid state. Plus if you plan to use an amp for the other channels the sound of the Counterpoint will not blend, unless you had other Counterpoint to use. What are your plans?

[drotti2004]

The use of the hafler and counterpoint will be temporary until I can afford a 5 or 7 channel solid state amp.

[Mr Peabody]

A few guys here use the Emotiva which is sold only online and are real happy with them. Their prices are real reasonable and may be worth taking a look at.

[Kevio]

I'd worry much more about how an amp got along with your speakers and your program material than I would about how it got along with this pre-amp. The Anthem looks like it strives to be transparent. If you want to add some color to your system, you'd do it in the power amplifiers and possibly the speakers. The tube amp would definitely be more colorful.

As far as which would have more power, it is difficult to compare power ratings because there's not a universally accepted way of making these measurements. Measurement variables include peak vs. sustained power, amount of distortion allowed at maximium power, single channel driven vs. stereo or full surround.

Even if the specs given were comprehensive enough to make an apples-to-apples comparison, you'd not notice a huge difference between 85 and and 155 watts. A doubling of power makes the system only noticeably louder but it takes a 10x power increase to make the system twice as loud.

[BadAssJazz]

Sorry, am I missing something? You have the Anthem pre/pro and both amps now??? You have the perfect environment to test the theory -- and theory is really all that any of us can offer at this point. Hook those babies up and let us know what you think.

[drotti2004]

WiSE GUY HA ! Well your probably correct but I just wanted a little input from the public who may have some suggestions and a little more experience with the Anthem.
Thanks for the ideas to all who had some good advice and thoughts.

[Mr Peabody]

Isn't the Counterpoint a hybrid?

dB is a ratio and how much power vs perceived gain is more complex. In real world I can tell you that when I went from my Krell 250x2 to my Conrad Johnson 60x2 there was more than twice the power loss perceived. Hence, the conversion to mono which is more satisfying but still would have a good way to go to rival the Krell in power. Not too many consumer amps at 1,000 or 2,000 watts to just double ones sound. Perceived loudness can't be just put into simple terms like 10 times whatever.

For anyone interested: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html