Hands up if you like your music and movies equal in their astounding hi-fi quality! If you’re one of them, then I have some very very good news for you: there’s a new Anthem in town! You’re forgiven if you don’t fully know what that means (it’s been a while since Anthem released an AV receiver – we’ve been selling its predecessor as long as we’ve been in business!), but trust me, it’s something you need to be excited about.
That gorgeous beast is the Anthem MRX 520 AV Receiver. As bold as it is beautiful! It’s the successor to the magnificent MRX 510, a hugely popular receiver which held its own against every competing device throughout its many years of service. We’ve only stopped selling the 510 because of this revision – if it didn’t exist it would still be on our shelves! In fact, we have a number of them living at home with staff members. Why was it so popular, and why are we so excited about this new version? I’m getting to that.
It’s no exaggeration when I say Anthem make some of the best AV receivers on the market. We sell receivers by Onkyo, Yamaha (the equivalent would be the awesome Avantage series) and we’ve listened to them all, on a multitude of different systems, and while we adore both Onkyo and Yamaha for what they do with movies, the Anthems have a pretty unique handling on music that really gives them an edge. Don’t get me wrong, Onkyo and Yamaha still sound amazing (and some of Yamaha’s stuff works with MusicCast, which is a definite plus!) but by pure sound comparison, nothing compares to Anthem. There’s a reason why some of us have these at home!
Now of course, whenever high-end AV receivers are discussed, it’s always worth mentioning Arcam, who are the closest direct competitor. But at this stage it’s very worth mentioning that while Arcam are amazing (and they really, truly are!) their AV receivers start at £2,399, whereas the new Anthem AV Receiver range starts with this model (the MRX 520 is the entry level – not bad eh?) being at the far more affordable £1499. It’s also worth mentioning that when the 510 was released, it was actually £200 more expensive. They’ve brought down the price without bringing down the quality, and that makes this an exceptionally high value product. In fact, it’s amazing value!
Yes, it’s still expensive – but this is the entry level model, and it has every feature you can think of )you’d be spending a great deal more to get these features with another brand!) with lots of significant improvements and changes from the 510. It is beautifully designed, with a nicely contoured and textured finish. But looks, features and price aside, what makes this beautiful receiver truly great value is the sound.
We wanted to make sure it sounded as good as we thought it did, so we compared it to three BIG name AV receivers, and this one came out on top. In fact one of them (several times the price!) sounded really thin, despite it being matched with KEF Reference speakers. The Anthem sounded wonderfully smooth and musical, and for want of a better phrase it is a real pleasure to use and experience.
If you like the sound of it (believe me, you’d like it even more in person!) then take a closer look at the features and specs here. That price won’t seem quite so high once you see what it’s capable of!