Anthem STR (SL) int amp

Enjoy maximum sound quality from digital and analog sources My friend and colleague, Dave Bar, is one of Crutchfield's most knowledgeable and seasoned audiophiles. So when he invited me over to his house recently to check out a new piece of gear, he didn't have to ask twice! As we took our seats in his cozy listening room, I noticed that the new face in his equipment rack belonged to the Anthem STR integrated amp. It's a muscular multi-tool of a component, with a complete set of digital audio inputs: Toslink optical, coaxial, balanced AES/EBU, and asynchronous USB. It also provides four analog inputs, plus separate phono inputs for MM (moving magnet) and MC (moving coil) cartridges. These days, Dave listens primarily to 2-channel digital music sources. We listened to a mix of discs played on his Oppo Blu-ray player, and digital files played from his MacBook Pro. Powerful, "grippy" sound The STR is one of the most powerful integrated amplifiers Crutchfield has ever carried. Its power amp section is conservatively rated at 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, or a hefty 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms. The STR can even deliver a whopping 550 watts into a difficult 2-ohm load, which would likely cause most integrated amps and receivers to give up and shut down. These numbers indicate tremendous current output capability, which is just what most high-performance speakers crave. Dave had described the STR's sound as "powerful" and "grippy," and I could immediately hear what he was talking about. The STR's amplifier section has a high "damping factor," which means it exerts precise control over the stop-start motion of speaker drivers. I heard tighter, cleaner midbass from Dave's stand-mounted monitor speakers than I'd heard previously. And the STR's preamp section seemed to be delivering a wider-range signal to his powered sub, because I was hearing greater bass extension from it, as well. The Anthem STR includes a full array of analog and digital inputs, including bot