Anthem makes a statement with its flagship D2v pre-pro

You did take that money set aside for your next preamp-processor upgrade out of the stock market didn't you? Better hope so if you had your heart set on the Anthem Statement D2v -- the flagship model is now shipping, complete with eight HDMI 1.3 inputs and a pair of outputs, top notch video processing courtesy the VXP silicon, and four DSP cores handling audio duties with support for high resolution audio formats and of course, Anthem's Room Correction (ARC) software. Oh yeah, and a (gulp) $7,500 price tag. Most definitely overkill, but we wouldn't expect anything less from an Anthem flagship. If your heart and wallet are up to it, check after the break for the full press release and a few more pics -- window shopping never hurt, right?

Toronto, Ontario – March 5, 2009 – Anthem, a leading manufacturer of high-end electronics for music, home theater and distributed audio systems, announces the availability of version two of its award-winning Statement D2 audio/video processor. The next-generation model enhances the unparalleled performance features found in its first iteration with significant upgrades.

As a pioneer in the troubleshooting and integration of HDMI™, Anthem knows better than most how to utilize these connections to their fullest. The Statement D2v is equipped with four additional HDMI 1.3c inputs (for a total of eight) and one additional HDMI 1.3c output (for a total of two), delivering unprecedented connection capabilities for a preamplifier/processor. All inputs and outputs offer Deep-Color support (36-bit) and high-definition audio streaming.

More connections are useful, of course, but performance is king. The Anthem Statement D2v delivers outstanding video enhancement courtesy of its updated VXP® digital image processor. This "latest-generation" processor offers professional-grade, fully-adaptive deinterlacing. Also included are adaptive 3D noise reduction, mosquito noise reduction, block artifact reduction, adaptive detail enhancement featuring sharpness and texture enhancement with overshoot control, and adaptive contrast enhancement. The D2v's powerful, multi-layered graphics engine allows for sophisticated on-screen display generation that is ideal for setup menus.

Audio performance on the Statement D2v has been ramped up to meet the demands of emerging HD audio standards. Two dual-core digital signal processor (DSP) engines offer 800 MIPS (million instructions per second) of processing power to allow 7.1-channel decoding of Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD™ High-Resolution Audio and DTS-HD™ Master Audio. The Anthem Statement D2v also supports 24/192 PCM audio input, up to 7.1 channels.

Anthem's Room Correction System (ARC™) is a standard feature on all Statement D2v preamplifier/processors. While equalizing frequency response in a room to achieve some generic (i.e., "flat") response is a common approach, it sounds unnatural because it assumes the listening room is anechoic and does not account for how a speaker sounds in a room. Anthem's true audiophile approach with ARC instead uses proprietary processing to compute each speaker's in-room frequency response and then computes a target frequency response for each to yield the optimal sound.

Estimated FMV for the Anthem Statement D2v is $7,499.

Anthem D2v preamp-processor

[Jonthomasdesigns Posted Mar 10th 2009 12:22PM]

Off Topic .... Where are the Bluray releases this week ?????? i look fwd to coming here each week and ... bam nothing

Arghhhhhhhh !

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 1:23PM]

$7,500????? Ummmmm. No.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 2:40PM]

I think it's missing a few buttons

[glennS Posted Mar 10th 2009 2:58PM]

Pretty, and lots of buttons.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 3:27PM]

This is a lovely unit, but the only reason I would buy this over say, A much cheaper Pioneer Elite with THX Select2 Plus is because of the Balanced outputs. But even then, there are ways around that little hick up found on virtually all consumer receivers. I would much rather buy a Unbalanced to Balanced converter box to hook up my existing next gen Pioneer Elite receiver to my pro amps, then drop 7,500$ just that 1 unit. As a matter of fact, for $7,500, id rather use my existing A/V receiver as a Pre AMP, run the Unbalanced lines out to a Converter box, run the XLR cables to PRO AMPS and buy a set of JBL Cinema speakers. You can do alot with $7,500 bux :)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 3:33PM]

keep it simple

buy a Pioneer Blu-ray DV09...use the really good DAC's in the player
buy an audyssey stand alone
buy a Parasound P7 analogue pre-amp (7 channel)

that is one very pure home theatre system

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 3:35PM]

one more thing...get a DVDO Edge for HDMI switch/scaling

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 5:16PM]

The ARC technology is one the reason to buy this unit if you have the money. ARC stand for Anthem Room Correction. It does a great job of room correction and Anthem is always improving it with firmware updates to get the most out of it's ability. As pricey as this seems it's about 1/2 the price of a Lexicon MC12 latest version.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 10th 2009 6:12PM]

I'd rather wait for the new Outlaw 997 pre-pro for less than 1/5 of the price.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 11th 2009 12:16AM]

Or the Emotiva UMC-1 or XMC-1