Anthem Statement D2 with ARC Room Correction Reviewed

Published On: October 12, 2008
Last Updated on: October 31, 2020
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Anthem Statement D2 with ARC Room Correction Reviewed

Anthem has a huge following with their AV preamps and the Statement D2 w/ARC is the top of the line offering by them before the release of the D2v. Anthem's room correction (ARC) is one of the best available and can raise the quality of your room and thereby elevate you total systems performance. Read Dr. Ken Taraszka's full review here.

Anthem Statement D2 with ARC Room Correction Reviewed

  • Ken Taraszka M.D. is an anesthesiologist by trade based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Ken is also a professional audiophile and home theater writer specializing in AV preamps and all facets of the audiophile market. In the past, Ken has been a staff writer and editor at AVRev.com. He has also at times been a frequent contributor at AudiophileReview.com.

anthem_statement_d2.jpgThe Anthem D1 has been considered one of the finest AV preamps you can buy, for good reason. Its flexibility and amazing sound have won over countless reviewers and consumers alike. Not being a company to rest on their laurels, Anthem added world-class video processing to the critically acclaimed D1 Director AV preamp and released it, calling the new unit the D2. The video processor in the Anthem D2 not only scales up to 1080p and 24 or 60 fps, it can also perform vertical stretching for use with anamorphic lenses, making it a one-box solution for even ultra-high-end home theater systems. It may just be the only currently available integrated video processor to perform this task.

Additional Resources
• Read more preamplifier reviews by the staff at HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Find an AV receiver to integrate with the D2.

In the spirit of "more power is never a bad thing," Anthem has added their own proprietary room correction software based on scientific research done by the National Research Council, which investigated how we humans actually hear, and used their findings to adjust and compensate for speaker and room inadequacies. The Anthem Room Correction (ARC) now comes standard in all D1 and D2 AV preamps, and is available as an add-on for $399 to any older D1 or D2. The ARC is a huge step forward for this exceptional processor and makes what has been one of the best available significantly better. Anthem really did the room correction right on this piece. While most companies include generic microphones, each individual microphone from Anthem is calibrated and assigned to the software and serial number or your processor, making sure you get nothing but the same result they obtained in their modeling of the system.

The Anthem Statement processor offers all most will ever need from an AV preamp. It offers four HDMI inputs and one HDMI output, plus 10 channels of assignable balanced and single-ended outputs, a 5.1 channel input and a whole host of stereo analog ins, including a balanced input. Video inputs are covered nicely with composite, S-Video and component inputs and outputs. All these features are packed into a beautiful black case that comes in free-standing or rack-mount versions.

The sonics of the Anthem are smooth and clear, with great separation and detail often not found in lesser-priced and sometimes even higher-priced AV preamps. The neutral nature of the D2 sonics are very welcome and really stand out above the bright and harsh nature of lesser processors, even if they eke out a few more features for wooing customers with the "laundry list effect." It's important to trust your ears, because in order to significantly improve on the sound of Anthem D2, you should expect to spend double or triple the investment to get to the next level of audio performance from an AV preamp. Add to the value proposition that Anthem's D2 is one of the most stable, reliable AV preamps on the market and its value only goes up.

Read about the high points and low points of the Statement D2 on Page 2.
anthem_statement_d2_preamp_review_rear.gif

High Points
Anthem's sound, which has made
this the go-to processor for many, now is even better, thanks to the
new ARC Anthem Room Correction system.
• The Anthem D2 offers plenty
of HDMI inputs for even the most source-crazy home theater enthusiast,
and Anthem's HDMI switcher is one of the most reliable in the business.

The exceptionally flexible and versatile video scaler in the D2 can
scale to 1080p/24 or 60 and even vertically stretch for use with
anamorphic lenses, making this unit at home in even the most advanced
AV systems.
• Both balanced and single-ended outputs included in the
Anthem Statement D2 allow enhanced flexibility in set-up and amplifier
choices.
• Anthem's ARC is one of the best room correction softwares
going and the $399 add-on for previous users really shows how committed
they are to their customers. This is a major step up in performance for
a minor cost and one all prior users should buy.

Low Points
• The Anthem Statement D2 is missing
HDMI 1.3a, so you will not get all of the new uncompressed audio codecs
for now. Anthem has been amazing at keeping their customers up to date,
and I am sure it will only be a matter of time until this unit gets
what may need to be a hardware update for the new codecs. Given
Anthem's history, I suspect they will offer it to prior owners at a
reasonable cost.
• The unit has only a single 5.1 analog input,
which will limit those who use 7.1 systems and Blu-ray or the now
defunct HD DVD players, as the D2 doesn't decode the new formats yet.
It is to be hoped that new updates will allow these new codecs to be
processed by these wonderful Anthem pieces, but only time will tell.

Conclusion
The Anthem D2 is unquestionably one of the best AV
preamps made and the addition of the ARC is a huge step towards making
a great product even better. You will still miss out on all the new
audio codecs but, given Anthem's reputation for keeping up with the
Joneses, I suspect you will see an upgrade to this piece soon that
allows decoding of these formats as well.

You could spend more and get less, you could spend less and, well,
get less, especially in the sound quality department. This is why the
Anthem Statement D2 AV preamp is so popular in the AV industry. It
offers sonics that are smooth and clear, with great separation and
total system control. If you want a finished home theater that will
handle movies to excite all and music to entice the audiophiles, then
the Anthem Statement is for you.

Additional Resources
• Read more preamplifier reviews by the staff at HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Find an AV receiver to integrate with the D2.

  • deacongreg
    2009-03-25 02:01:01

    <p>Ken like usual, your on top of it. The new D2v has 8 HDMI v1.3c inputs, and 2 parallel HDMI v1.3c outputs. Something new, PCM input is up to 7.1 channels at 24 bits/192 khz. Also new-Dolby volume to be added as free software download from the Anthem website. And Deep color support over HDMI. From what Anthem told me, there is a two month wait to buy either the D2v or AVM50v. <br /> Anthem is back on track. Its amazing how they can always stay abreast, and others can not!</p>

  • Ken Taraszka, MD
    2009-02-16 02:46:49

    <p>Well, Anthem is shipping the new D2v and AVM50v, I haven't heard of the upgrade price for the new codecs for older models yet, but it will come out soon!</p>

  • greg
    2009-01-30 06:13:42

    <p>One of the best demos i heard in the last couple of years, was the Anthem/Paradigm demo. On the audio side, they played Patricia barber and some contemporary jazz recordings. Patricia voice was outstanding. The Anthem amp/preamp combination was stellar in the reproduction of music and video. The versatility in the feature set, made it easy to go from one source to another. Add the room correction, and you have a unit that really lacks for nothing.</p> <p>Im` sure that Anthem will update the D2 to stay current with the current technology of Blu-Ray and the proper codecs. But, I must be honest, if you need those right now, that might be the one thing to make you look else where. </p>

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