Custon Installation Equipment Reviews

Anthem unveils the Audio/Video Master 50v (AVM 50v), a state-of-the-art music preamplifier/home theater processor with a built in tuner and independent source selection for recording. This updated version of the AVM 50 combines the latest performance-enhancing technologies with whole-home entertainment control that makes it possible for users to direct audio and video program materials throughout the house.

The AVM 50v features the latest Sigma Designs VXP broadcast-quality digital video processing to ensure deep color while offering improved noise reduction through block artifact and mosquito noise reduction. Two new dual-core audio digital signal processing (DSP) engines, designed in-house by Anthem, offer a total of 800 million instructions per second (MIPS) of processing power to allow decoding of the new Dolby and DTS HD audio standards.

To accommodate the most advanced input formats available, Anthem has upgraded its pulse-code modulation (PCM) input to support 7.1 channels at 24 bits or 192 kHz. Additional HDMI inputs (v.1.3c) have been added, bringing the total to eight, along with two parallel HDMI outputs, enabling the AVM 50v to be a high-performance hub for any sophisticated A/V set-up.

A major feature is Anthem’s Room Correction System (ARC-1). While equalizing frequency response in a room to achieve some generic (i.e. "flat") response is a common approach to solving problems with room acoustics, it can result in an unnatural spectral balance. Anthem's ARC-1 takes into account the human hearing system and differs from other systems in that it uses proprietary processing to compute each speaker's in-room frequency response, and then computes a target frequency response for each speaker to yield the most optimal sound.

The AVM 50v will sell for $5,499 and you can get more information on the Anthem website.