Reinforcing their reputation for high-end audio component manufacturing, Anthem unveiled the D1 preamplifier/processor/ tuner, a superb new offering from the company’s all-new high-end series, Anthem™ Statement. The D1 is designed and built in North America on the same platform and incorporating the same user-friendly advanced operating system as Anthem’s award-winning AVM 20. The similarities end here, however. What ultimately separates the two is sonic performance. As an Anthem™ Statement creation, the D1 is ultimately more revealing, displays a greater degree of musical precision and delivers unheard-of-resolution for music and movies.

Ultimate Processor/Preamplifier/Tuner

No matter what the music or movie source calls for, the D1 has the surround-sound mode to handle it, featuring all of the available Dolby® and DTS® surround-sound modes, as well as the company’s own AnthemLogic-Music™ and AnthemLogic-Cinema™ modes. The D1 also includes all THX® modes: THX® Cinema and Ultra2™ Cinema; THX® MusicMode; THX® Surround EX™; and THX® for DTS® ES. The D1 takes surround-sound processing a major step further by including its own built-in precision Upsampler which converts the sample rate of all incoming digital signals to 192 kHz. The D1’s multiple AD1896 sample rate converters upsample every channel of digital or analog-DSP input up to 192 kHz, including decoded Dolby® Digital and DTS® program material (the first pre/pro on the market to do this!). Since the D1 operates on all formats and all channels, the result is a much higher level of transparency for both multichannel music and movies. See the attached Technical Brief on “Upsampling in the D1” for more information.

The D1 also provides the home theater enthusiast with the ability to “dial-in” not only the D1, but also the room itself! Rooms often have a prominent resonance peak that can make bass from even the finest subwoofer sound boomy. Using Anthem-designed low-frequency test tones and the D1’s Room Resonance Filter you can easily identify and remove this prominent peak in order to gain a major improvement in bass articulation and definition.

Surround-sound speakers can be configured to run as direct-radiating or dipole and the configuration can even be adjusted so that surrounds can be copied or re-routed to the rears in a 7.1 channel speaker system. Center-channel equalization is also available through the D1’s proprietary algorithm that modifies the speaker’s frequency response curve to provide the clearest sound possible.

Better By Design

The D1 highlights Anthem’s own DSP design which uses two Motorola® DSP 56367 chips to provide full bass management capabilities and enough processing power to handle even the most complex algorithms. The hand-designed circuit board ensures exceptionally low noise and a complete absence of crosstalk, while massive toroidal power transformers minimize stray magnetic field radiation and reduce residual transformer noise to provide a smooth, noise-free flow of high-current power.

Multi-Room Capabilities

In today’s high-tech homes, consumers want great sound all through the house. The D1 provides independent audio and video outputs for three zones, and the Record Path can even be reconfigured to add a fourth independent zone. The main digital source can also be copied to Zones 2, 3 and Record. Alternatively, Zones 2 and 3 are independent of the main path, and of each other. Selectable by source, they provide video and 2-channel analog audio output with volume, bass, treble and balance controls to two completely separate zone outputs. The Record Path offers the same flexibility, without tone controls. The D1 can even operate two complete home theater systems at the same time. Each set of outputs can also operate concurrently in different rooms simply by including another amplifier.

Accessing the D1’s functions in an automated home environment is easy via the Crestron®, AMX™ and Phastlink™-compatible RS-232 communication ports. The D1 also has provisions to add a future optional IEEE Firewire® connection. 12-volt triggers, IR-inputs and IR-outputs eliminate the added cost of external power supplies and make it easy to control your source components from another room, remotely.

Hidden Assets

While video scalers and video upsamplers can improve picture quality, they often cause signal delays leaving the audio out-of-synch with the video. The D1’s Audio Group Delay corrects for this in half-millisecond increments for each source component and can be adjusted “on the-fly” without having to enter the setup menu.

Can’t remember which source is plugged into the “V1” input? Rename it! Each source input can be renamed with a description that will make it easily recognized by family members. In addition, any changes that are made to the D1 can be password-protected in two separate files – one for the user and one for the installer, so you never need to worry about losing user preference settings.

Obsolescent equipment is always in the back of the mind when home-theater enthusiasts purchase high-end equipment—that’s why Anthem designed the D1 for quick and easy software updating. Simply connect to the Internet, access the Anthem website (www.anthemAV.com) and download the latest version of AVM 20 software. Connect your computer to the AVM 20 and upload the new software. It’s that simple!

All of this high-end technology is packaged in an equally high-end 14-awg steel chassis—fine-grain brushed aluminum cover and extruded aluminum handles, blue vacuum-fluorescent front-panel display, and blue LEDs lend an elegant finishing touch to the D1’s unmistakable, high-end demeanor.

The D1 is available in Black. FMV price is $4,999/US and it is shipping now.

Anthem Electronics has been manufacturing high-quality, high-end audio equipment for over a decade. In that time, Anthem has built an enviable reputation for products that can recreate the passion a music lover experiences when attending a live musical performance, or the thrilling sound a movie buff experiences in the very best movie theaters. Anthem provides this with the highest level of craftsmanship, sophisticated circuit designs, superior quality parts and materials, modern intuitive ergonomics and stylish industrial design.

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