Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
The recent heavy tariffs imposed on Canada by its neighbor to the south and the provocative rhetoric (annexation? seriously?) have sparked a surge of patriotic fervor among Canadians, many of whom now feel duty-bound to buy Canadian when possible. For those in the market for a power amplifier, Anthem’s MCA 225 Gen 2 (US$2299.99, CA$2699.99, £2295, €2550), which is designed and manufactured entirely in Canada, is an appealing choice.
The MCA 225 is the stereo model in the MCA Gen 2 lineup, which also includes the three-channel MCA 325 Gen 2 (US$2699.99) and the five-channel MCA 525 Gen 2 (US$3799.99), and it makes a compelling case for the buy-Canadian movement.
Design
Introduced in late 2020, the second-generation MCA series is the value-oriented line of amplifiers from Anthem Electronics. Higher-level offerings are Anthem’s more powerful P-series amplifiers (a review of the P2 amplifier by Doug Schneider appeared in August), the M-series M1 monoblock, and the flagship STR series, which has received considerable attention on the SoundStage! Network and elsewhere in the audio press.
The last time I reviewed an Anthem product was in 2009, when I wrote about the Integrated 225. I don’t remember much about that amp except that it provided tremendous power (225Wpc into 8 ohms) at an absurdly low price (US$1499). Fast-forward 16 years to the second-generation MCA 225, and it’s still great value for an amplifier rated at 225Wpc into 8 ohms, 400Wpc into 4 ohms, or 600Wpc into 2 ohms. It comes with a five-year warranty, which reflects Anthem’s confidence in its long-term reliability. There are many examples of amplifiers that are much more expensive but carry only a three-year warranty or less.
The MCA 225 Gen 2 possesses solid construction, which becomes evident when you pick it up. It weighs 40 pounds and measures 17.3″W × 6.6″H × 18.1″D. Its large custom-made toroidal transformer is situated directly behind the faceplate, making it front-heavy. I found that my Bell’O audio rack was not quite deep enough for the MCA 225. This rack has a central back pillar that obstructed the free passage of the speaker cables, forcing me to position the unit on the shelf at a slight angle.
Anthem’s confidence in the MCA 225’s durability stems not only from its high build quality but also from its use of the company’s Advanced Load Monitoring (ALM) technology, which continuously monitors the amplifier’s internal temperature, current, and voltage. In the event of a fault, ALM disables the affected channel(s) until the issue is resolved, at which point normal operation resumes. It is not in the path of the audio signal and therefore has no effect on the sound.
In its second generation, the MCA series exhibits lower noise than the original series did, boasting an impressive signal-to-noise ratio of 120dB (at 225Wpc), Anthem claims. The company attributes this to several factors, including shorter signal pathways, a low-flux toroidal transformer, eight high-current bipolar output transistors per channel, and power supplies that use high rail voltages. I look forward to seeing the MCA 225’s performance report from our measurements lab.
The second-generation MCA amplifiers align aesthetically with Anthem’s AVM series of A/V processors and MRX A/V receivers, with a clean and understated design that draws little attention to itself. The amplifier largely blended into my equipment rack, which I appreciated.
At the back, there is one set of single-ended (RCA) inputs and one set of balanced (XLR) inputs. The amplifier can be switched on manually using a small button on the faceplate. A soft blue light glows warmly above during normal operation. It flashes rapidly when a channel is short-circuited, slowly when thermal protection is engaged, and turns red if the amp shuts down. The MCA 225 can be activated remotely by its trigger input and powers on automatically when it detects an input signal. If no signal is received for about 20 minutes, it will shut down.
System
I began the audition of the MCA 225 with my long-time reference integrated, the Bryston B135 SST2 (discontinued; $4695 when available), serving as a preamplifier for the Anthem. (The B135’s power-amplifier section can be bypassed with a switch on its back panel, as can its preamplifier section.) A short while later, the B135 stopped working for some reason, bringing my audition to a halt. I contacted Bryston’s CEO, James Tanner, who offered to lend me a Bryston BP17 preamplifier while my B135, still under warranty, was away for repairs. This was a perfect solution since the BP17’s preamp section is identical to that of the B135, and the two sounded indistinguishable to me.
I connected the MCA 225 to a pair of Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G speakers using AudioQuest Rocket 88 cables. Digital content was provided courtesy of an NAD C 565BEE CD player (reviewed by Doug Schneider in 2009) that was linked to a Bryston BDA-2 DAC (which I reviewed in 2013) by an i2Digital X-60 coaxial cable. I also streamed music wirelessly from Apple Music on an iPhone SE to a Bluesound Node 2i streamer. I connected the Node to the BDA-2 using an AudioQuest Forest TosLink optical cable and the BDA-2 to the B135 SST2 or BP17 using Nordost Quattro Fil RCA cables.
For vinyl playback, I used a Thorens TD 160 HD turntable with a modified Rega Research RB250 tonearm and a Sumiko Songbird low-output MC cartridge. A Pro-Ject Audio Systems Connect it RCA-CC cable linked the Thorens to a Pro-Ject Phono Box DS3 B phono stage, which was powered by a Pro-Ject Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply. The DS3 B was linked to the preamplifier used by Kimber Kable Tonik interconnects. All electronics were plugged into an ExactPower EP15A power conditioner.
Sound
A well-designed power amplifier should come close to the proverbial ideal of a straight wire with gain. In other words, it should amplify the signal it’s fed without changing it or manifesting any sonic personality of its own. This of course assumes the amplifier is operating within its limits; but with an output of 400Wpc into 4 ohms (the nominal impedance of the Gold 300 5G), the MCA 225 got nowhere near its limit in this audition. Well within its comfort zone, it proved inherently neutral and highly transparent—a well-designed amplifier indeed, I’m pleased to report.
An album I usually listen to in my auditions is Tori Amos’s Boys for Pele (LP, Atlantic LC02982). On “Way Down,” the members of the gospel-choir accompaniment were delineated clearly across a soundstage that spanned the space between the speakers. The choir, depicted in the background behind Amos, seemed to heighten Amos’s presence in the room. The MCA 225 impressed me here with its clear sound and its ability to reveal every sonic nuance the record captured within its grooves.
On “Little Amsterdam,” the opening notes of the piano and drum kit had palpable body and presence. Amos’s voice in this close-miked recording sounded as though she were in the room with me. In quiet moments on this and other tracks of the album, subtle sounds of lips and breathing were easily discernible.
The light, agile opening notes of the harpsichord in the following track, “Talula,” stood in stark contrast to the warm piano tone of “Little Amsterdam,” sounding authentically metallic. The tune races along at a brisk pace, with an infectious rhythm and a head-nodding vibe. Here again, the MCA 225 was invisible, imparting no detectable tonal tinge to the sound.
On the title track of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Moanin’ (LP, Blue Note ST‑84003), the band was spread across a wide and deep soundstage where the position of each musician was carved precisely in space. This superbly recorded tune really swings, and hearing it so vividly reproduced in my listening room gave me a sense of what it must have been like to experience it live.
Jymie Merritt’s solo in “Moanin’” grabbed my attention the most. His upright bass sounded eye-poppingly clear and full-bodied, commanding a strong presence on the right side of the room. With Bobby Timmons’s piano behind the left speaker and Art Blakey’s drums farther back on the soundstage, the music had a tangible, lifelike, three-dimensional quality.
Listening to “Hunter” from Björk’s Homogenic on CD (Elektra E2 62061) and vinyl (One Little Indian 737346) back-to-back was revealing. The whack of the drums that open “Hunter,” coming from both sides of the stage, was tighter and more focused on CD than on vinyl. Likewise, the bass that fills out the middle of the soundstage was crisper and sharper on CD. Since the MCA 225 imparted nothing of itself to the sound, it was a cinch to hear the differences between the two formats and note each one’s strengths.
The Anthem MCA 225 will always hold a special place in my memory as it is the amplifier I used to listen to my first opera, Puccini’s Tosca (LP, Warner Classics 5054197602054). Although I’ve been intrigued by opera for some time, I know little about the genre and have sampled only a few selections from it. Tosca is the first opera I’ve listened to in its entirety, following along with the libretto and stage directions. Recorded at Milan’s 18th-century Teatro alla Scala (commonly known as La Scala), this iconic 1953 performance features soprano Maria Callas, tenor Giuseppe di Stefano, and baritone Tito Gobbi.
Tosca has an engaging plot that progressively drew me to the edge of my seat as it unfolded toward its dramatic climax. From a purely sonic perspective, I wouldn’t consider this an audiophile recording. While the singers’ positions on the soundstage were clear enough to envision the performance happening before me, the sonic images lacked sharp outlines and were not well separated, which made the presentation feel a little closed in. I also found the dynamics to be somewhat compressed. The performance in this recording is delivered with exhilarating intensity and drama, but it could have been enhanced if the dynamic window had been opened wider.
The MCA 225, with its transparency and tonal neutrality, exposed the sonic limitations of this recording, but this did not lessen my enjoyment of listening to it. Just know that with an amplifier as neutral as the MCA 225, the quality of your recordings will be laid bare, for better or worse.
Turning to music composed several centuries earlier, I then listened to Josquin Masses (CD, Gimell CDGIM 051), an album by The Tallis Scholars, a British vocal ensemble focused on sacred vocal music. On the entrancing “Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie,” I could pick out each voice distinctly—from the trio of sopranos on the left to the pair of baritones on the right. The deep baritone that opens the “Gloria” sounded as if it were emanating from the end of a long hallway. The soprano vocals, in contrast, sounded as if they were ascending to a great height, as though sung beneath the domed ceiling of a grand cathedral. These impressions closely reflect the geometry of the space in which this album was recorded, the long and tall Merton College Chapel at Oxford University. My Gold 300 5G speakers are capable of delivering a high level of detail, and that’s exactly what I heard through the MCA 225. It left no sonic footprint of its own, which is perhaps its most praiseworthy attribute.
During my audition period with the MCA 225, I received the Arendal Sound 1528 Monitor 8 speakers for review. I’ve been eager to hear these big standmounts since I learned I’d be writing about them, so I decided to connect them to the MCA 225 rather than wait to finish its audition and then connect them to my Bryston-based system.
Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See (CD, Capitol Records CDP 598253) opens with “Fade into You,” a breezy tune with a lively cadence centered on Hope Sandoval’s ethereal voice. The added vocal reverb creates a sense of spaciousness in this recording, an emptiness that befits the mood of the song. Here again, the MCA 225’s low noise floor made it easy to hear everything across the soundstage and to easily tease sonic images apart.
Listening to this song with the Monitor 8s, I was surprised by how much more open and expansive the soundstage was compared to the one my Monitor Audio Gold 300 5Gs cast. This enhanced that sense of spaciousness in this track. The difference in soundstage must have been at least partly due to the physical differences between the two speakers: the Monitor 8 is larger and heavier than the Gold 300. Perched atop the matching stand, its tweeter/midrange assembly is situated a foot higher than the same assembly on the Monitor Audio, which may have also contributed to the difference. I’ll have much more to say about the Monitor 8 in my upcoming review. What is important to note here is that the MCA 225 served as a clear conduit through which the differences between the Monitor Audio and Arendal speakers were made evident.
Comparison
Before my Bryston B135 SST2 failed and had to be sent for repairs, I compared its performance as a power amplifier to that of the MCA 225. More specifically, I compared the performance of the Bryston’s power-amplifier section to that of the Anthem using the Bryston’s preamplifier section for both.
Rated at 135Wpc into 8 ohms and 180Wpc into 4 ohms, my speakers’ impedance, the B135’s output is significantly lower than the MCA 225’s 400Wpc (into 4 ohms); however, in my experience, at the volume levels I typically use, it has proved sufficiently powerful. In all my comparative listening tests of the Bryston and Anthem I never ran out of headroom with either amplifier. If I had taken more liberty with the volume, the Bryston would likely have begun clipping earlier than the Anthem, but at the volume level I used, there was no clipping.
The Bryston B135 and Anthem MCA 225, both well-engineered class-AB amplifiers, sounded remarkably similar. They are both exceptionally clean and highly resolving and deliver transparent, detailed sound. I can’t say definitively that one was quieter than the other. I doubt I could tell them apart in this regard in a blind listening test.
Where I did hear a difference between the two amplifiers was in the bass. Going back to Boys for Pele on CD, I listened to “Caught a Lite Sneeze.” Although the percussion had ample power and impact through the Anthem, the drums seemed to hit a little harder through the Bryston despite its lower power output. It had a touch more oomph. The difference was subtle, but it was noticeable.
Conclusion
In terms of performance, the Anthem MCA 225 is probably on the cusp of the curve of diminishing returns for a class-AB power amplifier. Capable of delivering copious amounts of power, this no-nonsense design will suit the needs of most listeners—even those with large rooms or somewhat demanding speakers. While its design is nice enough and its build quality inspires confidence, the MCA 225 isn’t audio jewelry. Its appearance is largely unremarkable—it disappears as much visually as it does sonically. But that is precisely what many listeners, including me, desire in an amplifier. This is the easiest recommendation I’ve made in a long time.
. . . Philip Beaudette
philipb@soundstagenetwork.com
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
Associated Equipment
- Speakers: Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G, Arendal Monitor 8
- Integrated amplifier: Bryston B135 SST2
- Preamplifier: Bryston BP17
- Digital sources: NAD C 565BEE CD player, Bryston BDA-2 DAC, Bluesound Node 2i streamer
- Analog source: Thorens TD 160 HD turntable, Rega Research RB250 tonearm, Sumiko Songbird MC cartridge
- Phono stage: Pro-Ject Audio Systems Phono Box DS3 B and Power Box S3 Phono outboard power supply
- Speaker cables: AudioQuest Rocket 88
- Interconnects: Nordost Quattro Fil (RCA), Pro-Ject Connect it Phono RCA-CC, Kimber Kable Tonik (RCA), generic RCA
- Digital links: AudioQuest Forest (TosLink optical), i2Digital X-60 (coaxial)
- Power conditioner: ExactPower EP15A
Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 stereo power amplifier
Price: US$2299.99, CA$2699.99, £2295, €2550
Warranty: Five years, parts and labor.
Anthem
205 Annagem Blvd.
Mississauga, ON L5T 2V1
Canada
Website: www.anthemav.com
