The hi‑fi market tends to be obsessed with newness, which makes Anthem’s P2 stereo power amplifier a rare outlier. As Doug Schneider explains in a review published on this site on August 1, the P2 was originally launched in 2005 as the Statement P2—words still stamped on the front and back panels of today’s units. Jason Thorpe reviewed the Statement P2 the year it was introduced.
While the model name has changed subtly, the original design remains intact, making it 20 years old. But its price has risen from US$2500 at introduction to its current selling price of US$4999.99 (CA$5999.99, £4395, €5310). Since it was well regarded back then, Doug’s impetus for re-reviewing the P2 was “to see how the P2 would hold up in 2025.”
Physically, the P2 is imposing, measuring 9.4″H × 19.25″W × 22.5″D and weighing 75 pounds. It shares its chassis and overall design topology with its heavier sibling, the P5, a five-channel amplifier released at the same time and also still available today. The P2’s rear panel includes balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs for each channel. For each channel, there is a switch for selecting the XLR or RCA input and another that lowers the XLR gain by 6dB. There are two pairs of heavy-duty binding posts and a three-mode power selector (Manual, Auto, and Trigger).
The P2’s output stage includes 14 bipolar transistors per channel, while the input stage uses eight hand-matched bipolar transistors in what the company calls a “complementary active-load cascoded feedback configuration,” which is purported to offer superior linearity, bandwidth, and reliability. Each channel resides on its own vertically mounted circuit board, with ample separation between the two in the oversized case (as mentioned, the P5, which has an additional three amplifier boards, uses the same case). Large heatsinks are attached to each amplifier board, venting mostly through the top. There is no fan. Doug found the amplifier commendably quiet throughout his testing period and noticed that it didn’t get too warm, even when driven hard.
Anthem rates the P2 to deliver 325Wpc into 8 ohms, 500Wpc into 4 ohms, or 675Wpc into 2 ohms (all 20Hz–20kHz with <0.1% THD, all channels driven). The P2 exceeded its power specifications when tested in our lab. Its robust protection circuitry makes it stable and safe to use even into a short circuit. But instead of a fuse blowing if abused (it has none), it will trip its internal mains breaker, which then must be reset to resume operation.
Doug’s review system included Arendal Sound’s 1528 Tower 8 speakers. The Tower 8 is a very large six-driver design that has a sensitivity of 89dB (2.83V/m). It presents a somewhat challenging load, due to its low impedance in the upper bass (about 4 ohms) and lower midrange (about 3 ohms). The P2 drove the speaker pair effortlessly even in Doug’s large listening space, which measures about 16′ × 18′ in the system area but opens completely to an adjoining 18′ × 18′ area behind. Doug swapped the preamplifier-DAC combination he was using to introduce some variety into his system, which he details in the review; the sound was similar with both setups.
As Doug also explains in the review, rather than rushing to crank this high-powered amplifier right away, he began with plenty of low-volume listening—encouraged by how good the P2 sounded right from the start. Bruce Cockburn’s “Pacing the Cage” and “Grim Travellers,” plus Lana Del Rey’s “Yosemite,” revealed “no added coloration, high detail, and a crystalline clarity across the audioband,” he writes. He also found that the treble “stood out,” stating that “despite its brute-force appearance and ability to deliver very high power, the P2 presented extraordinary finesse in my system, with high frequencies that were as pure as the best lower-powered amps I’ve heard.” He pays the P2 another compliment by stating that he’d be tempted to use a P2 even if he only “needed a fraction of its power.”
Spatial performance was equally strong. In the review, Doug details how the Leaving Las Vegas soundtrack, especially “Angel Eyes” featuring Sting, displayed a huge, airy soundstage. Channel separation and sound depth were superb as well on those early test tracks. Cockburn’s voice and instruments on “Pacing the Cage” were precisely located and layered across the soundstage, while Del Rey’s vocals seemed suspended in ambient space, vividly real.
To assess headroom and dynamics, Doug turned to classic rock’n’roll, selecting hard-hitting tracks like AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” April Wine’s “Roller,” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.” At concert-like listening levels, the P2 maintained composure and clarity, never seemingly approaching its limits. Its chassis grew warm, but never hot, and the protection circuitry was never triggered. He describes the sound quality as being “like the best rock concert I’d ever attended.”
Doug compared the P2 to two other excellent amplifiers he had on hand, both considerably more expensive. Compared to the T+A R 2500 R streaming CD–receiver (US$18,800), which is rated at 140Wpc into 8 ohms or 250Wpc into 4 ohms and had previously powered the same speakers, the P2 made the Tower 8s sound freer and more at ease at all listening levels.
The Simaudio Moon 761 stereo amplifier (US$14,000) is another Canadian-built powerhouse. The Moon 761 is rated to deliver 200Wpc into 8 ohms or 400Wpc into 4 ohms (lab-tested at 253Wpc/418Wpc), and it includes a ten-year warranty, which is double the P2’s five-year warranty. It’s more compact than the P2 but four pounds heavier. In the review, Doug commends the 761’s superior casework, longer warranty, and ability to power the Tower 8s just as well as the P2 did, despite not delivering as much total output power as the P2 can. But sonically, the differences he found were minimal. After level-matching the 2dB gain differential, with Lana Del Rey’s “Henry, Come On” and selected tracks from Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack to the movie The Mission, there were only subtle distinctions at best between the two amps. The Moon 761 may have offered slightly warmer vocals or incrementally greater soundstage depth, but these were hair-splitting differences and, therefore, in his words, “too subtle to call definitive.” This result not only speaks highly for the value the P2 offers but also the sheer performance it delivers.
What Doug found out about the P2 mirrors Jason Thorpe’s conclusions 20 years ago—that it delivers high power and transparent sound at all volume levels for a very reasonable price—which is why the P2 received Reviewers’ Choice recognition then and now. It also means that the further recognition the P2 is receiving this month—a Recommended Reference Component award, which was never presented to it before—is likely long overdue, given the history of this design. Price aside, the P2 is a great performer that can still hold its own against the best amps out there. Obviously, it would’ve been better for us to recognize it with this award earlier, but as the saying goes, better late than never.
Manufacturer contact information:
Anthem
205 Annagem Blvd.
Mississauga, ON L5T 2V1
Canada
Website: www.anthemav.com