I just delt with a high end dealer over the phone. I asked about the sale price of an Anthem pva 7 amp. The bastard wouldn't tell me the price. I said "I live 4 hours away from you, there isn't an Anthem dealer in my state." He went into some rant about how buying an Anthem was a religous experience and also said that I "needed to build a repoor" with them and we could talk about the price. I said "thats 8 hours in the car to and from. thats rediculous." I told the guy to fly a kite and hung up. Anthem should adopt the Axiom buisness model. they just lost a 1500 $ sale, those pricks......... Screw those "high end" shops.

Well they were probably thinking that if you drove that far you would have to settle on whatever price they gave you.

I've got an Anthem dealer in town and they are excellent, doesn't help you though.

Anyway can you tie a purchase in with a business trip or vacation?

Or find an Anthem dealer who will actually deal with you or just just buy an internet friendly brand.

The funny thing is spending more money never means that you'll be treated better.

Good luck.

Have you considered the Outlaw 950? It doesn't have quite the flexibility of the anthem, but it costs a hell of a lot less, sounds as good, and had a better warranty and much better customer service and support.

See if you can find a Rotel dealer near you. A friend of mine bought his Anthem system while I was building my Rotel system. I paid much less than he, and according to him, my system sounds just as good. On top of that, Rotel customer service is pretty decent. (Nothing like Axiom, but who is?)

Rotel also has an unofficial online club. You can post questions and get lots of helpful info there.

Good luck!

note - It seems that the site which hosts the club is down right now...keep checking back. It'll be up again soon, I'm sure.

Anthem actually has a fantastic customer service record. They seem to be really good in that regards, but like all companies (Rotel too I'm sure) have their fair share of poor dealers. I know the Anthem setup is a little bit more expensive, but seems to be a 'tweakers' dream. They routinely send out updates/software for the AVM20 with fixes for minor problems and quite often include new options. Most believe they are ahead of the competition in that regards. But, is it worth the extra money.....