To be successful in today's ultra-competitive marketplace, a Home Cinema amp has to be able to tick all the right boxes. There is no middle ground - if the amp in question doesn't do certain things (e.g. support HDMI 1.3) then the manufacturer may as well dump it at sea, because it simply won't sell. What people want is at least two HDMI inputs, full HDMI 1.3 support + True HD sound, 1080p upscaling of all inputs, iPod connectivity, at least 100 watts per channel and sound quality that wows even the sternest audio critic. The 2808 does all these things, but it goes one stage further, because it uses a high quality Faroudja chip for upscaling and it also has the ability to use its 6th and 7th amps to bi-amp front speakers (if they are bi-wire speakers) thus dramatically enhancing stereo and surround sound performance.

There are several other new amps that also tick most of these boxes, but the 2808 has another ace up its sleeve, because the final box it ticks is the all-important one labelled 'price'. It's RRP is already a competitive £900, but with our Hot Deal price set at £759, the 2808 seriously undercuts its rivals, with only Onkyo's awesome TX-SR805 offering serious competition. This is a great amp at a great price; I think it will be ticking a lot of boxes back at Denon HQ - on their sales charts!