The TX-SR805 is a classic example of the amazing value Onkyo are offering this year - it has all the attributes of a £2000 amplifier, with a price tag of well below half that amount. You get full HDMI 1.3, three HDMI inputs, True HD sound, 180 watts of continuous power, up-conversion to HDMI, iPod connectivity, Audyssey room calibration, bi-amp capability and full THX Ultra 2 accreditation. Wow!

Impressive stuff - but the single specification that astonishes me most is the 805's boxed weight - a mere 28.5kg (that's over 4 stone!) Home Cinema amps are not bags of carrots, so we don't sell them by weight, but weight can still be a useful guide to the quality of a unit's power supply. To put this in perspective, Onkyo's £800 TX-SR805 weighs 35% more than Arcam's £1550 AVR350 and that has excellent power supplies! A quick look inside the 805, confirms that the main supply is massive, but also reveals that many of the individual boards have their own separate high quality power supplies too. In addition, the output devices used (all 28 of them!) would be extremely highly specified for a £1500 design, let alone an £800 unit. It all adds up to a ridiculously well specified package at a ludicrously low price - you just can't go wrong!

If you are using HD sources (e.g. Sky HD, 1080p DVD, PS3, Blu-Ray) then you arguably don't need an amp with any up-scaling - in which case, the Onkyo 805 is almost identical in performance to it's big brother, the 875, for £200 less!