The mid-priced home cinema market is dominated by major Japanese brands: Denon, Sony, and Pioneer immediately spring to mind; Marantz and Yamaha if I think a bit longer. And while I'm far from being a flag-waving UKIP candidate, I will admit to feeling a sense of pride that a relatively small UK company like Arcam can compete in the same market as these giants… and compete well. (Ironically, if two UKIP candidates had got together they could have saved the money they lost as deposits in the general election and bought this instead - thereby genuinely helping UK industry.)
Anyway, patriotism aside, this is a fine looking piece of kit, and an impressively well specified one at that. The fascia design is consistent with the rest of Arcam's DiVA range, so there's a very solid front panel with a style-conscious smattering of controls on board, as well as a clear, but not overly obtrusive volume knob. Most of the actual controlling will be done via the basic-looking but easy to use remote control anyway.
The 250 is actually a cut-down version of Arcam's £1,300 DiVA AVR300, with the major differences being the loss of a few connection options that most people will never use anyway. The pre-outs have been lost from the back, but you still have a full set of analogue inputs for high-resolution music formats such as DVD-A and SACD plus enough component video inputs to run your own cinema. There's also the option to use two of the seven channels as a second zone, therefore allowing users the freedom to choose between a seven-channel cinema extravaganza or an impressive little multi-room set-up.
There's also been a drop in the rated output from 100 watts per channel to a still respectable 75. However, there's still plenty of power on hand though - as you'll read later - and the 250 has all the latest processing on board including DTS 96:24, Dolby Digital EX and Dolby Pro Logic IIx. Internally, decoding is done via the Crystal CS49400 DSP, which offers both 24 and 32-bit processing. All of the audio DACs are 24-bit devices courtesy of Wolfson Microelectronics. In short, what we're talking about here is a solidly built, well specified hunk of English power. However, are we talking Rugby World Cup 2003 or this year's six Nations debacle? Only performance can clear that up…
Performance
…and thankfully Arcam's very own Johnny Wilkinson appears to be delivering the goods, because this is one hell of an impressive home cinema receiver. For starters it beats all previous Arcam models when it comes to ease of set-up and day to day use - some previous AV amps have been a bit of a chore, but this is as sleek and slick as any Japanese receiver. The remote control may not be lovely to look at, but it's intuitively laid out, and responsive too. On the downside, there's no automatic set-up, which means that spending twenty quid on a sound pressure level meter is a sound investment - to be honest, if you're spending a grand on an amp then you should get one of these whether there's an automatic set-up system on board or not.
However, the real positives are all in the performance column. From the get go this receiver beguiled us with its amazing ability to bring movies to life. The dynamic soundtrack to The Incredibles is delivered with startling clarity, where every crash, bang and proverbial wallop is thrown into the mix in an incredibly satisfying manner. This receiver may only be rated at 75 watts for each of its seven channels, but in action you really get the impression that every single one of these is working its guts out to deliver mind blowing sound.
The image across the front three speakers - we were using M&K's K5 system for much of the test - is rock solid and well realised, with the all-important left and right channels providing much of the information, and the centre channel delivering well grounded dialogue. It's the same story with the rear channels, where the performance is clear and articulated, but also diffuse where needed.
Switch to something a tad more defined such as the soundtrack to the excellent Criterion Collection of The Royal Tennenbaums and the Arcam proves that it's not just about power, delivering as it does this thoughtful, sometimes quiet soundtrack with grace and dexterity. Even the up-conversion of lesser video sources to the component video was impressive, and it's not often you can say that about a receiver.
Arcam's excellent reputation - past and present - for producing top-notch music products is also maintained here, both in multichannel and stereo. The high-resolution audio of the DVD-A of Ryan Adams' Gold is realised with amazing levels of detail, but not at the expense of its passion and guts in the way that happens on so many home cinema receivers. Switch to the stereo CD version, and that too is well handled, with excellent imaging and a great sense of timing.
Wherever this receiver was made, designed, or even conceived, it's pretty obvious it's a stunning piece of equipment that more than deserves the time of day. Okay, so many people looking for a new home cinema hub for around a grand will automatically gravitate towards one of the big Japanese brands, but if you do you'll be missing a trick with this stunning hunk of metal.
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This is an excellent receiver that provides amazing value for money, especially when you consider that British brands have a reputation for costing more than their Far Eastern competition. It provides a first rate performance with both music and movies, and has a specification and build that's up there with the very best.
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