There are many things in the world that are impossible. Dividing by zero, bumblebees flying and the advertised price of sofas during the Bank Holiday sales are the usual examples. You can now add Onkyo's TX-SR605 to the list. Put it this way, for less than 400 of your hard earned pound notes, this receiver simply cannot exist.

But I have bitten it and it's absolutely real. I have also taken the lid off and guestimated the cost of all the sexy processing components.

To this figure I added a few shekels for the analogue bits and generic hardware, put on rough manufacturer and retailer margins, factored in the cost of customer service and support, etc - and came up with what I thought was a sensible price. It was between £600 - £700.

But here sits the Onkyo TX-SR605, with a 400 quid price point. Miracles happen. Even before it's switched the Onkyo on, I can safely say that no other budget receiver gets close in terms of features or technology.

Fully loaded

The top-line specs are pure eye-candy and designed to get even lay-home cinema enthusiast drooling. Top of the 'must have' list is a full HDMI v1.3a implementation, allowing DeepColor picture enhancing technology and decoding for Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD Master Audio, but you'll have to wait for an HD player capable of outputting bitstream HD audio over HDMI.

The baseline figures are super-model territory; the TX-SR605 claiming seven channels of 140W with the option to bi-amp the front channels or go powered multi-room if you are happy with 5.1 channel in the main room.

There are neat 192 kHz/24bit DACs for all channels and a healthy selection of inputs. Okay, there are only two HDMI inputs, no pre-amp outputs and no 12V triggers - but the rest of the spec sheet more than makes up for it.

Operationally, the TX-SR605 is a dream to use. The setup is fully automatic and the system comes with basic Audyssey Room EQ. There is also a snazzy full-colour GUI which eclipses the blocky text menus of other similarly-priced receivers.