Arcam, maker of the AVR600, often seems to work in ways that are fundamentally at odds with other companies of its type, because while it has turned to Far Eastern factories to manufacture some of its products, the engineering remains strictly homegrown.

You see, Arcam has a passion for generating its own often startlingly-innovative solutions for components that others can supply off the shelf, and this gives it a certain freedom that it has long exploited, for example, in designing the only British cassette deck with Dolby S (in fact the only domestic cassette deck, full stop), the first DAB tuner, the first standalone D/A converter, and more.

Not that all these products were successful commercially, some indeed were spectacularly mistimed – thankfully, the eagerly awaited AVR600 AVR isn't one of them.

This gleaming, beautifully-finished new addition to Arcam's FMJ stable is a sophisticated AV receiver that follows a root and branch re-examination of the usual choke points of AV amplifier design, and introduces a number of key technologies to the Arcam range. It is the culmination of a three-year project, Arcam's biggest ever; the design alone involved writing 1.5 million lines of computer code.

Arcam avr600 angleSERIOUS BUSINESS: Arcam have outdone themselves with the effort put into this receiver

The result is spectacular, unconventional and at times quite startling. Like some of its newer rivals, the AVR600 sets out to tackle head-on the normally horrendous level of audio jitter that afflicts HDMI.

Traditionally, audio in the HDMI interface doesn't have its own clock – it's shoehorned into the video signal waveform – and the challenge for Arcam was to reduce jitter to the level associated with good CD players, which has been achieved with some novel design courtesy of a new Wolfson SPDIF receiver, and some fancy footwork with the surrounding clock recovery circuits.

Lovin' Dolby Volume

Another issue with a home cinema amplifier is heat management. Multiple channels operating at once tends to mean very-hot-running amplifiers and losses of output power. What marks the AVR600 out is that it's a Class G amplifier – an analogue (not digital) technology that involves some clever jiggery-pokery with the power supply high-voltage rails, with the aim of minimising heat dissipation while preserving sound quality and power yield.

The benefits are comparable to those available from digital amplifiers in terms of heat dissipation and efficiency. This gives the AVR600 some green credentials, but without the collapse of power output into multiple channels heard with most analogue amplifier circuits.

In combination these developments give the AVR600 better power delivery and lower audio jitter, but there is more to the AVR600 than these things alone.

Unsurprisingly, the Arcam packs the latest surround sound codecs aimed primarily at Mr Blu-ray user – Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio and their associated stablemates, although passes on Dolby Pro-Logic IIz height processing and THX post processing.

More unusual is Dolby Volume, a sophisticated compression technology designed to equalise sound levels, between programmes and ad breaks. This also transpires to be a genuine boon when mix and matching a variety of sources.

There's also a Cinema Mode which crunches the dynamic range of a soundtrack together for late night listening. This should not be used as a default, as the dynamics fall away.

Arcam avr600 connectionsLOSE YOURSELF: Arcam's AVR600 should have enough inputs and outputs for your average user... or street

The AVR600 is custom install-friendly, too, with multiple 12V triggers, IR receivers, multi-room/ multi-zone capability, and an almost insane array of inputs and outputs. The receiver can upscale (or even downscale if necessary) virtually any input from composite video to 1080p, as long as it is a legal operation not prohibited by mandatory copy protection issues. Of course, it supports USB based audio and iPods. In addition to an FM receiver, there's a DAB tuner and internet radio.

Performance

Although there are a lot of sockets, I encountered no special configuration problems with the AVR600; the uncomplicated (and graphically unambitious) user interface allows ready access to settings, with an easily understood front-panel control system. There's a simple-to-use microphone assisted setup and an intuitive remote control.

Much of my listening used Yamaha speakers – the Soavo-1 and Soavo-2 as front and rear speakers respectively, with an Onkyo D-312E, a two-way compact, pressed into service as a centre speaker (this model is a strikingly good voice match for the Yamahas), and a Monitor Audio PL-12 subwoofer.

Blu-ray and other DVD replay came from a Denon DVD 2500BT transport, and an Infocus DLP projector was used. Finally, a pair of Monitor Audio PL-300s were plumbed in for two-channel stereo listening.