No wonder Pioneer dedicates half the LX81's brochure and several chapters of the manual to the MCACC system – because here it is simply brilliant. Conversely there is a very small mention, somewhere around page 96, of the analogue video up-conversion to 1080p. Funnily enough this is mediocre at best, although chances are you will have a decent scaler in your source or display anyway, so no major bother.

No major bother also describes the beautiful LX81 GUI and its day-to-day operation. The interface makes an incredibly complex and well-featured receiver supremely easy to set up, tweak and use. There is access to just about every facet of the MCACC filtering (allowing me to bring back some mid-bass bloom – hey, I like it) and the easiest network set-up of any Ethernet-enabled receiver I have tested to date. I simply plugged the cable in, pressed 'OK' a few times and – hey-presto! – full internet radio and access to the THX Neural network of surround sound audio streams. Bring it on Pioneer, bring it on...

Dual HDMI

Having simultaneous output HDMIs is a gift for multi-room, or those of us with both a TV and projector, and needless to say the rear panel of the LX81 lacks nothing. Badge-hunters and serious big-room bruisers will salivate over the THX Ultra2 Plus post processing, too.

But nuts to all that spec-talk and feature trumps, because this receiver's real unadulterated magic is what it makes your speakers do. The sheer dynamic impact, the huge uncluttered soundstage, the clarity and fine detail, and the subtle textural information it ekes out of any movie, adds up to a sound that is more addictive that crack cocaine. Probably.

Even with sonic masterpieces like John Stevenson's Kung Fu Panda (no relation – John or the panda) the LX81 continues to impress. Dialogue is clean and voices with heavy accent or overt character – like Jack Black's Po – are rendered with incredible intelligibility. As the pace picks up in those heady Zhang Yimou-inspired martial arts moments, the LX81 is so blisteringly fast it keeps the movie pace at warp velocity and never lets up.

This Pioneer is no slouch if you like a bit of retro two-channel, non-video entertainment either. CDs are rendered equally crisp and articulate even if the mere thought of RoomEQ sends your average hi-fi aficionado apoplectic.

The same high-speed dynamic that works so well with all-action movie sequences does wonders for rock and pop music, while the attention to fine detail and tone-perfect dialogue works equally well with complex music and subtle vocals. If you happen to have a current-range Pioneer Blu-ray player, CD sound is likely to be even better, as Pioneer implements a clocklocking system (PQLS) to reduce jitter in the HDMI audio data stream.

Choose your weapons

So, what's the downside to the LX81? Well, because it fights well above its price point you are really going to need a suitably serious speaker package to make the most of it. Hook up your old speakers or sub-sat package and the LX81's unbridled potential will have you reaching for the plastic quicker that you can say 'credit crunch'.

Of course, the awesome EQ system and ICEpower amps will elicit the very best from any speaker array you care to hook up, but this is a receiver that begs for a suite of floorstanding speakers and a top-flight sub. Looking at it another way, buying this receiver now will see you through several major loudspeaker upgrades into the future.

Pioneer's SC-LX81 sets the current AVR standard at the £1,500-£2,000 price point by a comfortable margin. It's stunningly well-equipped, has fabulous sound and is damn near future-proof as well. How cool is that?