Audiolab 8000AP

Big, bold and immersive sound ; cast-iron build

Short of the audio and video facilities you might expect at this price

If an involving all-round sound is your priority, give these a listen pronto. However, the mean spec seems too much of a compromise

Extremely versatile, sleek, very good analog stage

The DA-section in stereo-usage could be better

Such an improvement on my original setup for music (flac files) and 5.1 is excellent. I originally had a yamaha home cinema amp which had a multitude of sound settings but playing music was not good.

Sound quality is very good indeed. Very spacious and delicate. Audiolab never sounds tiring and has a special kind of insight to the music.

The sound is not as sharp as in some other rivalling products, but all the detail is still there.

sound quality easy to use and to set up you pay only for what you really need (provided that audio quality is your main concern) clever design of the audio function (multichannel LPCM handling, so avoiding ever changing audio code) reasonable price

remote control rather primitive (a universal multi-brand would be appropariate) LFE signal level too low (a +3db is needed to avoid auto switch-off of the sub)

Fabulous sound quality and ability to obtain a very reasonable surround sound from stereo sources. Upsampling via the HDMI connections for CD is very good. Ability to reduce the cabling for DVDA/SACD via the HDMI connections is goodness. Lack of...

Two HDMI connections a potential drawback, as is inability to utilise OSD functions via HDMI. Lack of temporary speaker trim settings.

versatile and one of very few products catering for this particular niche.

insufficient inputs e.g. hdmi