This player doesn’t let you pass high-resolution, multichannel DVD-Audio signals through the HDMI output. Since there’s no FireWire here, you must return to the analog realm to listen to high-resolution audio, for which Arcam has included all of the necessary bass-management adjustments. Still, add in the absence of SACD playback, and that $1,799 price tag seems a bit steep.

Arcam offers two HDMI and three component video connections, but no FireWire ports. The HDMI are geared primarily toward video reproduction and not toward audio. You’ll have to use six analog connections to pass DVD-Audio to the AVP700.

Interestingly, even when I tried to send standard stereo, Dolby Digital, and DTS audio signals through the HDMI output, the AVP700 pre/pro reads them as analog signals and passed them through to the TV along with the video signal. In order to get a digital audio signal to play through my speaker system, I had to resort to the player’s tried-and-true coaxial and optical outputs. Nothing in Arcam’s manuals explains why this occurs. In fact, Arcam doesn’t address HDMI as an audio option, discussing it only as a means for delivering digital video.

Once setup was out of the way, I could sit back and enjoy this system’s greatest strength: its audio prowess. As I expected from a dedicated amp, the P1000 has excellent dynamic ability and didn’t stumble even with the densest film soundtracks played at high volume levels. I was more impressed with the definition and quickness of individual effects within that soundfield, as if the system had stripped away a layer of audio film to reveal a fuller dimension to my favorite soundtracks. Even simple effects, like Darth Vader’s breathy dialogue in The Empire Strikes Back, were more convincing. With multichannel and stereo music, the Arcam gear ably walks that fine line between bringing out the best in the recording without adding any superfluous refinements.

Despite its sleek, modern appearance, this new Arcam combo is, in some respects, already old-school in its connectivity options. Component video switching and seven-channel analog audio connections were choice features just a year ago, but digital is making its move. The AVP700 does have HDMI switching for video, but the need to use coaxial or optical for digital audio and analog RCA cables for high-resolution audio are becoming things of the past. This in no way diminishes the system’s excellent audio performance, and many audiophiles prefer the analog realm anyhow. Still, the forward-thinking HT enthusiast may not find everything he needs here.

RATING: SOLID
Description: Arcam AVP700 preamp/processor, P1000 seven-channel amplifier, and DV79 DVD-Video/-Audio player

High Points: HDMI switching and balanced audio connections; excellent audio performance

Low Points: Can’t send high-resolution audio via a digital connection; the player’s video deinterlacing is only average; manuals are a bit confusing

Contact: Arcam
+44 (0) 1223 203200
www.audiophilesystems.com

Price: AVP700, $2,199; P1000, $2,299; DV79, $1,799
Total: $6,297