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Style towers over sonic substance Mark Craven tries out a Sony home theatre system that looks the business.

Sony’s BDV-E880, costs merely £400 and comprises a 5.1 Blu-ray home theatre system with 3D support and Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Smart TV platform.

Onkyo’s TX-NR709 ups the audiophile ante of the much-loved TX-NR609, and has a back panel busier than Oxford Street at Christmas. In come binding posts for all speaker terminals, bi-amping capability, 7.1 phono inputs and 7.2 pre-outs, which is strictly speaking 7.(1 x 2). You can hook up a grand total of 11 speakers, with the option to enjoy 7.1 sound at any one time through the usual 5.1 configuration, plus either surround back, front high or front wide expansion.

As Forrest Gump so very nearly said, Loewe is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get. Thanks to the German luxury brand’s unique ‘consumer choice’ approach to design, it’s impossible for a reviewer to predict for sure what colour TV is going to emerge from the box, with which speaker options, or design of stand.

While it’s now established that passive 3D technology is a great, family-friendly alternative to active 3D where 42in and possibly 47in screen sizes are concerned, I personally have had my doubts that LG’s new 3D approach works on bigger screens.