Earlier this year we looked at the A35.8 from Primare (HCC #331), a multichannel power amp that signalled the Swedish brand was turning its attention once again to the cinematic side of the home audio business. And if that model had niche appeal, its new SPA25 AVR is more mass-market - albeit with a £5,000 price tag.
A glance over the specifications shows this receiver has been designed to cover all (well, nearly all) of the modern home cinema bases, while retaining the audiophile air of Primare's catalogue of two-channel hardware. So it offers Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, Dirac room correction and Dolby Vision and HDR10+ passthrough, in conjunction with Primare's bespoke network audio platform (Prisma) and some hi-fi centric touches.
Perhaps a better way to look at the SPA25 is to highlight what it doesn't do, and most notably this is offer support for console gamers with 4K/120 playback and VRR ambitions. The unit's HDMI stage (four inputs and two outputs) is HDMI 2.0b, and pegged to 4K/60.
Primare, anticipating some gnashing of teeth from potential customers, is up-front about the reason for this feature shortfall. 'This design choice was made purposefully, as when we began the design effort a number of years ago now, we lacked confidence in the then-available chipsets being able to provide the performance claimed and being readily available for a small manufacturer like us, particularly given current supply shortages. The company says that 'in hindsight' this was a smart move, as the first HDMI 2.1 chips were flawed.
Bu hikaye Home Cinema Choice dergisinin January 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Home Cinema Choice dergisinin January 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Short and sweet
Marantz's compact AV receiver returns with a new look and boosted features – Jamie Biesemans slips it into his AV rig
Don't cut out the middle man
Philios' new mid-range OLED TV might just be its best all-rounder yet, decides John Archer
Denon's blast from the past
Richard Stevenson salutes the no-stone-unturned approach of this monster 15.4-channel AV amplifier |
Same again, please!
The owner of this basement cinema loved his old setup so much he wanted it replicated - but better. Daniel Sait reports
YOU'LL DIE LAUGHING - 30 HILARIOUS HORROR COMEDIES
Anton van Beek and Mark Craven trawl through 90 years of cinema to celebrate the flicks that are guaranteed to raise a smile - even when they're loaded with ghosts, killers, monsters and more...
It's showtime!
Philips gets ahead of itself with a tantalising 2023 TV range preview. Steve May reports on things to come
'Bring on the big four'
UK TV maker Mitchell Brown enters the QLED arena
AV Avenger
Could James Cameron's long-awaited return to Pandora with Avatar: The Way of Water kickstart a 3D TV revival? Steve May considers the evidence
Catalogue classic: Cloverfield → Ultra HD Blu-ray, Paramount
Anton Van Beek powers up his camcorder and sets out to document the truth about the 2008 monster-sized box office smash
Ghostly goings on in Tokyo
Iconic Japanese fright franchise is resurrected on Arrow's multi-format boxset