Our Top 5 home cinema amps 2008

Yamaha DSP-AX863SE

Of course, you'll need a suitably equipped home cinema amp or receiver to make the most of those fantastic Blu-ray soundtracks, especially if your Blu-ray player doesn't have onboard decoding.

Yamaha roared back into contention in our 2008 Awards, with some great new products and amazingly competitive pricing, and it was also good to see Denon and Pioneer back on form.

So if you've just invested in a new Blu-ray player, here are our Top 5 Best Buy home cinema amps/receivers to unlock all that gorgeous surround sound on your BD discs:

1) Yamaha DSP-AX763 £400.

2) Yamaha DSP-AX863SE £600.

3) Yamaha RX-V1900 £900.

4) Pioneer SC-LX81 £1500.

5) Denon AVC-A1HD £3800.

If you want a Yamaha RX-V1900 you'd better buy one quickly, as the price goes up to £1000 from tomorrow, January 1st 2009.

And for those who are perhaps building their first surround sound system, the Yamaha DSP-AX763 is available for just £320 from Amazon, making it a great budget buy.