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On the far left of the front panel there's an on/off switch for the components that are connected to the switched circuits (there are three sockets that can be turned on or off – the rest are always on). And on the right, under a removable panel, is a 10th mains output socket, for connecting occasional components such as games consoles digital cameras and so on.

One nice touch here is that one of the switched circuits has an eight second delay built into it so you can avoid those nasty thumps that so often accompany the switching on of audio equipment.

Under the hood, it's a little disconcerting to discover how little space the electronics actually take up. The size of the box, it would seem, is solely to accommodate all of those plug sockets. At least all of the cabling, as you might expect in a product that is designed to reduced electrical noise, is neat, tidy and well-organised.

The million dollar question, of course, is whether all of this makes a discernible difference to your viewing and listening experience, apart from the peace of mind offered by those protection circuits. The short answer to that question is yes, at least when it comes to listening to music. After connecting my Unison Research Unico CD player and Primare A30.1 stereo amplifier to the appropriate sockets on the Pure AV I noticed a big difference in the sound. This was characterised in a reduction of harshness at the top end of the sound spectrum, richer, smoother and more lush midtones, and extended bass at the bottom end.

These are not small differences – the whole sonic character of my system changed in an instant. Stacey Kent's gorgeous jazz singing voice took on a different dimension, Ramon Ruiz's Flamenco guitar projected into the room more and the piano on Regina Spektor's Sampson rang through that little bit more cleanly.

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