price and sound

none

When it came time to get a receiver I tested the Pioneer 608 and thought it was pretty good, especially for the price. Then I came here and started looking at reviews, and the 608 scored ok, but someone told me to take a look at the Yamaha 5150. I didnt look at the Yamaha that closely at first because I had my mind set that I wanted at least 100 watts/channel. Once I listened to it though I was blown away! Its 70 watts/channel just destroyed the pioneer's suspect 100 watts/channel. The sound was better and it had all the features the pioneer did and only for a little more. I got mine from onecall.com for $390, thats about 90 more than the pioneer is online but let me tell you its worth it. The yamaha sounds so much cleaner! And the remote everyone is complaining about, I kind of like it. I dont think its real hard to learn at all, you just have to play with it for a little bit, but other than that I think its pretty cool. So for the money I spent I think the Yamaha was the right choice!!

Similar Products Used:

Old JVC receiver and Tested the Pioneer 608

Value, clean Yamaha sound, and value

Remote, inability to turn off rear speakers

I already knew I loved Yamaha sound, but I wanted to make sure I considered all my options for a sub-$500 receiver as I stepped up to DD and DTS. I listened to Harman Kardon, Onkyo, and Denon receivers around this price point, and while they all sounded good, I don't think any of them have the same warmth as the Yamahas. I'm currently playing it through Klipsch mains and a Klipsch center, plan to buy rears later. Wish I could turn off the signal to the rears, but I don't think I can. Ditto all the criticism on the remote, but I go this receiver at shoppersadvantage for right at $400 delivered, and I couldn't be happier. This is a wonderful component, but be aware that it's not going to mess with the sound coming from your source - if something was recorded poorly, it'll be evident. Great recordings shine here, though. Also, I asked every dealer about the differences between this receiver and the RX-V595a - they all said that the 5150 was a version with cheaper components. THIS IS NOT TRUE. I called Yamaha themselves, and the only differences are some different colored lettering on the faceplate (gold rather than white), it's rated using some different criteria, and the fact that this receiver can be marketed via mail-order and as part of a matched system. All this means that it can be sold cheaper.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V495a

Just wanted to agree with all the positive reviews of this product. Yamaha builds such quality equipment that it is hard to consider anything else. I owned a Yamaha prologic receiver so it was natural that I looked at their Dolby digital/DTS offering. VERY glad I did! At first I wanted the 1105 because I wanted the 100 watts but after listening to the 5150 it had more than enough power and a clean, crisp
sound for my room. Thanks again YAMAHA!!!

great overall sound&the price

none that i can find

This is a great receiver, I tried the pioneer 608 what a piece of garbage compared to this one. I would recomend this to anyone looking to buy a great receiver for a reasonable price. I got it from ecost.com for 399.99 I have seen this one for about 500 on other sights. When I hooked it up to my dvd player(pioneer 525) I could't beleive the sound and seperation it provided it was awesome, even though i just have the bose6 speakers and a jblpsw1000 sub.

Similar Products Used:

pioneer, onkyo

Great open sound, lots of power, sleek look, Great DSP modes.

No volume control indication. Would like another tape loop.

After a couple of months looking, listening and reading about A/V receivers, I decided upon the HTR-5150. The reviews here are accurate: this receiver is great!

I couldn't believe what I was missing in my DVD's. There are sounds now that I could swear weren't in the soundtrack before, using my old Sony.

The power is way more than adequate for our apartment living room, and probably will be for our next home. Rarely do I crank the volume dial up near half. The old Sony stayed there, pretty much. Herein lies one of the drawbacks that could have been added at not much cost to Yamaha -- the volume indicator, or at least a scale on the digital readout. All it says is "Vol Up" or "Vol Down", but no relative display. Hopefully, I can remedy this with a small piece of glow-in-the-dark tape on the volume knob.

I needed one more audio in/out loop for my tape deck, as the one that is there is used by an offboard processor, but it was a tradeoff for the better sound of the Yamaha.

The remote is usable. I don't use it to control the rest of my components, as I have a real universal remote for that.

The DSP modes are incredible, and they even make my little Bose speakers sound good (please no comments, I'm trying to move to something else...) ;->

The unit does run cool, which is great for my enclosed audio cabinet. Music sounds great, and the DISCO DSP mode almost simulates the 5Ch-Stereo seen on other receivers.

I compared this against the Onkyo 575, 676 and the Harmon Kardon 65. This was definitely the best to listen to, and the others all seem to have quality control problems associated with them (per users on this website).

I look forward to keeping and enjoying this receiver for a long time.

A last note, the 595a and the HTR-5150 are identical except for paint color on the front panel. OneCall is a great source for the 5150 at ~$390.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Pro-Logic receiver.

Great Sound!Great value!Pleasure to use!

Remote again.But I am starting to like it.

Well I have only had this unit for a month now.But I can't say enough about it.It has been a real treat.It sounds so good I wonder why I waited so long to buy one.The features you get for the dollar are outstanding.The dts feature is incredible and it plays music beautifully.In my opinion looking at all the other receivers in this class this is the hands down winner.BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK.

Similar Products Used:

First stereo receiver.

Powerful, very clean sounding receiver with all necessary home theater functionality at a very reasonable price (certainly if you can find a mildly used one).

DSP programs just don't cut it for music.

I am a firm believer in Yamaha products. As I said, this replaces my 15 year old Yamaha receiver, which still sounds great. Now that I've moved up to DVD, I wanted a receiver that can handle 5.1, which this one does, beautifully for DVD's. However, am a little disappointed in the selection of DSP programs that I can use for non-5.1 inputs (basically everything except my DVD player), and the adjustability of each of the available programs. For someone like me, who does some research, but doesn't replace these products at the slightest update in technology, this is not information that you are going to find out without getting the product home and playing around with it for a while. A basic 5.1 program with adjusts for reverb (which I found to be the most offensive attribute of most of their programs) would be a very nice touch. After spending 3x the cost of the receiver on 5 new speakers and a subwoofer, it bothers me a little that these speakers practically go to waste when using the receiver on any other source.

Now for the positive:

The receiver sounds GREAT for DVD's, and even the sound with my other inputs is still impressive. If you are happy playing music in stereo, this is the perfect choice. I have every bit of faith in Yamaha products, and although I hear that their warranty terms are less than impressive, I hope never to find any manufacturing flaws. I wound up getting what I believe to be a great deal on this unit via eBay, but even the few leftovers that are around of this unit and its twin sister, the RX-V595, can be found in the sub-$300 range.

As for the remote, another complaint of many, it is a bit tough to use in the dark, but I love the wheel on top which allows it to control MANY different components. Sure, it isn't perfect, but what receiver in this range is going to provide a great remote? You can get a Sony LCD remote on eBay for about $115 at any given time. This remote works fine for me.

Similar Products Used:

None - this replaces my 15 year old Yamaha RX-500 receiver

This is a quality reciever....I believe I made the best choice in the given price range. The only thing I don't like is that they named all of their inputs dvd, sat/dbs, vcr. The problem is they gave the vcr and S-video input and they didn't give one to the sat/dbs input. Sure I can use the VCR one for the Sat system and I do, but I would like it better if I didn't have to pick VCR to watch my Sat system.

DVD sounds amazing!!! I found an awesome place online to buy dvds at http://consumer.20m.com

I decided to purchase the Yamaha because of all the good things I read in audioreview.com I wasnt disapointed. I really cant compare this unit with any other because this is my 1st true HT receiver. I considered the Technics 930 but it runs so hot you can fry an egg on it; and thats when its only on standby mode. I recently watched "Saving Private Ryan" in DTS and the sound is amazing, truly amazing!!! My speakers are: mains - def tech promonitor 80's; center - infinity cc-1; sub - atlantic tech 162 pbm; surround - an old set of boston acustics.

GREAT

NONE

WELL I ALWAYS WAN IT THE 5150 BUT I DIDN'T HAVE THE MONEY,
BUT YESTERDAY 7-27-00 I SAW THE LIGHT IN BEST BUY, WITH
A 5150 OPEN BOX. THEY HAD IT FOR $279 BUT I CONVICED THE
SALESMAN THAT I WILL TAKE IT FOR 260 INCLUDING THE 4 YEAR
WARANTY THAT BEST BUY OFFERS........AND HE ACCEPTED THE OFFER.....I LOVE THIS INCLEDIBLE UNIT. THE SOUND IS INCLEDIBLE

Similar Products Used:

PIONEER