Lots of power,versatility, infinitely adaptable, just plain fun.

Wish the remote was backlighted.

I wrote a review about 6 weeks ago, consider this an update.
Boston Acoustic CR-6's in front, B.A. CR-5's in back, actually a pretty good old Koss for the center channel, and a brand spanking new Polk Audio PSW350 for the sub. This system is so good it'll rearrange the furniture for you. I highly recommend it. However, go top of the line on your DVD player and don't go 16 X 9 on your HDTV. Those sides will burn in in 1/2 hour when watch regular TV. Stretching the image doesn't work for me. Your best bet is to pick a 4 X 3 HDTV and get used to the black lines at the top and bottom. For movie watching you cannot beat this system. For music listening with all the DSP's it's not heaven ...... but it's right up there.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 800

Lots of power,versatility, infinitely adaptable, just plain fun.

Wish the remote was backlighted.

I wrote a review about 6 weeks ago, consider this an update.
Boston Acoustic CR-6's in front, B.A. CR-5's in back, actually a pretty good old Koss for the center channel, and a brand spanking new Polk Audio PSW350 for the sub. This system is so good it'll rearrange the furniture for you. I highly recommend it. However, go top of the line on your DVD player and don't go 16 X 9 on your HDTV. Those sides will burn in in 1/2 hour when watch regular TV. Stretching the image doesn't work for me. Your best bet is to pick a 4 X 3 HDTV and get used to the black lines at the top and bottom. For movie watching you cannot beat this system. For music listening with all the DSP's it's not heaven ...... but it's right up there.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 800

Clear Power, Great THD % rating, can push a lot of DJ Speakers

Learning the remote

I have only had this unit for less than a week. I played around swaping receivers from best buy ever since Christmas. This unit went on sale and I got it. I am starting a little home stereo for some enjoyment and this unit is doing the job. I don't have much invested into my other equiptment. I have a pair of AR 302's, a JBL PB10 subwoofer and a Technic 108 CD player and that's it. It sounds good. I am looking for a good set of speakers to match up with this Yamaha now. This seems like it has all the features and after reading all the reviews on this product over the last few months was a big help in me getting it. For the money it is very cheap and to me has most of the same features as the 5280 that is $300 more.

Similar Products Used:

Technic, Pioneer

Great sound! Plenty of power. Easy to set up and install. Performs well for both music and movies (DVD).

Remote (Codes did not work on any of my other components). Burning smell in the first two months. FM reception is bad.

First I want to thank this site and all the people who have given their reviews. It helped immensely in the narrowing down process. The information I gained here was invaluable. Thanks. OK now the review….
Listened and looked at many similar units. Did not like the sound of either Sony or Denon. I liked the large array of inputs and outputs this unit had. It felt solid and the controls where easy to understand. Do not like the remote, but for different reasons than most. I could not get it to operate on ONE other piece of my equipment. The DVD is brand new and the TV is only two years old, so I would expect it to operate these items. I ended up programming my Dish network remote to control at least the basic functions of the 5250. This works just fine for my purposes.
I have had no problems with this product. I did have a question and found Yamaha’s customer support excellent. I added JBL speakers and a Sony subwoofer to the mix. The 5.1 sound is fantastic, but as others have stated, make sure you balance the speaker(s) volume. Spend time in adjusting the sound to suit your taste. I have purchased a few classical music CD’s that play in 5.1. Absolutely wonderful! With 550 watts and the JBL speakers I have never had the volume up past halfway. On the flip side it will play the softest of music with clarity and depth. I would recommend this unit to anyone. Enjoy.

Similar Products Used:

None

Overall quality of Yamaha and value, good power and functions for the price. THE REMOTE IS A STRENGTH very intiutive, kid friendly and a good feel.

No video switching, no 5 channel stereo.

This was a price match purchase at Sears. Very good quality receiver at a very good price. It is a huge difference from the Dennon which I did like, but they are really apples and oranges. This Yamaha has much more power and has dolby dts digitil sound and S-video on all inputs. The Dennon was prologic and no S-video. The last time I bought a receiver I had narrowed it to Dennon and Yamaha, I chose Dennon. Now that I have had both, I think the Yamahan is a better value.

My post is to let others know my opinion about some of the concerns mentioed.

First the REMOTE. Everyone complains about it. I disagree, this is the best remote I have personally used. I still have not found a great remote and this one is not great. It would be much better if it were backlit, and was learning, and had macros. However, I love the wheel and the input button. THis is the only remote I have been able to teach my family to use. It controls the receiver, TV, VCR, DVD, and satellite receiver. My old Dennon was a learning remote with macros. There was nothing it could not do. However,my family was dumbfounded by having to switch imputs in receiver mode and then switch the remote to operate the particular component. It was big and bulky and had to be operated with two hands. THis remote is very intuitive to me as well as the wife and kids. I don't know why others have had such problems with it. I love the thinness and the feel of the remote. You can do everthing one-handed. For general TV viewing you can operate the TV controls, the receiver controls and the surf the satellite stations without having to switch modes.

Second, brightness and bass. I don't really understand why these are an issue. THe receiver lets you change the level of every speaker and you can adjust for brightness by using the bass and treble controls. In my situation, there was too much base with a subwoofer and I had to adjust it down a few decibles. I like bright sound, the treble control is flat and it sounds great on small energy speakers. With proper adjustments just about any receiver can be made to sound the way you like it. YOu can compare the sound among receivers in the store wtih all controls flat, but what is the point. It is not your home or your speakers, and it is not the way you would listen to it. Adjust the sound to taste on each, then compare and you probably can't really tell a difference. If the yamaha has too much base, adjust it down, if it is too bright, adjust it down. Any of these receivers gives you enough range to make the sound come out the way you want it.

I do wish the receiver had 5 channel stereo for music. You can use DSPs and get sound out of 5 speakers but it is not the same. Also no video switching. Everything but my VCR can be connected by S-video. The receiver switchs all imputs on S-video. But if you have a component without S-Video, the receiver does not swithch the signal to the S-video output. Which means, you have to run a second input to the TV and change TV video input to watch a VCR movie, That is a pain, not for me, but my 6 year old is still trying to learn that part.

For the price, this receiver gets 5 stars. It could be better in few areas but compared to other receivers in the price range it delivers more bang for the buck. I am very happy with the machine.

Similar Products Used:

Dennon, Carver, Sansui

Lots of toys to play with.

Remote, poor base sound, keeps shutting down after 5 minutes of play time.

Bought the 5259 on Thursday, Played with it all night and into Friday. Was disgusted with all the problems and poor sound quality. Took it back Friday night for a refund. Sorry but I have to give it a poor Rating. I went to a local stero shop and told them about the problem that I had, and was told that they had heard other People complain about the 5250 also. They recomended a Denon 1801 or 2801. I havn't decided wether to get a better model Yamaha or go with a Denon.

Clarity. Crispness of trebles and bass reproduction.

remote control and settings were not exactly user friendly.
However I had terrific help from Yamaha people at their site.

I've been a Yamaha products fan since I was able to afford Hi-Fi stereo equipment, back in 1976, my first reciever was
an entry level Natural sound reciever which only packed 25 watts per channel, but the main feature even back then was
the accuracy to the actual music. very clean watts i got
and 3 generations later i still got the same clean watts
out of my htr-5250 for a very affordable price. I was impress by the effects at the store even out of cheap speaker sets as well as good sets at best buys, no wonder they demo other equipment, with this baby.
I got home, and plug my twister dvd, and after playing for a while with the settings and the remote, which I'm still getting used to.. , boy... this baby gave my a real shaking
on my room without any audible distortion through my Acoustic research speakers and technics subwoofer at a mere
level 4.
Anyway, the only weakness of this AV reciever I found, is it's remote control which lacks of lighting, is cramped and
confusing. But I have to add is a universal remote which picked the codes for my Pioneer dvd, laser disc, and my Phillips smart plus 36 inch monitor very easily. If only
the folks at Yamaha use some of their friendliness on this
remote my affair with Yamaha would be complete.
EFBCS.

Similar Products Used:

Harman Kardon avr. and Kenwood, Technics, yamaha, NAD's.

Power, Sound, Reliability

Remote of course

Read the reviews and have always used Yamaha equipment. The sound is earthshaking. There's enough great reviews for people to know this is a fantastic product. I hooked up a Sony Dss(B55) and a Panasonic DVD(RV31K). I am new to DVD so I thought I would answer a questions that other people have had.

DTS - No Sound - If the DVD says DTS make sure when you put in the DVD and the options come up, before you hit "play", go to either "options" but usually it will say "languages" - there the DVD gives you the option of Dolby Digital or DTS. You usually have to do this and select DTS each time you put in the DVD. Dolby Digital is the default.

Don't be afraid to tweak this thing, everyones ears are different, along with room size, placement, wiring and so on. I have noticed I have to adjust my bass quite alot for different movies but mainly when playing CD's. I have found what works for me is to find a happy medium on my subwoofer, then adjust the "db" level on the subwoofer level on the Reciever (I usually go between -2 and -10).

If your debating about this, don't. The reciever rocks and Yamaha equipment last forever, last reciever amp still kicks hard after 15 years.

Not claiming to be an expert, these are just the things that have added to my enjoyment of great movies and music.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony, Luxman, JBL

DSP

Remote. Definitely. The Sub woofer out.

Used with PSB 5T, 9C, Alpha Subsonic 5 and 1B. Had trouble tuning the sub but ultimately got it right. Watched MI2 on DVD. Unbelievable sound.

Power,clarity, inputs, outputs,s-video, options.

None as of right now, remote (but who cares this is a great receiver)

Just got this receiver and it is great. this is the first yamaha product i have owned. I had a sony str-de915, it was supposed to have the same wattage as the yamaha 5250, but the difference is daylight, and dark. the yamaha simply just blew me away with the power, easy setup, options. I put my favorite DVd in to watch it and it was amazing, it shook the whole house and the volume wasn't really even turned up over a 1/4 of the way. This thing rocks.

Back to the old sony de915, bought new for 650.00 in 1998 used it for about 1.5 yrs. and then one day it just simply wouldn't make a sound, so i figured instead of spending 150.00-200.00 to fix it, I would just go ahead and buy a real receiver. I made my mind up after looking at all the post here. I know that there is better receivers out there, but there isn't a better receiver out there under 500.00.

Similar Products Used:

Sony str-de915.