Front-panel simplicity
High-quality remote-controlled volumr potentiometer
Discrete power transistors (no ICs here)
Connectivity options are excellent
Digital ins are great!
6-channel pre-outs are dandy

Remote is too slender and long
Display needs a multi-stage dimmer
No digital outputs

Just bought this receiver from Sears since they matched the $357.99 price at www.electroline4u.com. Had to add in shipping, but still got $107 off the $499 Sears price. Thanks for the info about this in previous reviews!

After comparing my older (but still good) Pioneed VSX-D608 and this newer unit from Yamaha, the Yamaha's amplifier section and raw power blow away the Pioneer unit. Although the Pioneed boasts 100W x 5, this is measured at 1 kHz @ 0.8 THD across all five channels. I'll bet that power is more like 65W x 5 when measured at 20Hz-20kHz with 0.2 THD.

Even though I DID NOT buy the Yamaha unit due to its rating of 100W x 5, 20Hz-20kHz $0.08 THD (impressive), the Yamaha unit easily shows it increased power using my Cerwin-Vega 5.1 setup:

Two E-706 front mains
Two E-705 rear surrounds
One E-76C center channel
One HT-SAT5A 15" powered sub

The Yamaha is REALLY driving my CV speakers, as the Pioneer seemed to just push them a little bit. Although the DNR and display dimmer are featires I miss from the VSX-D608, the HTR-5250 clearly makes up for these feature losses by the quality of construction alone. The remote could use improvement (use a universal anyway, so no biggie), but the Yahama unit makes my speakers really earn their keep. The ability to watch a video source while listening to an audio source is VERY nice (the Pioneer unit didn't have that one).

Another benefit to the Yamaha is the 6-channel pre-amp outputs for all channels. This thing could be used as a DD/DTS processor and signal switcher with an outboard amp and really could blow some socks off. 6-channel inouts should come in handy for that DVD-Audio player later on as well.

All in all, I considered some Harmon-Kardon and Onkyo units in the same price range ($500), and the Yamaha was my choice: reputation, sound amp quality, switching inputs, and warranty (2 years).

Very happy, and if you buy this unit, pick one up at a local Sears, as they will match the price from any Internet retailer (this is very cool). I used www.fatwallet.com to find the lowest Internet price on the HTR-5250, printed the page and URL out, took it to Sears, and picked up the unit on the spot at that Internet price.

Life is good.....

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX-D608 (the Yamaha replaced it)

Great digital sound.

None

I have had a Yamaha pro logic reciver for years, and decided it was time to go digital. I shopped around, looking at other brands of recievers, but none offered anything better than Yamaha. I found this site and learned about the price match from Sears, which was great. No hassle at all, and I was able to take the receiver home that day.
I didn't realize what I was missing without the digital surround. Movies are so much more enjoyable with this receiver, which is its primary function. Plenty of bells and whistles on this make it well worth the money. You can spend more, and get added options if you really need them, but for the price and the quality, this is a great receiver. The remote is not as bad as some people claim. It's a little different, but not that big a deal.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha rx 470

Franco is way off base with his review. The htr line is produced side by side with the rx-v line in the same factory, on the same production lines. Only difference between the two line are the accent colors on the front.

none really

The HTR line is a great value since you can normally find this line at the major stores (Sears, Best Buy, etc.) at better prices than the RX-V lines. They are identical to each other except for the accent colors.

VALUE VALUE VALUE - remember folks, we are talking about a $340 receiver here!

None really. The remote is confusing but all remotes for home theater products are confusing. After actually reading the owners manual for the remote it was much easier.

I agree with the guy a few posts back, there is no way you could give a negative post about this receiver unless you have nothing else to do except post false, negative feedback just to get a rise out of everybody (like JB from Cleveland.) Or, unless you were expecting $1,500 worth of equipment for $330.

JB simply "picked one of these up just to evaluate what Yamaha had to offer" !! (y'ever get the feeling that the ones who can't spell usually aren't serious?).

My current stereo receiver is Carver (just like JB's??) and my CD player is Denon. I like Denon. Denon makes good stuff. I shopped real hard for a new home theater receiver, did a lot of research and I seriously considered the Denon AV receivers.
I also considered Sony and Onkyo.I concluded however, that I simply could not justify the difference in price vs. the sound, quality, features and power that this piece had to offer.

For my 330 bucks, this is the best AV receiver available, period. I truly love it. It was pretty easy to install (once you get all the wires in line). The sound is robust and tight and the 110 watts is more than enough power for home theater.

I give two enthusiastic thumbs-up on this product!!

Similar Products Used:

First A/V receiver

Yamaha quality; a number of excellent features for the price; powerful, clean sound

Remote; requires constant reference to the manual

This is great unit for the money. When I finally thought I had a decent home theatre system, which included a laser disc player, speakers and a DSP unit, DVD comes out with Dolby Digital and DTS! I waited a couple of years to buy a new receiver that wouldn't be outdated in short time. After doing research on the newer Yamaha units, I concluded that the HTR-5250 had many of the same specs and features as its higher priced siblings.

The sound is very clean and has a "punch" to it. Movies, especially in DTS, even sound pretty good on my old Bose AM3's. They sound crummy, but at least they're tolerable with the Yamaha. Good recordings, like CDs from Diana Krall or The Eagles (Hell Freezes Over) are crisp and clear. I did have a pair of PSB 5Ts for a week running through the 5250. The sound was excellent, though, I didn't care for the laid back sound of the PSBs. Point being, the Yamaha made those speakers sing.

I've been real happy with Yamaha for over 20 years. My dad had a couple Yamaha receivers and they sounded and worked wonderfully. When I finally got my first receiver in 1990, I made sure it was a Yamaha. It still worked like a champ until the day I donated it to Goodwill.

Lastly, the cheap price I paid. I signed up for the $400 rebate to sign up for MSN for three years. Since I already used the service, this worked out well for me.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha receiver from 1990 and Yamaha DSP-1000 from 1993

Digital Decoding, Optical Inputs, Svid Inputs, Not alot of bells and whistles - very clean

No Optical Inputs for my CD player.

What I had:
I had the RX-V490 for 4 years and it was always on. I had my CD player, VCR, and TV running through it. I really had no reason to get a new receiver....then something wonderful happened....Digital 5.1 surround!!!

I dropped my cabel subsciption and went to Sat. (DishNetwork) and I also purchased a DVD player. Now I had 2 optical outputs, 5 speakers and and a subwoofer. I needed a receiver to handle the new work load.

I needed optical inputs, svideo inputs, and digital decoding. I looked for 3 months and always came back to the Yamaha RX-V595A

I asked my local authorize dealer what is the difference between 595A and the HTR-5250. He told me that the RX series is for the Yamaha authorized dealers and the HTR series is for the mailorder or non Yamaha authorized dealer department stores. He told me that there is only a limited number of authorize Yamaha dealers for each area that can carry their products. This keeps competition low and prices stable. But Yamaha needed away to get to the masses and to sell to people that shop online and at retail department stores, malls, and mail orders. The US is huge and for those people not leaving near a authorized Yamaha dealer then mailorder, online, or mall was there only choice. They came out with a retail line for this market at a lower price. To get around the legal issues they told everyone this is another line for departstores and online ordering and not our top end line for authorized dealers. Actual they are the same unit, with a different name and lettering on the front. This was more of a legal issue then anything else and it would cost Yamaha to much money to build a complete new line of equipment for the non-authorized dealers.
I told this guy, thanks but why tell me? I am now going to buy the HTR and save $200 bucks. He said well you have done a lot of business here and I hope you continue to do so. Why lie about it?

I did buy a lot of equipment from him.

So that is the story.

When I hooked it up I noticed a huge difference in the sound. Wow! I still have the RX-V490 and it is in the Den, but the HTR is solid.

I would recommend this to anyone that want a great reciever that will last and not pay through the nose! I did notice that the HTR-5450s are out, wonder what is different?

Only downside - no optical in for the CD Player.

My current system:
AV Receiver - HTR-5250
Sat. TV - Echostar DISH NETWORK (S-video & Optical to HTR)
CD - Yamaha CDC-665 (RCA to HTR)
VCR - Mit. HS-U560 (RCA to HTR)
DVD - Toshiba SD-4109X (Optical & S-Video to HTR)
Speakers:
Klipsh KV-1 - Center
Celestion Impact 15 - Front
Optimus Pro 77 - Rear
Infinity BU-1 - Sub

I just ordered the Phase Tech PC 3.3 for my new fronts and I am moving the Celestion to the rears.

BTW!
The Toshiba DVD player stinks. I has frozen on several CDs, the multi-disc for DVDs is stupid. I only watch one movie at a time. Compared to the rest of my equipment it is junk. The remote has almost 50 buttons on it. Worst purchase I have made in the last 5 years.
I am looking to replace it with the Yamaha DV-5350.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V490

Clear Sound, Good Power

Not all the bells and whistles... but great for the price...

I got this a few weaks ago... I use it mainly for listening to music, it performs quite well. I can't wait to upgrade speakers in future(I have Pinnacle AC-650). Using Panasonic DVD-CV50 with digital optical out, the sound is very clear... and even with my 6.5" speakers can get quite loud.

I believe that Yamaha is the way to go for recievers in the 400 to 1000 dollar price range... This reciever is a bit below the RXV-995 in quality, but for the price I could not justify the extra money. The People who rate it at 5 stars are not really thinking though... because what would the high end products be then?

Similar Products Used:

None

Plenty of power, and plenty of inputs.

none so far

I like to start of buy saying this is a great budget reciever. It has alot to offer for the money I paid for it. I decided to go with this mainly because of the many warm reviews I've found here on this sight. I used to own a JVC 884, what a piece of crap, I mean this thing had more noise than a vacum cleaner. Once I purchased this baby I noticed a dramastic change in not only surround sound, but also regular stereo music. The only thing that I would change about this reciever is some of the dsp modes they have attendancy to be a bit overpowering. But all and all this a wonderful reciever. I know if you are like me and you enjoy great quality you will love it.

Similar Products Used:

JVC 884

Easy to use and connect, use, PRE-Outs for all channels!

Amplifier section is lacking in comparison to my Adcom Amps, to be expected at this price. Recommend using it as a pre amp.

I needed a AV/HT receiver that had pre outs for all channels due to my 4ohm speakers (have to use seperate amps). Unfortunatly only most of the higher end expensive units had this feature. I came across the Yamaha 5250 as last years model at Best Buy. Marked down, the same model in the new line did not have this feature, and I found this one at $249 on clearance ($429 Reg Price). I connected the unit to 8 ohm speakers and while it sounded decent there was no compairson when using the pre outs connected to my Adcom amps. With the Yamaha 5250 used as a pre-amp to my Adcom amps it is awesome. If your going to use it as stand alone, I would recommend paying more $$ and looking at some of the higher end units as the amplifier section on this unit is lacking a bit. For music it also works great as a pre-amp, it does not have the 5 channel stereo matrix mode that the new models have, so I used y adapters to split the main R/L pre-outs to 2 amps and have a 2nd set of rear speakers just for music. This works very well in this configuration and again I recommend using it as a pre-amp.
Over all the unit has excellent sound quality when used as a pre-amp is a great bargin for this purpose. If your going for a single unit and plan on driving your speakers from it rather than use it as a pre-amp then I would bypass this one and get a higher end unit that has a better amplifier section. I'm a budget mid-level enthausiast that drools over the high end expensive stuff and will upgrade over time. But am very please with my 5250 "Pre-Amp"

Sony 300 CD Player
Sony 560 DVD Player
Sony Hi-fi 4 Head Stereo
Yamaha 5250 AV Receiver (as my pre-amp)
Main Fronts, Cerwin Vega PD15's (4ohm), Sansui B2102 200Watt
Center, Cerwin Vega HTR-CTR (4ohm) Adcom 535II
Rear Effects, Cerwin Vega RE-706 (6ohm), Adcom 535II
Rear (Stereo/Music), Cerwin Vega E-710 (8ohm), Adcom 545II
Velodyne CT-100 Subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

Harmon Kardon Pro Logic, Adcom Pro Logic

Plenty of power, adds sparkle to vocals & pop. Yamaha makes the most and the best DSP modes-one's you would actually want to use.

The stereo effect is so overpowering that it sounds as if a DSP is always engaged. The same reverb that enhances vocalists one minute causes brass instruments to sound tinny.

After auditioning several competing a/v receivers, I found that the HarmanKardon offered the best of all worlds and features found on the mid-priced Yamaha, Denon and Onkyos. My main criteria was sound quality first, features second.

Impression:

The Yamaha really "wowed" me at first because of its ultra-stereo effect. It really brought out the sparkle or brightness in the treble while delivering strong bass. The mid-tones, however, sounded slightly hollow. The "stereofied" effect did add some colorization to the music which helped improve certain types of music, particularly pop. It didn't work quite as well on instrumental-only tracks due to excessive reverb. This caused me to wish there was a reverb on/off switch(like you would find on one of Yamaha's digital keyboards) in order to naturalize the sound.

The Onkyo had a nice, realistic and warm sound but the flawless blending seemed to come at the cost of depth, separation or richness of sound. When compared to the HarmanKardons, it just sounded too flat.

The Denon offered a very up-front and in-your-face feel that delivered a powerful first impression. Eventually, however, it began to sound harsh around the edges. The sound was accurate but it didn't offer the same degree of smoothness or warmth noted in the aforementioned three.

Conclusion:

Your experience will vary depending upon your speakers, acoustics and personal taste. In isolation, just about any sound will start to "grow" on you. Side-by-side, however, the differences between av receivers become quite striking. This experience really trained my ear to search for balance between overly bright and artificial on the one hand, and overly flat, compressed or dull on the other. The HarmanKardon won out because it reached the middle ground.

Similar Products Used:

In-home side-by-side comparison between this model, the Onkyo ...575x, Denon AVR 1801, HarmanKardon AVR 500 & 510.