great dsp features

impressive remote lack of bass in normal stereo crappy fm reception

250CDN Using it for HT. Just wanted to mention that the bass are not to deep in plain stereo (not 5.1), and fm reception sucks big time. FYI I'm comparing to my old technics and 8" Cerwin-V I upgraded for DD/DTS 5.1 and otherwise, I'm real happy with it

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technics SA-GX390

Good power, decent features, lots of inputs(should easily take care of future additional equipment).

Does not support 7.1/6.1 output. Has a 5 channel output - which means you got to be careful your subwoofer is self powered (they usually are).

I have been searching for a great and economical home theater for almost a year. And after careful planning I decided to go for a good receiver - Harma Kardon or Yamaha. Yamaha won my choice because of the quality it offers at the low price. The features the HTR-5550 are great and it satisfies my future needs too. I did get tempted by the HTR-5560 but then again I have the Bose Acoustimass 6 speakers and I don't think I will upgrade to anything like 6.1 or 7.1 soon. Am happy with 5.1 Digital Surround/DTS etc. and so go for this baby if you are contented with 5.1. Yes it does have sufficient optical/digital inputs and I can handle my Cable terminal, Xbox, VCR, DVD player, my mp3 player all together very easily on this. Another point to be noted is that the HTR5550 outputs 75 W x 5 channels. I did see some other receivers with higher watts per channel output but I think the Yamaha delivers higher current value. So this is supposed to mean that the HTR5550 delivers more probably than your XYZ receiver which is labelled 100W per channel. I think you got to confirm this. WOuld be great if someone could confirm this for me. So simply don't be misled by one of these ratings on any AV receiver you see at your local store. The perfect home theater is something that is perfect only to your ear. You have to listen to it carefully and its a combination of a whole lot of factors - the positioning of the speakers, the cables used(most imp), a good receiver pumping good power( min 75 Watts per channel is recommended), a good set of speakers etc. It is not necessary that a higher priced receiver is simply going to satisfy you. For the entry level as well as an advanced enthusiast, the HTR5550 should satisfy you pretty easily.

Evenly ditributed sound and power.

Sound control is limited to the presets.

I got very lucky. I went to purchase a set of speakers and the (person), conned me into this reciever. Thank You! I owned a Yamaha reciever since 1984. It was the old style, you know, silver, spin knob, great reception, when you moved the antenna around. You know, old style. It blew up after I pumped too much out of it. It had been "resting" in the cellar for 5 years. I had to bring it out after my old JVC blew up after only 4 years. When I went to purchase the speakers I had no intentions of buying a reciever. I did browse and low and behold, YEAH! I did not plan on buying, but I just could not help myself. As I was looking at numerous receivers and already had my mind set on a smaller model, the sales person then pointed out that the 5550 was on sale. There was not even a thought after that. My wife and I have been beating the daylights out of it since we bought it, and guess what? it doesn't matter because it's a Yamaha. IT SHALL LAST. We are so happy to be able to have another product of such quality. I already know that our Yamaha will be around for a long time. Track record is very important to me and it has been proven by 19 years of knowing what is exceptional. Thank you.

Great sound whether watching DVDs or listening to CDs. Many different sound options are available depending on your preferences and there are numerous options for hooking up multiple components and your TV.

Having a little trouble programming the remote to work my other non-Yamaha components, but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon.

After months of searching and doing my homework (especially on this site, thanks to all that submitted reviews, they really helped) it seemed that the Yamaha was the best way to go. I was content to settle on the 5540 model but the 5550 was being offered at such a great price that I couldn't say no. Hooking it up was fairly straightforward and it worked great from the moment I powered it up. As this was my first venture with a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver, I wasn't sure how good the sound would be but I am blown away.

Beautiful, solid and a great performer for your HT or stereo needs.

Read the manual, it will you heartaches later. A lot to absord.

Purchased for use for my home theater. Looked at other brands, Pioneer, Sony, Denon, but after reading reviews decided on the Yamaha 5550 for price, and best bang for the buck. I was not disappointed. Sound is great for HT or Cd music. I use these with Klipsh SB-2 mains, Klipsch SC-1 center, Velodyne subwoofer,and AR Sequel surrounds. There is power to spare and it is very crisp and precise.

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JVC, Sony, Pioneer.

Outstanding quality and clarity. Bought it for 279 at etronics

Great sound Clean power Multiple sound modes

Manual is long...very detailed (spent too long setting it up)

I love Yamaha recievers. I recently bought a Toshiba 57H82 widescreen and in moving my A/V stuff I damaged my Yamaha 5150. Too much to get it fixed, so I now have a 5550. I have it feeding Polk speakers and this set-up sounds great for HT. I considered the 5560, but didn't really need or want to put in a 6th speaker (rear-center) to get the benifit from it. For the money, this set has everything I could ever want. Before my 5150, I had a 100watt JVC pro-logic - nice set for back then, but the 75 fullband streangth of the Yamaha is much cleaner and stronger. Electric Giant (on Ebay) gave me excellant service too; double boxed and fast delivery.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 5150 JVC pro-logic

The HTR-5550 AV receiver offers the convenience of DVD-Audio-ready six-channel analog inputs alongside the latest 6.1-channel surround processing and premium Yamaha sound technologies. When hooked up with the digital-audio output from a DVD-Video player or digital satellite receiver, the 75-watts-per-channel HTR-5550 handles 5.1-channel surround decoding for both major formats, Dolby Digital and DTS. In addition, the HTR-5550 processes Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES, which create an even more expansive soundfield through the use of a center-rear surround channel, totaling six discrete full-range channels in addition to the LFE (low-frequency effects) channel: left, center, right, and left, center, and right surround. Non-Dolby Digital and DTS sources can benefit from surround processing, too. With enhanced directional steering over standard four-channel Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II provides five channels of surround processing from any stereo source--whether that's a TV broadcast, VHS tapes, or your favorite CDs, cassettes, and LPs. Pro Logic II delivers full-bandwidth stereo surround channels with 40 dB of left-right separation. A key benefit from a Yamaha receiver is Yamaha's proprietary signal processing, including Cinema DSP (digital soundfield processing), which creates aural "imaging" that not only makes your home sound like a theater, but also sounds better than most movie theaters. Based on a wealth of measured data in real studios and halls, Cinema DSP is designed to bring out the full potential of movie sound mixes, reproducing them the way directors and sound engineers intended. And, when you're listening to multichannel presentations late at night, you'll appreciate Silent Cinema, which simulates 5.1-channel listening through a pair of ordinary two-channel headphones (not included). Silent Cinema uses unique parameters for each soundfield to ensure accurate headphone representation of each soundfield. Then there are the six-channel DVD-Audio-ready inputs mentioned above. "If DVD-Audio is so high-tech," you might wonder, "why do I need analog inputs to appreciate it?" That's because, for reasons of data density, DVD-Audio players perform their own digital-to-analog conversion, passing high-resolution analog signals on to your amplifier. (And analog is, after all, what your amp feeds your speakers.) DVD-Audio can deliver up to s

Very powerful, clear/distortion free sound, remote, speaker binding posts, DSP modes

lacks a little with music cds

I've only had this amp for a day now and already I am absoulty soked with it! Very powerful sound in HT, a little lacking in music, but thats not what I bought it for. The Amp produces very high quility sound with no noticable distortion. Speaker binding posts are a definet plus. The pre-programed DSP modes are fantastic! I especially like the 5-channel stero mode for watching normal TV. The V8's never sounded so good. I have also had a listen to the Sony and Pioneer amps and they don't even compare to this! The Sony seems to lack surround effects and the Pioneer lacked bass.

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Sony,Pioneer

QUALITY SOUND

IF YOU WANA CRANK IT YOU NEED TO PURCHASE A PRO-AMP{YAMXS350!}THIS RECIEVER HAS NO PREOUTS TO ADD ON,NEXT MODEL UP DOES

SURROUND SOUND 4 MOVIES, SOUNDS GREAT, PARTYS WITH LOUD MUSIC, GREAT FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES BEFORE THE UNIT SHUTS DOWN GOING INTO SELF PROTECT MODE. THOUGH I AM PUSHING 2-12" VEGAS,JBL CENTER & REARS. THE VEGAS CAN HANDLE 300WATTS, THE YAMAHA IS GIVING IT 70-75 AND WORKING ITS ASS OFF. DON'T GET ME WRONG FOR CASUAL LISTENING PERFECT,PARTIES,SUCKS.