Price,Quality,Clarity,Power

Complicated remote, Needs better speaker posts for the surrounds.

I spent quite a bit of time reading reviews from this website in order to make the most informed decision. I was looking for a receiver which was under $450 with an excellent reputation for sound and reliability. I listened to the Denon 1800/1801 and the Onkyo in addition to the Yamaha. I probably would have been happy with either of those receivers being that I am not an audiophile. I just want a product that sounds good and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

After seeing the previous review for the person who bought it at Crazy Edie, I thought I would call them for a quote. They quoted me $369 plus $28 shipping (New Jersey to Los Angeles). It was over $110 less than if I bought it at a local discount store on sale!! The receiver arrived double boxed in perfect condition exactly one week after I ordered it. The sales person was courteous and didn't push me to buy anything else.

I couldn't be happier with the receiver. It sounds fantastic and has more power than I will ever need. Combined with my Acoustic Research AR318 speakers ($200/pair at Sears if you can still find them) and my Jamo surround system, movies and music never sounded better.

I highly recommend this receiver if you are looking for a quality unit without breaking the bank.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 1801, Onkyo 595x

GREAT crisp/clean sound. Dolby/DTS decoders. Yamaha quality. THD=0.06!!, six-channel external decoder input for future sound formats. Excellent value.

None for the average audio enthusiast.

What can I say. This is a great piece of technology. I can understand why so many people say Yamaha, Marantz and Denon are probably the best receivers out there. The sound is incredibly clean and crisp. The DTS/Dolby decoding is superb and for the price ($550 US/$800 CAN), you cannot find a better value. Looked at Sony STRDB-840 ($800 CAN), but it only had a THD of 0.09 and none of the DSP sound fields offered by Yamaha. Also, Sony did not have the six-channel external decoder input for future sound formats. Now I know some people will say the sound of Yamaha is not as good as that of Marantz or Denon, but it is really worth two to three times the price for the same features? For $1999 CAN, you can get the equivelent receiver from Marantz, the only difference, if any, being the sound quality (which is all based on opinion anyway). If you want incredible sound at a great price, stick with the Yamaha.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STRDB-840

strong, clean sound comes out of my Polk rm6200 satellites. this motherpacker. 100w x 5 + DTS + DDigital + 4 s-video inputs & so on & so on.. you can't lose with this one.

I hate the remote. why is the frequently used button located at the bottom of the remote??(volume and power) the remote is slim and thin. its hard to press this button while keeping the grip on the remote. too heavy.. or all receivers just weighs about 20 pounds? (i think)

i was not impressed with this unit until i watched mission to mars last night. the surround is great, the bass is thunderous, my cd's never sounded so sweet! but there's one catch. you have to connect all you equipments thru high quality cables (i.e. them really expensive monster cable) i connected my dvd thru the digital optical output, my sub thru MC's very own subwoofer cable and the rest is history. my home theater sounds and looks like $2300!

Similar Products Used:

i compared this receiver to denon 1801 and some of those sony, kenwood wanna-be bad receivers.. but you really can't go wrong with Yamaha receivers.

Great power. HT modes awesome.

Remote is a disappointment

Just took back an Onkyo TX-DS484 and got this one instead. Better I/O array, more power and far more DSP modes. This thing sounds great. BTW this is EXACTLY the same unit as HTR-5250. They are made on the same line, have the same guts . Identical units.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Onkyo, SOny

Good feature to price ratio

Quality Control, bright sound, remote

I purchased this unit locally just 3 weeks ago. I was really excited to upgrade my previos Yamaha and enjoy the vast HT improvements that have come along since Dolby ProLogic. I was impressed by the unit in the stores and felt it compared to Dennon and Onkyo. The Yamaha was cheaper and offered higher wattage output than others in the same price range, so home it went.

I set up the receiver without any difficulty. The manual was good, but not excellent. Upon first listening to the unit I was really impressed. HT sounds incredible and stereo music sounded very good. I really enjoyed 2 or 3 of the DSP filters, but can't stand most of them.

Ditto others on the binding posts, especially the center channel.

Ditto others on the remote. However, I can't honestly say I have ever been impressed with any remotes that came with the equipment I have purchased over the years.

I also agree that the unit sounds bright, but my speakers are also on the bright side (Wharfedale Saphire series). The speakers do sound brighter on this model than my previous unit.

After listening to the unit for three weeks I was pretty satisfied with its performance and features. Let's face it, my "HT room" is an odd shape with lots of built in furniture (i.e. it has terrible acoustics). That's the price I pay for living in a 100 year old house. The sound wasn't perfect but it was enjoyable. Sure there are better sounding receivers out there, but I don't think I would notice enough difference IN MY ENVIRONEMT to justify the price difference. I am not an audiophile, but I do know what sounds good to me.

Unfortunately, I am returning this product. Last night the receiver would not turn on. After pushing the power switch, the display lit up and the unit promptly powered off. I've since tried it on different circuits and even different power sources and seen no improvement. At this point, I am listening to an expensive HT system through the very low end speakers on my TV. NO fun.

I am still going to give this unit a good rating on the assumption that I got an oddball unit. My previous receiver and CD changer were both Yamaha and I never had a single problem with them. I also know a few people that have Yamaha units and they don't have problems. From reading all the reviews in this section, it looks like I am the odd one out. However, if others have the same problem please speak up! IMHO it is just absurd that so many good manufacturers are putting out products that can't stay powered up. Look at other reviews on this site (Dennon AVR 3300 and others) and you will get a feel for what I am talking about. Quality control should not be an extra on a $400 plus unit!

I am going to try a Nakamichi AV8. It is avaiable in the same price range through Ubid. I only hope that this new receiver will keep me as happy as my old non-digital Yamaha. Look for my review in that heading in about 1 month.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV-390

Price, size, manual, flexability, it works better as a pre-amp than most of the $2,000+ models I demo-ed.

No light on volume control, I got stuck paying retail - but it solved all my problems.

I just bought this Yamaha 2 days ago and could not be happier. My system consists of the following:
4 NAD amplifiers (500+ wpc into fronts)
KEF model 4~2 fronts
KEF model 100 center
KEF carina as surround speakers
Velodyne HGS-12 subwoofer
Panasonic RV-65 DVD player

2 channel stero is my first priority. I prefer clear accurate musical reproduction. I'm not into over-emphasized bass. I have loved everything about my system but could not find a pre-amp!!

First I demo-ed the $3,500 Parasound (was going to get it for $2k). It sounded nice but I slightly prefered the sound of my 16 yr old NAD receiver! Hard to justify $2k to get something your not in love with.

Next came the ADCOM. The people at ADCOM are the best I have ever dealt with - Wonderfull support!! I guess they must make wonderful stereo components, but they have not figured out how to make an AV pre-amp. Lets just say it was really, really bad. Retail on this is/was $2,000!

Finally, I said I will try the Yamaha receiver and just not use the power. So all my comments on this Yamaha are about my using it as a pre-amp and not using the amplifier section. I use the pre-outs (main outs)to control the system above.

No real complaints about the Yamaha so far. Here are my comments:

-I have not noticed this piece to be overly bright on the highs, sounds as good as the $3.5k Parasound, maybe as good as my old NAD (I'm a little attached to that old piece).

- The manual is the best that I have seen. I was able to do a really good set-up on the Yamaha just by reading the manual. The parasound was supposed to have an excellent set-up process, wow that was rocket science! and I'm an engineer! The Yamaha manual descirbed the procedure very well.

- Build quality is great

-Stereo sound is great

- 5 channel sound is as good or better than the others I tried (in my home).

- So far I could not reccomend this piece any higher.

Also, What Hi-Fi? (a british stereo magazine, the British seem to be the only folks who care about stereo anymore) rated the British equivilent of this model a "Product of the Year" for AV equipment for year 2000. So far I agree!

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound AVC-2500, ADCOM GTP-750

Power, Quality, Accurate low distortion reproduction

remote

Picked this unit up a couple of weeks ago & so far I am very happy with it & would highly recommend it to someone who is looking for an A/V receiver with excellent build quality and loads of power for it's class. I have a very large lounge area with polished boards right through, so it's not exactly ideal for music and loud surround, but the Yamaha allows me to fine tune fairly well. I have a Boston Acoustics speaker system, with CR7 bookshelves all around & I must admit it would be a bit lost without the great subwoofer (PV600).

As many people have said the remote is pretty bad & this is the only thing stopping me from giving this a 5 star rating, though I think it should lose only 1/2 a star for this. I must admit you do get a bit used to it & I'm pretty impressed that it runs my dvd, vcr & tv (15 yr old Panasonic), & was very easy to setup by typing in the manufacturer codes. Just that bloody dial.....

All in all though, this is a real quality product, & was definitely worth spending a few more bucks than the Pioneer I demoed. I also couldn't imagine ever needing more power unless I want to open a nightclub, this unit has loads to spare & it is delivered with clean accuracy. I am also suprised that I actually end up using the DSP modes a fair bit, which I always used to think were a gimmick. The 'disco' mode when playing music is really punchy & makes many of my rock cds sound great. It also keeps the mode in memory separately for each A/V input which is handy. The numerous in/outputs at the back including s-vid & opt mean it will handle many of my needs for years to come. At the end of the day this sits at the heart of the A/V system & for those people who dont want to spend a kings ransom on a system, but are interested in purchasing great equipment, I dont think you can go wrong with this unit.

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Pioneer 509s

Clear quality sound reproduction. Great entry level receiver

remote sucks-hard, not enough inputs

I had a Sony Str-945, but when I was looking for some speakers for it I saw the Yamaha and though that this was the best receviver for the price so I gave the sony back to Circuit City and got the RX-V596. The only realy down side to the sony is that it does not have as many inputs ,a realy bad remote, and cost 30 more bucks but it is worth it.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Str-945