Cheap Yamaha HTR-5660 6-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Yamaha HTR-5660 6-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver

Great reciever for a great price
I was very impressed with this unit as I am not an audiophile but this is bringing me closer to being one. This is not one for the faint of heart of for those with no patience as it does take a bit of time and manual reading to set it up for your personal preferences. Once done it will be well worth the time and effort because the punch that it packs and the sound quality in my opinion are superb. The other reviews I agree with except the remote one. I highly recommend!!!

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Class act all the way!
Most of what I have to say is covered in the other reviews, although I have to say that the reviewer who gave a 1 star rating just because of the remote was not doing this receiver any justice.

Setup was quite nice and simple. Now anyone who has never used a 5.1 or 6.1 receiver before might not find it that easy. But it's still quite straight forward if you read the manual. You can choose how many speakers you want to set up, anywhere from 2 to 6. Setting the volume for each speaker is also easy. The best part is that you can even change each speaker volume while listening to an audio input - makes it easier to choose a setting you really like.
Regarding the remote - yes, it can be a little intimidating at first. There's a LOT of functionality in the remote. And a lot of the buttons actually have double functionality (similar to a 'SHIFT' function on calculators). But after using it for a while, you'll get used to it. I certainly wouldn't condemn this receiver just because of the remote. In fact, it looks nice and even grows on you after a while.

As for sound - this receiver is absolutely awesome! I had a Denon AVR-2800 earlier that went bad. I loved the Denon. But this Yamaha receiver is even better - didn't think it possible. Of course, to be fair, I'm using the Yamaha in 6.1 mode while the Denon was only a 5.1 receiver. The extra 6th speaker (Rear Center) really sounds nice. Also, the simulation modes that this receiver has are fantastic. For those who are not aware, a simulation mode is needed to convert a 2 channel audio source (like broadcast TV, Tuner, etc.) or a 5.1 audio source into a 6.1 output. The extra channels are 'simulated'. I myself didn't understand the importance of simulation till I used this receiver. Typical simulation effects are 'Hall', 'Rock Concert', etc. and they're all fun to play with and sound great!

The only complaint I had at first was that the bass didn't seem to sound as deep as my previous Denon receiver (everything else like speakers and DVD player remained the same). The sound was (and still is) crystal clear, but only the bass seemed lacking. So at first I had to turn up the volume on my powered subwoofer. But then I played with some settings on the receiver - like making the bass come out of both subwoofer and all speakers and it sounded much better. In fact I had to end up turning down the volume on the subwoofer. But the point is that you have a LOT of control. There's even a graphic equalizer that lets you set 5 different frequencies, a bass and treble control, a LFE (Low Freqeuncy Effect) Level adjustment, etc.

As far as choosing from the Yamaha family of receivers, here are some tips you might find useful:
1) The HTR-5660 is the same as the RXV-640, the HTR-5650 is the same as the RXV-540 and the HTR-5640 is the same as the RXV-440. Apparently Yamaha changes the product code only for purposes of channel distribution, or something like that. So shop around for whichever one gives you a better deal. In my experience, the HTR series was less expensive than the RXV series.
2) When deciding between the HTR-5660 or the HTR-5650 or the HTR-5640, be careful. The sound quality of the HTR-5640 and the HTR-5650 should be identical, and I'm sure very good. But the HTR-5660 steps up in output power and it uses a more powerful amplifier section. Apparently, this new amplifier also improves a little on sound quality. As far as requiring a powerful receiver, I thought I wouldn't really need the output power of the HTR-5660. But I find that I usually turn it up to -30db (it goes from -60db to 0). It's always good not to have to stress your amplifier. So with a HTR-5650 or HTR-5640, I'd probably have to turn the volume up even more - and I don't really listen to anything that loud. My room dimensions may have something to do with this, but still - choosing a more powerful receiver may be more important than you think.
3) Yamaha (and perhaps other manufacturers too) come out with new models around the summer. So retailers may start to try and get these HTR or RXV series off their shelves, should result in a price drop.

Hope this helps - if you ever see a good sale on this receiver, go for it. You'll be really glad you did!

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TYTIGER
This receiver is 2nd to none for sound quaility and price...I have had Dennon and Kenwood receivers but none can compare!! For richness of sound and bass this is a great receiver..and if you have Bose speakers this is the way to go..in this other review the guy can't figure out the remote..he is not very smart! And it takes two seconds to adjust the volume of the speakers!! There is simply no other receiver under 1000.00 dollars that is better than this one.