Arande2

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.40 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $180.00 from BestBuy

Summary:
When I was at BestBuy about a year ago I ran across this receiver. Since my income isn't really that high I opted for this since it seemed like a good buy for the money. My last receiver was a Scott stereo receiver from 1972 so I would consider this a huge leap. When I first got it I figured that it would be a good leap since it was made 33 years later. Once I got it all hooked up I took a listen on my JBL 4311 control monitors from 1969. I took a listen on it in stereo and it sounded about the same as my old receiver until I cranked it up. then it wasn't hissing like old tube recievers from the 70's did, of course. The Scott was an 80-watt so this has a little bit more thump that that did. Since then I've gotten some Paradigm floorstanding surround speakers and JBL Northridge for the front. I now use the Jbls as center channels. When I turn the receiver up to +3 on 6 channel stereo with music that has a heavy beat like some remixes do you can feel the bass very much even without a subwoofer, but of course I have all floorstanding speakers running with this.

My favorite thing about the 5740 is that you can play around with all the modes. Movie, music, or game there's a mode for it. Very clear sound. I was dissapointed with the tuner quality of this model though. Most manufacturers these days tend to skimp out on the tuner part of the receive focusing on the other parts of the receiver like the amp and all those modes (cough cough). If you want good FM or AM reception you'll have to get a separate tuner. I hooked this one to an antenna in my attic and still can only pull in the strongest stations. My old Scott is now in my bedroom with some small bookshelf speakers and still pulls in all the main stations and more with the same antenna. Tube tuners rule, you know it!

People who should buy this receiver are people on a budget who want a clear sound and dont have have wimpy speakers. In fact, I would recommend you get two good mains than 7 cheap speakers including a subwoofer for the same price. Of course this receiver won't perform like those higher performance receivers from companies like Rotel or Marantz, but those are also like what, 10 times the cost? People who want loud should not buy this receiver unless you have speakers with sensitivity of at least 93. A guide to sensitivity would be that most HT speakers that you can get from places like BestBuy have a sensitivity of around 86 with you need over 4 times the power to get to the same volume with as 93.

Another thing is this receiver doesn't have the strongest power supply.
That means that if you play 6 channels it may be louder since you have more surface area, but your power supply can't provide as much power to each individual speakers. When you go into the direct stereo mode, the 5740 gives power to just the two front L and R speakers. This way you can turn it up louder and get more power out of your receiver on those two channels. Good if you want to see how loud you can get it before it starts clipping. I can run it at about +3 when everything is even in the speaker level menu. If you just want to watch movies this is a good receiver. If you're more a music fan you need larger speakers to make this receiver good for that. Otherwise get a better receiver.

The bottom line is if you want a lot of bang for your buck this receiver can supply it as long as your power doesn't dip much. If you have power dips I've found this receiver to be weaker in that area. When the power dips you lose max volume for a minute, but if you listen at lower levels (about -35 is an average level) then this receiver will be just fine.

Strengths:
Lots of different modes, Clean sounding at lower levels, good soundstaging and imaging, accurate when you set all the time delays correctly

Weaknesses:
can't handle loud voumes before overheating, tuner doesn't tune as well as receivers from the 70s, weak power supply.

Similar Products Used:
Scott stereo receiver, Yamaha 5730, KLH (cheapie), I've listened to all the high-end models at high-end stores for extended time periods too.

georgeb

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $280.00 from BestBuy

Summary:
This is my second Yamaha Tuner. I had a 5460 which developed a problem that made the output sound like it was under water. I bought the second as I had been happy with the sound. I bought my second Yamaha, an HTR-5740 last Spring. I figured that the statistical chance of having two tuners with quality problems would be greater than wining the lottery. Yesterday, I lost the all but 1 channel and the subwoffer. I haven't spent a lot of time to attempting to trouble shoot and/or fix. However, once I complete the troube shooting, I am planning to attempt to have this one repaired. One other note...I will never buy another Yamaha product at any price. I guess I should have played the lottery and bought a Pioneer.

Strengths:
good sound if it works

Weaknesses:
poor quality

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha, Kenwood

megabass

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $249.00 from BestBuy

Summary:
I can't really understand the rave reviews for the Yamaha line. I admit the sound quality is great, but most of the DSP settings are a joke. Maybe a year after studying the vague manual which lacks any detail, I'll eventually figure out the true power of this Yamaha. Unlike most electronics, you MUST read the manual. In fact, you pretty much have to study it and memorize the terminology and nomenclature of the receiver before you even attempt to adjust any settings. Not intuitive at all as with my Sony and before that, Aiwa, where you can pretty much figure out everything by the buttons and trial and error. I'm sure lots of features will go unnoticed because I don't want to devote time to a study course on the Yamaha. As for the sound, it is very clear - ideal for listening to jazz or any acoustic music. But where is the bass???! The manual says the low bass could be due to having your speaker wires crossed, but in my case, this isn't it. Maybe I have to re-read the manual again, but I've also read similar complaints about the lack of bass. BTW, I do not have a subwoofer (because I'm a considerate neighbor), but I was still able to get nice bass from my old receiver and speakers. So if you like the thump-thump, you will definitely need the subwoofer. Otherwise, it'll soud like very clear music from your portable radio. I was also shocked that there wasn't a dedicated digital optical input for the CD player, but after reading the manual, there's one line in there that tells you how to re-assign the digital input labelled MD player to your CD player.

Strengths:
Good sound clarity, good value, nice design

Weaknesses:
Very low on bass (without subwoofer), even on maximum setting. Settings are very complicated and not intuitive.

Similar Products Used:
Sony 5.1 HTR

Scottso699

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $225.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I originally went to Best Buy to purchase a Pioneer unit to replace the not so well equiped (but a good starter system) Koss 5.1 500 watt DVD/Surround sound system. When I arrived I noticed they were discounting much of last years stock including a Yamaha HTR-5740 - I had researched the Yamaha HTR-5840 but had decided to go with the Pioneer unit because Yamaha was out of my price range (although I would have bought had it been cheeper) Having been explained by the salesman that this unit was essentially idenitcal to the new years model and having a price tag $100 cheeper "I said wrap it up!" Knowing that I came from using a Koss System that did not support DTS and was of minimal cost to begin with installing this receiver is like going from a mono 50's movie to Gladiator in DTS-ES 6.1 (actually it did go to that!) The sound is amazing - even better now that I have installed the rear 6th channel speaker. The most noticeable change though, the bass output. I use two subwoofers - a 50 watt and 100 watt - the Koss unit's bass output was distorted and crummy at best - with this unit I use the 50 watt subwoofer and it sounds like 100watts! - at best I only use the 100 watt sub when I really want to shake my appartment building! The amount of manual set up options is mind boggling too! You can assign the digital inputs on the back of the unit to fit what you have connected to it too - a previous reviewer complained about the coaxel input being for CD - if you read the DIRECTIONS it tells you how to assign that to DVD or Cable TV also! This unit more than out does anything I have ever heard - and for the money - you can't beat it!

Strengths:
-It has every type of decoding software you can think of! DTS, DTS-ES, DTS-NEO6, DD, DDII, DDIIx - just to name a few! -Power output is more than enough for a medium sized room -Unit has dozens of different DSP modes and mixes

Weaknesses:
-The manual is a bit vague on some issues such as what you should set your DVD/Cable Box to for the best output setting to take advantage of this units decoders -The manual makes the assumption that you know what many of the settings already mean such as LFE cutoff settings of 60, 80, 100, 120, etc.

Similar Products Used:
none - this is the best so far

Boltergeist

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $229.00 from J&R

Summary:
I was replacing an old prologic hk avr 15 (only 30 watts center & fronts, 10 rear, but had excellent sound) . I started with an onkyo 502 but had a center channel problem, so I exchanged it for this yamaha. When I started my search, I limited it to onkyo, denon and hk, which I felt were more high currenty type amps in this price range. But after reading alot of positive things about yamaha and that this unit is advertised as a high current amp (at 85 watts per ch), I gave it a try. My set up is all 8 ohm paradigm sprks, 5semkIII fronts, atoms rear, cc 170 and infin bu-2 sub. Room is 24x12x8.5 with one end of the room 1/2 open to kitchen. However, I was dissapointed on several levels. First, the unit has a plastic front and volume knob, which I expected. But my old hk was also plastic, but the yamaha seemed like a cheaper type plastic. Also the speaker connectors were cheaper than the onk 502. Also, the display is hard to read from my listening position 13' away. and I did not care for the orange display color, but that is just personal preference. Next, in making my connections I discovered the digital coax connection is for cd only, not dvd video. The video signal repeatedly drops out. The manual does not explicitly say no dvd video connection can be made, but the diagram shows only cd hookup, and it is marked cd on the rear panel. But it does not make sense why you would offer a digital coax connection and make it cd only. Last was the power/ability to play music. It did not do music well. The sound was not dynamic, it had no energy. At lower volumes it sounded dead. I had to increase it over -20 db to listen, and at -17 db the highs got a bit harsh and it was fatiguing to listen to. This was in both multichannel playback and just stereo playback. The unit did do ht well, although I did not spend alot of time with it. Dialogue seemed very clear. The power was the most dissapointing. I wound up with an hk 235 (50 watts per ch, but hk rates very conservatively). Both the hk and onkyo 502 (75 watts per ch) did music much better than this unit. Although, the hk I paid $350 so it is not at the same price point as this yamaha.

Strengths:
ht cost- now $199 or less with newer models coming out. dsp features, a & b spkr options

Weaknesses:
power ability to play music well display no digital coax connect for dvd (cd only)

Similar Products Used:
hk avr 15, hk avr 235, onkyo 502