ghosty87

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I have the Yamaha HTR-5460 receiver, and it has always worked well with my Sony surround sound speakers. After my last move from NC to PA the Yamaha receiver started causing the front channel speakers to crackle, hiss, or buzz when in enhanced mode or if the treble was up even a little bit. So i read a post on this site that said to check the optical ribbon cables inside the receiver. I went through a pushed down on all the ribbon cable connection points on the main board, and i had instant success. The receiver no longer produces a hiss or buzz in the front channel speakers and i can now use enhanced sound mode with the treble all the way on max. I am writing this review to help anyone else who may encounter this problem of hissing in their speakers. Check the optical ribbon cables inside the receiver to fix the problem it is a very easy fix takes less than 5 minutes. Do not waste your time sending the receiver to a audio repair shop for this simple problem. Just push on each of the ribbon cable connectors inside your receiver and it should work. They get a little lose over time i assume. Hope this helps.

Strengths:
Great sound quality and hundreds maybe thousands of options. More inputs and outputs than any normal TV/Music watcher can use. Very good, receiver for the money.

Weaknesses:
No HDMI port due to the fact the receiver came out before HDMI was available or standard on entertainment systems.

Price Paid:  $425.00 from soundadvice

Summary:
Ive used all kind of recievers and the most appealling because #1 it has video switching {while its turned off even} #2-it has 100 Watts per/5 channel #3-it has 25dsp's {soundfields} #4-its mid-sized with all the inputs and features that all the other brands top of the line products have.probably the best mid-range price reciever on the market...............

Strengths:
high feature menu,power exposed,full function remote

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
yamaha rx-v995,& other yamaha's

Price Paid:  $330.00 from etronics.com

Summary:
I have been very impressed with this receiver. A friend of mine pointed me towards Yamaha and I am glad he did. The remote is just offal. I replaced it with a Home Theater Master MX-500 Remote from HomeTheaterMaster.com. The remote is a partial LCD screen remote because I think full LCD screens are for "RadioShack customers", but I wont get into that. I found the remote for $120 online, and once I programmed it with my 5 other remotes I put them away and haven't had to use one of them since I programmed it!

Strengths:
Very well powered. Doesnt take up a lot of vertical space. Bannana jack inputs for all speakers including B Speaker inputs.

Weaknesses:
After having this receiver for a few months I noticed a chirping/buzzing sound out of my front tweeters. Not knowing what to do I called etronics.com they were absolute no help! They told me to call a Yamaha certified repair center and have them look at it. However etronics.com was not known to be an authorized Yamaha dealer! After much debate with Yamaha, Etronics, and my local repair place. I finally got Yamaha to call my repair place and tell them to repair the unit! What a mess! But that was just the beginning. After having the unit in repair for two months they found nothing wrong with it. But when I got it home sure enough the chirping/buzzing was still there! So back to the repair place I went, and after another month they still could not find anything wrong with it. Finally I got home and took the cover off and looked at it myself. Not knowing what I was looking for I resorted to tapping every possible part in the receiver while it was on playing music. After 5 or 6 pokes I found a loose ribbon cable connecting the optical jacks to the main board. PROBLEM SOLVED! It has been over a year and I haven't heard that chirping/buzzing sound again.

Price Paid:  $329.00 from Sears (Price Matched

Summary:
After doing extensive research, I narrowed my search down to they Yamaha. Originally, this unit was out of my price range, but I found it online for a really good deal. I brought my print out into a local Sears, and they matched it! The unit was on the shelf for $499.99, but I walked out with it for $329.99. Anyway, I chose this receiver because it was extremely powerful, and the power is very clean. 110watts per channel at .06% THD. For a receiver in this price range, this is excellent! I am using the receiver to power two JBL S310's, two JBL S26 (rear surrounds), one JBL S-Center, and the LFE-output is connected to an Infinity IL100S subwoofer. This system couldn't sound better. The reciever is a little un-userfriendly, but that is to be expected with so many features. This receiver is PACKED with features, too. The onscreen menu, 5-channel stereo, DolbyDigital, DTS, display dimmer, DSP, all the connectivity you will ever need, and much more. I looked at Onkyo and Denon, but none could really compare to the Yamaha. Onkyo and Denon seemed really over-priced for what you get. The Yamaha had better amplifier statistics than the Onkyo's and Denon's that I looked at, for twice the price. After spending a year with this product, I couldn't be happier. The volume can be cranked nearly all the way up (to the point that you can't be in the same room with it on) and there is NO distortion, at all. The power is so clean, it is indescribable. I would recommend this product, even today, despite the fact that it is a little out of date with some of the newer technologies. I don't really go to the movie theater anymore to see movies... the combination of the Yamaha receiver and the JBL speakers is far better than any of the theaters I have been in. If you want an excellent home theater, this is the receiver to buy under $1000. Music is also unbeatable. This receiver is not just a theater receiver. The power is so clean (.06%THD) that music is absolutely amazing.

Strengths:
Music, movies; features, power, sound... EVERYTHING!

Weaknesses:
Convoluted remote control (once you get used to it, it is fine)

Similar Products Used:
Technics, Denon, Onkyo, etc.

Price Paid:  $330.00 from Etronics.com

Summary:
I've used audioreview.com to do a lot of my research for this and other products and wanted to give something back by placing a review myself. I really found these to be helpful... After doing extensive research I narrowed down the field to Onkyo and Yamaha. At the end Yamaha ended up winning out, but the Onkyo did have Dolby ProLogic II (if you listen to a lot of CDs this is for you - it pretty much breaks the CD signal down into 5.1). I have been using my 5460 for a good half year now and have only praises for it. My audiophile knowledge/interest is somewhere around medium and I can't think of one component that can't be connected to this receiver. Basically, its got everything from on screen programming to 5 total optical inputs. Believe me when I say that its got plenty of connectivity for everything you'll thorough at it (unless you're a pro and have specialty equipment). My only tiff with this unit is that the volume level starts at something like -70dB and as you increase, gradually increases to 0db. Wouldn't it make sense to start at 0dB when off/silent and increase up as it gets louder?! Also, the volume knob requires quite a turn to really change the volume (the volume changes by about 0.5dB, so it takes a lot of turning to quickly get the volume changed). I know I'm nit-picking, but what else can I do with a perfect system?

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
Quirky volume management/display