Price Paid:  $650.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
This thing is Awesome!!! I love this recviever. I have previously owned a Sony, and a Kenwood system. The Yamaha system is by far superior to the rest. This reciever not only sounds good, but it looks good too. It is easy to use, and the onscreen display makes setup extreamely easy. The 5490 comes with a wide rang of sound field proccessing options that sound amazing. The sound fields are designed to replicate the sound in the actual venue, the sound field processing chips are not computer generated like most manufacturers. They are designed and used by yamaha. The remote is easy to use and works very well with all of my other components. The video switching works very well with little or no loss of picture quality. The actual reciever it self "Feels" good. The build quality is exceptional. Im running some 4-way towers, and 3-way towers, with powered subs. The 5490 gives me more than enough power to drive my system down the streets with fast and the furious and rock the house with some Dave Matthews. This Reciever has proven it self in my home and i have no doubt that it will/can with your system.

Strengths:
Great Sound Quality. Good Remote. Great Build. Lots of Power. Good Looks. Plentiful inputs/outputs. great video passthrough. great onscreen display. Awesome soundfield processing.

Weaknesses:
Still Looking for something.

Similar Products Used:
Mitsubishi DVD Player. Panasonic VCR. Panasonic TV. ALL Monster Cable. Monster Power Unit. PS2. JBL 4-way tower with powered subs Paradigm rears. Paradigm Centers (front and Rear). Monster z-

Price Paid:  $499.00 from BestBuy

Summary:
For over 6 months, I debated over getting the Yamaha RX-V1200. It had all the connectivity I needed (well, almost all; I had to hunt down an AC-3 RF Demodulator on eBay for my LaserDisc player) and it had the Yamaha quality that I came to expect from my 6-year-old RX-V990. By the time I was ready to buy, here came the RX-V1300. But, once I saw the HTR-5490 (basically the RX-V1200 minus multi-zone control and pre-outs) for $499, it became a no-brainer. The 5490 has performed flawlessly! Bass management is terrific (the RX-V990 didn't offer this) and specificity with which you cna adjust the DSP modes is unreal! I've got more inputs/outputs than I know what to do with (gives me an excuse to start eyeing a DVD-R deck). It supports every sound format out there, short of DTS 24/96. I don't have the room for a center-surround speaker yet, but look forward to hearing this baby in 6.1! Musically, the sound is tonally balanced; not to high, not too punchy, not too warm. Oh, and Dolby Pro-Logic II is a God send for music (for movies, I find there's far oto much "leakage" from the fronts into the rears). I could sit here and go on and on, but let's just say it's the best $500 I've ever spent! I think most retailers have blown through their inventories after lowering the price, but if you find one, go for it! There's little about the HTR-5590 (this years model) that's new (a bit more power, a slight face-lift, multi-zone support, official "Dolby Digital EX" labeling, though Yamaha confirmed to me that the 5490 properly decodes EX).

Strengths:
Sound quality Surround Processing Connectivity PRICE!

Weaknesses:
Am I the only person who misses the red LED that used to be found on volume knobs? The remote, while very capable, is a bit less intuative than I'd like. And, sometimes, the lack of preouts, at least for the rear-surround channels makes me a bit uneasy, but I'm getting over it. Also (and I noticed this on EVERY receiver I've tested lately) the center channel in DD 5.1 easily gets drowned out. I'm sure this is a setting I'm overlooking, or just Dialogue Normalization at its worst, but it's a problem I didn't have with my DDP-1 decoder, which used a Zoran chip

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha RX-V990/DDP-1 for 6 years (loved it!) Pioneer VSX-D811S (sucked!) Sony STR-DE885 (also sucked!)

Price Paid:  $515.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
BEST BUY is closing out 5490s at an unbelievable 515$! I had to visit 5 stores to see a new one in a box, and I was fortunate enough to get it. The 515$ price is incredible, internet stores sell it for more. Best Buy is clearing them because 5590 is on display for 799$. Please note that HTR-5490 (2001-2002 model) is the same receiver as RX-V1200 (2001-2002 model) except there is no multiroom control. RX-1200 was recently closing at 699$ at the local Good Guys video store, so I think $515 is a great price. If you want to get one - run to your local Best Buy to see if they have one left. The main reason I bought this receiver was for HDTV switching. I have a Samsung HDTV Box and JVC progressive dvd player. My Sony 53HS10 has only one component input so I needed a switcher. Not just a switcher, a switcher that would pass-through HDTV signal without creating artifacts. Let me tell you that it was hard to find one. First of all, there is a big argument on what is the required bandwidth for hdtv. Some say you need 30MHZ at least. Others say 35MHZ. Some say you need "flat to 100 MHZ." Well I can tell you this. I bought a Sony DA-ES1 - new receiver that is rated at 50 MHZ bandwidth. Very disappointing. While it was able to display PROGRESSIVE SCAN picture from my DVD Player, it could not display HDTV picture from my Samsung STB box, artifacts and distortion all over the place. Plus, SONY's sound sucks anyway, but I am sure that is not a secret to you anyway. My DENON AVR2000 (1994) killed SONY ES (2002), even my girlfriend said, wow that is like 100 times better (referring to my old Denon). SO I then looked at Denons and Yamahas. The problem with Denon of course is that their 1802, 2802, and 3802 models all have 27 MHZ Bandwdth only. The 4802 has 50 MHZ and 5803 has 100 MHZ but these are above my price range. Denon's 3803 (100 Mhz bandwidth) is coming out in 2-3 weeks with MSRP of $1100.) It is going to be one incredible receiver with every video signal upconverted to component video and other incredible things. But, with MSRP of $1100 you would probably look at $899 at the authorized dealer. I knew that Yamaha HTR-5490 and above (RX-V1200, 1300 and above) have 60 MHZ of bandwidth. But the price was a factor since I wanted to buy from an authorized dealer with a warranty. Yamaha HTR-5550 and 5560 have 30 MHZ of switching, and I was scared to g

Strengths:
TRUE HDTV SWITCHING GREAT SOUND

Weaknesses:
NONE

Similar Products Used:
DENON SONY ES

Price Paid:  $549.00 from www.onecall.com

Summary:
Very versatile, fantastic sound, great price. This receiver is the best mid-range receiver period. I love it. I've gone home from work early every day this week to listen to it. Plus with 6 channel input, it has room to grow in the future. I got this on clearance at wwww.onecall.com -- they shipped the same day, and I got it 3 days later. If you mention my name (jay kenyon) when you buy something, I get gift from them. check it out!!

Strengths:
Great Yamaha sound, tons of inputs and outputs, which are fully assignable, Yamaha quality, on screen rogramming, expandability, very clear looks

Weaknesses:
Yamaha just cannot do a decent remote, remote not backlit, not the simplist installation (assignment of inputs/outputs).

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha rx-v495 (no DTS (which prompted me to step up)

Price Paid:  $630.00 from Local Retailer

Summary:
I had initially purchased a Yamaha RX-V630 and took it back. That unit was decent, but the build quality left a little to be desired. I then picked up the HTR-5490. This thing is built like a tank. Everything from the binding posts to the thick sheetmetal on the unit is impressive, especially for the price. There was also an immediate difference in sound quality. Bass from this receiver sounds much more rich than the RX-V630 and it can play at moderate to loud volume levels without a sign of distortion (well, loud is a subjective term, but my ears don't pick up any distortion). I am using this thing for both music and home theater (about 70% music, 30% ht) and it performs very well at both. One thing for music, though--there are a bunch of DSP modes and most of them are gimmicky (I would probably feel the same way with the dsp modes from other receivers too, so I guess it's not really a critique of the Yamaha). After running through them, my guess is that most people will settle on the 2-3 they like best and use them exclusively. There are lots of digital inputs on this thing, and it's really nice to have two digital coax slots. With the RX-V630, it was a bummer to hook up my dvd player via coax and then be tapped out. This unit leaves me with an additional slot for expansion later. I might never use it, but it's good to know it's there. The inputs are all assignable which is cool--I didn't have to go buy a Toslink cable for my dvd player just because the slot labeled dvd was Toslink. The on-screen programming is also a nice touch. It's tough to run through the entire config sequence of this unit just looking at the display. The speaker volume settings were a bit goofy, though. You can adjust the rear L and R + center speakers in one menu, and the front L and R in another. I'm not sure why they did that, but it would have been nice to put them all together. For a few days, I thought I couldn't adjust the front L/R speakers (kinda a big deal given room setup). The remote takes some getting used to-I'm still kinda getting used to it. But it did have the proper codes to run my JVC TV and my Toshiba DVD player. It won't do everything, but will probably handle about 90% of the original unit's remote. The design looks a little cheap-it's a long rectangular piece that looks kinda plain. Operating the unit from the receiver itself is fairly simple.

Strengths:
Lots of assignable inputs No strain operation lots of configuration options but it lead to the one weakness below

Weaknesses:
goofy speaker volume setup (a nit pick)

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha RX-V630