Price Paid:  $500.00 from best buy

Summary:
This unit is the best that can be had for the price. I have been a audiophile for quite some time and have sold and worked with many brands of recievers and seperates over the years. I am a person who believes that performance for the money is a whole lot better than trying to buy the most expensive component just to get a slightly lower harmonic distortion rating that you would probably never hear in the real world anyway. When I sold AV gear Yamaha was the reciever of choice for us to use. Very good build quality. Probably the best amplifier section in the industry for under $1000 dollars. and the best dsp circuitry as well. When I started looking for an av reciever I first looked at the high end shops and their prices for their version of this reciever(the rx line) was alot higher priced and did not offer any more features or power. When I relised that the htr series was the same thing as the high end shops was selling just a different model to differenciate the high end people I instantly went for the htr 5560 for the sound quality, features and build quality yamaha is known for. I run paradigm monitor 7 speakers in my setup and I do use an Adcom power amp for my mains. But when I hooked up the yamaha to my mains just to see the difference between my power amp and the yamaha I was supprised. For all except the highest sound levels the yamaha performed almost on par with my $1000 Adcom power amp. Now a person with the perfect listening room and some high priced monitoring equipment could probably tell the difference but in the real world I was impressed by this unit holdng its own against an Adcom. I love the binding posts for every speaker on the back(hardly seen in this price range) and the fact that this unit has a 2 ohm power rating(means that the power transformer and stiffining capacitors are overbuilt for dynamics) for the price I could not have done better.

Strengths:
all

Weaknesses:
remote is weird and hard to figure out until you work with this unit for a while

Similar Products Used:
have heard or worked with about every other brand out there

Price Paid:  $499.00 from Best buy

Summary:
Great receiver, running 120watts per channel at 6ohms. Nice punch lots of head room. I reach reference level with a lot left over.

Strengths:
great power at 6ohms with Yamaha speakers at 6ohms. Component video switching.

Weaknesses:
Horrible instruction manual.

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo SX_R500
Denon
Pannisonic RP56
Pioneer elite Pro-730 HD

Price Paid:  $354.00 from Shopsunshine.com

Summary:
In my opinioin, a tremendous AV receiver. I even use the DSPs! Clear, crisp sound. Plenty of various inputs (Component Video, S-Video, etc.) Price includes shipping.

Strengths:
Crisp, clear sound.

Weaknesses:
Manual could be better, but that's nit-picking

Similar Products Used:
Fisher

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Good Guys

Summary:
If you are looking for Features per $$$, then you have found the right receiver. The big advantage of this receiver is the number of digital inputs, and the audio ouputs if you wanted to use additional amplifiers or different amplifiers. The unit is VERY Easy to use, and was quite easy to manipulate through the DTS selection or the ES/EX selection.
Many receivers in this price range are extremely difficult to change the processing once in digital mode. This receiver has an auto button and does differentiate between ES/EX and DTS automatically. (Many very expensive processors do not do this!)

Strengths:
Features per $$$$, Ease of use!

For most people they are not going to notice the weaknesses listed.

Weaknesses:
The digital processor did not handle my SACD player's ouput in while playing SACD. For most people this is probably not an issue, but for me it was an issue. It played all other formats from the SACD player VCD, CD, CD-R, & DVD.
The processor is a little compressed and the high end a little harsh. This was not unexpected in this price range. The processor has an enhanced mode which makes the bottom and mids seem full, but really rounds off the high end. (A lot of people will probably like this sound, but not great for an audiophile.)

Similar Products Used:
Too many to list. Admcom, ATI, B&K, Dennon, JVC, Pioneer, Sony, Panasonic, Russound to name a few.

Price Paid:  $427.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I purchased the HTR 5560 when it came down in price to replace my "inadequate" Sherwood RVD-6090R that was purchased as a "home theatre in a box".

Equiptment:

Sherwood center and powered sub (soon to be replaced)
Cerwin Vega DX9s for front
Cerwin Vega LS10s for rear

The manual might as well be written in sanscrit and an in-depth exploration of your HTR5560 will require more trial and error than anything else and will probably leave you scratching your head with several unanswered questions (no way to force Matrix 6.1 or Dolby Digital? What REALLY is PCM, is it good or bad when it shows on the display? etc., etc.)

Surround sound is superb and the most of the DSPs are actually distinctive and useful. Stereo sound (2 channel) seems lacking in depth and vibrance, the bass appears muddy at high volumes and the mids and highs noticably "bright". Lack of remote bass and treble controls make subtle adjustments to 2 channel music even more of a problem.

Buy this unit as "entry level" or if stereo music at high volumes are not a requirement, especially if it is locally available (the main reason I bought it). If you can afford the extra $100 and don't mind mail order (such as myself) hold out for the Yamaha V1300 instead which has a much higher "bang for the buck" ratio as it is 110w x 6, has DTS:Neo6, a *learning* remote and several other features the HTR5560 is sorely lacking.

Strengths:
Star Wars Episode 2 sounded *incredible* in Prologic 2 as did Twister and Black Hawk Down. Easily blew the old Sherwood away as far as movie watching goes. Very full and rich surround. The 70mm modes are very nice as well

4/8 Ohm switch makes me *feel* better, even if other quality amps "don't need such a switch" (My CV-DX9s are 400watt 4 Ohm monsters cable of melting a lesser reciever to slag)

Weaknesses:
The manual blows! I took it to work with me the day I got it and studied it for hours in my spare time. I still don't know how to get "Matrix 6.1" to show when using the "EX/ES" button... all I get are "Auto:---" and "OFF". The remote was also surprisingly lacking codes for either of my two Charter Cable boxes (General Instruments and Motorola). Glow in the dark or backlit controls are a must for a reciever costing this much.

This reciever sounds VERY "bright" in STEREO mode and the bass seems somewhat muddied at high volumes compared to my lowly Sherwood. On the flip side there was ZERO background hiss, pops or other noise and the power was very strong from one end of the volume dial to the other!

My Sherwood accepted optical IN from my PlayStation2 *and* indicates such on the display. It works fine for Dolby Digital and DTS. The 5560 seems not to be able to recieve optical signals from a PS2 at all, much less decode them.

Similar Products Used:
Sherwood RVD6090R, Sony 685, 805 and 915.

Thoroughly tested Onkyo 500 & 600, Sony 985, and others in similar price range. Kills the Sony's, JVCs, Pioneer's, and Kenwood's in the same price bracket