The Yamaha HTR 5550 Surround Sound Receiver is a Great Buy!
Written: Apr 22 '03
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Pros: Nice price with plenty of features!
Cons: No THX, Dolby EX or DT EX!
The Bottom Line: For the price of this receiver it is worth a look!
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Yamaha HTR-5550 6.1 Channels Receiver |
The Yamaha HTR 5550 Surround Sound Receiver gives you true digital sound with Dolby Digital and DTS decoders built-in. It gives you 75 watts of power times five speakers to give you the Home Theater Sound. This receiver lists for $399 but can be found below $300, this is high quality on a budget price.
A 32-bit processor gives you Dolby Digital, DTS and Dolby Pro LogicII processing, plus a total of 15 different sounds. This receiver is set up to connect with HDTV sources, a DVD Player/Recorder or SACD player. There are plenty of connections in the back to give you a full Home Theater setup.
It is a nice looking but plain looking black receiver that measures 17-3/16 inches wide x 6 inches high x 15 inches deep.
~~~ The Features ~~~
The HTR 5550 has the built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoders plus a 5.1 input for capability for future 5.1 decoders. Plus the receiver also lets you add a center rear speaker for a 6.1 surround sound system.
You can store up to 40 AM/FM stations in five different banks, 8 stations per bank.
If the power is off (unplugged) from the receiver it will store everything you have in memory for one week.
There is a sleep timer that will turn the receiver off at 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes.
There is a Headphone Tone Control to set the bass and treble level from a minus 6db to a plus 3db.
~~~ Surround Modes ~~~
The HTR 5550 gives you Dolby Pro Logic II that turns 2 channel stereo into a 5.1 sound.
There is Dolby Digital+Matrix 6.1 and DTS+Matrix 6.1 that lets you add a center rear speaker to give you a 6.1 surround sound system.
The Cinema-DSP Movie Modes gives you Movie Theater Spectacle, Movie Theater Sci-Fi, Movie Theater Adventure, Movie Theater General plus Dolby Pro Logic/Dolby Digital/DTS Enhanced.
The Cinema-DSP Audio-Video Modes gives you Entertainment Game or Concert Video, TV Sports and Mono Movie.
The Hi-Fi DSP Modes gives you Entertainment Disco or 5-channel Stereo, Concert Hall, Rock Concert and Jazz Club.
There is also Silent Cinema DSP when you use a headphone and Virtual Cinema DSP.
~~~ Input & Outputs ~~~
The rear of the Yamaha HTR 5550 has a lot of inputs and outputs but no as many as my Harman Kardon AVR 325 Receiver.
The best video connection is the Component which consist of three RCA jacks, one green, blue and red. This receiver has two Component inputs and one Monitor Component output. The next best video connection is the S-video and there are plenty of them plus RCA jacks for video. I personally do not use any of the video connections from a receiver, I only use the audio inputs and outputs.
For audio there is one digital coaxial input (You need a special digital coaxial cable) and three optical digital inputs (Fiber Optics cable) plus one optical digital output. Plus there are plenty of RCA jacks for the audio.
There is one subwoofer RCA output (Use a subwoofer cable it blocks the high pitch sounds that can damage a subwoofer.) and speaker terminals for the five speaker setups.
There are also connections for an AM and FM antenna plus a few more connections. I counted a total of 60 connections on the rear of this receiver.
The Remote
The remote is plain and simple even though you can program in other devices like a DVD player.
Personally the remote is one feature I am no too fond of!
~~~ What you get! ~~~
The Yamaha HTR 5550 AM/FM/Dolby Digital/DTS Surround Sound Receiver
A Wireless remote with 4 AAA batteries
One 36" A/V cable
A AM loop antenna & a FM wire antenna
Owner's Manual in English & French
~~~ Overall ~~~
The Yamaha HTR 5550 Surround Sound Receiver offers a lot for such a low price.
This sound system was setup with a Mitsubishi VS-60111 60" HD-Upgradeable Projection Television, the Pioneer DVR 7000 DVD recorder the Harman Kardon Infinity Alpha 1200s Subwoofer and 5 Polk audio speakers for the Home Theater.
DVD movies are my favorite for testing out a sound system like this one, especially playing Days of Thunder to hear the roar of the NASCAR cars racing around you. The HTR 5550 did its job, the cars sounded like they were going around in the living room. Next came Star Wars episode I and it also sounded great with plenty of crank up power to go.
Playing CD music and MP3 music files also sounded good especially in the Pro Logic II setting.
Some distortion in the sound came at about 90% of the volume up and that was very loud! Below 90% of the volume it sounded great!
Over all it is a nice receiver and I do highly recommend it.
Here are some of my other Receiver reviews!
Harman/Kardon AVR 520 Surround Sound AV Receiver
JVC RX 6020VBK Surround Sound AV receiver
Kenwood VR 4080 Surround Sound AV receiver
Onkyo TX DS787 Surround Sound AV receiver
Polk DS7200 Home Theater System
Pioneer VSX D509S Surround Sound AV receiver
Sony XM Satellite Radio Receiver Home Package
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 279
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surferdude7
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