Yamaha YHT-491BL Home Theater in a Box (Black), (What's this?) Has great sound and was fairly easy to set up. This set is ideal for less than full size home theatre such as a smaller room where space is limited. I picked because of the space it would save. Two speakers are on pedestals, so are not intrusive.
great value, Bought this from Amazon a couple of months ago and have been very happy with it. The sound is excellent for movies with excellent highs and plenty of power from the 8" sub. Not the purest sound for stereo music given the small speaker drivers, but the 5-channel stereo modes really enhance the music and create an enjoyable soundstage. The AVR has a good assortment of I/O and I was very happy to see 5.1 channel analog audio inputs.
Bought it. Love it., (What's this?) To the 1-star reviewer: You Sir, cannot be taken seriously. Maybe if you had posted an actual review of the product instead of a paranoid rant you could be taken seriously, but as it is your words are a flaming tower of babble.
For me, purchasing a surround-sound decoder and speaker system was the last link in my HT setup. I decided on the YHT-491BL for 5 reasons in particular:
1. I decided all I really needed is 5 speakers for great surround sound, not 7. I've heard the
difference and 7 speakers just isn't kosher for a living room that is being asked to do double-duty as a theater.
2. The price point of the 491BL fit my budget. Also, free shipping was a $55 value.
3. HDMI, optical, and coax digital inputs: my DVR, PS3, and Mac Mini connect easily.
Note: The HDMI inputs are video only and you will still need to connect your digital sound
sources to the receiver via TOSlink optical (2 avail), or digital coax cable (1 avail).
These digital audio cables are very inexpensive.
4. Sound quality from the active-servo subwoofer: I've owned a pair of Yamaha desktop computer speakers (YST-M15) and matching subwoofer (YST-MSW8) for over 10 years and I have never tired of the smooth sound and surprising power from these little studs.
Beautiful Sound Reproduction, (What's this?) I used to own a few Bose sound system and I still do. I was looking for a replacement speaker system for my computer (bedroom). The speakers _were_ working great but they are starting to produce cracking noises at normal volumes. I was looking to get a product that was equal to or greater than in terms of quality and performance. It costs $300 (Bose) when I purchased it.
I began to research and read reviews on which system can reproduce the sound from my computer accurately. The requirement was digital audio inputs, and this set had it, two of them.
After months of listening to hundreds of hours of audio and audio-samples, I will say that this system excelled on audio quality. I mainly listen to Jazz music, so I had to have audio clarity.
Buying speakers system are very much like buying cars. Each are aimed at a particular type of person. Although there are some features in this set such as "Enhanced" audio, which adds more bass and such, I prefer clarity, to be able to hear the fine notes in music. Some may refer to it as being able to hear all the bells and whistles.
I had extremely high expectations for this Yamaha product, especially with experiences with their grand pianos.
After going through the manual and listening under different settings, I stick to my favorite settings. Not much else to say about this system because I don't play around with the settings. I just turn it on and it is the way I like it.
Awesome Home Theater System, I searched around and read lots of reviews on numerous different home theater systems in the box and this is the one I ended up purchasing. The only other review on here actually helped me make up my decision. I have this theater system hooked up to a Panasonic TC-P50S1 (awesome TV) and a Panasonic Blue Ray Player DMP-BD60K. This set up is truly amazing for the price I paid for everything. The only negative comment I have about this receiver is that the DVD audio input is for a coaxial cable and not an optical cable. My blue ray player outputs to a optical audio cable so I had to plug it into the CD input on the receiver (which isn't that big of a deal). Other than that, the sound quality is amazing and the sub thumps really hard. I haven't even turned the sub up half way because I'm afraid my neighbors may say something. Like the guy in the other review, I also purchased the Atlantic Stands of Amazon and they worked out great, except I had to install the speakers upside down on the stands so the mounting bracket could be screwed in. For the money this home theater system is definitely a good choice. You get a lot more inputs/outputs on this receiver versus the Sony,Samsung, Lg, etc home theater systems you will find at other stores with a 5 disc DVD player, which mostly aren't blue ray players. I went with this system because I did not need or want a DVD player because I knew I wanted to upgrade to Blue Ray.
Great sounding and versatile system, The Yamana YHT-491BL 5.1 surround sound system was fairly easy to setup. The AV receiver is solidly built and is fairly easy to use. It has various presets for AM/FM radio and two HDMI inputs. One I use for TV and another for Blu-Ray player. I was able to connect my mp3 player through input jack in the front panel. The front speakers are tall and match nicely with my Mitsubishi 73" projection TV WD-73736. I placed the center speaker beneath the TV (inside tv stand) and installed the back speakers on speaker stands.
It was fairly simple to automatically set the FM stations and AM stations. The antennas included with the system are efficient. The sound quality is great. The scene buttons are very useful and easily allow to switch from movie to radio. I replaced my Bose system with this and it sounds very similar. My Bose system was not surround sound, it was 2.1 system and had a great sound. With this system, I don't miss that sound and yamaha system was more affordable than new Bose 5.1 surround sound systems, which can cost more than $2000.
Some of the negatives are that HDMI does not process audio, so you have to connect audio inputs separately from Blu Ray and Cable Box. The HDMI connection on comcast DCH3416 filters out the closed caption, so you should turn captions on in the comcast box by hitting "menu" button before powering it on, and turning captions on. The other issue is that the remote control does not turn off the subwoofer. You have to manually turn it off by pressing a button on the back of subwoofer.
Overall, it is a great system for medium or small family room. You must read the manual to understand how to control volume on each of the 5 speakers and how to select various modes for sound processing if you want to make the best use of it.
great quality, good price, Everything works fine, looks cool.
Problems: doesn't decode audio via HDMI input, you need to use optical instead (for example, PS3 = HDMI + optical, you need both cables). So you'd better connect HDMI directly to your TV, and only use the receiver to decode audio.
My settings:
PS3: HDMI to TV, optical to receiver;
HTPC: HDMI to TV, 5.1 RCA to receiver (no optical on my HTPC, but if you have one, use it instead. The receiver has 2 optical inputs marked as "DTV/CBL" and "CD").
The benefit is that when you don't need Dolby 5.1 or DTS, you can just use TV (video and audio via HDMI to TV). When you need it, mute the TV, turn on the receiver, and then enjoy great sound.
Very nice set at great price. I love it.
Don't buy products with fake reviews, If you look at the other review for this product (the five star one) you'll see that it's from a fictional character in a Seinfeld episode. Don't support companies that fill Amazon with fake reviews created by their stooges. Don't buy this product.
iPod and Bluetooth Compatibility XM and Sirius Satellite Radio Ready 1080p-Compatible HDMI 1.3 5-channel 500W powerful surround sound (100W x 5) Five Speakers and a 100W Subwoofer
iPod and Bluetooth Compatibility.XM and Sirius Satellite Radio Ready.1080p-Compatible HDMI 1.3.5-channel 500W powerful surround sound (100W x 5).Five Speakers and a 100W Subwoofer..
