Thoughts on Yamaha YHT-450 HTiB?
 

I just got Consumer Reports, and inside they rate among other things, Home Theater (in box).

Number one on their rating was this Yamaha YHT-450 model. Second was another Yamaha, a YHT-750 model.

I know a lot of people love the Onkyo--and it was rated number four on the list (model HT-S777C)...but I'm curious...does anyone have either of these Yamaha models? If so, how do you like them? What do you feel are the pros and cons?

Thanks.

First off I personally would not trust any information from Consumer Reports.

Having said that I also would want to personally listen to any audio equipment I was going to buy no matter what the prevailing opinion was.

I own a Yamaha RX-V1 for my home theater, my parents have a Yamaha receiver. I like their products alot but you need to remember that everything about a home-theater-in-a-box is a compromise, with the speakers usually being the weak point.

You should try to audition them if possible.

Good luck!

Why not trust Consumer Reports?

Also, I do hope to listen to the sound in a store...but I figured in the meantime if people have opinions I'd be interested in reading them...

Also, I'm not a big audiophile at all...Hell, two weeks ago I was in Walmart and was impressed with their Pioneer HTiB...haha...I just want something that will have pretty good sound, and that will be surround sound in either 5.1 or 6.1.

Right now I have the BOSE 321 setup with only two speakers--and it's not upgradable--so the sound is most definitely not surround sound.

Thanks.

IMHO their testing methodologies are not standardized. I view their "reports" as more of an opinion on the product rather than any type of objective testing.

I realize this was not the entire point of your post, I just wanted to point out that with audio and video equipment it is often best to judge with your own senses.

I agree with Brian on CS. The best I would do with them is consider their opinions of knowledgeable persons. But you can get that here for free :)

If one of those systems is the one with the black "plastic" type speakers and receiver, then it's a very quality system. I wish I had taken it over the Onkyo HTIB I did get. The Yamaha pushes out nice power and the speakers are very serviceable, although I would have preferred that they made the speakers two-way with bigger woofers than 3 way with smaller ones (probably for music considerations). Best Buy usually has the one I'm talking about under $500, and with financing it's a very good deal.

Yamaha makes quality receivers, so if you are looking for something to fit your budget, I can't imagine this could be anything less than average.