By Chris the tech guy from Beaumont, TX on 11/12/2007

Bought it on clearance for [$] and for the price you can't beat it. The center channel speaker driver is only 2" so it does not have the capability or the sound quality to handle the on-screen action or project musical voices accurately. Ideal surround sound set-up requires acoustically matching speakers I upgraded all the satellite speakers with some inexpensive Pioneers and the sound is much better even with the included 10" subwoofer (which is powered from a dedicated channel in the receiver). For the price you really can't go wrong. The remote has a decent button layout and the receiver itself though a bit underpowered (110 watt rating is max power,the RMS power per channel with less than .1% distortion is actually around 70 with the included 6 ohm speakers or 60 with more common 8 ohm speakers) has enough power to fill small to medium size rooms with sound. It decodes Dolby Digital, DTS, and Pro Logic II (with fine tune adjustments for the music mode) and performs with no or little audible background noise. Excellent value, the receiver alone is worth [$]and the speakers where just a bonus, especially the larger than usual subwoofer.

For stock speakers this system kicks but!!! all u have to do is turn down the front, center and back speakers and turn up the sub and its like a powered sub. the instructions are crystal clear and sounds better than u think, like if u got a $200 surround sound from target and compared it to this, you'll know this sounds WAY better. if your looking for better sound just upgrade the speakers, if your cheap like me just keep the ones it comes with.

Good system for a medium room. Speakers do not like high volume but do good otherwise.
Takes a bit of getting used to the modes. Some modes do not decode the bass and center speakers so you think the sound is too thin or weak. Once you figure where to set up to get the best response the system does a good job.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

my mother and i were searching for something for my dad on his birthday and i was thinking of something were we can get a record player in so hecan hear his music through the speakers then we came up to a reciever and it was 160 dollars just a reciever and we were thinkin of getting it but my mom she always gets this feeling that shes getting ripped off so we decided to go to [...] and saw the yamaha surround 5.1 system and i was a little testy cuz of such a price and kept asking the guy lots questions and stuff like that and also i thought it looked white so i thought my dad wouldn't like it becuase its white but then my mother decided to get it and brought it home the next day which my dad was at work and was his birthday so set them up and heard them i knew he was going to love them cuz the record player connected to it sounded amazing like disco parties and stuff so when i was done i put the disco music loud until my dad came home and i know my dad doesn't like loud music but to draw him into the room to surprise him i did that and then when he came in we all started to dance and he was so happy and im glad we got these there beteer for any room and also by with ultra confidence

I purchased this reciever with a yamaha dvd changer, the supplied speakers are ok but could be better. So I purchased a Welton home theater speakers with a powered subwoofer. The difference was amazing, the reciever sounded much better, , the sound qaulity that you expect from Yamaha. The bass is more full while the mids and highs were clear and well defined. In short, for the price, excellent deal, just upgrade the speakers. I would recommend this to my friend.

Let's face it. At this price you don't expect perfection. Paying [$] for 660 watts of power is a steal no matter how you stretch it. I did not excperience any problems with the bass. That's probably because I doubled up my wiring. (What's included is [...] quality) Here's some simple math too:Each channel of the reciever puts out 110 watts.The L & R speakers can handle an 80 watt max and the center can only handle 50 watts. Hence why the center distorts. It's not hard to blow the speakers if you try! So to prevent this I replaced my center speaker with two Sony speakers I had and added another subwoofer to drain some power. This system is beautiful on it's own, but to really shine, double up on some speakers maybe even at each channel and enjoy the fruits of your hard earned dollars.P.S.The house I installed it in for my cousin is 2300 sq ft and a fresh build. At +4db (max is +16db) every wall in the house is shaking. It sounds like a high school party is going on from outside. Be sure to also give it at least an inch of clearance all the way around. It runs really hot. I bought the last one at my [...] for myself because I can't pass up a good deal like this and the same should be said for you.

This is an incredible deal for a transformer and 6 speakers included...but unfortunatly the subwoofer is appsolute [*]! It is barely heard among the other powerful speaker when in surround sound. I suggest after purchasing this setup, you buy a very powerful subwoofer and install it with this system.

[...]. I was looking at more expensive ones, but this one looked small, had barely enough inputs, and was dirt cheap. At only $149, I figured that I might as well try it out!After plugging it in (I used Digital Optical) I was delightfully surprised at how good it sounded! Mind you, I went into this completely pessimistic! After a little fiddling with bass and individual speaker volumes, this system started to sound very very good.. For $149... I would even call the sound "OK" at $400... It is a real bargain!The only thing that it lacks is numerous inputs. It sports 2 Component video inputs, 5-6? RCA Analog Audio inputs (with the yellow video inputs), and 2 Digital Audio inputs (1 coaxial, 1 optical)... This means that you can only route 2 HD sources through this receiver.. And NO HDMI...If you are looking for a cheap, no frills, good sounding 5.1 system, and you have 2 HD devices or less, this IS your choice!However, if HDMI is a must, then you should look elsewhere!

This system is visually appealling and has a pretty impresssive sound. The only difficulty in set-up is putting your mains on the front channel and the surrounds on (surround) and make sure you ground it properly.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

This is the bargain of a lifetime. It sounds just as good as systems costing 2x, and 3x the price. Easy to use, sounds superb. Some other reviews say "Bass doesnt work / subwoofer doesnt work in some modes", but this is because there is no coding for sub in those modes, its not a problem with the unit itself. Very very happy. Absolutely worth every cent. Buy with confidence.

Sounds good, works well, except tuning of the tuner is counter intuitive. We moved I can not figure out how to tune the tuner. And the manual is not available at Radio Shack online.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

Having been familiar with Yamaha products/reputation in the music industry, I was attracted to the system's price during a store sale. I was pleasantly surprised when I set it up for a bedroom HT system. Only regrets: the remote code is not available to program into my universal, L/R main speakers could have been better quality, and receiver could be more generous than 1 optical/1 digital coax input. Also, would think twice for a larger room, as it is slightly underpowered. Otherwise, very happy for the price. Sounds great, easy to use, and superb Dolby decoding/channel seperation.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

For the price, this unit is well worth the money. I, too, was reluctant to even consider looking at Radio Shack for this purchase, even though the unit I was replacing was a 2 channel Realistic that had to have been from the early '80's if not the late '70's. I instructed the salesperson to show me what it could do, being wary of the capabilities of such small speakers. I was duly impressed. Set up was a snap once I got it home, complete with labeled wires for ease of tracing. Again, for the money, you can't go wrong. What I don't like: 1. The sub has a lower response volume than the rest of the speakers. This can be compensated for by manually adjusting the other speakers' levels, but it would have been nice to have that as default level. 2. Limited input options. My components all have analog and digital options for feeding the receiver, and it would have been nice to have had more digital input options, (like S-Video). 3. The provided speaker wire was a few feet short of what I needed. nothing serious, but a pain nonetheless. Again, all of these things aside, this is a great 'for now, until I get my REAL setup' system. Thank you Radio Shack and Yamaha.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

This is a decent unit. The sound quality is average, but using the surround sound while watching football or watching the "Blues Brothers" sounded good. The unit only comes with one TosLink input, so I needed to purchase a switch that would accept three digital TosLink inputs so the TosLink outputs of the Xbox 360, Sony Upconvert DVD plater, and the Motorola Cable box could take advantage of the 5.1 surround. I was disappointed that the center speaker did not have the internal hardware to attach a speaker mount. Overall this is a good value and it certainly will beat just using the TV sound system.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

setting this system up was pretty simple. I put several different movies in to listen to the quality and I was pleased with how it sounded. I do agree that the bass did seem a little weak but at a higher volume the sound was awesome.

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

I have been researching audio systems for 9 months, when my wife and I stopped in for speaker wire. She brought this system to my attention. I was reluctant to buy: however, I have no regrets. Now certainly this doesn't compare to some of higher end systems that I have been looking at, but the quality of sound on DD and DTS audio is absolutley great. CD audio is good as well

[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]

It's sound is incredible the base seems perfect to and its worth every penny spent on it

Sounds great, however the base seems weak. Other then that it sounds awesome. Under some modes the sub does not work.