Yamaha HTR-5230 5.1 Channels Receiver
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- Surround Sound: Dolby Digital® Dolby Pro Logic II
- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 5.1 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 60 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.06%
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Yamaha's HTR-5230 Surround Receiver - a good mix
Pros
Low price, clean, low-THD sound, simple panel layout.
Cons
Some people feel they must have more than 60 watts, no matter what
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
This receiver combines ease of use, quick setup and clean, clear sound to produce movie-theater quality sound, especially for DVD movies.
One does not enter the world of home theater lightly, much as some vendors tempt you to do so. Any venture into a Best Buy or Frye?s will reveal plenty of ready-made surround sound ?solutions? for home theater. A customer can easily find a receiver and six speakers all boxed up and ready to go, usually on an endcap or some other prominent retail display. What isn?t quite as prominent is the part where you?re supposed to understand exactly what you?re buying.
Which is why I spent a little time on the web and looking through the periodical literature before venturing out, cash in hand. I?ll tell you a little about what I found in the regular, consumer-priced surround receiver arena, and why I bought the Yamaha HTR 5230 Surround Receiver. The HTR-5230 replaces the 5130 receiver; Yamaha is phasing out their 5100 series receivers and replacing them with the 5200 models. These models have an added feature or two at a lower price.
Surround receiver vendors generally tout two primary attributes of their product ? its power, expressed in watts per channel, and whether it?s (either) a 5.1 digital or digital-ready system. These are important features, but only to a certain extent, especially where power's concerned.
The system?s power is important because one wants to know whether the receiver is capable of loudness where loudness is needed ? I?m not speaking of loudness for its own sake, though younger buyers may disagree. At moderate or lower volumes, some aspects of music or a movie soundtrack simply aren?t audible; e.g., the rustle of trees, background city noises or other general ambient sounds that a director deliberately placed in the production. These days the level of control over sound in a movie is such that no audio in a well-produced flick shows up accidentally. A careful director and her sound editor placed everything you hear on the soundtrack with a purpose in mind. You want to hear those sounds.
The receiver?s power is expressed in basic terms by wattage per channel, and each vendor?s marketing literature does all it can to tell you that such-and-such a receiver has 60, 80 or 100 watts per channel - whatever. That?s fine, but they?re not telling you nearly enough. They?re leaving out an important component of sound reproducing capability, and that?s the receiver?s ability to handle distortion at high volume. That ability is usually expressed in the specs as Total Harmonic Distortion, or THD, and it?s expressed as a percentage of the total sound ? a THD of 0.07%, for instance. The big bad secret is that many surround receivers in the consumer-priced arena (e.g., $350 or less) produce audible distortion, and this is bad. But how do you tell whether the receiver you want produces distortion at unacceptable levels?
Well, it helps to know the acceptable levels of distortion, first of all. We?ve all become used to two-channel stereos producing inaudible levels of distortion; i.e., levels below 0.1% THD. That?s produced a chilling effect, in a way, on consumer research regarding surround receivers ? we all blithely assume the level of quality has been maintained in the current crop of consumer-level surround receivers. We think the THD levels will be the same as they were with the stereo receivers, and they are not.
Anything that?s 0.1% or higher is audible to the human ear. And audible distortion really screws up your listening experience. If you?ve ever turned up a cheaply-made radio too high, you know what distortion sounds like ? that fuzzy, rattling, muddy mess coming out of the speakers makes the music or voice almost unintelligible, in spite of the fact that it may be at high volume. It?s not the volume making it hard to understand ? it?s the distortion. Another bad thing ? distortion damages speakers. A 50-watt receiver can blow speakers rated at 100 watts if the receiver is sending out a distorted signal - even at lower volume levels.
What I discovered is that most of the surround receivers available as of this writing at the under-$350 range have THD specs of 0.1% or higher. Check out the Technics and Kenwood surround receivers (normally reliable names) if you have time. The THD spec is usually not obvious, but it?s there to find if you look hard enough. I used the online Crutchfield catalog to research my specs.
Significantly, the Yamaha HTR 5230, priced at this same level, has a THD level of 0.07%. That?s clean sound, even though the receiver is rated at ?only? 60 watts. What you?ll find is that a 60-watt capability will blow everyone out of the house at only one-quarter to one-third of the volume setting ? but at 0.07% THD, it?ll do it cleanly and clearly.
The next spec that deserves attention is the digital vs. ?digital-ready? feature of surround receivers. A ?digital-ready? receiver is one that can not reproduce digital 5.1 audio. It generally gives you Dolby ProLogic?, an older technology, instead. I?ll explain the difference in a moment. Anyway, a digital-ready receiver needs extra digital circuitry, either from the signal source itself (usually a DVD player) or from an add-on module to produce Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, the standard for most DVD movies. If you?re looking to hear all the audio that a DVD can reproduce, a digital-ready receiver won?t do it for you unless you spend the extra bucks for the digital circuitry in the DVD player. A player with that circuitry will cost more than one that doesn?t have it. And DVDs these days are becoming less and less likely to have that feature than they were in the past, because the DVD manufacturers expect consumers to get the digital (and not ?digital-ready?) receiver.
Dolby ProLogic?, created to reproduce sound from stereo VCRs, gives you 4 or 5 channels of sound ? the center, left front, right front, and rear. The rear channels aren?t separated; they?re monaural - heard as a whole. There may also be an extra subwoofer channel (the 5th channel), but that?s not important for this analysis. Digital 5.1 audio provides 6 channels of digital instead of analog sound for a CD-quality experience - center, left front, right front, left back, right back and subwoofer. The rear channels are heard separately - they have their own discrete channel - and that?s the primary difference (besides the CD quality). Many movie directors take advantage of the rear separation for additional audio effects. You won?t hear it with ProLogic?, just with 5.1.
If you?re worried because you don?t yet have a DVD player, though, this Yamaha has backward compatibility with ProLogic?. If your signal source (e.g., a hifi VCR) isn?t capable of digital 5.1 sound, the receiver will detect that and turn on ProLogic? so you?ll have surround sound, though it won?t be as vivid as digital 5.1.
This receiver is not DTS capable. DTS? is kind of an upgrade to digital 5.1 ? the sound is said to be less compressed and thus a bit clearer. DTS? capable surround receivers are more expensive, usually from $50 to $100 higher in price. I dunno ? I think 5.1 is pretty darn crystal clear, and I am very pleased with the Yamaha 5230?s capabilities in that regard.
The 5230 has three digital audio inputs ? two optical and one coaxial (using a RCA-plug coaxial cable)? and signal source inputs for DVD, Laserdisk, CD, and a satellite box. It does not have a phonograph (turntable) input, so if it?s necessary for you to have a turntable, you?ll need the next receiver in line above the 5230 or you?ll have to buy a phono pre-amp and plug it into the auxiliary port. More expensive receivers have s-video or component video inputs as well, presumably to place their menus on your TV screen or to simply make it simpler to plug every video source into the receiver, with one cable going out to the TV. These receivers cost upwards of $500 (the receivers with component video inputs are hideously more expensive), and I just didn?t need that capability. There's also connections for a powered subwoofer.
Another nice aspect of the 5230 is the relatively clean appearance of the receiver ? there aren?t 6,000 knobs, buttons and lights for you to try and figure out. Though the receiver has tons of capability and features, and there are many, many performance tweaks available to anyone who explores the owner?s manual, you won?t have to obtain your electronic engineer?s degree before you get satisfying results from this unit ? the front panel is nice and clean, with relatively few controls.
The HTR-5230?s remote is programmable, and easily accepted my Toshiba TV and DVD remote programming, as well as the programming from my VCR remote. It will also accept satellite or cable box remotes. That?s another feature you need to watch out for, by the way ? some surround receiver remotes cannot accept programming for a DVD remote. You have to affirmatively check to see if your receiver?s remote will handle your DVD before you buy, or else you?re stuck with the multiple-remote blues.
I accepted the (relatively) lower wattage of this Yamaha because I knew the sound would be cleaner and clearer (while still providing far more volume than I would ever use), and I was right. I also made sure the remote was completely programmable for all my devices. I recommend that you consider these issues and the others I?ve mentioned here before purchasing your surround receiver.
Which is why I spent a little time on the web and looking through the periodical literature before venturing out, cash in hand. I?ll tell you a little about what I found in the regular, consumer-priced surround receiver arena, and why I bought the Yamaha HTR 5230 Surround Receiver. The HTR-5230 replaces the 5130 receiver; Yamaha is phasing out their 5100 series receivers and replacing them with the 5200 models. These models have an added feature or two at a lower price.
Surround receiver vendors generally tout two primary attributes of their product ? its power, expressed in watts per channel, and whether it?s (either) a 5.1 digital or digital-ready system. These are important features, but only to a certain extent, especially where power's concerned.
The system?s power is important because one wants to know whether the receiver is capable of loudness where loudness is needed ? I?m not speaking of loudness for its own sake, though younger buyers may disagree. At moderate or lower volumes, some aspects of music or a movie soundtrack simply aren?t audible; e.g., the rustle of trees, background city noises or other general ambient sounds that a director deliberately placed in the production. These days the level of control over sound in a movie is such that no audio in a well-produced flick shows up accidentally. A careful director and her sound editor placed everything you hear on the soundtrack with a purpose in mind. You want to hear those sounds.
The receiver?s power is expressed in basic terms by wattage per channel, and each vendor?s marketing literature does all it can to tell you that such-and-such a receiver has 60, 80 or 100 watts per channel - whatever. That?s fine, but they?re not telling you nearly enough. They?re leaving out an important component of sound reproducing capability, and that?s the receiver?s ability to handle distortion at high volume. That ability is usually expressed in the specs as Total Harmonic Distortion, or THD, and it?s expressed as a percentage of the total sound ? a THD of 0.07%, for instance. The big bad secret is that many surround receivers in the consumer-priced arena (e.g., $350 or less) produce audible distortion, and this is bad. But how do you tell whether the receiver you want produces distortion at unacceptable levels?
Well, it helps to know the acceptable levels of distortion, first of all. We?ve all become used to two-channel stereos producing inaudible levels of distortion; i.e., levels below 0.1% THD. That?s produced a chilling effect, in a way, on consumer research regarding surround receivers ? we all blithely assume the level of quality has been maintained in the current crop of consumer-level surround receivers. We think the THD levels will be the same as they were with the stereo receivers, and they are not.
Anything that?s 0.1% or higher is audible to the human ear. And audible distortion really screws up your listening experience. If you?ve ever turned up a cheaply-made radio too high, you know what distortion sounds like ? that fuzzy, rattling, muddy mess coming out of the speakers makes the music or voice almost unintelligible, in spite of the fact that it may be at high volume. It?s not the volume making it hard to understand ? it?s the distortion. Another bad thing ? distortion damages speakers. A 50-watt receiver can blow speakers rated at 100 watts if the receiver is sending out a distorted signal - even at lower volume levels.
What I discovered is that most of the surround receivers available as of this writing at the under-$350 range have THD specs of 0.1% or higher. Check out the Technics and Kenwood surround receivers (normally reliable names) if you have time. The THD spec is usually not obvious, but it?s there to find if you look hard enough. I used the online Crutchfield catalog to research my specs.
Significantly, the Yamaha HTR 5230, priced at this same level, has a THD level of 0.07%. That?s clean sound, even though the receiver is rated at ?only? 60 watts. What you?ll find is that a 60-watt capability will blow everyone out of the house at only one-quarter to one-third of the volume setting ? but at 0.07% THD, it?ll do it cleanly and clearly.
The next spec that deserves attention is the digital vs. ?digital-ready? feature of surround receivers. A ?digital-ready? receiver is one that can not reproduce digital 5.1 audio. It generally gives you Dolby ProLogic?, an older technology, instead. I?ll explain the difference in a moment. Anyway, a digital-ready receiver needs extra digital circuitry, either from the signal source itself (usually a DVD player) or from an add-on module to produce Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, the standard for most DVD movies. If you?re looking to hear all the audio that a DVD can reproduce, a digital-ready receiver won?t do it for you unless you spend the extra bucks for the digital circuitry in the DVD player. A player with that circuitry will cost more than one that doesn?t have it. And DVDs these days are becoming less and less likely to have that feature than they were in the past, because the DVD manufacturers expect consumers to get the digital (and not ?digital-ready?) receiver.
Dolby ProLogic?, created to reproduce sound from stereo VCRs, gives you 4 or 5 channels of sound ? the center, left front, right front, and rear. The rear channels aren?t separated; they?re monaural - heard as a whole. There may also be an extra subwoofer channel (the 5th channel), but that?s not important for this analysis. Digital 5.1 audio provides 6 channels of digital instead of analog sound for a CD-quality experience - center, left front, right front, left back, right back and subwoofer. The rear channels are heard separately - they have their own discrete channel - and that?s the primary difference (besides the CD quality). Many movie directors take advantage of the rear separation for additional audio effects. You won?t hear it with ProLogic?, just with 5.1.
If you?re worried because you don?t yet have a DVD player, though, this Yamaha has backward compatibility with ProLogic?. If your signal source (e.g., a hifi VCR) isn?t capable of digital 5.1 sound, the receiver will detect that and turn on ProLogic? so you?ll have surround sound, though it won?t be as vivid as digital 5.1.
This receiver is not DTS capable. DTS? is kind of an upgrade to digital 5.1 ? the sound is said to be less compressed and thus a bit clearer. DTS? capable surround receivers are more expensive, usually from $50 to $100 higher in price. I dunno ? I think 5.1 is pretty darn crystal clear, and I am very pleased with the Yamaha 5230?s capabilities in that regard.
The 5230 has three digital audio inputs ? two optical and one coaxial (using a RCA-plug coaxial cable)? and signal source inputs for DVD, Laserdisk, CD, and a satellite box. It does not have a phonograph (turntable) input, so if it?s necessary for you to have a turntable, you?ll need the next receiver in line above the 5230 or you?ll have to buy a phono pre-amp and plug it into the auxiliary port. More expensive receivers have s-video or component video inputs as well, presumably to place their menus on your TV screen or to simply make it simpler to plug every video source into the receiver, with one cable going out to the TV. These receivers cost upwards of $500 (the receivers with component video inputs are hideously more expensive), and I just didn?t need that capability. There's also connections for a powered subwoofer.
Another nice aspect of the 5230 is the relatively clean appearance of the receiver ? there aren?t 6,000 knobs, buttons and lights for you to try and figure out. Though the receiver has tons of capability and features, and there are many, many performance tweaks available to anyone who explores the owner?s manual, you won?t have to obtain your electronic engineer?s degree before you get satisfying results from this unit ? the front panel is nice and clean, with relatively few controls.
The HTR-5230?s remote is programmable, and easily accepted my Toshiba TV and DVD remote programming, as well as the programming from my VCR remote. It will also accept satellite or cable box remotes. That?s another feature you need to watch out for, by the way ? some surround receiver remotes cannot accept programming for a DVD remote. You have to affirmatively check to see if your receiver?s remote will handle your DVD before you buy, or else you?re stuck with the multiple-remote blues.
I accepted the (relatively) lower wattage of this Yamaha because I knew the sound would be cleaner and clearer (while still providing far more volume than I would ever use), and I was right. I also made sure the remote was completely programmable for all my devices. I recommend that you consider these issues and the others I?ve mentioned here before purchasing your surround receiver.
