Yamaha HTR-5560 Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver

by Yamaha

Product Details

Product Manual [1.43mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 17.1 x 5.5 inches ; 23.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 30 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0000658AZ
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,632 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The HTR-5560 AV receiver puts high-end home theater well within the grasp of affordability, offering the convenience of DVD-Audio-ready six-channel analog inputs alongside the latest 6.1-channel surround processing and premium Yamaha sound technologies.

When hooked up with the digital-audio output from a DVD-Video player or digital satellite receiver, the 75 watts-per-channel HTR-5560 handles 5.1-channel surround decoding for both major formats, Dolby Digital and DTS. In addition, the HTR-5560 also processes Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES, which create an even more expansive soundfield through the use of a center-rear surround channel, totaling six discrete full-range channels in addition to the LFE (low-frequency effects) channel: left, center, right, and left, center, and right surround.

Non-Dolby Digital and DTS sources can benefit from surround processing, too--with enhanced directional steering over standard four-channel Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II provides five channels of surround processing from any stereo source--whether that's a TV broadcast, VHS tapes, or your favorite CDs, cassettes, and LPs. Pro Logic II delivers full-bandwidth stereo surround channels with 40 dB of left-right separation.

A key benefit from a Yamaha receiver, of course, is Yamaha's proprietary signal processing, including Cinema DSP (digital soundfield processing), which creates aural "imaging" that not only makes your home sound like a theater, but also sounds better than most movie theaters. Based on a wealth of measured data in real studios and halls, Cinema DSP is designed to bring out the full potential of movie sound mixes, reproducing them the way directors and sound engineers intended.

And, when you're listening to multichannel presentations late at night, you'll appreciate Silent Cinema, which simulates 5.1-channel listening through a pair of ordinary 2-channel headphones (not included). Silent Cinema uses unique parameters for each soundfield to ensure accurate headphone representations of each soundfield.

Then there's the six-channel DVD-Audio-ready inputs mentioned above. "If DVD-Audio is so high-tech," you might wonder, "why do I need analog inputs to appreciate it?" That's because, for reasons of data density, DVD-Audio players perform their own digital-to-analog conversion, passing high-resolution analog signals on to your amplifier. (And analog, after all, is what your amp feeds your speakers.)

DVD-Audio can deliver up to six channels of discrete, full-frequency sound at greater-than-CD resolution (24 bits, 96 kHz sampling rate versus 16 bits, 44.1 kHz for CD), and some discs will exploit the chance to offer an ultra-high-resolution, stereo-only 192 kHz sampling rate. In stereo or surround, the sound from DVD-Audio is packed with detail, yet smoother and sweeter from than the sound from even the best standard CD players. The HTR-5560 accommodates decoded DVD-A signals and routes them to the appropriate speakers in your surround system.

The versatile unit offers five video input connections (with four S-video inputs), five fixed and assignable digital-audio inputs (great for DSS, CD, laserdisc, gaming consoles, or minidisc), and front-panel input connections for your camcorder or other spontaneous hookup. The HTR-5560 comes with a preset remote control.

Last, but certainly not least, the HTR-5560 benefits from Yamaha's Digital ToP-ART (Total Purity Audio Reproduction Technology) build philosophy. ToP-ART's goal is to maximize digital quality while minimizing analog circuitry. The culmination of the best digital engineering and design possible, it brings together several key elements to create the best-sounding, easiest-to-use A/V components available.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every penny!!!, June 29, 2002

By 

Todd J. Groller "theanalogkidd" (Northampton, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yamaha HTR-5560 Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

I purchased this receiver after not being satisfied with my ...Marantz digital receiver. A friend of mine bought a Yamaha receiver shortly after I purchased my Marantz receiver, and his Yamaha blew me away. My Marantz had a thudy sound when listening to CD's. I thought it might be my speakers so I bought a very good pair of speakers, but it sounded no better. So now four years later I decided to shop around for a new receiver. I checked out many top of the line receivers, but when it came down to sound for the $$$ the Yamaha receivers could not be beat. This receiver sounds fabulous listening to cd's as well as watching movies. The power put out is simply awesome, as well as you have all the inputs and outputs you could possibly need, plus you have the ability to hook up two sets of main speakers. You will also find this receiver simple to operate, and a great veriety of sound fields to choose from, (jazz club, rock concert, pro logic 1&2, spectale, sci fi, tv sports, just to name a few). The only downside to the HTR-5560 is that there is no phono input, you need to buy the [more expensive] model to get it, or you can do what I did and buy a ...stereo pre amp for your turntable. All in all this is a great receiver, if you buy it you will get plenty of bang for your buck, and you won't be disappointed.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quality vs. Options, January 8, 2003

By 

David Dickenson (Aurora, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yamaha HTR-5560 Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

As a long time user of Yamaha and Sony products, the choice between the Yamaha HTR-5560 and the Sony STR-DE985 was not easy.
Both have similar base functions, specs and price.
The Sony has the "bells and whistles", where the Yamaha is known for their high quality of sound.
I decided to go with the Yamaha and I'm glad I did.
After going through the instructions, I found many more options then are listed for this unit.
I also found I could live without some of the Sony extras, like multi-room output, phono audio in and the remote unit macros.
The Yamaha sound is excellent and this unit has plenty of high quality power. It also has more digital ins and outs.
The reason I rated this receiver a 4 star is I would like to have a 3 or 5 band equalizer built in,
a remote that has at least the main buttons illuminated for ease of use in darkened rooms and sub woofer out that has adjustable cross-over settings.
So, the choice is quality vs. options.
I chose quality.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Competent unit, with the best looks and the worst manual and, February 19, 2003

By 

hans j heer (Littleton, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yamaha HTR-5560 Dolby Digital Audio/Video Receiver (Electronics)

First the Pros:
The Yamaha receiver HTR5560 is truly one of the best looking units. Simple lines, a minimum amount of buttons, timeless, as these units have been for years (I did upgrade from a none digital RXV1070 unit)
To my surprise, Yamaha has kept its sturdy aluminum front plate and the uncompromising good solid feel of every button on the front panel.

The sound is truly remarkable. A huge improvement over the old none digital $900.00 unit. Dolby digital is absolutely incredible compared to the old Pro Logic and the DSP is still as much fun to play with as it used to be, however, Yamaha left one of my favorite settings out, the Church environment.

Very good designed speaker cable terminations, which make it virtually impossible to install a wire that would touch the next terminal and short it out.

Room for Improvements:
The user MANUAL is still bad, actually it got worse. The print is not as sharp and smaller, making it harder to read the almost invisible identifications of connectors in dimmed light (hey, who has the time to set it up during the day?)
The manual does not have diagrams with all the connections for the different possible set-ups. The diagrams do not show if you can hook up a DVD player with S-Video and continue with RCA to your old TV monitor. Also, you might find in your DVD manual the answer to why your unit never switches to Dolby Digital. Yes, you need to hook it up over an optical cable. The manual does not explain enough what all these different decoders do how they work and what the hardware andconnection requirements are.
Don't get me wrong, all the info is in there, but you will find a lot of important information just by chance. And, if this is the only place where Yamaha did the cost cutting, thumbs up.

The plane front panel requires that a bunch of operations have to be done by pushing buttons several times until you get to the setting desired. As a result, you do more with the REMOTE CONTROL. Unfortunately this unit is truly the weakest point on this receiver. Small buttons, no illuminated buttons, no LCD and not enough buttons for all the functions. As a result you are still going down the menu hierarchy for settings you might change for every CD or DVD. This is a pain in the neck and cuts down on the fun. Any of the aftermarket remote controls for $15.oo-20.00 can do a much better job, except for the DSP functions. I will try to get one from a RXV730 Yamaha receiver, the next step up from this one.

If you still use a record player, you are out of luck, or need to buy a pre-amp. There is no PHONO INPUT.

Also, no ON SCREEN audio information.

A word of caution when shopping: The features listed buy most sellers have tons of mistakes; the worst of all is the Tweeter web site (North East Region). According to Tweeter, this unit is almost identical to the RXV730, a $599.00 unit. Crutchfield seamed to have a much more accurate list of features and has top-notch photos of all angles and the remote.

Still, I think it is still a very good unit, sounds wonderful, very good price and it will still look good in ten years, just as my 12 year old RXV1070 does today.