Customer Reviews

Yamaha YHT-491BL Home Theater in a Box (Black)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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. The 491BL did not disappoint me from the second I turned it on. The active-servo subwoofer keeps the bass tight and accurate, and the crossover slope from the bass to the mid frequencies is very smooth. The front left and right channels are mounted on good looking stands -- which gets the sound off the floor and puts it at the level it's supposed to be. So far these speakers sound awesome with movies, games, and music.

5. Yamaha quality. The long-lasting aforementioned desktop speakers, and a well-built Yamaha motorcycle have made me a believer in the quality of Yamaha products. Now if I could only learn to play the piano...

I am very happy with this system and have no complaints.

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. The center speaker is smaller than I expected, just about 10 inches but thats 3 speakers so far and all have great sound, then the two rear I mounted on the Atlantic very low cost speaker stands that Amazon sells. Worked great for this, and then theres the 600 Watt powered amp with great controls and remote. The last piece was a large subwoofer for the bass and booming sounds. all of this gave me perfect surround sound like the big sets. The way It fit, nothing had to be moved or repositioned at all and the other reviews were right, the 491 has perfect sound and everything you need in the box.(Except should buy the pair of Atlantic stands and a roll of good speaker wire. The wire that came with it was a lower grade. I bought on ebay a full roll of good grade speaker wire, Phillips for $7.00 plus shipping,(the spool had a chip out of it.) Caution, I used a complete 50 ft roll of Phillips for the setup, none to spare. Area wasnt that large, just takes a lot of speaker wire for all 6 included speakers. The price was dropping on this 491BL set for months. it was hung up at $479 then moved to $449 then $439 then $429, I bought it at $399.95. The price drops over time weren't due to the quality. Its that Yamaha and so many others offer so many types of speaker systems, its hard to get a share of the buyer market, so price lowering happens to find that point where a buy takes place, (Like me). Greatest thing is if put items in the shopping basket, everytime you go online they tell you the new prices. They all seem to go up and down daily like the stock market. I caught this Yamaha system at $399 and change, and bought it. Other online sellers prices were all much higher. With Amazon I paid no shipping or tax either. This is my first review. I am just trying to help someone because the reviews have been helping me on Amazon for all the things I want to buy that I am not sure of. I learned all about this setup, the Atlantic Stands $33.00 and sound from other reviews. Yamaha makes many numbered sets of all types and through reviews i narrowed them down to the one with the most attributes I needed but most of all which had the best sound, This one has that, just like the reviews said. This one is the least bulky too. I was thinking bookshelves for speakers. But stands are practically invisible for the 4 Fr/Rr,& the subwoofer is on the floor in back of a chair and the center of course sits easily on the front of Tv. That My experience.First Review and I like the Yamaha 491 BL, The Atlantic speakers and the phillips 50 ft roll speaker wire.

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.

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. So if your wanting to do the same, I would recommend getting this home theater system rather than one that comes with only a upscaling DVD player.

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. The 491BL does not have audio passthru via HDMI and has no TruHD or DTS MA decoding onboard, so I use the analog inputs to allow my Blu-Ray player to decode the lossless tracks, and to me that makes a huge difference.
There isn't much coverage on the home theater review sites for HTIBs which forces consumers to rely on anecdotal evidence before buying, but for around $400 you won't do better for a complete system such as this. The AVR is solid and the speakers are nicely balanced. The build quality is very good and the "tall boy" front speakers are a bonus.
Highly recommended for the price.

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.

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.