Customer Reviews

Yamaha YHT-760 XM-Ready 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System (Silver)

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

 

 

I own this, it's truly excellent. I'm a sound engineer and found this collection of quality components to FAR surpass that offered by competitors.

To make a few comments about a previous reviewer here... Yamaha makes the best high performance recording studio compact passive monitor speakers in the world, the NS-10. They have the same appearing white paper cone woofers as the speakers in this system. Paper cone speakers are used in some of the best high end audiophile loudspeakers in the world - do some real scientific research (learning from true authorities on the subject) before you assume that anything other than a plastic woofer is junk. The main reason speakers these days are made from plastic is that it's cheaper to make a decent cone from polypropylene than from paper.

The receiver in this unit is absolutely incredible - check out it's specs. Yamaha amplifiers and preamps in their home audio receivers have had higher performance than the competition for at least 15 years now - higher headroom in the power amplifiers, lower intermodulation distortion, and lower noise floor. This is one fantastic unit for the price - Yamaha is undoubtebly losing money on this package with every sale.

The dvd player obviously does slow scan etc, the other reviewer is wrong. Use the correct remote, read the manual, and ask someone. Try pressing and holding the fast-forward button... not this one >>| but the one that looks like >>

The speakers are very good - much better than the competition in the price range... how do I know? we're using a typical high performance audio receiver to power them, not a custom unit. Many custom units (from cheap companies like koss, kenwood, panasonic) try to make up for the poor performance of their speakers with eqing in the preamp to increase bass, treble, etc. Generally it results in very uneven frequency response at your ears. These speakers sound REALLY REALLY GOOD with a general purpose high performance surround receiver! Try putting some little toy Koss speakers on a good receiver and you'll be sadly disappointed.

Why does everyone think that active subwoofers are better than passive in the sub-$400 price range (for subwoofer alone I mean)? active means the subwoofer amp is in the subwoofer. passive means it's in the receiver. If a subwoofer is connected, designed and setup properly then it will replace the sound from the satelite (ie, remaining) speakers in it's frequency range, so the lows from the other speakers will be cutoff since it's handled much better by the subwoofer. It makes NO DIFFERENCE if it's passive or active, there's a ton of power to drive it from the receiver here. If you have a $500 dedicated velodyne subwoofer then it will make a small difference if it's active, because it uses something very different called active servo technology which requires the woofer and it's amp to work together to reduce distortion through a reverse feedback loop. However in this price range it actually is a waste of money to put an extra amp into the subwoofer, you're paying for an amp that you don't need since it's covered by the receiver (and the receiver has a much higher quality amp than a cheap active sub will have too).

You can't do better than this group of components - it's worth twice as much if sold separately, and it's excellent for music as well (just turn off the surround speakers first since most recording artists don't use surround speakers during their recordings and it will just add extra reverb junk to your sound).

i think what the previous reviewer meant to say is that you can't fast forward or rewind using the receiver's remote - that is true, but you can do all that and more with the dvd remote (which is included). you get what you pay for here - the sound is good and even the surrounding speakers have power. yes, the sub is passive, but it more than does the trick. the center speaker is a lot nicer than those of other systems in this price range, and the two main front speakers deliver very good sound. the receiver has many sound fields - even the 'live' fields sound like you're really at the venue. take advantage of the xm ready reciever.

I originally started my home theatre endeavor with the Yamaha YHT-160 HTIB which, in my opinion, doesn't sound as good as the Kenwood package I bought from Target over 3 years ago for less money. I returned my entry-level YHT-160 for the twice-as-costly YHT-760 thinking that it would be closer to what I was looking for. For the extra money you get better speakers, a better receiver, and a 5-disc DVD player.

RECEIVER: Honestly this is a solid unit. The controls can be a little counter-intuitive but those that learn them will be rewarded with a slew of different sound fields and options. The component inputs are also a nice feature for those that have multiple high-definition sources.

SPEAKERS: You get some standard-issue Yamaha speakers with the package. The sound is good but I was a little surpised to see paper cones. They are styled extremely well and fit in really nicely with home theatre setups that are primarily silver in color.

SUBWOOFER: This is where my jaw dropped when I opened the box. While the bottom-of-the-line Yamaha HTIB came with a 100W powered ACTIVE subwoofer, the YHT-760, at more than double the cost, comes with a PASSIVE version and a length of 18GA speaker wire?! Sure the receiver has the composite subwoofer out port but I expected to get the same if not better with the higher-end package. The receiver is extremely similar to a stand-alone 6.1 version Yamaha also sells. My guess is that sixth channel is now meant for the subwoofer with what you get here.

DVD PLAYER: This is another one that has me scratching my head. You DO get a progressive scan 5-disc DVD player with the appropriate digital outputs but that's about it on the feature list. True DivX is supported for the downloaders out there but that is hardly enough to redeem this unit. Those out there that have somewhat shallow AV racks will be suprised to see that the DVD player is a couple inches deeper that the receiver which means it will protrude from the front. Saving the best for last, there is NO and I mean NO fast-forward or rewind feature. There will be no quick rewinds to catch that line of dialogue you missed. You my friend will be starting that chapter all over.

All in all this isn't a bad setup but when considering the price tag, even the passing audiophile might want to at least look around a little