Yamaha YHT-199 System

[virtuo]

Hi all, I'm in the process of refitting my living room (you'll have seen my TV questions elsewhere.. )

I'd like a fairly good set of 5.1 speakers to go with it. I'll admit to not knowing much about home cinema/audio setups other than people are happy to spend thousands on them. But I just want something in the room that'll impress me and not break the bank.

5 mins on Richer Sounds turned up this package:
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...99/yama-yht199

From my occasional browsing around other threads, this one seems quite good for the money:

Has an AV Receiver
Has an "Active" sub, which I understand are quite good
4 HDMI inputs (for HTPC, Possibly Bluray and a couple of consoles)
Plenty of other inputs for my Wii/Amiga
ARC (Which I believe lets me run the TV built-in freeview, for example, back through the amp)
Lip-sync function


Apart from needing to get stands or wall mounts for the speakers, I'm guessing I'd be good to go with this?


Is there anything better in that price range, or a compelling reason not to go for this one? Yamaha seems a decent brand, I used to have a Yamaha bike and that was quite reliable.



Edit: reading the 2 reviews there, the feature list isn't amazing, but it'll mainly be running from an HTPC which will replace a lot of that the bluetooth/usb/etc.

[pipTheGeek]

Looks like an okay system, for the price anyway. I personally prefer my main speakers to be bigger floorstanders and not to have a sub, but that is just me.

ARC does allow audio from the TV to be sent to the AV Reciever along the HDMI cable that normally carries picture / sound in the other direction. BUT, it does need to be supported by your TV as well. The auto lip sync also needs to be supported by your TV. Otherwise you'll need to adjust the delay on the AV Reciever manually.

I have a Yamaha AV Reciever. Nice, fairly well thought out device. I had reason to contact Yamaha tech support though, becuase of a problem with its DLNA. Got a prompt and useful response (unlike my experiance with most tech supports...) which was a new firmware image that fixed the problem. I would definitely buy Yamaha again.

[virtuo]

Thanks Pip, I think for a "getting started" system I could do a lot worse, it seems more than enough to get me going in time for Christmas and I could always look at upgrading in the future if I want to go better.

ARC isn't really a deal breaker, just seemed like a nice feature to have. I think the TV I'm getting will support it anyway, not sure about the lip sync but don't mind doing that manually.

CS sounds excellent as well.

[Arthran]

This is the set I've bought and am in the process of setting up. seems really good so far

[virtuo]

This is the set I've bought and am in the process of setting up. seems really good so far

I ended up getting it as well, sounds great (without having anything to compare it to). Took my time routing all the cables under the floor and have got some stands on the way for the rear surrounds.

Only 3 small niggles so far:
The receiver itself is massive, bigger than a VCR and too big for my TV unit.
I very occasionally get no sound through HDMI (easily fixed with the standard turn it off then on again). Not entirely sure this is the receiver's fault.
And I get no video running the Wii in to the component inputs (but this is fixed running the video through the TV component inputs and the Audio through the receiver).

But for the money, I'm very happy with it.

[Arthran]

Only 3 small niggles so far:
The receiver itself is massive, bigger than a VCR and too big for my TV unit.
I very occasionally get no sound through HDMI (easily fixed with the standard turn it off then on again). Not entirely sure this is the receiver's fault.
And I get no video running the Wii in to the component inputs (but this is fixed running the video through the TV component inputs and the Audio through the receiver).

I will agree it is large, luckily as I'm using a projector my amp is at the back of the room and not very visable
I've not had the no sound through hdmi issue so far, so I'd be tempted to agree its not the receivers fault here
And I've unfortunately not tested the component inputs so cant give my feedback on that.

Like yourself, very happy with it all in all. It's a damn good device and I'm yet to turn it above -30 or so on the volume!