Onkyo HT-S7409 or HT-S5500?

I just purchased the Ht-s7409 and so far I'm not having any issues with the HDMI.

I've read many of the reviews on Amazon and various websites and the majority love the system. I've read many reviews that address the HDMI issues only to say they are surprised when they DO hear people having problems with it.

YHT-695BL for $537!? Front LR speakers w/6.5" mid/bass drivers?? Yes!!! All the other HTIB's you mentioned have speakers with 3" mid/bass drivers that only go down to 120hz or maybe 100hz. The 6.5" drivers should get down to at least 75hz.

I've had the YHT-595BL for 6 months - the RX-V471 receiver has been fine, and the speakers are good for small satellites, but now I wish I had gotten the YHT-695BL for better sound from the front speakers. The speakers are larger 13" x 7.5" x 7.1" 8.8lbs vs. YHT-595BL's fronts 8.3" x 5.4" x 4.5" 2.9lbs - they will take up more room, but should put out better sound.

Highly recommend you go for the YHT-695BL - not many HTIB's provide 6.5" drivers for $537.

The tx-nr609 supports 4k which seems to set it apart from the others.

What devices record and display 4k?

4K is a new resolution standard, ranging from 4096 x 1714 to 4096 x 3112.

Some of this year's AVR's have added 4K passthrough, but it'll be years before 4K displays, playback devices, and media become mainstream for the consumer market. Plus, the 4K standard may change in the meantime, and your 4K futureproofing goes up in smoke. It's like when HDMI was announced 10 years ago - none of the HDMI futureproofing back then was able to guard against HDMI evolving from 1.0 > 1.1 > 1.2 > 1.3 > 1.4.

Where instead, 6.5" drivers will give you better sonic quality TODAY.

^^^ agreed. And I love my Yamaha receiver!

Sarcasm noted. 4k will most likely be available in the near future, kind of the way technology works. It doesn't seem to be slowing down, only moving faster.

So ya, the Onkyo supports 4k with 4k upscaling, despite no 4k displays being available yet. Still though, as I said, it sets the Onkyo ahead of the game. I'm sure the standards will change, but this only matters if you simply trash it because something slighty better might come along. In the end, something will always come out that 1ups your current equipment. However, at least for me I know that mine will be capable of 4k when it does arrive. Not everyone is going to dump something that is relatively new if it works, just because the standard is set a little higher. Again, at least it will work.

Forgot to mention. I went with the Ht-s7409 because of the receiver, not the speakers. I plan on upgrading all the speakers over a little time. The cost of the entire HTIB was practically the same price as the receiver on its own. I see the 5.1 package as simply a nice bonus. Just some food for thought.

It is perfect for what I need it to do. It has all of the latest a/v formats, plenty of power for us, universal speaker connectors, 4 High Speed HDMI in, 1 out, an optional connector for my iTouch, etc, etc. It plays nicely with the ATV2, the Panasonic BD player and the whole system is easily controlled by a single remote (Harmony).

That's why I bought my HTiB as well. For the receiver, not the speakers. I needed something that was current, expandable, fit the budget, and sounded good. I too will be upgrading the speakers as well but they do sound pretty good for what they are so we are enjoying 5.1 and BDs sound fantastic.

OP - I'm sure you're tracking prices - the YHT-595BL sometimes goes down to $400 on Amazon.com, and once it was $367.

BTW Otto, have you decided on your speaker upgrade - you were looking at Energy Take 5.0 before?

Is the receiver that comes with the Yamaha YHT-595BL 7.2 capable? The TX-NR609 is 7.2 capable which was another selling point for me.

That's weird, I just bought my system and Frys matched the amazon price. They only match if it is shipped and sold by amazon, which it was a few days ago. The amazon price was only like 20 bucks less than Frys price I believe. I purchased in store, they had them in stock.

I think Amazon just pulled out because there was an early batch that had less than optimal components which is where all the complaints stemed from.

Onkyo did a recall and has a website where you can punch in the seriel # to see if yours was part of that batch. It is unlikely that you can buy one now from a place that actually moves stock rather quickly.

Mine is not part of the bad batch. I think the problem is pretty obvious. When you hit the power button to power off, it will click back on again.

Ya the hdmi works flawlessly so far. i don't know if its just my imagination, but I watched Dark Knight on blu last night and it looked better than when I had hdmi directly from my blu ray player to tv. I swear it looks better passing through the Onkyo.

The Harmony can be a *itch to program initially but there is lots of help up in the Remote forums. I have an old 880 which I really like because it has hard keys and none of that touch screen stuff (it does have an LCD screen though). No problems with overheating or loss of signal.

Yeah, I was looking at the Energy's before but now I have my eye on the Polk RM6750s. They're a tad bit bigger than what I currently have and would fit better in our decor than the Energy's (WAF doncha know) as well as fit on the satellite stands that I already have. The price is really good now so I'm just waiting for them to come down a bit more. I figured there about as good as I could get knowing the limitations of our decor and price. We'll see.

Yes. 6.5" drivers vs. 3.25" are much better for handling bass, and the YHT-695 subwoofer is 10" vs 8" on the RM6750.

$537 for YHT-695BL

$452 for RX-V471 + RM6750

For just $85 more, you get much better speakers*.

*NOTE: I have not heard either set of speakers, but sheer physics indicates that larger drivers will move more air - 3" drivers can't move much air.

I've already outgrown the 3" front LR & 8" subwoofer drivers of my YHT-595 and am upgrading the entire 5.1 set of speakers. If I had 6.5" front LR & 10" subwoofer drivers, I probably could have held out longer.

Glad you were able to make a decision - have fun!

FWIW, I have the YHT-395 and while the sound was good for our environment, I wanted something a bit better. Like I said, the Polks are better than what I have, and certainly there are better speaker packages out there, but price and size are our limiting factors. Besides, there is always something better, and possibly cheaper, every 8 months or so