Yamaha HTR-6250BL: Solid HTIB companion, but less impressive on its own

Yamaha is unique among home audio manufacturers in that its prepackaged home theater systems include the same AV receivers that are offered as standalone units. We received the Yamaha YHT-791BL home theater system for review and were impressed with the included HTR-6250BL AV receiver compared with other home-theater-in-a-box systems, but we also wanted to see how it compared with other standalone AV receivers.

On its own, the Yamaha HTR-6250BL wasn't as impressive. Yes, it has four HDMI inputs and plenty of analog video connections, but the HTR-6250BL lacks the ability to assign inputs, which limits its flexibility. It also has the ability to upconvert analog video signals to 1080p over its HDMI output, but the quality of the video is poor enough that you're better off running a separate cable. Finally, the HTR-6250BL's sound quality was acceptable, but we've certainly heard better at this price level. While the HTR-6250BL offers a solid value as part of the larger YHT-791 system, the receiver doesn't stack up as well when compared with other standalone receivers in its price range.

Read the full review of the Yamaha HTR-6250BL

Yamaha HTR-6250BL--photos