Home Theater System

Defective out of the box
Unit makes loud popping noises during certain operations of my DVR. Tried 3 separate DVR units, but noises remain. I am sure this is damaging my speakers. Unit was like this out of the box, but I attempted to debug by swapping components and cables on the weekends and exceeded Amazon's return period.

Yamaha will not send a replacement, rather requires shipment at my expense to shady seeming "authorized service centers" 75 miles from my home with no guaranteed turn around. This problem seems specific to cable provider DVR units, so the service center is unlikely to be able to reproduce.

Internet searches reveal I am not alone in this complaint.

Yamaha HTR-6230BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver
The receiver arrived 3 weeks earlier than promised. I found the instructions clear and helpful. The unit itself seems to be functioning properly and has some interesting features. There are are some things I am not too happy with, specifically: the sound is full but seems overly bassy, even without a sub-woofer, but I am using only moderately priced small speakers. There is a treble control but it doesn't seem to do very much. The sub-woofer output seems to be at microphone level, I had to amplify it before it would run a powered sub-woofer. This may be normal since this is the first receiver of this kind I have had. I am not using surround speakers so I can't comment on that capability. I like the control available on the center speaker to equalize it with the LR ones.

I was somewhat disappointed that the reviews and general information on the HDMI didn't address more carefully that there is no audio feed from the HDMI input, but that is not uncommon for lower end receiver. I am not using the unit to switch inputs. I run the video and audio from my DVR and DVD/VHS Player directly into my HDTV and use the TV audio output for the receiver. I may opt to change that if I find that the audio is enhanced by running directly from the DVR and DVD player to the receiver.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with the receiver and would recommend it to others.

Don't buy this product
Set-up on this product is a complete disaster. The manual is incomprehensible; you will be on your own and I guarantee that unless you work at CERN or do system set up for a living, you will need help. Add another 0 to bring in a set-up expert, and even then it will not be not easy. Look elsewhere; you will add years to your life.

Pretty Good
I bought this receiver and speakers from HHGreg over the weekend. I'm not familiar with receivers and high-end sound systems. I just wanted surround sound from my ps3, ipod and macbook. The salesperson told me all I needed from my ps3 was HDMI connections. Well she obviously does not know what she is talking or care about the customer. So 6 hours later after reading in the manual 'this system does not output surround sound from HDMI input", I returned and complained. Luckily this time I got someone who knew their job and told me I needed a optical audio cable. Thank goodness now it works! I agree that the operations are not intuitive, but I think for the price it's a winner. Just dont expect the salesperson to actually know what they're talking about, shame on me or assuming her/she did.

Great sounding amplifier
I recommend this unit highly. It would get five stars if it was a bit less complicated. But it does so much so perhaps that is inevitable. The remote has fifty-nine buttons! So far I have used about ten. Maybe when I get around to controlling my CD player from this remote I'll use some of the others, and need one less remote too. Currently I am using it as a stereo receiver with a Yamaha CD player, with two Polk side speakers and a Polk sub-woofer.
I am very pleased with the sound [I do not consider myself an audiophile but I do enjoy my music, classical, opera and rock mostly]. Plenty of volume, more bass available than I need but that part is easy to adjust. The room where I have this unit is 20' by 25' with a 12' celing, and there's no problem filling it with sound. Rock on!
I am impressed and consider it very good value for money too.