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Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Model number: NS-R5101 | SKU: 8640465

Integrate your home theater components with this receiver that features built-in Dolby Digital and DTS sound decoders and 5 DSP soundfields for a cinema-like audio experience.

Average Customer Rating:

4.0 out of 5

9 of 13 (69%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Review 1 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Top 500 Contributor

Customer Rating

1.0 5

Guess what's going back to the store... 01/07/2009
By gonzieXD from Pennsylvania

Value for Price

2.0 5

Sound Quality

1.0 5

Ease of Use

4.0 5

Features

4.0 5

What's great about it: Looks really cool, tons of inputs
What's not so great: Sound Quality (or lack thereof), Heavy, Price, No Cable Line input (althopugh it's inplied)

"I was really optomistic about this product. I read many great reviews, but the bad ones were the true ones, unfortunately. It has lots of inputs, a great remote control, and it comes with antennas for the radio feature. Within 20 minutes of using it, the sound went out completely. It just stopped playing sound for movies. The radio still works fine, but the video inputs just don't. I thought it was a great deal (price wise) before I bought it, but I'm very disappointed now. After waiting 3 weeks to get it, it doesn't even work. Honestly, I had to turn the volume up to 50 before I heard anything at all, then I had to put it on max when it just would not give me sound. Then of course the volume is enough to blast your teeth out as soon as it comes back on. This thing's a real jokester, and now my ears hurt. I am not exchanging it, I am simply getting a refund. End of story. Please, to save yourself the trouble, DON'T BUY THIS ITEM!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No
Is this product used primarily for business?: No

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Review 2 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

2.0 5

PIECE OF JUNK 12/05/2008
By ray1953 from pittsburg, ca

Value for Price

2.0 5

Sound Quality

2.0 5

Ease of Use

2.0 5

Features

2.0 5

What's great about it: LOOKS NICE
What's not so great: NOT COMPATABLE WITH CABLE REMOTE

"NOT COMPATABLE WITH CABLE REMOTE, re; VOLUME, MUTE BUTTON.
VERY RARELY USED BECAUSE OF THIS MATTER.
TRIED TO USE IT LAST NIGHT , THE VOLUME CONTROL WENT OUT; ON THE REMOTE AND MANUALLY.

PIECE OF JUNK!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No
Is this product used primarily for business?: No

1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Review 3 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Quality Receiver 10/17/2008
By bsawyer02 from Chesapeake, VA

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

4.0 5

Ease of Use

4.0 5

Features

5.0 5

What's great about it: Good amount of hook-ups
What's not so great: Menus are a little tricky to navigate

"I picked this receiver up at the beginning of '08 by using some Xmas gift cards. It's been in the box since then until I had a chance to run cable for surround sound in our den. I read some good reviews for this receiver and wasn't looking for anything fancy or expensive. Just wanted a few digital audio connections & some component video (HDMI wasn't a concern at this point, no HDTV in the den right now).

I have a relatively modest sized den (12' x 25'), so 500W is plenty. My Nintendo Wii is running through it along with my DVD player, and the component video looks great on my projection TV. Sound output is crisp and clear, no complaints.

Only thing is that the menus to run through and get everything setup takes a little time and patience. Once you get it, it's not difficult at all, but you basically need to sit in front of the receiver w/the instruction manual for a good 15-20 minutes and run through the setup. This will get your sound calibrated, speaker distances set, etc.

After that, it's a snap. The controller is nothing fancy, but it does the job.

I'd recommend to anyone who is looking for a surround sound system on a modest budget. I can't imagine a more expensive receiver doing much more than this, especially if you're only talking about a small space. If you've got a large den or dedicated game/movie room, or have high/vaulted ceilings, I'd probably go with something more powerful. But for the typical homeowner who isn't looking to spend thousands on home theater, this is a good option."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 4 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

1.0 5

Dissappointing 10/12/2008
By Crash67

Value for Price

2.0 5

Sound Quality

1.0 5

Ease of Use

1.0 5

Features

2.0 5

What's great about it: Front panel button layout
What's not so great: Shoddy workmanship, rear panel design

"I was looking for a reasonably priced receiver. I purchased this Insignia based on the features, and the straightforward, easy to figure out layout of the front panel.
I connected the AM/FM antenna's and the speakers and I couldn't get any sound.
I spent an hour trying to receive a broadcast from both FM & AM stations, rechecking connections, front panel settings, and the manual.
My speakers worked with another receiver, and I verified that they were compatible with the Insignia.
I may just have purchased a defective model, but there were enough flaws with the receiver that I decided to return it rather than exchange it.
1. The feed thru screw down speaker connections are very poorly designed.
2. The metal case housing the unit had sharp, rough edges that actually cut my hand when I picked up the unit.
3. No markings on the volume knob, so you don't know how loud the stereo is set to until after you turn it on.
4. Design of antenna connection is not well thought out. Large FM attenna jack placed right above clips for AM antenna. So the FM antenna needs to be removed if you are connecting AM antenna
5. Remote takes triple A batteries. Maybe I'm nitpicking on this, but every other remote in the house takes double A"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 5 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

great unit, great features 09/22/2008
By antaganist

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

4.0 5

Features

5.0 5

What's great about it: lots of hook ups, great sound, really good surround processing.
What's not so great: menu's are a littl troublesome to work through.

"ive been looking for a good powerful surroundsound for a few months, and this unit caught my eye. already having 3 insignia products that i love ( CD player for my car, 1000W amp for my car, Pilot 4GB MP3) i knew its a good "brand". after getting this heavy thing home, i unpacked it, hooked it up to my PS3 and fought with it for 20 minutes trying to get the autoset to work. once set, the sound was amazing. i have 2 older kenwood towerspeakers up front and 3 other random speakers ( still workin on surround) even with the poor speakers, the sound is still amazing. id really recommend it, and seeing as i got it at a steal (137.99 open box) it was well worth the money. im going to soon get a 32" plasma and make use of the HDMI inputs :D"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 6 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Nope 09/16/2008
By macromities from Spokane, WA.

Value for Price

4.0 5

Sound Quality

4.0 5

Ease of Use

4.0 5

Features

5.0 5

What's great about it: Nice Features, Good Price, Easy to use.
What's not so great: Problems with sound output.

"The only complaint I had was with the audio output. At first I could only turn the volume up about 1/3 of the way and it would shut down, then after about 6 months it started shutting down every time I turned it on. Other than that it was a pretty good system."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 7 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great buy, just needed an extra cable! 08/28/2008
By Mysummersbestbuy

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Ease of Use

4.0 5

Features

5.0 5

What's great about it: Great sound, a lot of features, 2HDMI ins and 1 OUT
What's not so great: Thi reciever is video out only, so you would need an optical cable for the sound still

"I bought this unity alongside the Insignia 32" plasma, 5.1 speakers, and some Monster cable (with 2 HDMI cords). When I had it on radio, the sound quality was excellent, was very pleased with it.

I ran into an issue with playing movies though. It would pass video through just fine with an HDMI, but not audio. I talked to one of my friends who works at Best Buy, and he said the probability was probably because it was only a video out system, not an audio out.

I came back out to best buy(only live a few minutes away) and got this cable, and havent had any issues since! Love everything about it!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 8 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

great unit 08/23/2008
By RandyC from Brooklyn, NY

What's great about it: sound is amazing
What's not so great: only 1 optical in

"great unit, 2 hdmi in's and 1 out with passthough. great unit, only 1 optical in tho so it is a lil sadbut ill make due."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 9 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Meets all my needs 08/07/2008
By TexasDC from Shreveport, LA

What's great about it: Easy to install, connections easy to find, directions easy to follow, great sound
What's not so great: Have to buy all the connections and that can get expensive

"Great product and met all my needs. Able to hook up PS3 and XBOX360 with amazing sound and picture quality. For the price you can't beat this."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 10 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

An exellent value 07/20/2008
By PaulGW from Tucson, AZ

What's great about it: Good sound, versatile, an excellent system hub
What's not so great: rudementary documentation, tricky set-up, bad speaker connections

"This is an excellent control center for a component home entertainment center. I have integrated cable TV (Hi Def at that), DVD, VCR, and CD through my receiver with excellent sound results.
Setting up was tricky, but doable by a careful neophyte like me. The manual could be a bit mroe verbose, and rely less on diagrams. Using the auto sound set-up is practically mandatory for the best sound. The speaker wire connections are almost medeval. I have a 15-year old stereo tuner with easier connections. The feed-through-screw-dowwn connectors should be improved. Getting the box to respond to my cable company's remote has also been an issue. In spite of these problems, the unit is a great value for the money."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 11 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Receiver, Great Price 07/02/2008
By InsigniaFan from Indiana

What's great about it: Good Value, digital inputs, great sound
What's not so great: None

"I had been in the market for a new receiver for a few weeks when I happened to find this one on sale. I currently have an Insignia LCD TV and am very happy with it so I thought I would give this a try. I invested in some Monster Digital Audio cables and hooked everything up in just a few minutes. After I turned the receiver on and played with it for a few minutes I found out that you can do some advanced features like adjust channel levels, adjust for speaker sizes (i.e. small cube speakers, or larger speakers), set how far apart the speakers are, and even set your digital inputs to specific input names (I set Video 1, my TV, as Coax 1 and Video 2, my DVD, as Optical). After tweaking everything the way I wanted it I decided to test it out by playing a DVD with some good surround sound effects (I choose Talladega Nights). I was blown away by the quality, it was amazing. Some other nice features are the HDMI pass-through capabilities this unit has, multiple DSP sound fields, and a front A/V input. This is one of the best Digital Receivers I have seen for the money. If you are in the market for one, I highly recommend this one."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 12 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Great Value 06/22/2008
By PDAtlanta from Atlanta

What's great about it: Price, features, performance

"I was looking for a Home Theather receiver with HDMI for a 32" LCD for a small TV room. Did not want to spend a lot since it was not s primary viewing area, but wanted good sound if i was watching a movie and for sports.
This reciever blew me away. The features are much more than much more costly receivers and the build of this unit is spectacular. Weighs 24 pounds, check out sony, jcv, pioneer, yamaha ... much higher priced units weigh 16 or 17 pounds.
You will not be disappointed with this unit compared to anything in the $250 to $350 range and save yourself $100 to $200 dollars. This is really a fantastic value."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

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Review 13 for Insignia® 500W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Best Purchase Ever 05/01/2008
By Chris6870 from Greer, SC

What's great about it: Lots of Inputs(2 coaxial digital audio, 1 optical, 2 component video, 2 Hdmi inputs, 3 video inputs, 5 audio)
What's not so great: Non

"Best audio receiver I've every bought!!!!!!! Love all the inputs and outputs!!! Great sound!!!! I would recommend this audio receiver to anyone, Great Buy!!!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

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