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these are average speakers which are not bad. but it depends on what your looking for. if you want alot of bass, forget about these speakers, but if you want average sound, with ok highs, get these. i've got these speakers along with a sub, and they sound fine together. but i am thinking of upgrading.

Flat (correct) sound

Needs a subwoolfer to reproduce lower notes

I have spent more than 10 years as a touring sound engineer and when I went into a good guys speaker listening room to find a pair of in expensive home speakers armed with a fimilar CD I was amazed at the way most speakers had emphasized the low and high frequencies. Even the expensive speakers sounded terrible. The other reviews complain about the flat sound of these speakers but a flat frequency responce is exactly what a speaker is suppost to have. If the artist wanted the recording to have extra highs and lows he would record it that way. These were the only speakers in the whole room that didn't color the sound. I compared these speakers with speakers that cost $300-$400 a pair and liked them better. I guess many people don't like the actual sound of the recordings and that's probably why most people have the treble and bass at full level on their stereo.

Price, but . . .

they're still not worth it. No bass, shrill highs, boombox-like mids.

These just plain suck at any price. I'm an audio engineer and have owned a lot of Yamaha component equipment in my time, always impressed with them, so I tried their speakers ... bad idea.
The NS-A636's are nothing more than outsourced, mass-produced, lo-fi junk! I have never seen another 8" perform so badly with bass. The cutoff is 90Hz and that just is not acceptable. The paper midrange could come from a radio - it has no life to it at all. The tweeter is the only driver that looks like it might be ok. It would probably sound better if the other drivers were up to par, but alas they aren't. I can't understand how anyone would like the sound of these - even if they were FREE.
Overall this is one of those products that you MUST stay away from. Shell out a few more pennies and get ANYTHING else. The products I list above are all far superior to these Yamaha's, even the Cerwins! The Paradigm's and PSB's sound best of course, and a few more buck can get you some NHT's.
Please, just don't buy these speakers!

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Micro & Atom, PSB Alpha Minis & Mites, JBL, Cerwin-Vega satellites.

Clear Highs, decen vocals

Lack of Bass

I have just added a 15" subwoofer with a spearate power supply that gives probably 100 watts. You would be suprised what a difference a sub makes. I would get a subwoofer any size, (powered of course)if you want decent performance. My reciever (YamahRXV -363) does a wonderful job hadling the bass when used with the line level out put. I can shake my room apart but that's not the ponint. These speakers are great for a dorm or small living area but you must have a sub. I am probably going to get an 8" one just because when I go home 15 in is not practical but any subwoofer would be an improvement.

Similar Products Used:

Klh, Bose 201, B&W

Inexpensive

Poor sound quality

These speakers sound terrible. I have delegated them to rear speakers in a surround sound system in my basement.

Very efficient, Impressive sound quality for this price!

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I have the 635 which I believe is very similar to the 636. An 8" 3-way black sealed enclosure. I auditioned this speaker against 10 to 20 others in an audio room. Price 100 to 300 dollars. This speaker stood out. better base, better midrange and very good vocals. A very efficient speaker. For the money, I cannot find a better speaker at this price $100/pr.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 201 and 301 and are slightly more mid base colored and are excellent choices as well.

Well some of you guys payed too much! I bought these speakers at BJ's Wholesale for a whopping $79.00 and couldn't be happier, given the price.However I can't imagine using these speakers as mains! The poor bass response has no effect as a Pro Logic rear speaker. Therefore coupled with my Infinity Referance Standard mains , and Boston HD5V center , I really can't complain. I mean , come on , $79.00! What the heck do ya want?

I use these speakers for a home theater system. I have these thing sitting on the floor as my fronts of a prologic system. I think they are pretty decent, but considering that I'm not at all an "audiophile" I probably really don't care. As for the 90Hz bass cut off, all I can say is that I've had complaints about the shaking when playing the Twister laserdisc. I got them for $69.00 for the pair (at store cost - through a friend), so I can't think of a better speaker for that price. I am satisfied.

I bought a pair several years ago to fit in a shelf area in my home office. It was obvious from the start they were "dogs" and did not do justice to my ventage Denon electronics. I recently replaced the 636s with a pair of 6 year old KEF K120s, the improvement was significant. These speakers damage Yamaha's reputation.

I first purchased these speakers as a replacement pair for my mini stereo, when hooked up to them they werent that good no bass and not very high performance. later i purchased a regular stereo receiver with them hooked up to them the bass was still poor however they sounded much better. After teaming them with a powered subwoofer they sounded much better and considering the price paid for them ($100/pair) i think these are over all a good pair of starter speakers but are noty very high quality . you get what you pay for, low price not very good quality