NS 1000's are in a sense doing everything wrong by todays standards. Three Radioshack looking drivers cheap wire clips with a super complicated cross overs to colour the sound and about as many control knob as you can wave a stick at and a non bass reflex design. If that is not bad enough they are made by a large company and not by a bunch of dedicated nerds with silver ears. Yet these battered, ugly and heavy behemoths replaced my beautifully crafted and stylishly understated Monitor Audios after about 10 mins of listening.Why?

Well they have real bass not just that wall of bass sound. I had no idea that there were so many different qualities to bass. The bass is tight and incredibly enough seems directional too. Those who say they are bass shy speakers don't understand that these are bookshelf speakers (for very big shelves admittedly) and not designed to be stand mounted in the middle of a room. They are frequently mounted INTO the walls in recording studios. They can fill a room with real bass that creates a pressure wave, like when you are in a car and someone slams a door, you feel your ears go thud. There is not much point discussing the midrange. It is so realistic it almost sounds wrong. Voices sound like something other than a speaker is creating the sound. Timbre and subtle sounds that I have never heard a speaker make before are constantly popping up. I was listening to some music and someone outside the window hit a metal spade on the sidewalk. No one was there. I was the fool. You got me there Yamaha! That is how dynamic they are.

Purists will hate the L pads. I love them. They are the only "tone control " in my system. They allow you to adjust the speakers to your room. If you move your speakers a lot they are very useful. I find with the speaker covers on the flat position works best. Take the covers off and they need to be backed off a tad. Recording studios are usually pretty dead rooms so I can see the need to be able to boost the highs.

Someone I know recently bought some Living Voice speakers. You can buy 200 pairs of these for the price I paid for these at a yard sale. These speakers are full, bouncy fun one moment and the next crystalline and delicate. They are a joy to listen to. They keep you entertained with all that is happening in the music as they lay it out for you in a way that says "Yeah, Yeah, I can do that too, no trouble."

If these speakers were re-released today they would be still be up there with the best. What is Yamaha's problem? They could sell them for $5000 and they would be flying off the shelf. They are a crazy bargain at $95. Simply the best speakers I have heard to date. Listened to and owned some of the following:-Quad ELS, B & W, Altecs, living Voice. 47 labs, Proac, AR , Monitor Audio. etc. etc. in various system.

I guess this is what you would call a positive review?

To every enthusiast out there who wish to sell their yamaha NS 1000, please give me a call

paul...0406551898

cheers....

This would be one of the best speakers in the world.I have a special affection for the NS1000Ms as they were bought by dad when I was only 4.The year was 1984.Apart from changing the tweeters on 3 ocassions these speakers have brought a lot of joy and prestige to our home.Yamaha from Singapore matched these speakers with the DSPA1000 amp which truely brings out the best in them.Yamaha focusses on one thing NATURAL SOUND and boy these speakers are a living witness.As a musician Ive heared a lot of speakers and nothing in my opinion comes close to these beauties.If you are looking for power,punch,clarity,versitility in delivering realistic vocal sound reproduction and,Pop music with sound thrust,I will strongly recommend these Speakers.

I have had these speakers and a Yamaha NS A-1 amplifier since 1981 - bought it from an enthusiastic hi-fi dealer in Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. The amp is a little worse for wear, the speaker casings look a little worn - apart from that they they sound as sweet as when they were new. I also have a NAD surround reciever in our living room with some more modern speakers but they are no match tor the old Yamaha equipment. I never play music in the NAD - hate the sound compared to the Yamaha equipment.

My best buy ever!!!!

I've had my Yamaha NS 1000 - M for over 20 years now and still get the goosebumps when I listen to them. Friends of mine tell me they wish they had them...
I've had to replace tweeters and mid-range drivers a couple of times that were damage by electric static charge. Not cheap, but worth it. I'll keep them until i die.

Its difficult to find affordable speakers that can drive a large room to good levels with very little distortion or coloration. The NS1000m's achieve this and appear to have plenty in reserve.

What this speaker does well
Neutrality top to bottom
Bass is fabulous, very clear, extended to 30Hz in my system, very tuneful, stop/starts and slams brilliantly
Will play very loudly coherently, the image just gets bigger
Mid/Top are very seamless, accurate, you don't really classify them because it just sounds like music, these don't get shouty they remain smooth in a quality system
Lightening fast transients when the signal demands it
Imaging is very solid
Relay what the recording and system are doing like few others

Not so well
They don't look too hot, but they can be put back aganst the wall out the way
Drivers are difficult to clean as they are behind mesh
Other speakers may sound superficially more exciting or provide more "3D imaging"
Cope with poor ancillaries, Top of the line amp source required

Overall
An amazing 2nd hand bargain, underrated but up there with the Quads/ATCs

The best sounding speakers i ever heard!!!!! just too bad the drivers are not available anymore,just the woofer is available...super accurates sounds!!! they need a little help in low end but its really not to bad..i have 2 pair but one speaker need a tweeter replcement and you cant i cant find one for almost a year now..

Are pointless without commenting!

A little weaker than 16,000 Hz. Too bad they do not go below 40 Hz, however with a good subwoofer adjustment is ok! Anyway speakers who falls below 40 Hz is not good bass middle. not looking for these speakers that falls below 40 Hz, better use of a subwoofer! It covers the whole spectrum of audio.

I buy speackers tweeter and woofer new from USA , and midrage ,
filters and adjustments, second -h .

first we built premises (we buy without). I'm an old specialist and audio technician (I built and repaired many audio tools). Premises are made of MDF 36 mm! Woofer is to separate premises in the form of a pyramid, tweeter and midrage + filters and adjustments are in another precinct, Using a subwoofer Yamaha YST SW 300 set below 40 Hz, to compensate for a woofer. Important! Take off the mask to protect ( tweeter and midrage ), sound much cleaner because the mask breaks sound!
One precinct has about 75 kg!
I have a Yamaha amplifier AZ 1 and CD CDX 993. The sound is very good.
Repeat! Take off the mask to protect, sound much cleaner because the mask breaks sound!
For pictures ( or another informations ) with me speackers email me to adi_onoe@yahoo.com.
Sorry for me language but is translate with Google.

Best speakers ever. Turntable no stop. Crown nothing better at that time

Don't over power the speakers

ns-1000m yamaha speakers, crown 150 and preamp bought 1975 Aug and Yamaha yp-800 turntable, a friend blew out the woofers spilled a beer on the amp they were replaced for free, no problemm with the amp.

Revealing of connected components.

The most accurate and honest sound I have heard. Absolutely no coloration.

Speed and attack from all three drivers.

Large soundstage and pin-point instrumental placment.

A cabinet so solid is makes a highly reviewed Harbeth sound like a colored box.

Hand matched within 0.3dB replacment drivers are still available.

Ugly. Leads to the "those are too old to sound good" bias.
They are underrated due to their blatant honesty which can lend them to sound horrible with less than top notch gear. Don't be surprised to spend $6000+ between a CD player preamp/ amp.

They are NOT bright, they are thin. I measured them. The difference is that the response is quite flat from 600-16,000Hz, but slowly rolls off below 900Hz; -3dB @150Hz. This is what people complain about. A simple crossover fix.

Very rare speaker.

Without a doubt the most honest speaker I have ever heard. The detail, pin-point imaging (which a baffle this wide is amazing) and natural timbre was uncanny. Even the woofer does a fantastic job sonically keeping up with the mid/tweeter. There is so much detail we could hear the limitations of our DAC or the audio mixing. I heard things I didn't even know where in my music. The bass is quick, accurate and dynamic.

I'm not a biased yamaha individual, I hate the "Natural Sound" slogan but with a gear change I learned where the name came from. A few people will always pass them off as being a horrible speaker simply because they are bass shy (which can be percieved as bright), never even sitting in the sweet spot and hearing zero coloration and an amazing soundstage several feet behind the speakers.

There are speakers that sound better by fooling you with their mid coloration that makes them easy to listen to, but after a few minutes you with the NS-1000 you realize this. The NS-1000 was designed as an accurate studio speaker in hand matched pairs. This accurate of speaker isn't for all listeners.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 802
Quad ESLs
Klipsch
Polk Audio
Ikon-Audio
JBL
Harbeth
Infinity
etc etc..