Awesome near field moniter.

None.

These speakers are God sent.

If your mix sounds good on these, you're pretty much sorted. Nice to have a common denominator.

Cannot be used as sole monitor (most engineers have many set-ups. I myself use 2 near field, 1 mid field and 1 far field set.) Have a 7dB spike at 1.5KHz to get used to. Will need a sub unless very aware of their limitations

It's been interesting to observe the press this product gets. Either people love it or hate it, but more accurately it's just misunderstood. I've been a sound engineer for roughly a decade and worked locally and abroad on various genres and while I agree there are far better sounding speakers on the market it's encouraging to know there's always one reference everyones's got. NS-10's. And sure, you may think your boom box has got a better sound, but the '10's have an uncanny ability to translate mixes into the real world. Any now that they're off production I wonder what will take their place. Basically, I hated them until I learned better. (BTW-Try not to put them sideways like you see in the pictures!) This is a product for engineers, not for "audiophiles."

Similar Products Used:

Genelec, Spendor, NS-20M, Behringer Truth, B&W 600 Series, Alesis M1, Mackie, JBL, Roland, etc.

True sound

True sound

I love this product.

Similar Products Used:

tannoy

Detailed midrange - useful for mixing

Weak low end

It seems that there are two camps here: Those who are mixing music for a living and USE the speakers, and those who are listening to music.

For listenting to music, these speakers are not very enjoyable. They are "uncolored" and rough around the edges. Do not buy them if you want speakers for enjoying music.

For mixing music, these speakers serve their purpose as a DIAGNOSTIC tool. They have a relatively flat response through the mid and upper ranges (with the upper mids more exposed), and the character of the sound helps an engineer who is experienced with them to make subtle changes to each sound so that the pieces that make up a song (particularly those with a lot of conflicting midrange content) fit well together. After mixing on NS-10s, you can pretty much have confidence that your mix will translate to another system. There are other monitor systems that will also give accurate midrange, but I like the Yamahas because they work every time, in a predictable way.

That said, I wouldn't trust these speakers to judge low end information and therefore would suggest having another pair in addition which offer a more complete range of sound (check out the Mackies). But some of the comments I've read suggesting that engineers should be using hi-end consumer speakers are really missing the point: When listening to music, I want speakers that enhance a recording by giving me silky highs and present, tight lows - an enjoyable sound. A mix played through a consumer set-up should make the music sound great. HOWEVER, when *mixing* music I want to hear the problems in the music, where the midranges clash and overlap, and near-field reference monitors give me that. Try mixing a song on NS-10s and then listen to the mix on a variety of other systems. The midrange (which in large part defines the tone of a sound) should sound balanced, with nothing sticking out. Try mixing a song on some Polks or something and see for yourself how innacurate the midrange is on another system. Things will jump out at you innapropriately. That is the purpose of having a well-defined mid-range in a near-field monitor.

It is interesting that there is so much contraversy about these speakers. Yes, they were originally developed as consumer hi-fi speakers, but they have transcended that genre, due to their unique character. Plenty of great music has been mixed, fixed, balanced, monitored and dare I say mastered on these speakers - there is obviously a reason for it. You may not like what you hear, but it serves a purpose.

Similar Products Used:

Mackie HR824, etc.

Standard Reference Monitor for "Professional" Mixing and Mastering

"Audiophiles" whine because of ignorance about the product

This is one of the most controversial products to ever hit the audio market. I
believe that anyone who reads through the varied responses in this forum will
agree. What makes the NS-10s so controversial? They are misunderstood and
downright butchered by people that, although claiming to
be "Audiofiles", are ignorant as to how recorded music is made.
Have you ever recorded music professionally? Have you ever mixed and/or
mastered a piece of music? If you have not, please take a tour of a studio. Most
studios will gladly give you a tour, and then you will see how these speakers are
used. World-class studios such as Abbey Road/Studio3
(http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/indexpm.html),
use these "awful" NS-10 speakers to monitor and mix the sound, 'after' the
sound has travelled through tens of thousands of dollars of sound processing
equipment. Why?? Because they don't know any better, right? No. It's because
they know better! It's interesting to see how every major studio, with pockets
deeper than the Grand Canyon, use these "awful" speakers. Are they getting a
cut from Yamaha?! Don't be ridiculous. It's also interesting to see how these top
studios also use speakers that are tens of times more expensive than the
NS-1Os, and yet rely on the Yamahas as the final test. Why is this so? Because
they don't know any better right.....Right...the "AudioFiles" can do it better with
their high-end "high fi" equipment.
It's hard to believe how many "Audiofiles" claim that there is so much poorly
recorded music out there! And how these bad recordings can be attributed to the
NS10s! Last time I checked with my "Audiofile" buddies it was mandatory to have
at least one Alan Parsons recording in their collection. After all, he is a "Recording
God", is he not? And I believe Alan recorded once or twice at Abbey Road studios.
In fact, he was somewhat involved with a recording that was somewhat
successfull(250 Million copies to this day) called Dark Side of the Sun...or Mars
or...something like that...
Why would a Studio like Abbey Road, that's been involved in major, major
recordings want to use the NS10s?? Because they don't know any better
right?.....Right......
I am embarrassed to pick "Audiophile" from the dropdown list,
because it may put me in the same category as these wannabe musicians who
have no talent to make music, but instead criticize those that do.
Last time I checked, the "music" that's listened to by "Audiofiles" is produced by
"musicians".
No musicians, no Audiophiles..!

Similar Products Used:

Many simlar, all the same, none different

Standard Reference Monitor for "Professional" Mixing and Mastering

"Audiofiles" wine because of ignorance about the product

This is one of the most controversial products to ever hit the audio market. I believe that anyone who reads through the varied responses in this forum will agree. What makes the NS-10s so controversial? They are misunderstood and
downright butchered by people that, although claiming to
be "Audiofiles", are ignorant as to how recorded music is made.
Have you ever recorded music professionally? Have you ever mixed and/or mastered a piece of music? If you have not, please take a tour of a studio. Most studios will gladly give you a tour, and then you will see how these speakers are used. World-class studios such as Abbey Road/Studio3
(http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/indexpm.html),
use these "awful" NS-10 speakers to monitor and mix the sound, 'after' the sound has travelled through tens of thousands of dollars of sound processing equipment. Why?? Because they don't know any better, right? No. It's because they know better! It's interesting to see how every major studio, with pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon, use these "awful" speakers. Are they getting a cut from Yamaha?! Don't be ridiculous. It's also interesting to see how these top studios also use speakers that are tens of times more expensive than the NS-1Os, and yet rely on the Yamahas as the final test. Why is this so? Because they don't know any better right.....Right...the "AudioFiles" can do it better with their high-end "high fi" equipment.
It's hard to believe how many "Audiofiles" claim that there is so much poorly recorded music out there! And how these bad recordings can be attributed to the NS10s! Last time I checked with my "Audiofile" buddies it was mandatory to have at least one Alan Parsons recording in their collection. After all, he is a "Recording God", is he not? And I believe Alan recorded once or twice at Abbey Road studios. In fact, he was somewhat involved with a recording that was somewhat successfull(250 Million copies to this day) called Dark Side of the Sun...or Mars or...something like that...
Why would a Studio like Abbey Road, that's been involved in major, major recordings want to use the NS10s?? Because they don't know any better right?.....Right......
I am embarrassed to pick "AudioFile" from the dropdown list,
because it may put me in the same category as these wannabe musicians who have no talent to make music, but instead criticize those that do.
Last time I checked, the "music" that's listened to by "Audiofiles" is produced by "musicians".
No musicians, no Audiofiles..!

Similar Products Used:

Many simlar, none the same

This review is to address comments made here about these speakers commonality in recording studios. First of all, any true engineer would never rely SOLELY on these speakers. Most mixes are done on a set of high quality reference monitors, while the NSM-10's are used simply to make sure the frequency balance of the mix will sound the best on the widest variety of systems, i.e., low-quality boomboxes and car stereos on which most albums are played on anyway. These speakers are used in studios BECAUSE they sound mediocre.

they sure are popular

the sure are popular; the "industry standard"

yep, the industry standard...
and that's why there are so many awful sounding recordings out there.
just because something is a "standard" does not mean it
is neccessarily good.
i can understand the reasoning for using a cheap pair of
speakers for monitoring - this gives a "real world" reference to the engineer.
but if they want to use a cheap pair of speakers then why not use something like the sound dynamics rts-3, psb alpha, paradigm titan, etc - cheap in price not in sound quality.
it seems the high-end studio approach to monitoring is the
way to go these days - using high-end consumer speakers like
wilson audio, b&w, pmc, joseph audio, etc.
yep, the industry standard...
and that's why there are so many awful recording engineers out there.

Good studio monitors for people that know how to use them in
a recording enviroment.

As they say on TV. These are professionals Don't try this at home.

I feel compelled to say something on behalf of these beat
upon speakers. Most million dollar studios use these speakers to hear what their mix will sound like on typical
middle of the road home systems. I doubt seriously they spend hours mixing on them, You guys do realize these million dollar studios have more than one set of speakers..
right? They probably spend the majority of their mixing
time on a pair of $50,000 or more Urei or similar qaulity speaker, and then throw their mix on a pair of NS10s to see what the real world will hear. They would be working in a
vacume with out them.
I use yorkville ysm 1's during mixing. The ysm's are very easy on the ears. Their one of the best kept secrets in the home and studio speaker world as far as I'm concerned. I audition my mixes on NS10s. If it sounds good on them.. It passes. I've heard people say the NS10s sound awful. I'm not even sure their living on the same planet I am. The NS10s sound good, not great but very good. I think their a little
pricey for what you get, but their the standard! If you have
a studio get a pair. If your looking for a great home speaker give the Yorkville ysm1 a listen. I doubt you'll
be dissapointed.
I'm sure many so called audiophiles will be glad to hear that Yamaha is discontinuing the NS10s due to material shortages. Golden ears in the recording industry will be just a little saddened. Judge my comments by my work.
Hear it for your self at www.mp3.com/karyn. To bad it's in
mp3 format, but whataya gonna do.

Similar Products Used:

Yorkville, mackie hrs 824, genelec 1030

The reason the above reviewer doesn't like the NSM-10 is because he is trying to use a near reference monitor for a consumer sound system. Near reference monitors are used in a close listening (within 1 to 2 meters of the ear) studio environment. Their purpose is to give a highly accurate (i.e. DRY) in a very narrow listening field. The result is that when you are doing a mixdown of a song you can get a very accurate image of what you are mixing. They are NOT for plugging into a home stereo system, only an idiot would buy them for that purpose. But in the studio/mixing environment, both the Yamaha and the Tannoy monitors are God.