Small in size but BIG in sound. I have had these for over 20 years, as office speakers and now more recently kitchen speakers. Full range, better bass response than many other speakers I’ve had, which for their size is impressive. Very clear mids and sparkling highs

Only that they could have more bass but for a bookshelf speaker their bass is better than average.

Hey, don't write too many reviews, but just have to rave about these speaks. I'm a sound guy, don't care squat about specs, brand name or price when I turn the things on. Just got them.. Only have used them for audio, not recording. I wasn't expecting that much, maybe the usual flat, overly trebly sound found in inexpensive monitors. But, Wow!! I hooked them up to a Harmon Kardon (1990) HK440 Vxi and have been listening to the radio mainly, and they sound terrific. Nice detail, like you'd expect from monitors, but bass and 3 demensionality that I did not. BTW, I've got a lot of quality smallish speakers, Kef, Corellis Spica TC-50, Celestion 700s, Thiel SCS. . so I'm comparing them to pretty good stuff. The coolest thing, maybe, is that, for monitors they are very listenable, and don't seem fatiguing. I must say, though, I'm not really a recording guy, with studio experience, but these speakers do not sound flat to me, but I've got a pair of NS-10s, so why should I care. If you see these somewhere, get them or die!!

It has a great tight lower end that means that music is created faithfully rather than "enhanced". It has quite a soaring top range which means you can hear percussion instruments like cymbals and hi-hat really well.

There are a number of weaknesses about this speaker that stop it from rivally other quality pro audio speakers such as genelec, Dynaudio etc.. Firstly with no front cover you must be extremely careful when moving them. Any slight bump in that tweeter could mean $$. Secondly, the are a little fatiguing. Because the highs are clear and present it means that listening to them for excessive periods is not an option. Lastly, the are a little too middy for me. I think in a n effort to make these "flat" Yorkeville as accentuated the middle frequencies a liitle too much.

Quite a heavy speaker considering it's size. The thick MDF cabinet means it magnetically shielded. It houses the componets really well and eliminates internal resonance. This speaker is aimed at the pro audio market, particularly project/home studios. This means that it is supposed to be "flat" or a reference standard. There are 2 versions of this speaker, active and passive. Mine ar the passive. Bearing in mind that these are sub $500 speakers, the sound is very clear and detailed. I like bookshelf speakers because I hate the excessive bass resonance that most floor standing speaker represent. My music translates very well from these speakers and means that music mixed on these speakers will sound great on you typical hi-fi and bigger cabinet speakers.

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Tannoy reveal, Jamo D-135's, Mirage, Wharfedale, Genelec 1301a.

Definition... Especially high end.

dor this price, I can't find any.

These things are all about definition... It's incredible for the price. Highly recommended.

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NS-10

very flat, very clean, very nice indeed

none for this price

I have a pair of Dynaudio HiFi speakers that I don't listen to anymore because of these speakers. I'm gonna go for a pair of high-end studio-monitors soon -no more "hifi-speakers" for me. I want them flat!

clarity, acuuracy, build, punch

hmmmm.....

me and my bro have a small recording room type thing, we have Tascam MKIII portastudio 424, samson 150 amp, and the ysm1's great little setup, sometimes i steal the yorks and stick 'em in my room up to my home theater, they have plenty of punch, accuracy, sure there are better speakers/moniters, not ofr this money though, i got em used for 150 canadian, still in box

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tannoy

Amazing bang for the buck. Flat flat flat!

No lows. Get a sub!

Talk about bang for the buck! These speakers are amazing!
I've never used them for monitoring, and they have only pulled 2 channel and 5 channel duty.

I've had mine for over three years now. I auditioned them against the NHT Super Ones. I couldn't hear any difference between them and the Supers. But keep in mind, I listen to classical. The Super Ones were marvelously flat, just like the YSM-1s. For half the price, I didn't bother with the Super Ones. I bought another YSM-1 to fit as my center channel. In order of kudos for this speaker: clean, accurate, inexpensive, excellent construction, Yorkville's lifetime warranty (i.e. you blow it up, we replace it).
Not so good: zero deep bass (come on, what do you expect?!), not so good in large spaces (ahem, come on, what do you expect?!)
I'll move up to an M&K sub (probably a 125. . .don't want to overwhelm the little YSM-1s) eventually.

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Auditioned KRK & NHT Super One.

I have to agree with the first post. These speakers are great! I too have a friend in the recording business and he recomended these speakers to me. Rather than just tell me they were good, he came along with me to audition speakers of all kinds. We listened to JVCs, Infinities and others but no comparable speaker was able to match the YSM-1s. Yorkville markets these for studio use so they are a little hard to find but well worth the effort. The bass is full and the high end very crisp. The enclosures are rugged and attractive. If you can find these in your area I strongly suggest you audition them before buying any other 'bookshelf' speakers. I got mine for $240 US.

very flat and neutral from bass to treble

non, especially considering how affordable the speakers are.

These speakers are made for professional use. They have a very flat frequency response that most hi fi speakers simply cannot match.The majority of hi fi loudspeakers are designed to sound good.The Yorkville YSM's are designed to sound accurate.You want get spectacular hi fi sound but a far more accurate duplication of how your cd's are really supposed to sound.I've always said that if you want the most accurate speakers available to the average consumer you must purchase professional studio monitors.These type loudspeakers as a whole will tell you the truth about your recordings that home hi fi loudspeakers simply cannot duplicate.The Yorkville's are also very well constructed;no chip board but dense fiber board.These speakers are at home in a home environment and will shame loudspeakers several times their modest cost.For the highest highs and the lowest lows Boston Acoustics,Bose, not even the AR338's can touch the Yorkville YSM's.Highly recommended to those of us who want to hear the truth about their recordings.Vastly superior to all home hi fi loudspeakers in their price range.You might have to look a little harder to find a dealer but they are absolutely worth the trouble.

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Boston Acoustics CR8 , Acoustic Research 338

I find it hard to believe there is not any Yorkville products reviewed here. A friend of mine owns a recoring studio and and he bought a set of Jamo speakers, $2000(Can.) for the studio. They sounded great, then he came across Yorkville's YSM-1 Studio Monitors, $280(Can.) and they sounded just as good as the Jamo's. So I went and bought a pair for my home theater and I love them. The best $300 speakers you will ever find.
The following description is taken from Yorville's homepage.

The YSM-1 is a compact, 2-way, near-field studio monitor designed to accurately reproduce the signal from a
recording and mixing chain without contributing sonic colouration. It has clarity and bass response that you would
expect to hear from a much larger cabinet and is suitable for home and project-studio recording as well as sound
reinforcement applications. “It reproduces timbres with near pinpoint accuracy” 1 and produces pristine sound which
defines the finest details and harmonics of the input signal.

The YSM-1 features a 1" soft-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter and a 6 1 /2 " foam-surround woofer arranged in a
symmetrical, vertical configuration with the drivers mounted slightly forward to minimize reflections off the cabinet
face. A precisely tuned 2" cylindrical port directly below the woofer increases bass response and allows cabinet
size to be kept compact. The internal crossover network is a ‘tried and true’ design consisting of a 12 dB/octave
low-pass filter and a 6 dB/octave high-pass filter with a crossover point at 2.5 kHz. This proven design is functional,
efficient and highly resistant to failure. Speaker cables are secured with gold-plated binding posts that also accept
banana plugs.

The rock-solid YSM-1 is constructed of 3/4" MDF particle board and features heavy internal bracing as well as
ample internal dampening material ensuring that “the YSM-1 has no unwanted bass resonances.” 2 The cabinet
features a black cloth grille that easily snaps-on and off, and the enclosure is finished in an attractive, black
woodgrain vinyl that resists scuffs and is easily cleaned.The YSM-1 exhibits impressive bass response and well
articulated and balanced mid-range & treble resulting in a sound which is tight and well controlled without overshoot
or flabbiness. In addition, “stereo imaging is very good, resolution is consistent in every frequency range and bass
response is excellent.” 1. The monitors excel at placing incredibly detailed, uniform sound across a relatively wide
area allowing good variation in optimum listening location.