An Unusual Yamaha NS-10

WilsonCreek · Mar 3, 2009

I came across this Yamaha NS-10 at the thrift and had to check it out. There was only one, unfortunately. I don't know if this was an early and dramatically different version of the later NS-10 or what, but it's not like the NS-10 monitor, that's for sure.

Dimensions on the cabinet are 20" tall, 14" wide, and 7" deep. I haven't decided yet whether to disassemble the thing to see what the woofer looks like from the front, but I am itching to. Can't see through the cloth on the front. The woofer seems to be about 14" tall and 10" wide, but it's hard to be sure. In addition, the magnet assembly seems offset from where the actual center of the cone is, although it's hard to be sure without removing it. The back of the woofer seems to be made of styrofoam, and it is very flat. The tweeter is bolted to what I suppose you would call the basket, which is essentially a big metal plate. It is a very odd woofer.

I found almost nothing on the web, although Yamaha NS-10 generates a lot of hits for the monitors. Did find one thing here though:

http://audio-heritage.jp/YAMAHA/speaker/ns-10.html

I can't read much, but a screen shot of the specs is the last attached image on this post. Looks like made in 1970, 40 -18,000 Hz, crossover at 5,000. Bass is pretty low and smooth, but the midrange isn't. To my ears it sounds muddy. But I was playing it last night with everyone asleep, and couldn't really test it too well.

Anyone have any experience with these?

ckastner78 · Mar 3, 2009

Cool - styrofoam woofers! That's why the back's open on these. I bet they sound amazing. If the drivers look anything like the ones on my BES SM280, they shouldn't be too impressive *looking* from the front, just flat painted styrofoam. The sound is what counts in these babies :music:

ckastner78 · Mar 3, 2009

Is it just a muddy midrange or are you getting some sort of resonance at certain tones that's muddying up the rest of the response? My BES's do the same thing - I'm starting to wonder if it's just the styrofoam resonating when it gets old.

These are styrofoam, right? Otherwise all my theories are completely off. :beatnik:

Stoffie · Mar 3, 2009

This page at TVK makes mention of an NS-15, with JA-3501 flat driver (instead of JA-3502 here). Probably some iteration of the same system along the way.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/JA6002/JA6002.html

Cool find btw

mhardy6647 · Mar 3, 2009

No relation to the NS-10 small monitors.
I have one of these weird speakers (dunno which model) in the basement...

WilsonCreek · Mar 3, 2009

ckastner78 said:
Cool - styrofoam woofers! That's why the back's open on these. I bet they sound amazing. If the drivers look anything like the ones on my BES SM280, they shouldn't be too impressive *looking* from the front, just flat painted styrofoam. The sound is what counts in these babies

I had never heard of BES speakers until your post on them. They look very cool and I think are in a much better league as these. If the woofer is painted black on the front it would explain why I can't see anything through the cloth even with a bright light. I will probably take it apart to find out.

ckastner78 said:
Is it just a muddy midrange or are you getting some sort of resonance at certain tones that's muddying up the rest of the response? My BES's do the same thing - I'm starting to wonder if it's just the styrofoam resonating when it gets old.

These are styrofoam, right? Otherwise all my theories are completely off.

Yes, I think it is styrofoam. As for the muddiness, vocals were a little indistinct and recessed (I'm not good with the right adjectives). I thought it might be a consequence of a ~10" x 14" woofer that is supposed to cover 40 to 5,000 Hz, but I'll follow up tonight. I don't know what the lifespan of a thin sheet of styrofoam in a speaker cone is either, so you might be on to something. My Leak's are still clear as a bell (1965, if I recall), but they are styrofoam and aluminum, and also much thicker than this.

WilsonCreek · Mar 3, 2009

Stoffie said:
This page at TVK makes mention of an NS-15, with JA-3501 flat driver (instead of JA-3502 here). Probably some iteration of the same system along the way.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/JA6002/JA6002.html

Cool find btw

Thanks, unfortunately there was only one. I asked and verified that only one had been dropped off. And, thanks a lot for the info and link. After seeing the pictures and reading the text I am going to have to take it apart now! Also, I wasn't sure what this meant:

"For frequencies above 1KC, however, an emphasis circuit of about 3dB/oct. should be used."

Oh, I found this on the NS-15:

http://audio-heritage.jp/YAMAHA/speaker/ns-15.html

Looks like a better version of this one. From that site it seems like there might have been 2 crossover points, which I don't get...maybe it was adjustable, or maybe I'm not interpreting it correctly.

mhardy6647 · Mar 3, 2009

WilsonCreek · Mar 3, 2009

mrh,

Thanks for posting--I assume that's the NS-15. What does the control to the left of the wire terminals do? And how does it sound?

mhardy6647 · Mar 3, 2009

I am sorry the tag's not legible in my crummy photos :-(
It's a tweeter level control.
It sounds... not too bad.
I had offered/promised this one speaker to someone here at AK some time ago, but I never followed through (and the person didn't bug me)... I feel kind of bad about that :-(

Nakdoc · Mar 3, 2009

This is the Yamaha "EAR SPEAKER"! I remember an ad in Stereo Review around 1970 that said the ear shape was the natural shape of sound! This speaker is highly collectable. Obviously NS-10M is the popular monitor. There were NN-3,NS-5 and NS-8 speakers, US built with Japanese tweeters. My mother has some NS-5s I gave her years ago.

mhardy6647 · Mar 3, 2009

They also had a woofer (or extended range driver) that they (Yamaha) described as shaped like a piano soundboard. They had commercial sound and consumer versions of these weird drivers. They don't seem to have exactly set the world on fire, do they...?

WilsonCreek · Mar 3, 2009

Nudies

Pulled the grill off--it wasn't any harder than taking the grill off any speakers that have little screws in the corners. The "cone" is mostly flat, with an indentation in the vicinity of the voice coil & magnet. I suppose it is styrofoam, but it has a shiny black coating, and is dimply. From the front, the cone is about 15" tall and 10" wide.

I also gave it another listen and experimented a little. I interpreted "For frequencies above 1KC, however, an emphasis circuit of about 3dB/oct. should be used" as "turn up the treble" and did. It was hooked up to an inexpensive Pioneer AV receiver with one "Bass" control and one "Treble" control. The difference was amazing. It was as if the midrange was turned all the way down when the receiver was actually in the flat position, and turning it all the way up brought it to where it should be normally. It was a different speaker. I rarely change the eq from flat when I am listening to music, and it was remarkable the way the quality of everything above what was probably about 1,000 Hz improved. It didn't get high pitched or trebly (if that's a word), it came up to being what sounded correct. Odd woofer, that's for sure.

kfa888 · Mar 3, 2009

I have had a pair of these for a long time I'm going to DIY a project with some day for the fun of it. Did a quick OB with one once and was actually impressed with how wide a range it covered. These are big, the "cone" part is a good 12 plus inches.

myu701 · Dec 13, 2010

I discovered that these also surfaced in Yamaha's line as "NS-250E" (in addition to NS-10, NS-15, NS-18, etc.). Because they never took off, and nobody else ever ventured into this kind of woofer design, it's probably not that great of a speaker overall. Something so peculiar about having an open back like that, with just masonite and sheer black screen over three large rectangular openings, makes it look really cheap.

nissan guy · Dec 13, 2010

These are another variation of the ear speakers i found on the net. Ns-570's.

myu701 · Dec 13, 2010

^ Wow, nice catch there Nissan Guy.

Now I'm really curious as to how many models Yamaha made with these, and across how many years.

aidynphoenix · Dec 13, 2010

i have a pair of fisher planex speakers (zebra style)
these speakers are alot different. but remind me of those yamaha's quite alot.. because of how the woofers work.

the fishers are about 5inches deep and atleast 25" wide and 30"tall. they have a open back simply covered with a transparent fabric like those yamahas.
they look like a picture frame.. the outer edge of the speaker is wood.. the entire inside (where a picture's glass would be) is a rectangular styrofoam block.. the front of it is covered by a sheet with a white and black design on it (zebra)
there is no surround around the styrofoam sheet that i know of.. there seems to be a thick doubblesided foam tape that holds the block to the frame.. there is a tweeter in addition to the main woofer.. both touch the main block and each have a spider..

these two fishers are impressive looking but really dont sound very impressive.. the tweeter has a simple capaciator to filter out the low end.
im thinking its because the styrofoam cannot really move much.. considering it rests on the frame and has no surround.. the woofer must make the styrofoam bend inorder to viberate.
these have very little bass and sound pretty starile.. but the put out alot of volume. and are somewhat efficient.. a large surface area fills the room with sound easily.

im wondering if what i am describing in sound is similar to your findings from those yamaha's..

here is a webpage with a pic of some fisher planex speakers..
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue17/scott.htm
those arent mine.. and those arent the zebra design. but basically the same.

nissan guy · Jan 1, 2011

There is quite a few of these on epay right now. Kind of weird if you ask me. I havent seen any then this year a ton of them pop up after we talk about them on here.

Not affiliated with any on there.

JoeDotCom · Sep 29, 2011

Hi There,

I just opened up my NS-10's for some photos and figured I would share. Unfortunately one of the tweeters must have some loose at some point in their life and is pretty smashed up/dead.

Neat looking woofer for sure!

An Unusual Yamaha NS-10

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