Yamaha NS-10M Clones Now In Production

stickman

stickman

Super Member
I was looking through the LA Craigslist speaker listings and came across a pair of knock-offs of the Yamaha NS-10M monitors that have been out of production for years now. The monitors were used in many recording studios for a long time and because of some treble frequency spikes many recording engineers taped a single ply sheet of Kleenex tissue over the tweeter to smooth them out a bit.

When I saw these I was expecting them to be cheap Chinese sourced look-alike knock offs but when I searched online I found out that they are a legitimate, good quality attempt to re-create the NS-10M as closely as possible, which was a jaw dropper for me.

The speaker company is named Avantone and the model is the CLA-10. I salute their efforts to revive such a popular studio monitor and hope it pans out for them. I wonder if their re-creation tweeters still need a sheet of tissue paper taped in front of them to tame the high frequencies? (lol)

Link: http://www.avantonepro.com/cla-10.php
 
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stickman said:
I was looking through the LA Craigslist speaker listings and came across a pair of knock-offs of the Yamaha NS-10M monitors that have been out of production for years now. The monitors were used in many recording studios for a long time and because of some treble frequency spikes many recording engineers taped a single ply sheet of Kleenex tissue over the tweeter to smooth them out a bit.

When I saw these I was expecting them to be cheap Chinese sourced look-alike knock offs but when I searched online I found out that they are a legitimate, good quality attempt to re-create the NS-10M as closely as possible, which was a jaw dropper for me.

The speaker company is named Avantone and the model is the CLA-10. I salute their efforts to revive such a popular studio monitor and hope it pans out for them. I wonder if their re-creation tweeters still need a sheet of tissue paper taped in front of them to tame the high frequencies? (lol)

Link: http://www.avantonepro.com/cla-10.php
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Who manufactures these "clones", where are they made, and why isn't their price displayed with the ad that you linked to here?

Finding out the truth about all of this might just reveal the answer to your questions! I will not offer an opinion until I have a truthful explanation of what these sellers are offering.

I suspect that it's all Chinese crap designed to separate wannabe's from their money, but that's just how I feel about most Chinese goods these days. Show me different and I'll apologize all over the place :rolleyes:
 
SB12345 said:
Who manufactures these "clones", where are they made, and why isn't their price displayed with the ad that you linked to here?
Click to expand...

Avantone is a NY company, products designed in US made in China just like a lot of others (the majority) these days.

Price not on company website because they sell through dealers/distributors.
 
Thank you Mikeybc for the link to that excellent review article. So it seems the downfall of the Avantone clone is their re-created tweeter driver is 3 to 4 db more efficient that the original NS-10M Studio model (2nd generation) which had slightly elevated high frequency response to begin with! My favorite quote from the review " ...the CLA‑10’s tweeter is generally around 3dB to 4dB up on the NS‑10M Studio version. Bob Clearmountain might have reached for a towel rather than tissue paper." (lol)

It would be nice if Avantone could add a cross-over tied in switch that could lower the tweeter output by 3 db without causing any other unwanted side effects to get the spectral balance back into a more reasonable realm. I've never listened to either the NS-10M or NS-10M Studio, but my curiosity has definitely been piqued to hear what all of the fuss was about.
 
SB12345 said:
Who manufactures these "clones", where are they made, and why isn't their price displayed with the ad that you linked to here?

Finding out the truth about all of this might just reveal the answer to your questions! I will not offer an opinion until I have a truthful explanation of what these sellers are offering.

I suspect that it's all Chinese crap designed to separate wannabe's from their money, but that's just how I feel about most Chinese goods these days. Show me different and I'll apologize all over the place :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/Avantone_Pro

Great reviews there. Buddy uses the "MixCubes" in his studio and said it transformed how he mixed. Says they are great for getting the critical mid range right.
 
Oh, for god's sake, WHY?

Other than people who need them as a mixing tool in a studio (and even those people, would want the tweeter response to EXACTLY match the original, NOT be 4dB louder!), really- who would actually be better off with these, than a properly-designed speaker, actually having flat frequency response and decent transient response?

Regards,
Gordon.
 
I recall something about folks replacing NS-10s with AR Rock Partners as monitors to lose the ear burn effect.
 
NS10 speakers were horrible to start with. They're associated with studio monitors because so many studios used them for near-field monitoring, and because the white cones are so visually distinctive they were easy to spot and it became obligatory for every studio to have them or else potential clients would think the studio wasn't a "proper studio". They were introduced by Yamaha as domestic speakers, not intended as studio monitors. Bob Clearmountain used them because he wanted some consistency when working in different studios and needed some speakers which were small enough to fit in his car easily so he could take them to whatever studio he was working in.
Anyway, that's my take on the "legend" of the NS10.
 
Bearing in mind that I know almost nothing about recording engineering, I was under the impression that NS10s were basically one of several different speakers that engineers would use, after doing their initial mix on their preferred good speakers, to ensure that the mix also sounded good on a less than ideal system.
 
Somehow I ended up with two pairs of NS 10Ms. Having seen all the negative commentary about them, I assumed I wouldn't like them, but I heard much to appreciate. But I use Dynaco tube stuff - PAS 3x and Stereo 70, both with the Van Alstine modfications - and while the speakers have no deep bass (nor do any other speakers of the same size), I didn't find the treble harsh or strident. Used with a decent subwoofer, they sounded very good.
Apparently their group delay is low, and that is what makes them useful tools in the studio, but engineers need to hear everything on the recording, so matching the amp/system to the speakers isn't actually desireable - setting them up as unbearably bright may be the useful feature, not a bug.
 
rothwellaudio said:
NS10 speakers were horrible to start with. They're associated with studio monitors because so many studios used them for near-field monitoring, and because the white cones are so visually distinctive they were easy to spot and it became obligatory for every studio to have them or else potential clients would think the studio wasn't a "proper studio". They were introduced by Yamaha as domestic speakers, not intended as studio monitors. Bob Clearmountain used them because he wanted some consistency when working in different studios and needed some speakers which were small enough to fit in his car easily so he could take them to whatever studio he was working in.
Anyway, that's my take on the "legend" of the NS10.
Click to expand...

My understanding, from many studio and mastering engineers I've talked with over the years, is that almost nobody actually MIXED on them- they just had them, for a CHECK monitor, to make sure their mixes would "survive" on crappy portable radios, car stereos, and other junk audio devices. They PURPOSELY used a speaker with all the normal faults of crappy speakers, so that they could make sure that their mixes would not sound too bad, on such crappy devices. Same reason why Auratones were used, in many studios- to simulate the 'least common denominator" audio device.

Where someone got the idea that the NS10 should actually be used as a mixing monitor, I have no idea- but IMHO, it's one of the stupidest ideas ever hatched by mankind...

Regards,
Gordon.
 
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