Yamaha NS-500

W

Wiesty

Member
Hey,
I wanted to get some peoples opinions on the Yamaha NS-500 speakers. I have the opportunity to by a pair locally for 200 bux. They appear to be in pretty good shape, and have just recently been re foamed. I know I've heard great things about the 500M and 1000/1000M speakers, but I havent heard alot on the 500s. Perhaps some yammi fans can chime in with their opinions before I decide what I want to do. Just for clarification I mainly listen to a lot of classic rock and jazz. I'm running a Cr-1020 as my amp.
Thanks!
 
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I used to have a pair. Sold them a year or more back. They had great quickness in the treble with that beryllium tweeter but sounded a bit raggeddy otherwise and thin sounding in the lower frequencies. It wasn't that painful to sell them. I paid $50 for mine and refoamed the woofers. For $200, I would listen to them very carefully first to know if you like them.

Good hunting,
John
 
You can usually find the NS-500m's for a little more and they are IMO a very good sounding speakers for the money. They are a three way, with a Be dome tweeter, a Titainum dome midrange, and a 12 inch carbon bass driver. I prefer to use a tube amp on them, as sometimes the Be tweeters are claimed to have a sterile sound on SS amps. But on a mid sized tube amp I found them to sound quite nice.
 
I've definitely looked around for some and cannot find them at all. The3rd speaker is definitely a selling point for them, but I'd have to pay to have me shipped etc. These are local and have been refoamed so you can see my dilemma...
 
I can only comment on the NS 500m's as I have never listened to the 500. I will defer to others on this one but good luck and I hope you like them if you get them.:thmbsp::thmbsp:
 
Thanks! I know yammi speakers don't get much attention from audiophiles, but I'm not that intense.....yet. I'm a musician, and from what I've read and experienced, yamahas are very accurate and do not mess with the original sound. This is appealing to me, audiophile or not.
 
I've owned both, (still have 2 pairs of NS-500M's) The 500 is a very good speaker, smaller room, moderate volumes, you'll be happy, especially for, say, $150 :D But, if you want, IMNSHO, the best bang for the buck Yamaha speaker, keep your eyes open for a set of NS-500M's. Not as beautiful as the NS-670/690, not quite the cult following of the NS-1000 ( my daily drivers) or NS-1000M's and just slightly less revealing (but better bass and power handling) The 500-M's really hit the mark for price and performance.

Good luck and enjoy!
 
I'm starting to think that I might just grab these and wait for the day that something better comes along. Unless anyone can push me on the way of some speakers that would be better for 200 bux.
 
I just picked up a pair for free...the tweets didn't work though. $200 is a fair price but I would still try to bargain a bit. And if you ever need badges or woofs and such...let me know as no one else seems interested in them...
 
Alright, to make things more interesting , I now have my eyes on some 670s and 690s. I know that the 690 is similar to the 1000m, but does not have the BE drivers. How do they compare to the 1000s and the 500s? Are they beyrillium drivers a bonus to to the speakers?
 
And i guess to add to that, I currently have a ss amp. From what I've read these speakers can tend to sound a bit metalic and harsh unless driven through a tube amp. Is this true? Or are people just not used to hearing yamaha's "natural sound"?
 
Wiesty said:
And i guess to add to that, I currently have a ss amp. From what I've read these speakers can tend to sound a bit metalic and harsh unless driven through a tube amp. Is this true? Or are people just not used to hearing yamaha's "natural sound"?
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I can't say they're metallic or harsh, just a clearer window to the signal and rather then tapering down, they offer more treble than many speakers. I do know there is a phase mismatch between the mid and tweeter, that is likely the culprit when people do find the sound a bit hard. I also know that not all NS-1000Ms sound the same. Depending on the production run year, they could be very open and clear or sound congested. I have a few tweeters on hand from different runs and they not only look a little different, also sound different. One looks to be an earlier run, it sounds pretty poor compared to the others. Yamaha invented the process of vapor deposition for speaker making, and any new technology (at it's time) is subject to a maturing period.
 
Wiesty said:
That makes sense. How are the 690s and 1000s so similar though if the 1000s use BE tweets?
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Same manufacturer/designer, similar cabinet design and woofers, both 12" 3-ways probably account for any similarities.
The NS-1000 are not harsh or metallic sounding but very smooth instead.
Compared to the equally smooth sounding NS-690 the NS-1000 is voiced with the mids and highs a bit more forward probably enough to call them less balanced than the nicely detailed NS-690s.
I think the NS-1000 is more capable of producing detail and presence however perhaps so that some might feel it is less well balanced.
Both are wonderful speakers, IMHO.
 
Thanks guys!
I should also ask, maybe some of the JBL guys can chime in here. I also have my eyes on a pair of JBL L112s for dirt cheap. What are people's opinions on these and how would you compare them the yamahas? I would suspect the yamahas to sound a bit clearer and the JBLs to sound warmer when both played through a solid state. Thoughts?
 
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