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Yamaha NS-690 Acoustics Users Club

Coshac333

Coshac333

Active Member
There have already been questions about the YAMAHA NS-690 acoustics on this forum. I am the owner of this model, the first modification. I suggest creating a User Club. Let those who have this acoustics tell their opinion about it. What amplifiers do you use it with? What have you compared it with? Its name contains the words NS - Natural Sound. Is its sound really natural?
 

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How about a " Used to, user club." :biggrin:I have a "hand me down" set of the NS-690's with the tri-amp feature. Used to be Dads set that he got in "78" to replace a set of NS-670's lost in the "77" Fort Dodge tornado.

Quite a while ago one of them got knocked off the speaker stand and shifted a woofer magnet. I haven't gotten around to fixing it. My NS-1000's/1000M's have been filling the void. :thumbsup:
 
I came across an opinion that "the NS-690 has the sound of the East Coast, not the West Coast". Meaning the US coast. I'm not from the US, I live on the other side of the planet and I don't know how the sound of the East differs from the West)))) Maybe someone can tell me)))
 
We sold NS-690's. Our service manager had a pair. Just between you and me i preferred them over the NS-1000. The only issue was with them was they were dynamically challenged and people including our service manager were always taking out drivers. Some times it waas woofers, some times tweeters. When I wasn't doing professional installations and because I operated all the acoustic calibration and measurement equipment, I repaired speakers when thing were slow or an appointment cancelled. So I repaired a few 690's in my time. I retired 20 years ago so I have no clue as to whether replacements are available. But I would want to drive them with tube amps or at least SS amps where you can monitor the power levels being frd into them. I would be careful going over 50 watts be it continuous or peaks. MC 502 would be the amp I would choose as it has power guard circuits to prevent clipping. I guess you could also use a MAC 1900 or one of the 4000 series integrated amps. I would choose a MC 240 tube unit myself.
 
My main speakers are NS-690 along with a pair of JBL 4410’s. Both are excellent speakers but I always find myself coming back to the 690s. I’m powering them with a Yamaha R-S700 and a Yamaha CA800. I find the 690s incredibly detailed and transparent and I can listen to them for hours with no fatigue. I recently “figured out” how to enjoy Class A operation on the CA800 and, wow! Almost sounds like Yamaha matched them! I find that Class A removes any perceived harshness, aka distortion, from instruments like strings or piano in relation to AB operation, and the clarity of the 690s only add to the experience. Often when I’m listening and think “jeez, why didn’t I have this combo 50 years ago!” :)

FWIW I also have some NS670s running off a Fosi V3 Class D amp, also a great combo.
 
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For the NS-690 I use the Luxman L-510 amplifier. This amplifier works in class A. In my opinion, the NS-690 has very strong low and mid bass, but less upper bass and lower midrange. Vinyl records sound better on the NS-690 than CDs. Midrange and vocals sound very detailed. Very large space in the depth of the stage. High frequencies are clear and detailed, but have a soft character, sometimes there is not enough metallic timbre for musical instruments made of metal such as cymbals.
 
I also own the ns-690 "tri-amp" version. Also the ns-670's and the ns-1000m's.
While I'm currently enamoured of the ns-1000m's, the ns-690's are fine sounding speakers for sure. A lot of people complain of the lack of bass with Yamaha speakers. I don't feel that way. I think many are used to exaggerated bass. The bass I hear from the Yamaha's it tight, tuneful, and detailed. If you listen to them for a while, you will "reset/recalibrate" your bass threshold listening. Going back to exaggerated bass, it will sound well, exaggerated. JMO
When I was running the 690's, it was with just receivers. Have yet to listen to them with any tube gear. I do use the ns-1000m's with my Mac gear. The pre-amp is tube unit. The amp is 250 watts of solid state power. Sounds great! I imagine the 690's would sound great also on the same gear.
 
The frequency response curve in the NS-690 acoustics starts from 27-30 Hz and goes to 100 Hz at a good high level and then begins its decline in the segment from approximately 100 Hz to 500 Hz. Then it goes with a rise and has a small peak at 1000 Hz. Then the frequency response curve goes smoothly on the midrange and high frequencies. The decline in the area of 100-500 Hz and the subsequent rise with a peak at 1000 Hz give the listener the impression of a lack of the usual bass and good detail and space in the midrange, because many other acoustic systems, on the contrary, have a rise in the frequency response in the area of 100-500 Hz. This rise at 100-500 Hz creates a masking effect for other higher midrange frequencies and increases the acoustic hum in the listening rooms.
 

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I love my 690's MK2 version. Bass is punchy. I even swapped out the tweets for the beryllium ones. I like the timbre and gasp I can hear from the instruments. The original tweets are great too but are softer and less revealing. I do like both depending on what I listen to and mood. The clarity is unmatched.
What makes these speakers so special is my listening area is not very big. I can sit pretty close to these speakers like 5ft and not effect the listening phase of the drivers. They don't have to be loud to get the best sound. They sound good at all volumes. The sound does start to deteriorate at the highest of volume. I can listen to all types of music as I don't find them fussy or picky. They just produce the music as intended.
I have a Luxman integrated connected putting out 150watts a channel.
 
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I have a pair of the NS-690 III speakers. They look like they went through college, twice. I bought them from a woman who lived in San Francisco. She was about my age and also looked like she when through college, twice. We agreed to a $200 price tag before I arrived. When I arrived, she went wild - demanding more money. Her voice raised, her speach quickened. We agreed to disagree and as I walked away - she relented. Her expression didnt change, she was leaving town and had no other option than to sell to me. I must have reminded her of a date that went bad, really bad.

The mids suffered a depression - which I could fix. They sounded nice. I was driving them with a Sanyo SA-7150 (a big amp). I bought some rosewood veneer, took the Yahama's out of rotation and they landed in the project queue. They are still waiting for my attention.
 
I've ended up with a pair of the Mk 1s and the Mk 2s. I paid more for the former but prefer the better build quality & slight sound improvements of the latter.

I dropped one of the Mk 2 cabinets after getting it, got the dreaded shifted woofer. Fixed it tho and am confident doing another if I had to (epoxied all the woofer magnets now too).

Spectacular speakers
 
rmeade said:
I have a pair of the NS-690 III speakers. They look like they went through college, twice. I bought them from a woman who lived in San Francisco. She was about my age and also looked like she when through college, twice. We agreed to a $200 price tag before I arrived. When I arrived, she went wild - demanding more money. Her voice raised, her speach quickened. We agreed to disagree and as I walked away - she relented. Her expression didnt change, she was leaving town and had no other option than to sell to me. I must have reminded her of a date that went bad, really bad.
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I had a similar story, although it did not have an NS-690. I came to a woman's ad. She was selling a SHARP QT-90 tape recorder for $200. Her ad had a photo of a new device. She confirmed over the phone that the device was like new and worked well. I decided that $200 for a new device is a very good price these days. When I entered her apartment, it seemed to me that this apartment was inhabited by unfortunate tramps. She brought me the tape recorder. It looked like it had been lying in a landfill for two years. It was smashed and broken. There were large holes in the case. I said that it looked completely different from the photo in the ad and I was not satisfied with it. I said that I had better leave. She screamed after me, "You won't find a better device, I have a great product!"
 
Coshac333 said:
I had to listen to the NS-1000 and it seemed to me that the bass speakers in the NS-690 are better than in the NS-1000. The bass speakers in the NS-690 give a deeper and more bodily bass. It would be interesting to install the bass speakers from the NS-690 in the NS-1000 and listen to the result.
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I don't think there is no difference in the bass driver but the box dimensions are different. Perhaps the 690s dimensions provide a more controlled bass response over the 1000's. I would think the 1000's offer bigger bass from a bigger box design!!
 
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Coshac333 said:
There have already been questions about the YAMAHA NS-690 acoustics on this forum. I am the owner of this model, the first modification. I suggest creating a User Club. Let those who have this acoustics tell their opinion about it. What amplifiers do you use it with? What have you compared it with? Its name contains the words NS - Natural Sound. Is its sound really natural?
Click to expand...
I use a MC 2105 with an Onkyo Pre amp. I love the end result.
 
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