I dont know about the NS10...I just did a lot of reading and there are those in the business who say they, by design, work very well in accomplishing a good transferable mix, with or without toilet paper over the tweeter.
That's rubbish. The NS10's were average Hifi speakers. They flunked in the market. When they were on sales, a couple of famous engineers bought them to use as second or even third pair, for comparison.
The same goes for Auratones. The first manufacturer was a furniture factory that also made small public address speakers for supermarket background muzak. Somehow, a few famous engineers started using them as mono AM radio reference. Now, everybody is paying far too much money for a mediocre speaker.
the Yamamha HS/NS10M white cone thing, are actives and the new CLANS10 stuff could be very good in at least concept.
There have been half a dozen of versions of the NS10, that only were produced because the name is famous and sells. One of those even was a 5.1 setup.
The NS1000's on the other hand, are very good speakers that are mostly unknown outside of high-end freaks, as they were only sold in numbers in Japan. I've only seen on pair over here in the flesh.
the question that seems to be repeated on the NS10 debate is "are they obsolete or some tool of the trade forever"
They ARE a reference. Everybody knows how they sound. So if you run a studio-for-hire, it might be worth the investment as second or third pair. As main monitors, forget about them.
like a SM57 works on a guitar amp, tool of the trade. My study leans to the latter and many truly feel they are a "great tool" for mixing....even though they started out as only a hifi playback test without much thought....Clearmountain didnt spend much time picking them out, he was just tossing some average joe speakers for a playback test...it could have been any speaker of the time. Hes said since, in more recent times, he uses PC speakers as playback tests too...
Ah, so you know.
others have said the Optimus 7 has a similar ability to do the job well, in comparison to other average home hifi stuff.
Another Internet myth. Not bad speakers, just not worth their usual secondhand prices. Look at Visaton's Davids. Those are the original small speakers from the 70's, but not as expensive/famous, if you can find them.
I find the evolution of these nearfields interesting, even the Auratone, its purpose was to prevent the engineers from going to the car of an old radio system and hear the mix through some average joe's car speaker of "that time era".
and its "that time era" is what makes me skeptical of Auratones and NS10's because "that time era" is long gone. These two infamous speakers are not representative of the average persons playback system anymore. So they dont align to theory they became used.
however it seems many still love them and use them on many huge billboard hits and etc..etc.. as some lo-fi check to the studios main system.
so in theory, the pros and goal of that is to have the best set you can afford, while having some lo-fi average-joe's set to hear how it sounds on a average persons playback system of "this era". (my conclusion ymmv)
which is the most common play back average joe system of "this time era"?
a) mono car radio speakers in the front dashboard of a 1950's car
b) a stereo hi-fi home speaker set like the NS10..1970-1980
c) a car stereo with subwoofers and bluetooth and three way speakers in doors and tweeter in door
d) a earbud set
e) Beats headphones
f) plastic pc speakers
g) laptop speakers <1/2inch
h) home surround sound speakers in a home theater
Choice "d" would be the majority, I'm afraid. Some earbuds are quite decent in some ears; though.
The problem is most people turn to the net for advice. And most reviews are fake, these days. There are numerous small companies out there that get paid to write positive reviews @ 20 cents a piece. These alos bury the occasional negative review very fast.
If you take a through look at Amazon reviews, for instance, it's obvious. Just take a piece of text from a positive review, paste it into Google, encased in quotes and you'll immediately find the exact same words on dozens of websites.