but there's a reason they are "studio standards" and a reason people use them A LOT.
Here's the story:
Back in 1978 when the original NS10s came out, there was no such thing as a nearfield studio monitor. The original NS10s, in fact, were actually built and marketed as home stereo bookshelf speakers. One or two "big name" engineers (the history is unclear as to exact names, maybe it was Bob Clearmountian like was suggested) bought some NS10s as modern-day versions of Auratones so that their mixes sounded as good on an AM radio as on a home hi-fi.
The idea was that they could actually take these compact speakers with them to whatever studio their next project was at and they'd have not only Auratone-like check speakers for lo-fidelity playback testing, but they'd have a "reference"; a speaker that they knew how it sounded regardless of where they were working at the time, and where, because it *was* in the nearfield, was not as affected by the different - large - control room colorations as the farfields might be. (Note this advantage does not really exist in your typical undersized home studio control room).
So, people start to take notice that there are a heavyweight or two carrying a pair of NS10s around with them. So the studios start to put their own NS10s on top of their desks to a) try to attract the big boys to come w/o having to carry their own gear, and b) to attract others by adding the NS10s that are making all this buzz (pun intended) to their gear list. Next thing you know, engineers all over are becoming used to the sound of the NS10s and learning how to mix and check and translate with them. Yamaha notices this trend, they flip the logo on their boxes sideways to accomodate typical top-of-the-mixing-desk horizontal setups, put a slightly different tweeter in there and throw the "m" on the end of the model number to indicate that they are now marketing it as a "monitor" instead of as the home speaker of it's original intended design and purpose.
So now, by the early 80s, the NS-10 has become a
de facto standard in studio control rooms. Not because it sounded any good; no engineer ever claimed at the time that they sounded any good whatsoever. Half of them would actually tape tissue paper over the new M-series tweeters to cut down on their harsh sound. No, they became a standard because engineers wanted a standard - a monitor they knew would sound the same wherever they went - and because the NS-10 had no competition at the time. Being the first nearfield studio monitor means, for a little while anyway, that you are the *only* nearfield studio monitor.
Here's the deep, dark secret that few realize and even fewer want to admit about NS10s. The reason many engineers still like to mix on them to this day, and the reason that mixes that sound good on them supposedly sound good everywhere is has nothing to do with sounding good on AM radio anymore. With the home studio situation, it's got nothing to do with needing a standard for translatability across studio environments.
It's because the 5dB midrange bump they deliver along with it's anemic bass response force the home engineer to shave a few extra dB off the mids and add some tight bass on the individual tracks or in the mix. It's the equivalent of a milder but forced version of death scoop EQ applied in the mix.
G.