Alright what do ns10s sound like?

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panax_27

Member
never heard a pair in real life. im new to this. how would you fully describe the sound ? Other then the obvious they sound "bad" ... really curious as most of my favorite sounding records were done using them and new to recording engineering thank you
 
I've never heard them either. Though I suppose you could use these for stereo bookshelf speakers, they seem to be better utilized in picking out defficiencies in your mixes. I have done some reading on them. Here's a couple starting points :

Here's some info :

musicalinstrumentpro.com

Yamaha NS-10 Specs and Review - Musical Instrument Pro

The Yamaha NS-10 is a small loudspeaker introduced by Yamaha Corporation in 1978. It started out as a bookshelf speaker.
musicalinstrumentpro.com musicalinstrumentpro.com

This has 3 pages more pages of info with measurements :

The Yamaha NS10 Story

Love or hate the Yamaha NS10, this unassuming little speaker has found a place in the studios of many of the world's top producers. We trace its history, and investigate why a monitor whose sound has been described as "horrible" became an industry standard.
www.soundonsound.com www.soundonsound.com
 
They sound fine for small speakers. In fact, if they were brand new today, I suspect they’d be happily accepted. When they first came out, the pairs we bought just sounded ok, but we’re bass light, and all the stories about toilet paper being needed over the tweeter to tame it, I thought a bit silly. We had two pairs and no toilet paper in sight. Small, bright and clean. By today’s standards, quite normal sounding.
 
I like them. I have a couple of pairs. As others have said they’re light in the bass.
Where they shine is in the mids and high mids, where most of the action is.

Keep in mind all speakers sound different. IMHO there’s no such thing as a ‘flat response’ speaker. And then there’s the room they’re in.

So like anything, you have to ‘learn them’.

I got turned onto them by a producer. I figured good enough for some of my favorite recordings? Good enough for me.
 
rob aylestone said:
They sound fine for small speakers. In fact, if they were brand new today, I suspect they’d be happily accepted. When they first came out, the pairs we bought just sounded ok, but we’re bass light, and all the stories about toilet paper being needed over the tweeter to tame it, I thought a bit silly. We had two pairs and no toilet paper in sight. Small, bright and clean. By today’s standards, quite normal sounding.
Click to expand...
thanks for your detailed answer. What would you compare them to nowadays ? have you heard anything that comes close as far as headphones? im not able to use a soundproof room yet for my recordings. thanks
 
RFR said:
I like them. I have a couple of pairs. As others have said they’re light in the bass.
Where they shine is in the mids and high mids, where most of the action is.

Keep in mind all speakers sound different. IMHO there’s no such thing as a ‘flat response’ speaker. And then there’s the room they’re in.

So like anything, you have to ‘learn them’.

I got turned onto them by a producer. I figured good enough for some of my favorite recordings? Good enough for me.
Click to expand...
ah ok cool . would you say there light in the bass compared to lets say the classic apple earbuds or other moniter headphones (ie. sony mdr7506)out there these days? i heard one person say there kinda "woofy" sounding in the lower mids is that true as well in your experience? Thanks
 
Light in the bass as compared to modern monitors. I can’t even compare them to earbuds.

Music has changed and is more bass heavy nowadays. Back in the days of vinyl, less bass was desirable. You didn’t want that needle jumping out of the grooves of the record.

But the studio always had bigger ‘mains’ that were perfectly capable of handling bass.

Woofy mids? Never seemed that way.
 
But like any speaker used for mixing, you have to learn them. Get lots of sources you like and listen, and listen, and listen.

Re: midrange

I’ve seen some tests where the Yamahas were compared with more expensive modern studio monitors. The NS10s did as good and in many cases better than the other speakers.

When your done and are fairly familiar with the speakers, try to make your mix sound like theirs. Feel free to reference the commercial track as often as needed.

One of my favorite records, “Tom Petty Wildflowers” was done to tape in Sound City studios with.........NS10s

I’ll used that constantly as a reference. And it’s kind of cool that I’m listening to it in the same speakers they heard it on. :)

In closing, the only way to really know what they sound like is to get a pair.

You may love em, you may hate them. You’ll find out.

Good news is you can always sell a set of NS10s. They are in demand.

Might I recommend if you go down that path to get a set of “NS10M studio”. Better crossovers, no tissues required, and they can handle a bit more power.

Ps. You need a good amp. I have a Bryston 3B.
There’s plenty of info on the net. Read up and pull the trigger.......or not ;)
 
RFR said:
Light in the bass as compared to modern monitors. I can’t even compare them to earbuds.

Music has changed and is more bass heavy nowadays. Back in the days of vinyl, less bass was desirable. You didn’t want that needle jumping out of the grooves of the record.

But the studio always had bigger ‘mains’ that were perfectly capable of handling bass.

Woofy mids? Never seemed that way.
Click to expand...
oh ok gotcha yeah im trying to steer clear of my mixes sounding too muddy/bassy... been looking for ns10 alternatives.,, would you say that ns10s make for a clearer mix because they dont allow peple to hear all the bass and mix it in or is it because the lack of bass doesnt get in the way of hearing the mids and highs? still a little new to this
 
I’d say they make it easier to focus on the mids.

Anyway I’m out. Do some reading :)

Cheers
 
I think you’ve missed the point. Studios were on a bass quest, and mixes often sounded bad on average systems people had at home, so the concept of two pair of speakers in the studio appeared. Mix on one, check on the other to hear what the listeners would get. NS10 speakers were not designed to sound good, they were really designed to be good, repeatable quality, average comparisons. Modern small speakers are designed to sound ‘bigger’. The trouble with in ear headphones is simply that measuring their frequency response and sound is so hard. We all prefer different ones, that suit our ears. I cannot mix on them, but I can listen on them. Speakers of any kind work better. Would I buy NS10 speakers now? No. Far better ones around. Do you want accurate monitors or ones designed to deliberately be average?
 
I don’t think I’m missing the point. Just providing my personal perspective with using them.
And they weren’t initially designed to be studio monitors, but affordable bookshelf speakers.
After they became popular and were repurposed for studio monitors, then Yamaha started refining them a little.

And despite the availability of new ‘better’ speakers a lot of people still use them. Including CLA

One speaker I am highly impressed with is the Equator D5
It’s a coaxial design. Even Our own massive master approves. He said in one thread they were the only affordable monitors he wouldn’t throw into a tire fire :)

Too bad they were discontinued . They have a great balanced response and with the coaxial design the imaging is very good.
 
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I've heard a few different pairs of NS10's over the years. For what it's worth.....the only monitors I ever thought came close was a pair of Tannoy 501a Reveal speakers. Light on bass and strong clarity and accuracy in the mids and highs. I still have the Tannoy's although they're not my go to speakers anymore.

Mick
 
To me, they were kind of papery sounding. Really concentrated in the mids. Kind of like a hifi clock radio.
 
It's no wonder. The frequency response graphs in the above SOS article resemble a high pass filter at around 70Hz.
 
I'm not a fan of NS10s, despite having used a pair from time to time for over 30 years. You need to learn how to work with them and we had a few inexperienced artists at the studio who had to come back and do a remix after going against my advice and using them for their mixes. If you don't have any other references then your ears will get used to them. After that, any good speakers will sound dull and your NS10 mixes will sound dull on any other speaker. However, since buying LS3/5as to take the place of NS10s at the studio we stopped having issues requiring remixes.

One thing that I have noticed is that decent monitors all sound reasonably similar with only fairly minor differences. If I'm using the big Tannoys I sometimes have to check that I haven't inadvertently switched to the LS3/5as. Both have amazingly precise imaging so the sound comes from right in front of you - nothing appears to come from the speakers. The only clue as to which one is being used is the amount of bass. I also had a pair of KH120s here for a session and they shared the general characteristics with the other speakers.

In contrast, the NS10s don't do stereo imaging - there is nothing convincing about their presentation (in my opinion).
 
The ones I've heard were obnoxiously bright. I would expect a mix that sounds good on NS10s to sound dull on most other speakers.

[Edit] And I'd hate to have to mix on them for any length of time. That would be torture.
 
That's when you bring out the toilet paper and gaffer tape over the tweeters! Back in the 80s, th recording mags spent ages on exactly what type of toilet paper was best for rock, or pop - quilted was too much, the hard stuff created strange sounds and the double ply budget stuff was just right. There is a great article here.
Sound on Sound Review
 
Those speakers were a good reference for some of the crappy playback scenarios that were prevalent 30-40 years ago. Just like the auratones studios used to mimic clock radio and TV speakers. People listen to music in much different ways now, so it's kind of an outdated reference.
 
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