Yamaha NS-500 Monitors - PLEASE READ

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slackmaster2K
  • Start date Start date
Slackmaster2K

Slackmaster2K

Gone
I need some info really quick.

I was down at the pawnshop today and found a pair of Yamaha NS-500 monitors for 60 bucks. They're kinda scratched but look decent enough. From the information I've been able to find, these are pretty old...from the early 80's.

I've read a bit about Yamaha NS-10's which were used heavily but nobody seemed to like very much. I have heard that the NS-500's are better...less bright and more bass.

A clip from a guy on Dejanews:

"<IN REGARDS TO NS-10> had nasal mids and papery bottom, and I was mad at Yamaha for not
>continuing production of the early 80s version of their NS-500 10" 2 way,
>which were big and smooth sounding and in all ways except size and cost
>vastly superior as a near field monitor.

Since they're old, there is some concern with rotting foam and bad speakers...but I also found out that replacement kits can be had for $120 or so.

Since I am the king of cheap, what do you think? Does anyone have any experience with these monitors? I might just buy em anyway because they're cheap.

(another post in favor of a vintage gear forum :)

BTW, I also found an infamous Tubescreamer pedal in great shape for 50 bucks. I offered 30 and she said 40 so I left. I'm pretty confident that if I walk back in in 2 weeks weeks I'll steal it for 30. I love pawn shops.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Ok, I bought em. Bitched down to 35 bucks so I figured what the hell...even if they suck the cabinets are ok. They weigh a frickin ton.

Got em home and realized what I already knew. I need a power amp. Everyone talks about monitors, but nobody talks about monitor amps. Recommendations?

I'm listening to them right now through the home stereo (a glorified boom box). They sound ok. One of the tweeters appears to be pretty much dead. I'll have to tear it out.

Both of the woofers have tears in the outer foam. I did a bit of research and I think I can replace all of the speakers for like 129 bucks...or maybe that's per speaker. I'll look again. I haven't been able to drive them to the point at which you can hear the tears though so no biggy yet.

They're 30 watt normal 60 watt max; 8 ohms. There's a knob on the back that can be used to select input level.

Any comments? Suggestions?

Slackmaster 2000
 
Man I love talking to myself :)

Just saw a dude selling these suckers for 300 bucks. Called them "infamous". If anyone has any web links or other resources let me know please. I'd like to fix em up. The replacements I found were for NS-10's.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Yeah, I seems like i talk to myself a lot in this forum too! Mostly in this topic. Kinda cool that it is so close to real life...
 
Welp, I think that one of the crossovers is bad. The tweeter is fine but it's not getting much juice. I can't get a good look at the crossover because it's covered with this weird black plastic mold stuff. I'm not too experienced in this so if someone knows what that stuff is let me know. I'm probably going to call Yamaha on monday and try to find a replacement. It looks like the crossover in the other speaker was replaced. Someone was obviously in there messing around and it's a different color. How would I test to see which is working and which isn't? Maybe the "good" one is sending too much juice to the tweeter?

Slackmaster 2000
 
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