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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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Vintage Asylum Classic gear from yesteryear; vintage audio standing the test of time. |
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In Reply to: Garage sale posted by Mike in NJ on May 21, 2005 at 22:14:08:
I am very familiar with the Yamaha NS-5 speaker. This is a two-way acoustic suspension speaker from the late 70s. The NS-5 was the entry level speaker in a series that included the still popular and highly sought after NS-10 mini monitor, not to mention larger and more expensive NS-225(?)and NS-500 three-way speakers and the much more expensive NS-1000. The TOTL NS-1000 sported one of the first uses of berylium metal in a dome midrange and tweeter.
Using the entry level NS-5 speakers you could assemble a basic Yamaha system (speakers, receiver, and turntable) for about $800
Dimensions: H- 20 3/4", W-11 3/4", D- 11"
Woofer- 10" (250mm), high compiances, long throw type (rubber surround, not foam)
Tweeter- 1" (25mm) soft dome (silk) type
From memory, the NS-5 crossed over from the woofer to the tweeter at a very low 1000Hz. I don't know how they were able to make this work but Yamaha must have designed a very high quality tweeter with exceptional travel capability for such a small driver.
The NS-5 was available in both a real wood veneer and wood-grained vinyl finish. The front baffle of the speaker was also finished with the same veneer or vinyl so you could remove the snap-on grill and the speaker would still integrate into your living room without looking too industrial.
Although these speakers could be placed on the floor, it was very popular at the time to place them a foot or so out into the listening room on short speaker stands that raised the speaker about five inches and also tilted them back slightly.
The NS-5 was not a party speaker or a speaker for fans of heavy metal. Yamaha's engineers designed the NS-5 and other Yamaha speakers for accurate reproduction of orchestra instruments (woodwinds, brass, and strings) and for natural reproduction of the human voice. The sound of the NS-5 was very neutral, with the potential for good soundstage and imaging when properly positioned.
When used with a Yamaha receiver such as the model CR-440 or CR-620, you could adjust the receiver's variable loudness control in conjunction with the volume control to get just the right amount of loudness boost for perceived full-range reproduction of the lower frequencies, while not playing the music so loud that it would disturb people in another room or part of the house.
I recall that the midrange of the NS-5 was not at all lacking. Male singing voices in particular were very well reproduced. Reproduction of bass instruments sounded very natural, although the lowest octave was not reproduced with the same authority as with some other designs, most notably the Original and Smaller Advent designs. The dome tweeter had good dispersion up to the limits of it's 1-inch dimension. Two of my stronger acoustic memories from 1978/79 include listening to the NS-5 speakers on a friend's all-Yamaha system while playing Neal Young's performance of Sugar Mountain from his Decade collection, and listening to my sister's Yamaha-based system playback Steely Dan's Aja album. In both instances the NS-5 speakers excelled.
Just last year I purchased a pair of woofers on eBay that had been pulled from a pair of NS-5 speakers to replace the missing drivers in a pair of Design Acoustics PS-10 speakers. The NS-5 woofer was a perfect fit in the PS-10, down to the screw holes in the speaker basket. (Note: It is hard to find a 10 inch woofer that fits in the PS-10 cabinet design because to fit this speaker the depth of the woofer cannot exceed 4 inches, due to the location of the PS-10's internal sub-enclosure for the midrange driver. Unlike the NS-5 woofer, most 10 inch drivers are over 4 inches in depth.) The results were quite musical, with solid reproduction of bass notes down to just over 50 Hz and a slight rising response in the bass reaching a peak of about 6db at 100Hz, but then this same rise in the bass response was noted in a Stereo Review magazine's review of the PS-10 in September 1983.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Garage sale Yamaha NS-5 speakers - mkmelt 09:09:02 05/22/05 (3)
- The NS5 I owned used an 8" woofer. (nt) - reelsmith. 18:48:59 05/22/05 (2)
- Re: The NS5 I owned used an 8" woofer. (nt) - mkmelt 20:41:01 05/22/05 (1)
- Mine was 10" - Clmrt 07:38:37 05/23/05 (0)
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