A Yamaha 5000-Series Listening Party in LA

Thursday March 19th, 5–8pm: Shelley's Stereo, 22102 Clarendon St. in Woodland Hills, CA, will host representatives from Yamaha for a Yamaha 5000-series listening party. Appetizers, wine, and other refreshments will be provided. Shelley's will be holding a raffle, for prizes. RSVP required. BYOV—Bring Your Own Vinyl—optional.

COMMENTS
Briandrumzilla's picture

Is hand sanitizer optional?

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Bring your own face mask :-) ........

rschryer's picture

...looks interesting.

monetschemist's picture

Other items in my "always wanted collection": Dayton Wright electrostatics, Infinity Servostatics, Dayton Wright SPS-3 preamp (yeah I definitely had a thing for D-W), Phase Linear 700, Ampzilla, Supex 900, GAS Sleeping Beauty, Mitchell Cotter transformer...

The only ones that ever materialized in my home were my Ariston Audio RD11, Grace 701, and Infinity Black Widow. Ah well, it's good to still have aspirations at my advanced age.

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Stereophile could review those Yamaha NS-5000 speakers :-) ........

Russell Dawkins's picture

That would be nice—especially in comparison to the NS-1000s, especially if those were placed as designed — to be against the wall and raised 18" or so. They are too often auditioned and assessed out in the room, on taller stands, when the owner's manual specifies wall placement. This goes some way to explain the commonly held notion that the NS-1000M is bass-light. To my ears (I have a pair driven by the Yamaha B-2 amplifier) one of the main charms of the NS-1000M is the quality of the bass, and surprising extension, thanks to the sealed box slow roll-off.

Bogolu Haranath's picture

These (relatively new) NS-5000s are bass-reflex designs, with a port in their rears of their cabinets ...... So, no need to place them close to the wall ...... Actually their bass may sound better when they are placed a few feet away from their back wall ........ They have 12" mid/bass drivers ...... So, their bass extension should be petty good :-) .......

Russell Dawkins's picture

I was refering only to the NS-1000.
I know the NS-5000 is a bass reflex design and designed to be placed where most contemporary audiophiles would place them — away from the wall as you describe. They are also intentionally voiced to please the modern consumer, which involves a (hopefully) tasteful rise in the bass region which most seem to want these days—witness the popularity of bass-heavy headphones and 'Megabass' this and that. Also, from the marketing perspective, Yamaha is catering to contemporary taste which, they rightly assume, includes a slightly loose, i.e., reverberant, bass, which is exactly what almost all ported designs deliver. I don't like it, but Yamaha is bowing to market pressure.
A 12" driver in that size ported box will not deliver any more real world extension than it would in a sealed box, because bass drops off at a steeper rate in a ported box compared to a sealed box. For greater bass extension the box would need to be bigger or the driver smaller.

I would expect to prefer the bass of the NS-1000M, but then I'm a bit of a bass freak and will always choose quality over quantity in the bass region.

All that being said, Yamaha is using some pretty clever and proprietary acoustic devices internally in the NS-5000, both for the domes and the bass driver, so perhaps they have solved the boominess typical of most ported boxes, although not completely, I guess, judging by the paragraph headed "Hole in one" in this review written by someone familiar with the bass of the NS-1000M:
https://www.hifichoice.com/content/yamaha-ns-5000

Also, Yamaha claims a -10 dB point of 26 Hz but that must be with room gain, judging by Yamaha's own response graph on this page:
https://www.audioholics.com/tower-speaker-reviews/yamaha-ns-5000
which shows a steady roll-off starting at 60Hz.

Compare that with Troel Gravesen's in room measurement (which of course includes room gain) near the bottom of this page:
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Yamaha-NS1000.htm
which appears to show less than 10 dB roll-off by 25 Hz, and that is still not quite against the wall but 18 and 50 cm away, and on too tall stands in the case of the 50 cm version.

prerich45's picture

I had a pair of NS-1000's back in the early 90's, I received them on a trade. I used them sparingly and loved the way they imaged but didn't like the lack of bass....AS i had them set up the wrong way...just like you stated in your post. I sold those for a miniscule amount($45)to a Navy buddy...I kick myself for that until this very day!

Bogolu Haranath's picture

I agree with all your points ....... We don't know what associated equipment those reviewers are using, especially the amplifiers ....... From the charts they are showing, the impedance seems to be somewhat demanding ...... Also, they don't show the phase angles ....... Tube amps usually may not do a good job of 'damping factor' ........ We don't know the port tuning frequency of those bass drivers ...... We will know all those details, if Stereophile reviews those speakers ....... BTW, as an additional note those speakers are using some kind of new synthetic material for all those drivers, including the tweeters ........ That may or may not influence how they sound :-) .......

count.de.monet's picture

"representatives from yamaha". those sound like fun dudes. snooooze. Where's the coke?

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