Old Yamaha hifi speakers vs. my old ears

    o.k. - luckily I have no reputation to loose - but for sure with this post I also will not gain any in the near future :D


    Some guys here know that I was moving to another village. Because the house I rent is a new building, I can not use the big cellar at the moment. But my wife allowed me to use the smallest room upstairs to host thousands of cd's, books, 22 guitars and other sensitive junk :thumbup:


    Recently I found the old yamaha hifi system with sub from my wife in a carefully sealed moving box. Cause there is hardly any other work to be done, I was trying out the hifi system with cd, then connected as monitor system for fun.


    First I thought the new room is tricking my ears, but after intense testing (no measerement - just ears) and comparing to Yamaha hs 5, Shure SRH840 and other hifi speakers with some reference tracks, I am shocked quite a bit about the result.


    The Yamaha so-called NX-E 400 plus sub are the closest I could get to the linear and balanced sound of my beloved Shure SRH840 (I always preferred this headphones cause it does not overdo with mids and highs).


    I am not perfectly satisfied with the somewhat fizzling highs of the hs 5, but after testing several other monitors in different price range they were the best compromise.


    Now I am a bit shocked because the "not nearfield", passive hifi speakers Yamaha NX-E 400 deliver a very detailed, balanced and as I judge surprisingly honest, linear and neutral hearing experience - very close to the Shure SRH840, but without the limitations of a headphone (again no measurement done yet).


    Could not be possible?!?

    Edited once, last by Ibot39 ().

    No big surprise to me. Yamaha has built good speakers for ages and this small set of speakers might not be an exception. :)
    Basically these speakers are nearfield (based on their size). There might be less difference to studio nearfield monitors than you think. The added term "studio" usually just defines the connectivity (e.g. XLR or TRS connectors, built-in poweramp, a few options to adjust like HPF).


    On a side note ... if you're used to listen music through these speakers and if you feel like you hear everything you need to hear properly then they might be serving well for you to even mix your music. Listening is very related to "comparing". If you spend a lot of time listening to your sophisticated Hifi in the living room and switch on studio nearfileds only every once in a while, you'll likely never get used to them and your mixes will not end up the way you intend. But if you're used to them and enjoy listening recorded music through them as well, then it gets pretty easy to achieve exactly what you're looking for in your own music.
    In other words ... there's very little sense in buying expensive high-end studio speakers if you rarely use them and never get to know them. :)


    Cheers
    Martin

    I was surprised because all hifi setups I am familiar with did change or "colour" the tone very audible compared to any studio monitors I know (boosting either lows or highs, or both, strange high mids and so on). And I think this is not only cause of the amplifier, but also the speakers themselfs are tuned?


    For example I remember my blue covered Technics speakers. You could have connected them to every source and blast all kinds of music through them, everything sounded "really good", "nice", "warm" and "relaxed" and very similar for the ears. Back in time I recorded and mixed cold, grim and frostbitten black metal ( :saint: ). Damned, even the badest fizzy shaver guitar tone sounded nice and warm with the Technics speakers - not joking! But it was and would be impossible to use these speakers for mixing!


    But I really consider to somehow integrate the Yamaha NX-E 400 in my setup, now that they are awaken from their sleep.

    Edited once, last by Ibot39 ().