Yamaha NS 5000
Anybody know if or when the Yamaha NS 5000 speaker will hit the US shores? There was a great thread on A’Gon on this new speaker but it is now deleted? Other than an Australian and UK review I do not see too much conversation about this speaker. I am intrigued because Doug Schneider (of SoundstageHiFi.com) said in a blog post that these new speakers were the best sounding ones at the Tokyo audio show that also had other top line speakers.
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Here's the review on the NS-3000's...they said the NS-5000's are a better buy if you have the room. We will have to wait and see if Yamaha comes out with a NS-4000 https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.lowbeats.de/erster-test-kompaktbox-yamaha-ns-3000/ |
They will be a review in mid June on the all new Yamaha ns-3000 speakers! Here's a review on the new Yamaha a-s3200 Integrated amp! https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.lowbeats.de/erster-test-yamaha-a-s3200-das-spezielle-japan-high-end/ |
This an audio site and not a finance site so my last comment on money is that volatility in the stock market is not necessary a bad thing. You can make money with stock prices going up and down. That $5K investment started about 5 or 6 years ago so this is not money falling from the sky. It’s been a grind. My virtual system photos will get updated once the gear is in place. |
I am with you on the buy something. Actually I was going to buy the NS5000 at the public NS5000 event at the local dealer. I wanted to hear it in the bigger demo room just in case. Well this thing called Covaid-19 hit and the event got cancelled. So I am twiddling by thumbs until I can drive down and buy them. BTW - The reason I have not bought anything until now is because I only want to spend $5K to buy my next system, speakers + amps + DAC. That initial $5K is the amount I invested in the stock market to spend foolishly on audio gear. So today $5K = $40K system. LOL (first time I used this) The Luxman amps are out and I will get the T+A PV3100 HV integrated instead. I have no physical space to put the separates due to extra crap I am putting into the office space for a new work project. Luxman amps for the downstairs in a few years. |
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Posted an update on my original impressions but to summarize here: Moving my listening position in closer was a big step up in everything, soundstage, microdetail, imaging. But an even more massive difference, un-toeing the speakers. This resulted in another huge increase in soundstage and holography... hearing things off to the sides and behind me. Truly enveloped in the sound. Utterly incredible. They sound better than at the dealers now. Feel free to read more at the link above. Anyone who gets these speakers try NOT to toe them in. |
Briefly I will say that the NS5000 presents an incredible balance between amazing detail retrieval and musical flow. Surprisingly I can hear more details on these than my HD800S ! Holographic pictures that float and dance in air around you. Authoritative bass and sub-bass that is quick and deeply extended. Its really a speaker that is spell binding and charms the pants off you. I love the airy decays off strings and instruments and wholeheartedly agree with @yyzsantabarbara that the tonality is simply superb and real sound. When a piano plays and you close your eyes, you can almost reach out and touch the piano. The finish is superb and I love the brushed aluminum baffle around the drivers. Some negatives:I don't like the grill system. If the speaker is bumped or if you touch the grills (especially the bass grill) and don't have a firm grip, its not hard for it to slide off and then you are panicking praying that it doesn't destroy the beautiful finish to scratch the drivers. I think the grills do a good job to block poking and easy to place on and off but I do wish they made a stronger more robust system here. Made in indonesia? I heard thats where this speaker is assembled/made? For the asking price imo that is unacceptable. I mean the final product is fantastic but I would still appreciate Japanese craftsmanship on such an expensive speaker (at least for me). Whose to say the quality would not be even higher in such a scenario. I just have to trust that yamaha knows what they are doing and have maximized off shore production quality. I will be writing up more in the coming days. |
@steve59 Have not got it yet. Howver, I will be using the following: Luxman m900u amp Mola Mola Makua DAC/Preamp/Streamer (almost 100% sure) BTW - Shellely’s Stereo will be holding a listening party for the NS 5000. Most likely in there better rooms. I may head down for another listen. https://www.stereophile.com/content/yamaha-event-near-los-angeles @smodtactical Has posted some videos on YouTube of the NS5000 he got delivery on yesterday. He is a very happy camper. Hopefully he can chime in after he stops listening. |
The custom covers maybe a good idea since you have a toddler. I should also look into something like that. Those grills are a huge part of my decision since they look solid and my toddler will have some difficulty getting into the drivers. The black gloss of the speaker is rather gorgeous. I am not usually a fan of the glossy black finish. The reason I decided on the NS5000 was the tone of the speakers. I think the tone (sounding like real acoustic instruments) was likely due to the same driver material on the 3 NS5000 drivers. The sound was so coherent and lifelike to me. I also liked the Persona's 5f's and 3f's coherence but it was not better than the NS5000 for me. The Persona is really following in the 40 year old footsteps of the Yamaha NS1000 with the dual BE drivers. The Persona sounded more coherent than the Magico A3. Now all 3 speakers are wonderful. If someone gave me anyone 1 of them I would be a happy camper, but since I am spending my money that coherence/tone thing seemed to be the best on the NS5000. I did not get to really tell if the sound was diminished at low volume. I tried but the room was so bad that I just said the heck with it and just listened at a mid volume level. What electronics were attached to the speakers? My demo had the latest top end Yamaha separates. The sweet top end of the NS5000 also contributed to my decision for the NS5000. Since I will be using it in my office for long periods of time. I thought the NS5000 would be great for very long listening sessions. Now this top end was not dull or tubey to me so that was also important. For my downstairs I want to get either a KEF Blade2 or Persona 9H since I find both amazing and exciting speakers to listening too. Those listening session will be much shorter. That 50x50 demo room definitely did not help the speaker. For your own room you should look into room treatments. Yamaha has built some room treatments that they use in shows, they are placed behind the speaker. I think there is a link I posted somewhere in this thread. It is incredible how much of a difference my acoustic treatments made in my room. I am also looking forward to hearing what the DSP magician from Canada can do for my system. I would not be buying the NS5000 if not for my room treatments and the potential of the convolution files to tame the bass nodes. |
Yyz that looks really cool will definitely look into it. I know right off the bat that if I overload the room I’ll start with bunging the rear port. There is also two levels of bunging based on which foam plugs you use. I actually love bass and dont mind if it’s a little heavy handed and loose so I think it should be ok. Can also open the door in my room or into room treatment. Few thoughts i have. At my last listen i was initially playing a bit low and noticed the holographic magic was not quite there. When i turned them up a bit to a level that might be the upper limit of what I would normally listen at, they grew and scaled like a dragon being awoken and became imaging masters. Now I was in a very large space listening.. probably 50x50 feet or more.. so I wonder if that was the reason. I just hope that they sound great at even low levels. I listened to them vs sopra 3 and persona 5f and I preferred the ns5000 to both of them. I find that both of those speakers didn’t have the same level of imaging, holography and pure magic and I guess beautiful tone colour that ns5000 has. The 5f was also a bit thin and brittle and had less body. Question for you. What made you choose ns5000 over persona and magico a3? I think for me the speaker that came the close to challenging the ns5000 was the talis s300. That speaker had a beautiful crystalline sound, amazing metal build quality ... but again imaging not as strong as ns5000... also was getting much better pricing on the yamaha. I think I may get some custom covers made to protect them when not in use. In addition to using the grills. Your thoughts ? |
Just saw this post by the guy that will remotely do my DSP convolution files. This is for Direc 2 but highlights the mans knowledge. https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/dirac-live-2-digital-room-correction-software-walkthrough-r884/ |
Congrats. In the event that your speakers maybe a little too big for the room, I think you are covered in that case by DSP. If you use digital streaming and digital files for playback via ROON or JRiver, you can use convolution files to adjust the response curve to the room. There is a guy up in Canada that I will be working with (remotely) to get the NS 5000 to fit into my room. My room is only 12x11xx9 (plus some extra space). I asked him whether his DSP expertise can make the NS5000 fit into my room via the photos I sent him and he said no problem. I found out about the convolution based approach to DSP from reading the great discussion on Computer Audiophile web site. The founder of the site has a nice review of what I will also do. https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/a-new-listening-room-part-two-acoustics-speakers-dsp-r863/ One great thing about using this approach to DSP is that you can use any preamp. I was looking at preamps like the Lyngdorf 3400 (integrated), Linn Selekt, Anthem, and another dedicated DSP device int he $1000 range (forgot the name). Reading posts here and on Computer Audio files leads me to believe the convolution file based approach could be the best if applied properly. BTW - the warranty on the NS5000 in the USA is now 2 years. I was told 10 years in Canada from the same dealer you likely went to in Canada. However, it looks like the Yamaha accountants got involved and lowered it everywhere. |
There are a couple of places that allow a home demo of these speakers for 2 months. That is you buy them and if they don not work in your space they will take them back. I have posted some places that sell them in the posts above. An additional point with the Yamaha is that if anything goes wrong in the first year of ownership they will send you a new pair. The warranty on the speakers is 10 years. |
I am also very interested in the NS 5000. Also considering Cube Nenuphars and Harbeths 40.2's. The NS 5000 is the dark horse because it seems very few have really heard it. Yamaha has done a very poor job marketing a speaker that was first being shown in 2017. I wish we could here from someone who owns is speaker. |
@smodtactical The room I heard the NS 5000 was the worst room imaginable for a demo. I was rather upset that I had driven a far distance to only hear them in a makeshift glass walled boardroom. Just a pathetic demo room. However, I was able to focus on those speaker drivers and also heard the "very pure clear yet somehow extremely musically intoxicating sound". I was not able to figure out if the speakers disappeared and the other things you mentioned but I had a feeling in my own room or any other room those attributes would show up. I heard the NS 5000 with the new Yamaha separates. The room being so bad I cannot really comment on those electronics either. |
Ok so I went on a bit of an audio tour today. I am going to write up some full impressions on my website soon, sonic visions dot org. But briefly. Executive stereo Joseph audio perspective 2 graphene: This was not in an ideal setup it was kind of in a tiled hall way that is very wide, but was impressed with the dynamics, clarity and huge sound for such a small speaker. Sadly dealer not willing to budge from msrp so will pass on these. Kennedy hifi Sopra 3: Very precise crystalline top end.. kind of reminded me of the precise sound of the persona that I heard at the same dealer. Excellent imaging, separation. Yamaha NS 5000: Wow. Now bear in mind that it was a huge room they were in but not optimal. Incredible holographic imaging... acoustic images float in the air around you like projections.. the speakers completely disappear, very pure clear yet somehow extremely musically intoxicating sound. Although the sopra 3 was maybe a hair bit more detailed or possibly leaner... the yamaha had the better imaging, more lifelike natural timbre. I am extremely impressed. Going to think hard on this. |
You might think this one is about the Yamaha NS-5000 loudspeaker shown, but it’s not. Instead, it’s what’s behind the speaker -- an acoustic panel from Yamaha named ACP-2 that works with a pair of loudspeakers to help strategically tame their output into the room. Priced from ¥45,000 to ¥60,000, depending on the finish (the dark wood one shown is ¥60,000), the ACP-2 measures 23.11”W x 47.24”H x 1.18”D and weighs 12.5 pounds. It’s said to work from 80Hz to 4000Hz, but I am not sure how much sound it absorbs and how much it reflects. What I do know is that Yamaha not only had these panels behind the speakers, they had them in many other places in the room, such as along the walls and in the corners. They were also showing and using a slightly smaller, lighter panel that looks similar called TCH, which is priced at ¥36,000 and works from 125Hz to 4000Hz. These panels seem like interesting acoustic treatments, but, unfortunately, I was told that they’re only available in Japan.https://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/shows-events/tokyo-international-audio-show-2019-tokyo-japan/899-tias-2019-speakers |
@jtgofish Thanks for the time to find the photo. You actually mentioned that to me more than a year ago in a private conversation. I currently have some acoustic panels behind my current speakers that maybe are doing the same thing. I think mine are for absorption, whatever the case, they made massive improvements in my existing speakers. I had a sound tech remotely look at my room and suggest treatment options. I just told him to do what is needed and give me the bill, so I am not sure what technically is happening, diffusion or absorption. |
@jetter I have a bigger room downstairs, it is 21'L x 12'W (+5 on entrance) x 25'H. I cannot put anything there for a few years because my toddler is the boss of that room at the moment. Once he gets about 18 months older I was thinking of putting a KEF Blade2 in that room, though the NS 5000 would likely be better suited for that space. So if the NS 5000 is too big for my office then the downstairs is a safety net. The NS 5000 is likely harder to knock down than the KEF Blade2. This is an important point since my 3.5 year old son is unusually big and strong for his age. He already wears clothes sized for 6 and 7 year old kids. That is one reason I want to wait a bit for the downstairs system purchase, until he gets a bit more mentally mature. There are a few things that I have going for me that should make the NS 5000 work in my office. 1) My enthusiasm to try something new and cutting edge in the office 2) DSP (ROOM PERFECT) on the Lyngdorf 3) The foam bung to reduce low frequency output to 49Hz on the speaker 4) I listen at low to mid volume level 5) My room is acoustically treated and currently sounds great with KEF LS50's 6) I could always order from Music Direct and do a 2 month home demo. Anyways, these are first world problems and I am not going to sweat it. I am going to believe the reviews on the imaging, soundstage, etc. I forgot to mention that the NS 5000 owners manual recommends a little toe in. The demo had the speakers facing straight out. I am enjoying the process of buying the next speaker. It has been a long time since I had the space and almost the money to buy something cool. |
If you look at the gallery pictures here you will find a picture of the NS5000s set up in a sound room.They sound superb in there.Any of my audio friends who have heard them in this system have been very impressed.It looks nothing special but sounds really good.Note the acoustic panels behind them which are a Yamaha product and must be there for a reason.Wrong West Coast for you though yyzsantabarbara! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&... |