Why did Yamaha stop producing the NS10's?

Hi Chuck From what I recall reading somewhere, it was because one or more of the parts they used in them stopped being manufactured by another company. Yamaha apparently had no control over the issue. This may be rubbish but something I recall reading none-the-less. Stewart

http://www.soundonsound.c...rticles/yamahans10.htm

the answer to your question. At the end of this story is this insert-

Goodbye NS10: Yamaha discontinued the NS10 in 2001 on the grounds that they were unable to source the pulp for the bass/mid cone, but I don't buy this. Firstly, they still seem able to manufacture replacement bass/mid drivers, and secondly, it was the cone shape and construction method that were the significant factors, not the specific paper pulp. This however begs the question why did they discontinue the NS10? I suspect it was a case of ignorance combined with market and margin pressures. Nakamura had moved on to pastures new in the organisation, and those left behind perhaps didn't fully appreciate what was so special about his speaker. It isn't difficult to imagine the sales department reporting back that they needed monitors with more bass, and the engineers responding with reflex loading.

We are all waiting! Like just about everything is re issued,  look at Fender Amps, they must have saw what the old amps were going for and smartened up. I saw my beloved 68 Princeton in a shop the other day, brand new, re issued ! Alas the wife was with me guarding the VISA card :(
 
If any one would re issue the design it would be Yamaha them selves. After all, they are run by accountants and accountants figure these things out. I treat mine like the crown jewels. I'm almost at the point that I will lock them in an environmentally controlled vault at night.

btw...I have a set of JBL 4311 and some Auratones... how come they don't make those anymore.  Both probably more popular than the NS10 ever was.   Probably because there is "better"??

I've been running a pair of old Auratones as window shakers for my patio.

They are hooked to a MOTU Traveler and Hafler power amp.

We only use the patio when the weather is nice. I open the window just enough to place speakers on the window sill.


The sound on the patio is striking and every now and then the house acts as a huge baffle and the bass response is alarmingly low... like a hidden sub harmonic from a kick or something that I have never heard on regular old big fella monitors..



Speakers give me the sizzzles.



best regards,
mike

HS80Ms seem to be popular good price too infact they sound very very good. If I was to get another set of Monitors it would be them!

AT


MIx you dance tunes on the porch, Mike.  Does it sound just like a club?  Your neighbors will love it - and you!

It sounds just like one of those Miami Beach beachside discos when I pull the Klipsh La Scalas out.

:-)

But I only do that when the neighbors are acting rudely with their firearms.

:-)

Yamaha also did the NS (or was it MS?) 10s.  I have a pair of their 8 inch monitors.

No idea why they stopped making them, tho there was a consumer scare about the beryllium used in the tweeters of the models, too.  The big ones were supposed to be right up there in the pro world, tho I never heard them.

I think Middleman is right - there were enough problems associated with them that the small market and margins didn't warrent continued production.  Finding new cones and tweeter material might have been "cost prohibitive." I'll say one thing for Yamaha, they do stuff right.  My speakers and amp still work 30+ years later.  Maybe making stuff right doesn't pay off.

@

I haven't had a Twinkie in years... don't tell me they don't exist anymore  ;-(

mike_mccue


I've been running a pair of old Auratones as window shakers for my patio.

They are hooked to a MOTU Traveler and Hafler power amp.

We only use the patio when the weather is nice. I open the window just enough to place speakers on the window sill.


The sound on the patio is striking and every now and then the house acts as a huge baffle and the bass response is alarmingly low... like a hidden sub harmonic from a kick or something that I have never heard on regular old big fella monitors..



Speakers give me the sizzzles.



best regards,
mike

I thought you liked Klipsch on the patio. guess not.....

I am still using NS10's but am thinking of adding a pair of Rockit 6's and then add a sub later.  There is really no bottom end to the NS10's.  

mixmker:  I used 4311's in the 70's and I think they were part of the reason for the constant ringing in my ears using them all day.  They were very popular in studios but man did they have directional high-end.  I kept those crossover knobs at about 10 o'clock most of the time. 

I did years of mixing on Auratones in my own studio, and at studios with Richard Perry, Bill Shnee, and others.  Those were times when mono mixes and AM radio compatibility were much more important than today.

Rimshot 

timidi

mike_mccue


I've been running a pair of old Auratones as window shakers for my patio.

They are hooked to a MOTU Traveler and Hafler power amp.

We only use the patio when the weather is nice. I open the window just enough to place speakers on the window sill.


The sound on the patio is striking and every now and then the house acts as a huge baffle and the bass response is alarmingly low... like a hidden sub harmonic from a kick or something that I have never heard on regular old big fella monitors..



Speakers give me the sizzzles.



best regards,
mike

I thought you liked Klipsch on the patio. guess not.....

Them too... but they are "on the market" if my wife has anything to do with it. They need a new home.

I like to mix it up.

I have a pair of Dynacos and another Hafler out there to.

Life is good.

:-)

Rbh


Realistically... the only thing special about the NS-10's is that somebody special used them and talked about it. I've used them and I wasn't that impressed. The HS series are by far more efficient and have far better quality of output. Yamaha engineers and product guys probably have gone through this a hundred times and say " hey if you can't figure it out, too bad, we're moving on.

This is what I've understood as well.
The whole NS10 success is a hype. The way I remember reading the success story is they did not become popular because they're good speakers, but because they really are not. They're just a nice example of below mediocre home stereo speakers which represent(ed) the average  gear commercial recordings are listened with. Some big name(s) mentioned using them the rest is "history".
"If it sounds OK with these, it sounds OK anywhere". I'm conviced that goes with many, many ordinary home stereo speakers.

All the above said without never trying NS10s, I humbly admit.

Kalle Rantaaho

Rbh


Realistically... the only thing special about the NS-10's is that somebody special used them and talked about it. I've used them and I wasn't that impressed. The HS series are by far more efficient and have far better quality of output. Yamaha engineers and product guys probably have gone through this a hundred times and say " hey if you can't figure it out, too bad, we're moving on.

This is what I've understood as well.
The whole NS10 success is a hype. The way I remember reading the success story is they did not become popular because they're good speakers, but because they really are not. They're just a nice example of below mediocre home stereo speakers which represent(ed) the average  gear commercial recordings are listened with. Some big name(s) mentioned using them the rest is "history".
"If it sounds OK with these, it sounds OK anywhere". I'm conviced that goes with many, many ordinary home stereo speakers.

All the above said without never trying NS10s, I humbly admit.

I've read that too and it makes me wonder then.... why spend any serious money on monitors at all?   Why not just grab your home stereo speakers and have at it then?
 

I hate Yamaha NS10's with a passion...
 
I think that they sound really awful and words can't truly describe how just how bad they sound  
 
You had to wind them up to get any sort of decent "sound" out of them and then the tweeters would blow...
 
I used to mix in one place and the NS10's always "had to go"...I didn't even want to see them !
 
The studio owner tried to tell me that they were the industry standard and I told him that didn't make any difference to me...
 
I still thought that they were rubbish and I didn't want to hear one note through them...
 
Even the Auratones were better !

I built my own speakers using Scan Speak drivers and the best components I could source...

Twin 8" subs that go down to 12.5 Htz,with real definition in the mid-range and top end that is "smooth" all the way up to the stratosphere...

I also built the amps with the lowest component count and the highest quality parts...

It is a real joy to listen to music that has been well recorded though this system - at any dB level...