Nearfield monitors for a small room

[mikko/boogie]

Here is a thorough review of the HS50's made by a pro NS10 user, and there are some interesting points made: http://www.moozek.com/2008/01/09/super-review-yamaha-hs50m-the-new-ns-10m/

I'm posting this mostly because until reading this tread, I was certain that the HS50s was the "new NS10s" - not the MSP5s as mentioned above. I was going to get the HS50 as a sure thing, but now I don't know what to believe...

 

[Melodeath]

Nice find. I wish they would put the HS80M on the frequency response chart as well

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, that's a really interesting article Mikko, thanks! However, I don't quite buy it - look at the chart from Yamaha's website I posted above, you'll see they seem to think the MSP's are the more studio-worthy and the HS's the more Hi-fi oriented. Plus, I know a lot of people here who have HS50's/HS80's, and haven't heard anyone complain of them sounding "bad" (whereas the MSP5 owners on here I've talked to say they're fatiguing and not very pleasant to listen to, like NS10's). And finally, even if the original MSP's may have been more hi-fi oriented, Yamaha now released the MSP5 Studio, which is identical to the MSP7 Studio except with lower power amps and a smaller woofer, and both were designed by the guy who designed the NS10's, so my vote is still for the MSP5 as the ultimate reference monitor.

 

[ArtGarceau]

If you don't mind a passive speaker find a hi-fi dealer that stocks the B&W 685. They smoke every "studio monitor" that I've tried in the $2k/pair price range.

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, I checked out your gear list when you changed your sig, Art, and saw that you had 'em and did some looking. Unfortunately, though, I really don't wanna deal with a separate power amp, cuz I move around too much (from school to home)...

 

[Melodeath]

I don't really mind whether the HS50/80 are the NS10 successors or not.

I agree that the HS80s sound good. But when I went monitor testing, I got them because they were the clearest. What speaker sounds "best" is based on different things to different people. To me, clarity is a very important factor in a monitor sounding/being "the best." If you ignore clarity, the HS80s didn't sound the best. Both Dynaudio BM5a and KRK RP8 sounded "better" in a "I want to listen to music every day on these" sort of way, even though the KRK was sort of muddy, and the Dynaudio sounded exaggerated in the low mids. I'd say music through the HS80s was clearer, but sounded worse in a non-mixing sort of way.

So then, overall, if you factor in clarity, I thought the HS80s sounded the best of the ones I tried out.