Yamaha HS5 Powered Monitor Review

[SpaceMonkey]

FYI I returned my HS5 and bought the HS7. So will measure that at some point.

In case you are wondering someone is still looking forward to your HS7 review

 

[Deleted member 12642]

FR response for HS line, as listed in Yamaha brochure (HS8 seems to be the flattest):

View attachment 57959

I've owned the 5's and the 8's. Man the 5's were really awful, just totally unlistenable for me. No low end to speak of, a mid range that gave me a headache within minutes, and a pretty muddy top end. I then tried focal alpha 50 and they were good but I felt like they were scooped and I was missing some of the mid range. I'm on hs8 now and I really like them aside from their mid range directivity bloom. They don't sound anything like the 5 or 7's IME. The 8's imo are the only ones worth spending money on. I also removed the limiter on mine and I did a quick listen to one speaker with the limiter and one without and the difference was obvious, wish I had gotten some measurements because I'm skeptical of these kinds of mods. I bet most people would pick the hs8's over a lot of speakers if they had a chance to hear them.

Only wish my room were bigger so I could get a bit farther from them and have better low end. I hate even being in a small room let alone playing music in one.

 

[amirm]

In case you are wondering someone is still looking forward to your HS7 review

Will measure it soon.

 

[maty]

Yamaha HS8

https://forums.whathifi.com/threads/yamaha-hs8.100445/post-1070544

Thin walls, as usual in more cheap active monitors. Further improvement margin.

 

[maty]

YouTube Yamaha HS8 Modification How To Disable Limiter

 

[thewas]

Detailed measurements of the HS 7 & HS 8 from Sound & Recording
https://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_review_37650_AR_313050.html
https://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_review_35888_AR_313037.html

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Detailed measurements of the HS 7 & HS 8 from Sound & Recording
https://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_review_37650_AR_313050.html
https://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_review_35888_AR_313037.html

There are normal measurements and there is Amir. Plus I am sure the weight of an HS7 on his chest is not comfortable .

 

[majingotan]

There are normal measurements and there is Amir. Plus I am sure the weight of an HS7 on his chest is not comfortable .

HS7s aren’t even heavy. The Adam S5V OTOH

 

[Deleted member 12642]

There are normal measurements and there is Amir. Plus I am sure the weight of an HS7 on his chest is not comfortable .

The measurements presented there certainly more than adequate if you were implying they are not.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

The measurements presented there certainly more than adequate if you were implying they are not.

They are mostly sufficient. Although, I prefer the ones where frequency responses at different angles are on the same graph and THD is in percent. Also, Amir is building a good body of Klippel research on speakers so HS7 would be a good addition to it as well (he bought the speaker ages ago).

 

[Deleted member 12642]

They are mostly sufficient. Although, I prefer the ones where frequency responses at different angles are on the same graph and THD is in percent. Also, Amir is building a good body of Klippel research on speakers so HS7 would be a good addition to it as well (he bought the speaker ages ago).

If those measurements aren't enough for you to make an assessment about the speaker then perhaps you aren't really understanding the measurements.

 

[amirm]

If those measurements aren't enough for you to make an assessment about the speaker then perhaps you aren't really understanding the measurements.

Presentation of information matters a lot. There are other sources of information but even I have trouble making sense out of them sometimes. Lot of effort goes into stitching a story of a speaker's performance as I write the review.

 

[F1308]

Presentation of information matters a lot. There are other sources of information but even I have trouble making sense out of them sometimes. Lot of effort goes into stitching a story of a speaker's performance as I write the review.

How funny...I was planning to get a pair of HS8 for my keyboard....I'll wait for a while...Thank you.

 

[Maiky76]

Hi,

Since the Yamaha HS5 is always in the mix when is comes to affordable monitors,
There should be plenty of DAW EQ plugins or equivalent (EQ APO?) available to add the EQ on the cheap.

Here is my take on the EQ:

Note that the data looks coarser than the latest measurements, so take these with a grain of salt.
Score when no EQ applied: 3.04,

EQ design:

All PEQ   
     Freq        Gain     Q
     183.0,    -0.60,   1.42,...
     573.0,    -3.00,   1.87,...
     970.0,    -6.63,   2.30,...
    1210.0,    -1.94,   5.67,...
    2858.0,    -2.97,   2.37,...
    5198.0,    -4.57,   1.55,...
   11934.0,    -4.75,   2.05,...

Score when EQ applied: 6.22,
The loudness level is decreased quite a bit, so one would need to adjust the level when doing A/B comparison.
Decreasing the mids and HFs mechanically makes the LF relatively stronger but at same SPL in the midrange the speaker is loosing dynamic range.

Here is the regression with and without EQ somewhat similar to tonal balance:
The speaker "personality" is most probably gone...

And the 3D plot of the horizontal directivity without EQ (EQ do not change that):

And the direct comparison of the metric contributions, quite an improvement!
Just keep in mind the dynamic range bit.

M

 

[musictracer]

I would appreciate it if anyone could help me with this. I am trying to understand whether I got a faulty pair of hs5's lately. I took close (30 cm) and further (1m) measurements in large living room. My point of interest is the area between 500 - 1100 hz where I sense there is a difference between the normal hs5 freq response and my perception. I feel that mine emit more 600 and 700 hz information than what they are supposed to and maybe a bit less in the 900-100 hz as well. I kind of feel like their mid boost is tuned a bit lower than it should. When I listen to music there are times I feel like I want to cut the 600 or 700 hz a bit to as vocals tend to sound muffled in this area.. Interestingly this doesn't seem to be the case according to the measurements, yet they really do seem different than the response they should show according the manual. Could my room really make such a big difference in that particular area of the mids ? (Please ignore the excessive high frequency information. It is a mic issue when working in omni mode.)

 

[Hayabusa]

I would appreciate it if anyone could help me with this. I am trying to understand whether I got a faulty pair of hs5's lately. I took close (30 cm) and further (1m) measurements in large living room. My point of interest is the area between 500 - 1100 hz where I sense there is a difference between the normal hs5 freq response and my perception. I feel that mine emit more 600 and 700 hz information than what they are supposed to and maybe a bit less in the 900-100 hz as well. I kind of feel like their mid boost is tuned a bit lower than it should. When I listen to music there are times I feel like I want to cut the 600 or 700 hz a bit to as vocals tend to sound muffled in this area.. Interestingly this doesn't seem to be the case according to the measurements, yet they really do seem different than the response they should show according the manual. Could my room really make such a big difference in that particular area of the mids ? (Please ignore the excessive high frequency information. It is a mic issue when working in omni mode.)

View attachment 80215

Weird indeed. I assume you dont have any closeby objects/walls during the measurements?

 

[musictracer]

Weird indeed. I assume you dont have any closeby objects/walls during the measurements?

No, no walls, or large reflecting surfaces. The floor definitely gets involved, but I placed a pillow to reduce the mid freq interference. Nevertheless, I doubt this interference can justify such a significant response deviation. I have taken measurements in the past in my - smaller - mixing room using a different mic as well and the results were more or less similar to these in this particular area of the spectrum. I guess the best way would be to make a direct comparison with another pair side by side.

 

[F1308]

would appreciate it if anyone could help me with this. I am trying to understand whether I got a faulty pair of hs5's lately.

Return them and get another pair...Good luck.
I saw sellers offering them in pairs so as to grant "same sound", which in the end made me look elsewhere. Same goes for HS7,

https://m.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_hs_5_mp.htm?o=1&search=1598634230

https://m.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_hs_7_mp.htm?o=1&search=1598634289

 

[BYRTT]

.....(Please ignore the excessive high frequency information. It is a mic issue when working in omni mode.).....

Are you shure that microphone is not the one that makes the frustration, also if in measurement chain one use a build in sound card in a notebook then sometimes those cards have some software filters enabled that improve sound on the small notebook transducers but will distort and make weird curves used as a measurement device, below is your curves overlaid to Amir's spindata..

 

[musictracer]

Return them and get another pair...Good luck.
I saw sellers offering them in pairs so as to grant "same sound", which in the end made me look elsewhere. Same goes for HS7,

I have them for over two years now. They both sound similar so it is not a matched pair issue. Most likely it is a faulty batch.
The ones you linked is the bit pricier new edition which guaranties matched frequency response. But that's not my case as they seem more or less matched. I didn't return mine in the first place as I thought their sound was the original one. I lately heard another pair in a shop and think they sounded less muffled to me, I sent an email to Yamaha today. Hopefully they reply soon.

Are you shure that microphone is not the one that makes the frustration

I have taken measurements in the past with another mic and the results were similar in the particular area of interest. The current mic specs are these:

also if in measurement chain one use a build in sound card in a notebook then sometimes those cards have some software filters enabled that improve sound on the small notebook transducers but will distort and make weird curves used as a measurement device,

I use Audient Id14 and Maudio Omnistudio Usb for my measurements. No filters involved in the chain.

below is your curves overlaid to Amir's spindata..

A great way to compare directly! Thanks a lot!