Don't worry Just enjoy. Test show they don't measure bad at all at moderate volume which also explains why @DanTheMan find them great for epiano You won't listen to your spoken word recordings at very loud volume so the distortion won't be high-And won't get on the recording. For sure your sub will give the piano more body/bottom, and relieve speakers so you can play louder without audible distortion. For overall much better performance you will have to spend much more money and buy much BIGGER speakers. It's a question of physics. Just enjoy!
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Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitor Review
- Thread starter amirm
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DatSpeakerTho
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Super terrible misleading blanket statement not representative of reality.
Most artists mix as they go.
Trying to put strict labels on what happens during the music making process is a tell tale sign that one is not involved in it at all.
Even though I'm not the one who plays the piano, I now plan to bring the subwoofer out of storage in the next few days to connect it with the current setup.
As for my spoken word recordings with the pair that is connected with my audio interfaces/computer, I listen at a modest volume. I'm only 95-110 cm from the speakers, so even on the rare occasions when I listen to music, the volume is rather low. Music listening happens in living area, which is plainly in need of treatment. I'm also considering something like Dirac Live for the room, which is, incidentally, where the piano is (photo below--mobile device used for photo).
DatSpeakerTho
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That would sound a lot better if the speakers were in front of you while you played.
I'll look into having the speakers closer together, to be at least around where the built-in speakers are. The placement will depend a bit on how well I can fit the stands behind the piano, while still keeping things fairly close to the wall. The room is not very wide, so everything in the room is closer to the walls than I'd like.
DatSpeakerTho
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At least point them at your ears, you're losing a lot of midrange information sitting so far off axis.
This is helpful. I never gave this question any thought since I'm not the one playing the instrument--I got the monitors just so that the person playing would have something more robust than the built-in speakers. I'll get them pointed toward the player's ear position straight away. She will not be enthused about how things look, but will be happy with the benefits of the improved monitor placement.
Is it ok that $800 Yamaha monitors have more distortion in the midrange than $250 Edifier mr5 speakers? https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/edifier-mr5-review.64911/
srkbear
Major Contributor
Hello all.
FWIW, I've had a pair of second-hand Yamaha MSP-5 for more than 10 years.
They're Rock-solid and I use both inputs either for my home studio OR a Yamaha WXC-50* streaming pre-amp for CD/multiroom listening.
They lack bass, but otherwise I like them A LOT for what they reveal.
I still have not paired them with one of these "smart subs" like the iLoud Sub from IK Multimedia or Kef Kc-62, but I definitely will give it a try at some point : I have a pair of iLoud M(edium)-T(witter)-M(edium) first gen, and their onboard DSP gives such an amount of bass for such small speakers that I'm sold to the concept.
Regards
*(Amirm tested the AMP ICEpower WXA-50 version of it here : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...xa-50-streaming-amp.7964/page-29#post-2498035).
FWIW, I've had a pair of second-hand Yamaha MSP-5 for more than 10 years.
They're Rock-solid and I use both inputs either for my home studio OR a Yamaha WXC-50* streaming pre-amp for CD/multiroom listening.
They lack bass, but otherwise I like them A LOT for what they reveal.
I still have not paired them with one of these "smart subs" like the iLoud Sub from IK Multimedia or Kef Kc-62, but I definitely will give it a try at some point : I have a pair of iLoud M(edium)-T(witter)-M(edium) first gen, and their onboard DSP gives such an amount of bass for such small speakers that I'm sold to the concept.
Regards
*(Amirm tested the AMP ICEpower WXA-50 version of it here : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...xa-50-streaming-amp.7964/page-29#post-2498035).
BobbyTimmons
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The Yamaha HS8 are good in that role as the piano is an instrument with exceptionally low bass extension.
I'm gonna join on the MSP brigade, I own both the 5 and 7 models, they were supposed to have a sub, and having used them when I was really young and unexperienced, my mixes came out always really bassy.
BUT the listening is quite fun and punchy, especially on the 5. The 7 ones have an asymmetrical crossover that probably never sat good with my ears, but the quality was definitely there.
When I heard the HS series I always thought they were more forgiving and round, for lack of objective terms.
But hey, despite the MSP was designed by the same ns10 guy, Akira Nakamura, everybody who was looking for iconic prosumer equipment saw the white cones and moved the entire market towards the HS direction, despite being clearly advertised in the site, at the time, as a more "hi-fi", colored system. A noisy back port was making the sound boomy enough, and everybody was happy. But they've been improved constantly, so it would be interesting to have some references to understand how good the older "pro" models were designed to begin with.
I've sent a kind request to Erin in order to review them a couple of months ago, even if now the series is out of production they are still present in northern Europe houses. I'm sure more than few people would like to see them analyzed. Unfortunately I live in Europe so I can't send easily mine over there.
BUT the listening is quite fun and punchy, especially on the 5. The 7 ones have an asymmetrical crossover that probably never sat good with my ears, but the quality was definitely there.
When I heard the HS series I always thought they were more forgiving and round, for lack of objective terms.
But hey, despite the MSP was designed by the same ns10 guy, Akira Nakamura, everybody who was looking for iconic prosumer equipment saw the white cones and moved the entire market towards the HS direction, despite being clearly advertised in the site, at the time, as a more "hi-fi", colored system. A noisy back port was making the sound boomy enough, and everybody was happy. But they've been improved constantly, so it would be interesting to have some references to understand how good the older "pro" models were designed to begin with.
I've sent a kind request to Erin in order to review them a couple of months ago, even if now the series is out of production they are still present in northern Europe houses. I'm sure more than few people would like to see them analyzed. Unfortunately I live in Europe so I can't send easily mine over there.
I have Yamaha HS8's in office system & Adam Audio A8X's in HT man-cave (A7X’s serve the surround & back channels).A couple of weird replies to my post from @CB89 and @staticV3
A professional music producer with a great track record currently uses the A7X in his studio ..... end of story.
My son who is a talented musician (my bias for sure) had the Yamaha HS8 in his studio and swapped them out for the A7X and prefers them.
No biggie just some information that may or may not be of benefit to @jmtabernero in response to his request below, I don't have measurements but I'm able to give positive subjective opinions from 3 different people, a musician, a music producer and myself, an experienced audiophile who had the predator to the A7X model and really likes them, but certainly not an expert in sound reproduction as are the others.
Adam speakers have a wonderful track record and were used by George Martin and his son to produce the Beatles "Love" album.
Even their less expensive "V" series measure very well as per Amir's review below. With a little EQ he also loved them.
Adam T5V Review (Studio Monitor)
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Adam T5V Powered Speaker. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. The T5V costs US $200 each. Much like the rest of Adam speakers, the T5V has a serious look to it: Back panel shows good connectivity and usual...
Haven't ever really listen to both side by side to compare, but can say both perform extremely well in their respective duties:
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Are your ears aligned with the tweeers or slightly offset i.e. above or below. This speaker is very sensitive to tweeter level. I actually inverted the speaker so the tweeter is to my ear. If you find it is bright can trim. This gave me the best result on both HS5 and this.
Delta
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What type of amplifier does the HS8 use? Class A-B or Class D?
Has anyone compared the Yamaha HS8 with the Adam Audio T8V?
The ears of the person who plays the piano are slightly below tweeter level. As for the instrument's sound, she's told me that she's fine with letting the sound go straight out into the untreated room from the speakers, and she doesn't want the speakers pointed toward her (I asked her about this after reading suggestions in previous posts). She has headphones for when she uses the binaural setting on the piano.
1 I don't know. 2 I haven't.
Amplifier type doesn't matter at such a small wattage. Today class D sound as good as chipamps.
Adam makes much better and serious speakers than Yamaha.
Cheers!
HS8 is Class A/B.
I recently compared HS8 side by side with A8X, predecessor to A8H, which is the next tier above the T series T8V.
A8X definitely sounds better than HS8; more full bodied with an effortlessness difficult to describe.
Yamaha is very good while Adam Audio is exceptional.
Of course, if memory serves, I paid two or three times as much for AX series over HS series respectively.
That said, I DID get what I paid for in BOTH cases.
Cote Dazur
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They are 2 way bi amplified, so are they active or is the frequency split done with a passive crossover?
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