Matija
November 18, 2008

Rating: 9/10

Ok, guys, after having those for just couple of days, I can say that these are far the MOST DETAILED MONITORS I have ever heard. Stereo image is just amazing, low end is tight, mids sound very present and highs are silky and have that cool analog vintage \\\"sand\\\" that somehow everybody wants, if you know what I mean:)
Tweak buttons on the back work just great, especially if you have issues with your room and its acoustic design.
HS80 are built solid as a ROCK and weigh about 13,5 kilograms, which makes this baby very hard to carry especially if you live on the third floor and you have no elevator:)
One more thing, they are incredibly flat and accurate, and I can feel free to say this especially after having heard ADAMs, KRKs and the rest in this price range.
With these Yamahas all your problems are solved, just ENJOY!
The only reason I am giving it 9 and not 10 stars is the thing that I have had these for only a couple of days and I still do not know if I am going to discover any dark sides of these monitors, but I really doubt it!
Cheers!

Ed
November 14, 2007

Rating: 8/10

You see the white cone and you automatically think NS10...shrill, small, 80\'s. Sure, the NS10 was a very popular tool in its day. But what if you don\'t mix on a daily basis to know how a mix translates on the NS10, perhaps record only for yourself but yet quality is something you can judge...that is you know your speakers aren\'t cutting it and something is lost in translation?

That\'s me. My Alesis M1 Actives are failing me in the midrange. My mixes are coming up harsh in the midrange. The Alesis M1s have done thier job for 8 years now but it\'s time to stop fighting their lack of midrange detail and hear what I\'m missing.

I had the opportunity to work at a university studio last weekend and brought my current mixes to hear where I\'m going wrong. The studio features JBL monitors, which sound good, but I\'m not thrilled with the way my mixes, or the project I was working on, sounded through JBL\'s 6238. However, the studio\'s 3-Way JBLs in the wall sounded wonderful and open. I could hear where my mixes were failing...especially in the midrange.

When I returned, I headed to the local shop to see and hear what has changed in the last 8 years in near-field monitoring. I\'ve been doing a lot of reading and went in with the Dynaudio BM5As as the target...lots of folks rave about them. Great imaging, nice detail, a little boomy in the lower mids.

The Events ASP8 where also very nice, detailed but with a upper mid to high presence that was noticable, and boomy in the lows. Nice though.

I didn\'t go into the shop even considering Yamaha - the NS10 reputation just did not appeal to me. But what the heck....

Wow! Detailed, open in the high mids but not as much as the Events, and the bass was even - not tight, not boomy, not punchy, but even. My refence was Midge Ure\'s Fields of Fire off of the Breath album. This song is delicate but full.

The HS80s had the detail of the Dynaudios - maybe not as much (a subtle difference), and a nice image. But for my ear, there was a little lift in the vocal range on the HM80s where the BM5As didn\'t not bring the vocals out as much.

Perhaps my ears are failing me in my mid-30\'s, but I need the midrange detail to be accurate. The Yamaha HS80Ms where the best of the bunch TO MY EARS.

Just for reference, I tried the store\'s Alesis 620 and immediately, the Yamahas (and of course the BM5As and ASP8) sounded far more deep and dimensional. But, I think Yamaha had the truest reproduction of all I tried, including the Mackies 824MkII, the M-Audio BX8, and the KRoks.

Of course, this is all preference, but the Yamahas were pretty much what I wanted to hear from a near-field...smooth high end, detailed image, revealing midrange, and even-toned bass.

It was quite the surprise to me to find the HS80 at the top of my list.

I have not purchase yet but through my \"research\" in the past 24 hours, it seems you\'ll love \'em, or hate \'em. Unfortunately, the legacy of the NS10 still permiates people\'s impression of any Yahama speaker.

Go listen for yourself. They may not be your monitor, but they are no longer the NS10 of yesterday.