PDA

View Full Version : Yamaha HS50M - initial review


nagal
04-09-2007, 11:27 AM
I finally broke down and bought a set of monitors for my little home studio. We see this thread all the time "What monitors to get?" and I am sure to be guilty of posting one of those myself at some point so I am hoping my review might help others out when trying to make this decision.

The HS50Ms are a bi-amplified monitor with a 5" woofer and 3/4" silk dome tweeter... blah blah blah. I am sure we all know by now how to look up specs so I will pass re posting all that.

The HS50Ms are meant to be a direct replacement for the NS10. NS10 (from what I have read) got their claim to fame as being great for making a mix that works well across a wide range of listening environments (i.e. crappy consumer equipment). A little research shows that the HS50Ms are also living up to this claim which is way I choose them as my first set of monitors. I *wanted* monitors that would reflect how things would sound to my poor unfortunate listeners :D

I can not really compare these to other monitors as they are my first set. They appear to be constructed very well and have a nice weight to them. The rear provides balanced inputs as XLR or TRS with a variable level input control. This worked great with my Saffire LE as it has balanced TRS outputs at +4dbu. I did play around with the input level setting and it is very easy to distort the incoming signal. So setting it carefully.

The rear also sports a wide range of switch for tuning the monitors to the room. I left everything as is, as I have no clue what I am doing in that area... yet.

The sound is well different. Keep in mind I am use to listening to stereo speakers and my main listening environment is in my car which is extremely bass heavy. They way I like it.

The sound is CLEAN to me. No way around that. Browsing through my iTunes library, I readily heard things in songs I have never heard before. They do sound a bit too bright to me and lack a lot of bass. This might not be bad things or could be because I have not positioned them correctly yet but it is what I am hearing.

The coolest thing about these, is the little Yamaha symbol lights up when they are on. Yeah, I love little things like that. When powering them on and off, there is no pops what-so-ever, they are completely silent. Wish I could say they same about my Focusrite Saffire LE.

So, would I recommend them? Err no. Why? Because I do not feel competent enough in the area of monitors to make a recommendation. With that said, I do really like these monitors. I feel over time I would truly come to love them.

Goose11
08-24-2007, 08:45 AM
Thanks for the info, I was looking into these monitors with the sub and the Blue Sky Pro desk 2.1 system. I wish to A/B those two systems. Did you happen to get the subwoofer as well?

nagal
08-24-2007, 10:21 AM
No I have not gotten a sub for them yet.

songsongsong
01-29-2008, 12:50 AM
ive been considering these too. but i've also been loving the mackie hr series for a while now.

now, correct me if im wrong, but wasnt the NS10's a very "bad sounding" speaker? i heard it was very midrange heavy and didnt provide a very flat freq response, causing many to exaggerate the lows and highs. i understand that familiarity with your monitors are more important than complete flat/accurate reproduction, but how do you feel about the 50m's compared to the NS10's supposedly colored sound?

nagal
01-29-2008, 03:25 PM
I have never A/B the HS50m to the NS10s so I can't really say how they compare. I still like my HS50m and even more hooked up to my Apogee Duet but thats has more to deal with the Duet than anything else. With that said, it is not blind love, if I had a $1000 to drop on some new monitors I probably would but I would still keep my HS50m.

Audio-Pro
03-10-2009, 04:00 AM
These sounded much clearer and sharper than more expensive models. This set (HS50M) brings out the highs and middles but not the bass frequencies. So, you'll need the companion HS10W subwoofer for a full sound spectrum.

Harmony
04-08-2009, 12:36 PM
Thanks for posting nice review. When it comes to Yamaha everyone look forward to it.