All New Yamaha NS 5000 Speakers..... World-Beaters ?

[cannata]

rustplane, I think we spoke earlier by email. I did not see so many Yamaha reviews as you have. However, I will say that the reason the Yamaha sounds so intriguing to me is that the Paradigm Persona 5F demo was such a home-run to me. The BE tweeter and mid sound so good together. Better than the Magico A3. I was all set to by the Magico before room dimensions and the Persona came into the picture. The 3 drivers being of the same material and the material being lighter than BE may make me buy the Yamaha without an audition. That is why I am rambling here, to see if I convince myself to pull the trigger without an audition.

I do believe the Magico is backordered due to demand. Most people have a much higher valuation of Magico over the Paradigm, though if you heard the 2 speakers blindfolded I have a feeling I know which one most people would pick.

I am trying to get some family to do a demo on my behalf. They are a little busy now but my dad could do this in April when he gets back to Canada from his winter stay. The store that has the Yamaha also has the Persona on demo.

The Acoustic Lens has something to do with Phase.

Interesting, in Munich they played right next door to the A3 on the first day. Although I was not blown away by the A3 (I would take the S1 over it any day), the Persona were just terrible. Perhaps I need to hear them again.

 

[GSOphile]

If it were my money, I'd look into a pre-owned Wilson Sophia or Sabrina.... and I'd audition first, even if I had to travel.

 

[rustplane]

I auditioned the Sabrina shortly after it came out. The dealer sold mostly home theater gear and the demo took place in a pitch black darkened room. It was my first darkened room audition and was very strange to me. The speaker was very good and the sound seemed to float above the speakers. Maybe that's part of the "Wilson sound" I've read about. The deal they offered me because these were demo speakers was unbelievable. But I didn't want to jump because I had just started to listen to what was available in the local market in the same price range, which is B&W, Vandersteen, Wilson Benesch and a few others. Very difficult decision because they all sounded different to me. I didn't "fall in love" with any of them, however. I also thought I wanted white speakers for my decor, but actually black furniture makes a room look bigger and high gloss like the Yamaha makes a room look bigger than matte black. You can research this but these are pretty much interior design axioms. Perception when it comes to sound and vision trumps reality. I can't explain it, but I don't like the looks of all of the above speakers except the Yamaha, and for me at least the visual enjoyment and pride of ownership of a loudspeaker adds to my enjoyment of the sound. My only problem is I haven't heard the Yamaha's. However, I have read every review and piece of information available online, not just from English speaking countries, but translated from Norwegian, Japanese, Polish, Italian, German and Czech. All are similar in their high praise. It may be heresy to say so, but even without a demo, that's enough for me. It will be kind of like an arranged marriage with a "mail order" bride without a dealer acting as the parent or independent matchmaker. And sometimes those marriages last longer than acting impulsively and heading for Vegas.

 

[GSOphile]

Fair enough, rustplane. We all have our priorities and tastes. Good luck in your quest.

 

[steve59]

Not sure I'm sold on speakers that use the same material for all their drivers, I'm not an expert by any stretch. I just wonder in the overall order of getting a pair of speakers to sing in a particular room how important material matching is and why different design choices are all successful. I hear too many speakers that sound musical that don't. I started renewing my 25 year old system in 2014 and finally, I think settled on my speakers, but I went thru several pair of well regarded and reviewed pair and while the Ushers sound great in my room several very good sounding speakers didn't cut it. I hope the yamaha's work in your system, but I personally can't afford to buy another pair of speakers without hearing them in my room first at current depreciation.

 

[yyzSB]

Interesting, in Munich they played right next door to the A3 on the first day. Although I was not blown away by the A3 (I would take the S1 over it any day), the Persona were just terrible. Perhaps I need to hear them again.

So many people state that their Persona demo was terrible. When the same thing happened to me I wanted to give it another chance because of the recommendations from people who have heard a lot of gear. From what i witnessed the amps need to have a bit of warmth to them to tame the 2 BE drivers of the top end. There are people who I have conversed with that that heard the Persona with warm gear like PASS LABS and still hated it . Good to have choices.

My understanding of the Yamaha NS 50000 drivers is that I would have more flexibility in the amplification options. They are not supposed to be as bright as the BE drivers.

 

[steve59]

The persona's need actual break in time. I heard a pair of 3f with several hunderd hours on them and the weren't hard sounding at all being driven by anthem gear. I didn't hear $10k worth considering what the used market will bear.

 

[Audio_Karma]

These speakers might be coming to the USA soon!

 

[Audio_Karma]

"There's no better-sounding speakers than the NS 5000's at any price...period
"!

www.kennedy-hifi.com/myblog/new-yamaha-ns-5000-speakers-surpassing-legend/

 

[Audio_Karma]

Here's how you can get a little bit more performance out of these ns-5000's!

https://www.devialet.com/en-us/expert-pro-sam-ready-speakers/yamaha/yamaha_ns_5000/

 

[Audio_Karma]

You can buy these speakers here in the USA now for $15K a pair !

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/speaker_systems/ns-5000/index.html

Magico and others should be worried about this ???

http://kennedy-hifi.com/myblog/new-yamaha-ns-5000-speakers-surpassing-legend/

 

[bonzo75]

Now that is a Yamaha

 

[steve59]

Music direct sells them $14,995.00 with a 4-5 week delivery wait. Considering how well the 1000’s did on these are probably a safe buy as far as hifi goes and yamaha controlling pricing will help them hold their value. I’m looking forward to an owners review.

 

[Audio_Karma]

Music direct sells them $14,995.00 with a 4-5 week delivery wait. Considering how well the 1000’s did on these are probably a safe buy as far as hifi goes and yamaha controlling pricing will help them hold their value. I’m looking forward to an owners review.

We will see a lot of Consumer reviews but I do not think we will see any Professional reviews here..

 

[rustplane]

My take is that with Yamaha's announcement that the USA availability of the NS-5000 along with the C-5000 and M-5000 pre-amp and amp separates and the GT-5000 turntable constitutes a "system" makes me ask some interesting questions. First, the "system" does not (yet) have a dedicated DAC/network streamer or 5000 level CD/SACD transport so I'd wonder if Yamaha is going to go the route of Technics SL-G700 and combine these, throwing in MQA like Technics has. Second, and I think maybe more intriguing is the fact that while the NS-5000 loudspeakers cost $15,000, the separate amp and pre-amp cost $10,000 each versus Yamaha's A-S3000 integrated amp ($7,000), which seems well-mated to the NS-5000's. Of course, as Yamaha says, I wouldn't doubt how good, or better, the $20,000 separates can make the $15,000 speaker sound vs. its integrated. But this could also say one of three things: 1. It's marketing hype designed to pair and sell the speakers with the integrated , 2. Yamaha has a higher end speaker in the works, or 3. the NS-5000 are so good, as every review in countries around the world seems to have concluded, that it will beat any speaker at 2-3x it's price and once one hears the (so far) $43,000 "system" they will conclude the NS-5000 is the biggest bang for the buck in loudspeakers there ever was.

 

[yyzSB]

I am going to demo the NS 5000 soon. A dealer 50 miles from me has the complete Yamaha system on demo, Shelley's Stereo near Los Angeles. However, I am not going to demo the Yamaha electronics, just the speakers. The NS5000 is likely a little too big for my current TEMPORARY listening space, 12x11x9 (+ 4 feet depth due to a removed closet door) so I am going to demo with the following:

Lyngdorf 3400 - the preamp is really good, I did not like the amp, I demoed this last year. I am interested in ROOM PERFECT for my TEMP space
Luxman m900u amp - if I have purchased it before the demo or SImAudio 860A V2 since store has this amp and a placeholder for Luxman m900u
EtherREGEN - Ethernet switch to clean up Ethernet for integrated Lyngdorf Media player ROON streaming,


BTW - I also think Yamaha has a big floor stander in the works. It would have been nice if they also had a smaller version of the NS 5000.

 

[rustplane]

I was thinking of pairing the NS=5000 with the Luxman L-590AXII integrated, which is Class A up to 30 watts but goes to 165 watts in A/B. Then I'd replace my SACD/CD transport with either the Technics SL-G700 or the Marantz SA-10. The Luxman retails for $9,500 which is between Yamaha's integrated and new separates and has good pedigree and reviews. I don't think I can justify the cost of Yamaha's separates.

 

[yyzSB]

I was thinking of pairing the NS=5000 with the Luxman L-590AXII integrated, which is Class A up to 30 watts but goes to 165 watts in A/B. Then I'd replace my SACD/CD transport with either the Technics SL-G700 or the Marantz SA-10. The Luxman retails for $9,500 which is between Yamaha's integrated and new separates and has good pedigree and reviews. I don't think I can justify the cost of Yamaha's separates.

My understanding from the reviews I read was that the NS5000 is warm on the top end. I wonder if the Luxman 590AXII maybe too much of a good thing with a warm speaker. I was considering the Luxman 509x at first but I unfortunately heard the m900u. I never heard the 590AXII but I was told it is warmer than the 509x I demoed. I think the 509x would sound good with a warm speaker. It is just a matter of preference and I am prejudiced by being more of a fan of SS sound.

 

[Audio_Karma]

My understanding from the reviews I read was that the NS5000 is warm on the top end. I wonder if the Luxman 590AXII maybe too much of a good thing with a warm speaker. I was considering the Luxman 509x at first but I unfortunately heard the m900u. I never heard the 590AXII but I was told it is warmer than the 509x I demoed. I think the 509x would sound good with a warm speaker. It is just a matter of preference and I am prejudiced by being more of a fan of SS sound.

Has anyone heard the all new Modwright KWH-225i Integrated amp yet?

 

[steve59]

I haven't heard the ns5k yet, but another demo of the persona, this time the 7f was quite interesting. In a well treated room with anthem str separates. Tight with excellent bass and detail without sibilance, but a little too much air to sound natural. I really think these tweeters are revealing without being hot so it's possible placement or less dry electronics might really make them special. I'm looking forward to hearing the yamaha.