Yamaha NS-5000 Loudspeaker Overview - A Legend Reborn?

The Yamaha NS-5000 pays homage to the NS-1000M through its boxy styling and old-school driver arrangement, but behind the facade, it is all modern loudspeaker engineering. The NS-5000 is a 3-way ported loudspeaker featuring a 12" woofer, 3 1/4" dome midrange and 1 1/4" dome tweeter.
Yamaha attempts to push the technology of driver diaphragm materials forward yet again by using a synthetic fiber called Zylon, which is claimed to be the world’s strongest. It has an extremely high stiffness and tensile strength, and its elasticity properties rival that of beryllium. All drivers of the NS-5000s are made from this Zylon space age material.
We discuss the design details of the NS-5000s with Phil Shea (Content Development Manager for Yamaha). Phil and Gene explore the inner workings of the NS-5000s and their unique approach to sound dampening and resonance control to make worthy successor to the NS-1000M. Gene gives his listening impressions paired with their wonderful 5000 series of electronics and GS-5000 turntable.
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[@summerforever6736]

Finally a company doing some innovation!!! Very good

[@ultraneight]

Finally? They started in 1887 I'm pretty sure.

[@richh650]

Great interview. I grew up lusting after Yamaha and SO HAPPY seeing Yamaha getting back into improving sound reproduction! Yamaha being a musical instrument manufacturer should give them unique advantages in reproducing realistic music. Let's hope they continue in that direction.

[@Karto86]

Love the science and craftsmanship that went into this speaker :) It's like Yamaha all stars product.

[@PlaybackMansion]

I heard these at AXPONA and they're very good and natural sounding. Had no idea about all the engineering. Love that they use birch ply and a big paper cone (laminate) because many things speaker designers got right 100 years ago

[@yvesboutin5604]

Great intervew with a lot of technical details! Yamaha have expertise and money to bring to life the best technology in the world and it shows. Thank you for a very informative video!

[@cdavidhord]

I hope Yamaha will be at the Audio Advice Audio fair in August in Raleigh. I plan to to attend all 3 days. My two channel system is 30 years old and want to upgrade everything! Your video series on all the Yamaha 5000 products has been very nice-Thank you!

[@minhtruong6553]

Fantastically explained thank you.

[@26101976bdm]

THE BEST! They sound sooooo good.

[@KimmoJaskari]

Definitely looks like a real tour de force of high end construction, design and materials use. Minimal corner cutting, really serious components and I assume using Zylon for speaker cones and elements is pretty unique at this point? Those tuned tubes inside the cabinet too seem like a great innovation. All in all, I'm quite impressed. For me, though, spending the money is simply not realistic for any pair of speakers - but for people with the disposable income these look like one heck of an option.

[@beece16]

I'm not a car guy but now I know how they feel when checking out new components. This is an impressive speaker.

[@TonicofSonic]

These are really beautiful speakers.

[@roccobruno8027]

Definitely on my wish list.

[@northeastcorals]

I always enjoy how serious Gene looks when he nods along to what the reps are saying on these videos, reminds me of a TV mob heavy nodding when the boss is threatening someone.✌

[@michaelhastie7324]

My first audio system was a pair of NS 500 Rock Monitors 8" woofer and beryllium tweeter, with a Yamaha CR-620 Wood finish receiver / 640 Italian design.. I traded up for 5 watts and .03 decrease in harmonic distortion. I still own the YP-D6 turntable. My final upgrade was the NS-500's for a pair of NS-690's, which were a completely different design. Acoustic suspension, rather than ported. 3-Way opposed to 2-way. Silk tweeter rather than beryllium and a added mid-range. The main improvement was the 12" NS-1000 woofer offered in the speaker (690). Big Alnico Magnets!

[@scottbernard8824]

Wish they had the metal grills around each driver like the NS-1000Ms.

[@rickp6303]

Fischer & Fischer Audio is in the USA now Game-Changer !

[@indopleaser]

Enjoy the props. Every speaker review should include a peek inside the box.

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

They better be good for $15K

[@literalghost929]

They are! Price & value are subjective, but I wouldn't mind living with a pair for sure!

[@joeygonzo]

@@literalghost929 $15 is ridiculous They're not Magico

[@robwr737]

Ouch! That puts me on the outside, wanting 😢😊

[@literalghost929]

@@joeygonzo Do they have to be? I'm seeing Magico A3 at 15k, put them and NS-5000 side by side, which sound better?

[@ubacow7109]

To be fair theres a lot of worse speakers for way more lol 15K is pretty reasonable for the engineering tbh

[@jeffcostello2174]

innovation and performance. very interesting details about Yamaha 5000 serie speakers, amp, pre-amp. A video on the NS-2000A speakers would be welcome 😉

[@Ricardo_Valles]

I’ve heard these. They are awesome!

[@ultraneight]

I'm imagining these feeling a bit chest punchy with the right power, in a good way of course.

[@klepp19]

Hope Yamaha will attend the Pacific Audio Fest in Seattle in June and demo these speakers with their integrated and their flagship cd player with a nice turntable.😊

[@robwr737]

Never cared for Yamaha receivers, except Aventage line pretty good. However, Yamaha 3-way speakers have always had a very good unappreciated, under hyped, sound!Maybe not promoted well enough. Back many years ago they made some very good and value priced 3-way bookshelf and large bookshelf/small floor speakers. Haven't had an opportunity to listen to their taller newer floor standing home theater speakers bc im kinda stuck budget wise with my entry level Polks and they're so affordable, but would love to try these out. Yamaha needs to get aggressive with their marketing! Need some better PR and some innovative advertising! They make quality products, need quality MARKETING! THANKS GENE, AWESOME JOB AGAIN!

[@marcinkantoch7176]

I designed my own speakers for my system. Looking at the build quality alone and the engineering concepts, it looks like Yamaha has put a lot of effort into this speaker. Would love to hear them. 15K seems very reasonable, taking into account that audio equipement is becoming very expensive and you are getting less and less in return.

[@CanadaSocial]

The Superman’s hair comment made me laugh … loved it

[@GB-je5tc]

I like Yamaha's dedication to details, design and performance. There's a LOT of forethought in the creation of their Ferrari class components. They take such pride in maximal performance. Based on the SCIENCE!!!! 😊 Of course, the right tool for the right job/ budget. 💰💰💰🏆😊

[@xsamitt]

Rock and Roll!

[@Gary_M]

The "trumpets" sound like Yamaha' s answer to the KEF Meta material. Hopefully they will have some trickle-down models at a more reasonable price.

[@jitrapornpha5104]

excellent review. Gene please publish measurements of these

[@samuelsalins8309]

A decent design 👌

[@HaraldMacGerhard]

I love it, thanks for doing these things Gene, nice to get info from the legend himself. This deck is insanely cool and would fint into any livingroom I think. $8K of way out engineering 😎

[@jameso.4381]

$3,000 to build per pair - only $15,000 asking price!

[@ultraneight]

Build me some for $3k please.

[@HardCold-Alquan]

If these were not so expensive - i'd get them!

[@solomonstewart1025]

With my hearing, I do not need expensive speakers. However I appreciate Yamaha effort.

[@kman7222]

given the amount of engineering etc put into the speakers, $15k is a bargain. sadly out of my $$ range , but a very informative video. seeing what effort -R&D $$$- goes into a product makes the prices seem somewhat more reasonable.

[@RoyFJ65]

NS1000M finally venerated.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I would still buy them, despite the steep price. I have seen speakers that were higher than a house in a rich neighborhood.

[@KimmoJaskari]

Yeah there are way more expensive speakers out there, but the facts of life are that spending fifteen grand on a pair is beyond many of us. Which doesn't mean they're not worth that kind of money, for people who can afford it. I'll just keep buying the best I can get for my wallet's capacity. And a little enviously look at these.

[@mrtim6]

I own the NS-2000s IMO better than the NS1000(M) for home listening. I heard the NS-5000 this year at the Sydney Australia hifi show and for the price beat all the other speakers I listened to. Really considering these now.

[@kx8960]

Hey, Paisan! Interesting! I remember the old Yamaha floorstanding speakers like these with the dome midranges back in the '80's at a high-end (well, for me) audio shop in Lancaster CA where I bought my Nakamichi BX-300 tape deck and B&O Beogram 5500 (finally selling them now). I remember they sounded good and looked exotic (I was reminded of these midranges, only larger, when I saw the Infinity Kappa 9's for the first time), but I think they were kinda overshadowed by the Klipsch Klipschorns that were in the next room. Cool that Yamaha is getting back into the game though, I'll certainly give them a listen if I ever see them!

[@dr.tissonjob5707]

Is there a new series of Av receivers coming up?

[@dennishill290]

I...need..all of the....them...and those 2 shirts....lol... !

[@SwirlingDragonMist]

I really love resonant engineering, it’s so cool that we have a big instrument company with the knowledge base necessary to implement it. Whether it’s the mellifluously tuned exhaust system in the Lexus LFA. Their ACP-2 acoustic conditioning panels. Or these J pipes and back pressure resonators. Yamaha really brings this technology forward like no other company. These speakers are so cool. Just thinking about them feels good and I really like that. Pleasure in the ownership of a product is multi dimensional, it’s not just the acoustic performance, or esthetics, prestige, ease of use, or customer care, but also the intellectual ruminations as we reflect on the engineering of their beautiful creations in our midst. The engineering highlights here are really accessible and tangible to the mind, so many elements of design in other brands go unmentioned unexplained or are frankly non existent. But here Yamaha serves us up concise clear effortless access to understanding the product in a way that is so satisfying. Other brands are like “internally braced MDF, and special* formula cone” which is just them feeding us generic granola. Here with Yamaha we get huge portions, or premium-cut Wagyu level insight into the product. Which really makes this whole Yamaha vibe feel really good. What a great lineup, they really brought it this year!

[@Openeyesopenheart42]

You express yourself with such eloquence and enthusiasm it was a pleasure to read. Cheers

[@ubacow7109]

Pretty sure Yamaha has a custom made PBO fiber for their Zylon so that it doesnt degrade in UV exposure cause im sure a lot of folks wont being putting covers on these speakers. The surface fiber is most likely another fiber or surface coating on them so that its still lightweight but prevents most UV from penetrating which is what we see as the gray material

[@reestyfarts]

Vapor applied monel coating.

[@zakblue]

I wonder how these compare to something like the Kef Reference 3 meta, which is similar price

[@jjinglenuts]

They are 6 ohms speakers, i have foil type inductors in my speakers they are the best, they are big and heavy but have amazing sound.

[@ajithchandrakumara]

What is the brabd and model of your speakers,

[@Turboy65]

A friend of mine had NS-1000Ms. I would not characterize them as warm and musical. They were cold, clinical, and very revealing, but they were less fun to listen to than a lot of other speakers. Without any doubt I can find LOTS of speakers in the high end range that are better. I expect the 5000 to be more or less the same thing, just updated. I'll stick with my Aerials.

[@jockojockoson9995]

Clearly you didn’t watch the video. So you’re basing your opinion on zero experience of actually listening to them. If you’re not doing amateur comedy you should be. You’re a natural.

[@1250GSX]

@@jockojockoson9995 Oof 😂

[@labalo5]

Nice tech and materials but they sound very boxy and old school which probably is the charm.

[@dougg1075]

Grail speakers for me. 15k hurts but it’s doable

[@ajithchandrakumara]

Can we see a comparision between herasy iv and yamaha ns5000.

[@johannjohann6523]

Personally, I think ALL speakers should be 3-way speakers. Yamaha only has one other contender for a 3-way bookshelf, and that is Sony (having a similar price range, and is also a quality speaker). Yeah, I know there are some pretty good sounding 2-way bookshelf speakers. But a similar 3-way, it will always outperform a similar 2-way to my ears anyway. I'm really glad to see Yamaha continues to offer a 3-way bookshelf speaker than can be obtained by regular folk.

[@Echo-jg8is]

It sounds impressive and expensive with words like Aero Space, super strength and F1 to describe Zylon... I suppose just saying it's common, been around for decades and is Cheap would not help sell the 15K speakers...

[@Thereznap]

thank you Gentlemen for the great review. i'm in a dilemma here. i can't seem to find a dealer in Massachusetts to Audition these Speakers. the other thing is that do you really have to buy their recommended equipment to drive them ?!. and lastly. have you guys tried to listen to them using a Tube Amp like Mcintosh or any other equipment ?. thanks again

[@ChanSweeMan]

I paired it with a McIntosh mc240 in a 6m by 9m, good sound. I also have gryphon mono block and FM 711. The 5000 is my My best hifi investment. I owned an MBL reference before. The 101E was good but very power hungry. Btw, you can forget the YG too.

[@Thereznap]

@@ChanSweeMan thank you for your reply and thoughts.

[@Foxrock321]

How many times has Phil given this talk…if I had a nickel

[@magnusdanielsson2749]

These have been around for many years. Why now? Really nice speakers though 👌

[@kyron42]

Are they better than the ns10?

[@chrisdover8507]

Are we going to see new releases for the professional studio guys? HS8’s are rather outdated imo

[@fabieneldridge3414]

There are a lot of choices for $15,000,.00 ! They better not be good but Great !

[@Luis-Tesla]

Allto Humo amigo

[@michaelwright1602]

How does it compare to my KLH Model 5's? Serious question.

[@HanifBarnwell]

Better comparison would be to the Model 7s.

[@michaelwright1602]

@@HanifBarnwell Are the 7's out yet? I own the 5's, and they are tearing it up, a little ZZ playing right now... ;-)

[@reestyfarts]

My wife likes the small size/big speaker sound. We have them on a 3 inch lift with casters that screw into the spike locations. In the market they are alone in matching the material across all house built drivers. While I was still listening to them in the showroom my wife was up at the counter paying for them. They are rated for 600 watts so they go as loud as you dare with ease. We were looking at speakers up to $25K but these beat them in our process. If you can then you must.

[@andymack8178]

In a passive crossover design, as is the case here, the large inductor in series with the woofer now prevents the amp from having complete control over this driver. Specifically, reduced transient response. The current cannot instantaneously change through an inductor as would be needed to accurately drive a woofer. This will result in a bass response that will not be as tight sounding as it could be. For $15K speakers, they could have avoided this by putting a plate amp into the cabinet with an active crossover from the woofer to the other drivers. Unfortunately, there is very little public appeal for connecting speaker wires to a full range speaker and also having to plug it in. Hence the same exact compromise for all speakers in this category including Magico, Revel, RBH, Wilson and many others.

[@wswsn7396]

Wish Yamaha will trick down these techs to a lower priced 6.5" woofer version 3 way speaker

[@ajithchandrakumara]

Yours appear to be a very valid point about using active crossover to improve quality of listening, may be they could provide an option to buy an active crossover model of this, could you please propose this to Yamaha for industry's sake, thannks.

[@wswsn7396]

@@ajithchandrakumara , if AVR manufacture's can implement at least a digital crossover between 2k and 3k in addition to the current LFE around 80Hz, the whole speaker manufactures will make huge change by making crossover less true bi-amp speakers.

[@sgtgrash]

Yamaha or Harbeth? That $15k price tag for the Yamaha's would definitely be influential in my decision.

[@mlchemwolf]

Great review as always👍🏿 I'm a yamaha fan, will they be selling the ns 3000 in the U S? The last high ends they had the bookshelf only sold overseas

[@daleboylen6427]

Seems speakers manufacturers are all into "Space age material" for their cabinets. Reduce resonance. I get it. Fancy driver materials. Piano gloss finish. Fingerprint magnet. They talk about the drivers reacting at the same time, yet fail to mention the slope of the crossover utilized. Unless it's 1st order, the drivers can't start and stop at the same time.

[@dandinhofer9240]

Yamaha used to have an entire series of NS style monitors 10's, 200's, 500's that catered to almost every pocketbook and budget. Nowadays it appears that only the ultra wealthy have the tuning fork companies focus. They changed the tweeter, midrange magnesium formula to some B.S. proprietary mystery fabric that now everyone else (including B&W) is peddling. They've also crapped in the punchbowl by making a hole in the cabinet and switching to a bass reflex gimmick design, instead of the time tested acoustic suspension. What gives???!!!! Isn't anything sacred anymore 😮😮😮😮

[@intheknow3431]

I like my Yamaha audio but think if any manufacture built $10/20,000 speakers only, they wouldn't be in business long. But Mfg's seem to want to splash $20,000 speakers all over the place and then build far cheaper speakers and work to make connections with these to the $20,000 speakers, they know that keeps them in business.

[@wswsn7396]

wish Yamaha can trick down to lower priced models

[@dougg1075]

Superman’s hair is much stronger than that:)

[@timbacchus]

Wow! $15K?

[@Iron-Soul]

I would buy them, but I’m $15,000 short. 😅

[@JohnDoe-cv8iw]

anyone who owns NS-1000s ever hear these?? im wondering if its worth the price tag to upgrade!?!

[@dougg1075]

“Most likely, once in the body, beryllium combines with certain proteins, causing the release of toxic substances. These are responsible for the lesions seen in the lungs. Certain cells form masses of tissue called granulomas in response to beryllium. “

[@BblastedD]

Dual spiders, but no 5th foot! Heresy I tell you.

[@Jon-nz3dm]

LOL

[@ajithchandrakumara]

Please explain

[@Jon-nz3dm]

@@ajithchandrakumara Yamaha loves to act like adding a 5th foot to their receivers, rather than just 4 like most boxes have, helps the sound. "The newly designed Anti-Resonance Technology (A.R.T.) Wedge is a fifth foot in the front-and-center of the chassis unit base. Together with double bottom structure, it dampens much more vibrations from the power transformer, power transistors and heat sinks, as well as vibrations that might be caused by the sound from the speakers - providing dynamic sound and focused, accurate reproduction. The fifth foot on the A8A has special brass parts inside which continue to provide further detailed and richer sound reproduction."

[@Cmdaddy88]

Paying for nostalgia more than anything, most would be better off with some Perlistens or Revels

[@HomeCinemaJunkie]

This is like a Lexus LFA.

[@Audioholics]

Love that comment especially since Yamaha made the engine.

[@HomeCinemaJunkie]

@@Audioholics Yeah, they managed to create the worlds most beautiful engine sound IMO. 😀

[@scottcooksey5284]

As soon as he said mundorf I knew where this was going. 15k? Are you kidding? Get outta here!

[@HanifBarnwell]

Stop grousing, you can afford it.

[@willbrink]

May sound great, but I'm sure there's far better for that kinda of $.

[@literalghost929]

like?

[@vladimirdorta6692]

Rather a stand-mount speaker.

[@allanredford6070]

goobersville

[@DescartesRenegade]

These couldve been powered at 15k... -_-. Throw in a class AB amp with DSP.

[@chriskellas2902]

2 to 3K at the most, $15,000.00 ...........Yeah right!

[@socksumi]

I heard these at an audio show a couple of years back. They're okay but not that great, a little synthetic sounding to my ears. At their absurdly high price there are better sounding speakers.

[@markwalsh2709]

$15k/pr - I don't think so. People that can afford that, don't need videos.

[@roybatty6368]

Far too pricey. I'll have to choose Magico

[@ChanSweeMan]

Serious? The 5000, 15k, is much better than and cheaper than the YG, 100k.

[@eversway7540]

1000 and 1000M are two different speakers.

[@Gassten]

well for like 20 000 usd xD should sound ok i guess

[@shijoejoseph2011]

Mahler. Mendelssohn. Brahms. Bruch. Of course Beethoven and Mozart. John Denver. Ugh, these speakers need divine treatment!

[@DavidSusiloUnscripted]

I listened to them years ago. Never liked them. 😢

[@MichelLinschoten]

Most overrated speakers out there, yamaha ns was never a great speaker in my ears. Now these "new" ones are 15k ?! Riddled with cheap parts iron core Inductors, electrolytic caps?! Thsn the "carefully " chamber thingie. Dude i swear , every year you see these old reincarnations of speakers. Pretending they are incredible... At 15k you can do so much better than this especially on the second hand market. Lot less id say easily

[@matthew8429]

Have you auditioned these speakers?

[@JohnDoe-rn3jy]

You're pathetic, always writing the same. A lot of people love them, they sound extraordinary!

[@CS-bz9lk]

I did, at home, bass was not tight unfortunately, rather slow/flabby. everything else was excellent however. but back they went. @@matthew8429

[@ChanSweeMan]

​@@CS-bz9lk this is because of the weakness in the chain. The 5000 just revealed it.

[@77WOR]

The giggling and cartoon-manship really spoils a presentation of fine audio art. Can't we deliver without the prankster type vibes? Quit with the comedian antics. No Japanese would ever act like that. Be more serious please.

[@givemethejob3293]

Talk all you want about expensive speakers but if you dont treat the listening room you are just waisting your time oh and money.