Yamaha NS-690 II Speakers?? Help Identify


I recently purchased a really nice pair of Yamaha speakers at an estate sale that needed refoaming. After fixing them, I hooked them up and can't believe that they sound this good. The cabinets are overbuilt and they are very heavy. Look almost identical to the NS 1000. Does anyone know anything about these? They must be high end. What was the original retail? I have never seen another pair. Thanks all.
gwoodall
The specs on Yamaha NS-690II:
Impedance: 8 ohm
Frequency response: 35-20,000 KHz
Sensitivity: 90 db
40 watts nominal/80 watts max
Woofer: 300mm cone type
Midrange: 75mm soft dome
Tweeter: 30mm soft dome
Adjustable midrange and tweeter output
Dimensions: 14"(W) x25"(H) x12.5"(D)
Weight: 59 lbs each
I owned a pair for a while (1976-1981). They were decent, but had 'holes' in the response curve that I could hear. I eventually sold them and moved to the Rogers Studio 1, which was a far better speaker. After 20 years with those, I sold them and got a nice set of Yamaha NS-1000M's, a far better speaker than either of the others.
hey there, I use the 690 mk III as studio monitors as well. I grew up listening to this pair of speakers as a kid (they were my dads) have had them refoamed and a repair on the cross over. I know the sound of these guys intimately and have never been dissapointed and manage great mixes out of them. Thirt odd years service to my family must be saaying something!!!!!
I bought a pair in the 70s and still have them and in mint condition. They started to sound scratchy because of the foam disintegrating so I ordered a re-foam kit last month from http://www.simplyspeakers.com. It was easy to repair but you have to take your time getting the old foam off the surround and frame and cost under $30. They sound as good as the day I bought them. A beautiful looking and sounding pair of speakers. I believe I paid about $700 for the pair new.
a freind gave me a pair and the bass speaker is blown out on both of them what a good replacement?
I use a pair of rebuilt ns-690's as my main studio monitors---Pleasant and accurate- I find my mixes translate very well!

For the age and price--awsome!

B
That's about right, the price when I was looking for them was between $675 and $750, which was about $300 less than the 1000's. I too am now looking to get the woffers re-foamed. How much did the job cost you?
I had a pair of these back in '79 also. Mated them with a Yamaha B-2 amp and a Holman preamp. Smooth sound with decent bass down to the mid 30's in my room. Old retail price was $690 (my purchase)
I had a pair of these since they were new in '79. Essentially the NS 1000 without the beryllium drivers and with a plain paper cone woofer. Virtually the same crossover, which is why they sound so good. I sold them only recently for very little to a collector in NYC because of foam rot and cabinet damage and because I had too much equipment, but they were my primary speakers till 1995.

90 db efficient, steep rolloff of bass below 45 hz, a wrinkle in the response curve around 2K hz, but otherwise pretty flat. One of the few higher-efficiency designs specifically designed for moderate-powered (< 80 watt) solid state amplifiers. More info on Speaker Asylum list:
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/bbs.html

Fritz