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Yamaha NS1000M Help, Advice, PLEASE

Hello all. I purchased a nice pair of the legendary Yamaha NS1000M today. I got a good deal on them, and I actually bought them with the intention of trading them for a nice pair of Planar speakers. Then I made the mistake of hooking them up. Oh my. These things are wonderful. Perhaps the ugliest speaker ever made, but truly astonishing sound. I hate to say it, but in some ways superior to my (formerly) unassailable Meadowlark Shearwater "Hotrods". Enough background. I have several questions.

1. This pair was made in 1981 (original stickers still on the rear), and they use the old-style spring-loaded terminals. I hate those things. Will it ruin the value or be a bad idea to install a nice pair of WBT 5-way binding posts or similar?

2. If keeping the original terminals is best, what type of speaker wire should I use? The darn things won't accept anything heavier than bare 14 ga. wire. Is there an audiophile wire designed for this application, or am I relegated to the ole Radio Shack "zipcord"?

3. This pair has the black ash finish, and they are not attractive. Would it be a bad idea (or affect the value) to have the cabinets refinished and stained a medium cherry or oak?

4. The 12" woofers are dirty; really dirty. Is there a way to get behind the metal mesh covers to clean them up? My vacuum will get some of it, but I really need to run a tacky cloth over them to get all the crud. Suggestions?? Are the metal mesh covers removable?

5. I currently have these monsters on my carpeted floor, and the mids and tweeters are significantly lower than my ear-level. What brand, type and size speaker stands are recommended for these speakers.

Thanks all. I'm awestruck. Any other suggestions from you NS1000 fans will be greatly welcome!! -David
klipschking
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
FWIW, they sound nice with J-FET-based amps too.
vjay00
37 posts
 
Klipschking, I believe the list price in 1980 was $1,350 and my dealer gave me a "system" discount.
klipschking OP
84 posts
 
Vjay00: No need to quibble over 30 year-old speakers, and I'm sure you're right, but looks like the price went up dramatically by '81. According to the sticker on the back of my pair, they were made on 10/21/81. According to the receipt (dated 3/22/82), the price before tax was $1,910.00. Mark up?? Who knows. Thanks for all your advice!
mgattmch
576 posts
 
Ah, nostalgia, nothing quite like a pair of Yamaha NS-1000Ms to bring back audiophile memories. I have a pair that I purchased new in 1981 (I think), still have them in fact and will keep them for as long as I can. Over the years I have owned many speakers from Quad ESL 63s to B&W N801s, the NS-1000Ms always held their own against virtually any speaker I compared them with (excluding my dream speakers, Apogee Divas, but that's another story). Personally I do not find the black finish ugly, in fact I find the overall design (without grills of course) very attractive. However, each to their own opinion on aesthetics. The other speaker finish Yamaha offered was solid (not veneer) ebony with the NS-1000. I believe there is also a NS-2000 (15" woofer) and very special NSX-10000 model. Mine are on 12" substantial stands with original clip speaker wire connectors on the back. Personally, I find the speakers wire connectors just fine, OK not as good as WBT connectors on the N801s. Mine are used with heavy gauge Monster speaker cables (12AWG ?). I simply trim the cables down to fit into the spring terminals. In the 28 years I have owned the NS-1000Ms I have only had one problem, self induced by an act of shear stupidity, I blew the midrange units in both! Replacement units were painfully expensive. One final comment, the first time I heard the Yamaha NS-1000Ms was at a HiFi show in London, England. Yamaha were demonstrating the speakers using Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene (part 3) at very high volume. To say the sound was impressive is an understatement, these speakers immediately became a must have for me! Enjoy your classic speakers.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
drubin
3,277 posts
 
Wow, great to read this. I bought a pair new in 1975 or 76 for I think $1000, maybe it was a little more. I sold them about two years later and got Quad ESLs. As a young and impressionable audiophile, I was discouraged by the fairly negative review the Yamahas got in TAS, which caused me to feel maybe I shouldn't hang on to them.. And I felt they always had a bit of a hot, metallic sound. Great bass though. But, jeez, back then we used lamp cord for speaker cable and committed all sorts of other sins by contemporary standards. I think I blew a tweeter twice, not sure how.

I drove them originally with a Yamaha integrated (overrated if you ask me) but subsequently with a Threshold 400A (wish I still had that!) and a few other things. I don't regret the Quads at all, but I wish I could hear the Yamahas again in a modern system. Any owners in the SF Bay Area willing to have me over for a listen?
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