SOUNDBOXES XII: VINTAGE YAMAHA NS-600 SPEAKERS – AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

 SOUNDBOXES XII: VINTAGE YAMAHA NS-600 SPEAKERS – AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

Vintage speakers – defined broadly as pre-1990 productions – have never been my objects of admiration. Until now! Some of you, my regular visitors, might even quarrel with my classification of pre-1990 speakers. Fair criticism indeed. I was fortunate enough to visit a HiFi hobbyist’s home for a demonstration of the YAMAHA NS-600. I knew he was a collector of Luxman and Tannoy, Musical Fidelity and the occasional Sansui, so this was a treat! Specifications I managed to research off HiFi sales sites on the Internet are here for the NS-600:

3 speaker · sealing method · book shelf type

For low-pass: 30 cm cone type (JA - 3102)

For mid-range: 10 cm semi-dome type (JA - 1210)

For high range: 3 cm dome type (JA - 0533)

Playback frequency band: 40 Hz to 20 kHz

Crossover frequency: 700 Hz, 6 kHz (12 dB / oct)

Lowest resonance frequency: 50 Hz

Impedance: 6Ω

Output sound pressure level: 91 dB / W / m

Maximum allowable input: 70 W

Rated input: 35W

Internal volume: 50

Level control: Mid-range, high-frequency continuous variable

External dimensions: Width 370 × height 665 × depth 322 mm

Weight: 24 kg

The manufacturer’s website does not list this kit anymore so I have to put out the warning that these specifications may not be accurate. I welcome corrections as comments on this blog post.

         From the specifications above, this is one pair of serious speakers meticulously engineered for audiophiles. It does not read like a powerhouse production since it is stated that its maximum input is 70W. But the ‘output sound pressure’ of 91dB is just about the standard even for speakers produced in the late 1990s and 2000s.

What about the music? I was transfixed by just two discs I played for the duration of the hour-long session: FEELS SO GOOD: THE SMOOTHEST HITS, Sony Music Entertainment / 515295.2, released in Singapore and Asia in 2004 as a double High Definition Compact Disc (HDCD) compilation.

         Strings were produced with velvet quality and warmth at the same time. Instruments sounded very natural. Soundstage was reasonably accurate. I could place the instruments on big solos like Chuck Mangione’s ‘Feels So Good’, Shakatak’s ‘Night Birds’ and Chris Botti’s ‘Look of Love’. Carlos Santana’s ‘Love is You’ shone for its revelation of the precision of Santana’s plucking of the electric guitar. The beauty of testing everything using music from the ‘Smooth Jazz’ category was that it showcased the range of musical styles from slight adagios to soulful instrumental solos to swinging ensembles, even large string orchestrations. Barry White’s original 1974 Vinyl remastered version of ‘Love’s Theme’ was quite a jaw dropping performance on the Yamahas: suddenly I was ‘there’ in front of White’s players and even the flute solo at the three-quarter mark was floatingly distinct, so were the dynamics of the drums punctuating the changes in notes. My only (minor) complaint is that the presentation could be projected a little more forward towards the listener in what was a very large living room for a four-room apartment. For example, Shakatak’s ‘Night Birds’ was originally recorded with a disco funk vibe that ought to have been more involving, but at least a good part of it was reproduced closely. Vocals were nonetheless a joyful experience – everything that was deliberately voiced was picked up and conveyed faithfully and naturally.

         The big surprise was that my friend did not need to invest in high end power cords and interconnects to reproduce this level of enjoyable realism in his system. The combination was that of a LUXMAN CL350 solid state preamplifier matched to the M-1600 power amplifier of the same brand. Both LUXMAN amplifiers were definitely late 1970s technology! It was a nearly tube like presentation with normal manufacturer supplied copper interconnects and power cords. The speaker cables were better than manufacturer supplied copper, it was several grades higher with light shielding and made of basic ‘oxygen free copper’. Of course, it helped that the living room for this Hi Fi set up was slightly larger than the usual listening rooms at high street shops. The music was effortless, tinged with warmth, but not overdone, and enjoyable for hours on end. 😊

ALAN

December 2020