I grew up in a time where, as a teenager, all you wanted was the best sound system. HiFi was a big game in the 90's. Because of this, i grew up listening to music and constantly wanting to get the best sound. Always looking for that little bit more detail, that little bit more control in the bass. When i started producing music, my goal has always been the same. To get the most accurate sound from my speakers. This is where the HS8 Studio Monitors from Yamaha come in.
The Fame of the NS-10M's
Don't get me wrong, the HS8's are far from perfect, however perfection is purely subjective. While it may not suite some producers, for musicians looking for a neutral sound, a flat response and accuracy you can't go wrong with these Yamaha's. These speakers are based on the underlying philosophy behind the very famous Yamaha NS-10M monitors. The idea was to create something that was sonically accurate, adding no colour to your sound and to put it in an enclosure that has as little resonance as possible. The philosophy is to create a speaker that gives an accurate representation as possible of the music being created.
The Tweeter and Woofer Design
The HS8 comes with a newly designed 1" Tweeter. It can deliver up to 30kHz distortion free due to its thick wave guide. The Woofer is an 8" highly efficient, super responsive driver aided by carefully placed magnets to give you a really clean bass that is well controlled. They're both driven by a what Yamaha claim to be a perfectly matched amplifier, bi-amped and tuned precisely to the transducers in the unit.
Designed like a classic Piano
When you think if
Yamaha one of the first things that comes to mind are their Pianos. Yamaha's first venture into music was indeed making Pianos. Yamaha have used over 100 years of Piano making experience to ensure the cabinets for the HS series gave as little resonance as possible. The cabinets are Thick MDF, acoustically dampened and using traditional joining methods make sure this speaker is accurate and detailed without any unwanted sound.
Port Design
The speaker ports on the rear are cleverly designed to reduce unwanted noise. Yamaha have spent a lot of time studying airflow in speaker ports and designed countless iterations before they decided on the final product. Yamaha engineers spent time creating a visual representation of the sound produced in order for them to analyse and claim the resulting product is the ideal port design.
Inputs and Outputs
The HS series comes with 2 different room control settings that allow you to adjust the speaker according to the room. Firstly there is a a room control which lets you adjust the low end depending on where you have placed the speaker. This is usually to cut out that low frequency you get when you put them closer to the wall. The second switch is a high trim which lets you adjust the higher frequencies. Above this you will see TRS and XLR inputs and a volume control on top.
Conclusion
The Yamaha HS8 monitors look clean in design and sound clean too. For a flat response and accurate detail the HS8's are great monitors that don't break the bank. You get a quality of sound you would expect from much pricier monitors. They are sturdy and well built meaning you don't get unwanted vibrations. These seem to be a stable in home studios but also can be found in some of the worlds most famous studios and mixing rooms.
The Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitors are available from
online or in our Birmingham showroom.
