NS-F700

Comments about Yamaha ns-f700_piano_finish:

I've never bought a set of floor standing speakers before these without listening
to them first. I did it this time because I could not find any retail store that carried
them. So I was apprehensive about buying them "sound unheard". But I'm really happy with
my choice. I also could find hardly any reviews of this speaker, so I'm writing this to
help others know what they are like.

The Yamaha NS-F700s are one of the best that I've heard in their price range. They are at
least as good, if not better, than the B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) 683s that I've listened to
in audio salons, another 3-way, ported, floor standing high quality speaker in the
$800-$1000 range. I brought in my own CDs to listen to them. I originally wanted to
finally own some high quality electrostatics, but in previewing some Martin Logan's, I
found that they were impossibly too directional in their sound. I have been an audiophile
for many decades and wanted some newer, accurate sounding speakers.

The beauty of the Yamahas is that they have a couple of added features that most other
manufacturers don't have. One is that the wood sides and top are not parallel to each other
so that you minimize standing wave resonances inside the cabinet. Also they have
isolated each speaker in its own compartment inside so one doesn't affect the sound
of the other. I'm not sure that B&W does that. They also use monster cable interconnects
within the cabinet so you don't introduce more resistance in the voltages going to the
speakers. Those who have looked inside other high-priced speakers know that many use cheap,
thin wire to do the interconnects. The Yamahas are well constructed and heavy, weighing
55 lbs each, so you shouldn't get cabinet resonances affecting the sound. They have either
a good looking wood finish or a black, smooth piano finish. I bought the wood finish.

The sound of the NS-F700s is very neutral and not boomy as some speakers have with multiple
drivers producing the bass (e.g. the B&W 683s with 2 speakers for the bass vs. their 684s,
which has 1, but is only a 2 1/2 way). This makes them perfect for 2-cabinet stereo setups
for reproducing the sound of orchestras, quartets, jazz groups or bands. They are not the
type of speaker that you would buy for big bass to give the movie theater sound that some
people want. Of course you could probably get that sound by adding a subwoofer. I didn't
want that. I wanted accurate reproduction of sound. I don't have the space in the setup
I have (a living room) for a sub-woofer, and I don't want the distortion of all that
non-realistic bass. For those who want the extra (unatural in my mind) bass, Yamaha sells
a much cheaper speaker, the 3-way NS-555, for $300, for home theater setup, that has an
extra bass speaker that may give you that sound. But if you think that the NS-F700s might
not have enough bass, put on some Telarc CDs of Michael Murray's organ recordings of Bach
and you'll see that it can give you plenty that will vibrate your walls and your neighbors
will definitely hear it. The upper bass (~100-500 Hz) is all there with a tight, accurate
sound. I hear bass sounds on these that I did not hear on my older speakers (3-way also)
that had 12" woofers in them, and the bass that I could hear before is now much
tighter. They give very clean, realistic sounds from violins, cellos, basses and drums,
as well as any other instrument. Listen to your copy of Telarc's recording of Also Sprach
Zarathustra again to enjoy these speakers.

A note on speaker placement. Since these are 3-way bass reflex and ported to
the rear of the cabinet (the B&W 600s are ported to the front), you have to space the
cabinets about 12" away from the rear wall to hear the bass properly. I temporarily had
placed them tight to the wall and didn't get adequate bass sound. The manual for them
does not say anything about doing this, even though their drawing shows them spaced away
from the rear wall.

They have bi-wiring (or bi-amping if you want) terminals in the back, to allow
you to run separate wires to the separate tweeter terminals so their signal doesn't get
"current-modulated" by the bigger currents going to the bass and midrange.
I haven't done this yet but might, since I have only to put in additional wires for
the tweeter connections. A small cost to get better sound.

In summary, a very high quality pair of floor standing speakers that also looks
attractive in a living room setup because of the high quality finish of the cabinet.