Yamaha NS-690 mkI NICE!

So I stumbled upon a set of ns-690 mkI today... 65 euro. Near mint. and one stuck woofer.

They are much better than my b&w dm4 speakers! But they seem to go a bit lower also... putting out to much lower frequenties in some music. I'm thinking that my room is to small

I have found some info about fixing the stuck woofer. I could try it but i'm afraid that i'll break it. And I don't think i'll ever have a change of grabbing a pair of these again :S (I haven't ever seen a ns690 for sale in the netherlands before)

I'm going to ask tomorrow what it will cost to fix it at the local HIFI shop. But in the meantime, i'm curious if playing with one stuck woofer is in anyway dangerous to my amp or left over woofer :S

The amp that i'm using is a yamaha ca-810. I recapped it myself but I have no other experience besides recapping in fixing vintage audio.

Besides sharing this information. I want to thank yamaha for being awesome, and audiokarma for past topics that have helped me and will help me in the future!

Congratulations on the speakers!

If you don't get sufficient responses on fixing it, ask the moderator to move this thread to the speaker forum.

They do indeed have very nice accurate, tight bass.

I would not play the speaker with the stuck woofer... :nono: As for fixing it... no idea.

The NS 690 and 1000 series are truly excellent speakers.
Here's a link to an aficionado dealing with a some NS-690 drivers:
http://www.kameson.com/audio/ns-690-2.htm

Thanks for the helpfull suggestions all.

I went to the shop but the repair guy insisted that I would do it myself because other options are to expensive. So I'm tempted to try this myself.

As for the speakers, i'm still very surprised how well preserved they are. I even got the now yellowish manual with it.

Crazy stuff... while my 690's are away for woofer repair I stumbled upon a set of NS-1000 in a barn... 1 tweeter out. 100 euro's so I took them.

The kid selling them was aged around 16 and I actually ended up negiotating with his mom. He was powering them with those plastic amplifiers that don't put out more than 5 watts I think :S

So currently i'm listening mono,being impressed and wondering how they will compare to the 690's. My ca-810 seems to handle it quite well.

That's amazing! What great luck you have!

That is an absolute steal. Hopefully he didn't damage them too much with that amp.

I love my NS-1000s. IMHO, they're noticeably better than the 690s. It does take some time to appreciate the differences, though.

Get a tweeter and fix it up!

Today the fixed yamaha 690's arrived.

My impressions:

With good recordings:
Very smooth, very clear and very loud high's. Bass punch sometimes isn't there when I expect it. They appear to be well balanced though. Maybe I just need more RMS to make the woofer kick harder. Imaging is wider than i'm used too. Music listening is different but enjoyable!

With bad recordings:
Electric Guitars have the capacity to kill me

My b&w dm-4 speakers sometimes kick harder, but they sound (in comparison) more boxy. I also concluded that they are good in their own and very different way. They are romantic. Less accurate but very engaging. And they do good with most music.

The ns 1000m (tested in mono) is indeed better in _every_ way compared to the 690. But I currently don't think that it's added value to me :S. It's too good I think! It's very special to listen to them. Some songs sound really different. Very very real, but also sometimes boring. My ears probably need time to adjust to all this 'boring smoothness'.

690's Crossover recapped.


Big change! No harsness, no "strange/loose" bass and an almost endless desire to play loud... I even put the tweeters to neutral without problems

:thmbsp: :thmbsp: :thmbsp:

Glad to hear they improved with the recap. Was the recap difficult? Does the 690 use the same capacitor-intensive style crossover as the 1000m's?

tiga said:

Glad to hear they improved with the recap. Was the recap difficult? Does the 690 use the same capacitor-intensive style crossover as the 1000m's?

Click to expand...

No..Only 4 caps on a 690 Xover.

Hey, it's my first post here.
I didn't want to start a new thread, and so I will ask a question about Yamaha ns-690 here. I'm thinking of buying the mk II version of these speakers, but I was wondering how do they deal with low wpc amplifiers. I've got the Sansui qrx 5500A, wich is only 30wpc. Would that be enough to get the Yamahas really play the music the way they should?

Pjetrek said:

Hey, it's my first post here.
I didn't want to start a new thread, and so I will ask a question about Yamaha ns-690 here. I'm thinking of buying the mk II version of these speakers, but I was wondering how do they deal with low wpc amplifiers. I've got the Sansui qrx 5500A, wich is only 30wpc. Would that be enough to get the Yamahas really play the music the way they should?

Click to expand...

Yes as long as you don't try to crank the volume on the Suiy to 11. It only takes about 5-8 watts to get to loud for me..

The 690's are now sitting at my dad's place. He compared them to his dm2a's.

after more than a week of testing he decided that the 690's are better in all but the lowest low's.

The but:

Honest (and more dynamic) music isn't always preferred...

I'll go and listen to them myself soon but my dad told me that he put the speakers a lot farther away from eachother than he ever did with speakers before. My own room is a bit small and limited. They seem to have a bit of harshness that is very influenced by the room. Compared to the dm2a's.

Anyway on to the crossover difference:
I noticed that alot (not all) of the harsness disappeared after the recap. I could also put the volume a lot higher without it sounding strained. And I noticed voices got less thin. To conclude: it's a lot easier on the ears but it doesn't really change the way the speaker sounds. And as noticed before, the bass got tighter.

I used audyn QS and one MKT audyn. It was a bit difficult to find exact values and I had to be a bit creative with attaching the bigger capacitors. Also the leads were bend around the board making disconnecting them a bit less straightforward than I thought. Had to be carefull with removing all the solder before pulling the caps out. (The board is strong though)

I had no perception of any form of harshness what-so-ever with either the NS-1000 or the NS-690s.
The bass response seemed on par with both models.
The mids and highs on the NS-1000 are more articulate and a bit more forward than the well balanced 690s.
Both great speakers, properly powered and in a decent listening space.

After listening to the ns-690. To other speakers, and to different rooms I can say that this 'harsness' was the listening room and not the ns-690! They just seem to be more susceptible because of the clear highs.

Just to clarify.

I have a pair of the ns-690's (first version) and ns-670's. Both wonderful speakers. I believe I read somewhere that the 690's actually go lower than the ns-1000. The ns-1000 are good with tube gear according to some.

gizzyman47 said:

I have a pair of the ns-690's (first version) and ns-670's. Both wonderful speakers. I believe I read somewhere that the 690's actually go lower than the ns-1000. The ns-1000 are good with tube gear according to some.

Click to expand...

That is what Yamaha's own manual states. I drive my NS-690 Mk1s with a CR-3020 and have never heard any harshness. If the bass is there in the music the 690s will put it out, because the bass is so clean it is tempting to think it is not there.

I find the 690s especially faithful with the female voice, I used a tape of my wife singing the Mozart Requiem (soprano part) in her younger days.

I totally agree with you about the bass. I put on some nine inch nails the other day and turned it up. Those 690's sure did put out some tight well defined bass in my opinion! Even at lower volumes the 690's put out quality bass. I just think that a lot of people are used to exaggerated bass, I suppose?