Yamaha NS-4

sweatyk

Active Member
I know this is an impossible question. I just recently acquired my old Yamaha NS-4's from my ex and they are in good shape except for the woofers. One is missing completely and the other has no foam left around it. I have done a little research and it appears that it would be easier to find Jimmy Hoffa than these woofers. If I cant find any original replacements I would at least like to know what the specs and ratings were for these so I could get as close as possible for new ones.

Is there any hope for these or am I just peeing in the fan with it on high?

They were great speakers when I had them in the 80's till the divorce and she kept them. Now they are in ICU on life support. I hate to pull the plug on them. Thanks for any info or advise that you could offer.
 
They don't look like anything special. Made in Japan or elsewhere? You can get the woofer's model number off of the back of the existing one.

dded_1.JPG


Frankly the fact that there's fake woodgrain on the front, behind where the grill should have been, isn't an indicator of great quality.

Are those 8" woofers? You might be able to find suitable replacements, if not a donor speaker, somewhere (ebay?)
 
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The quality I experienced with them was not based on the looks. The sound they produced was very nice with low to mid wattage receivers. I used a 30 watt Yamaha receiver with them back in the 80's. Yeah they're nothing fancy to look at but the sound was warm for a speaker that size. And yes it is an 8 inch speaker.
 
I have a Yamaha NS-4

I have one Yamaha NS-4. His sibling kicked the bucket, but the one I have is in great shape and sounds great. These speakers were once used as monitors in recording studios. Once Yamaha discontinued them, these studios bought up all of the replacement drivers, so finding a suitable replacement would be next to impossible. Once the legendary NS-10s came out, there were some studios that would place a thin priece of tissue over the tweeter to get the NS-10 to sound more like the NS-4, which is a bit darker sounding box.

If you buy some other replacement woofer, then don't expect to get the same sound. Speaker boxes like these are built to match the woofers used in them. I use to have a pair of these with replacement woofers and they sounded horrible.

The woofer with the deteriated surround can be easily repaired. Just take it to a reprioble speaker repair guy and he'll get you fixed up. As for your other woofer, it sounds like it's toast. That's where I come in.

My wife has convinced me to part with my NS-4. I'd be happy to sell it to you if you are still interested in restoring your pair of NS-4s or if you'd like to add to them and perhaps have a complete 5.1 set of NS-4s some day.
 
Viewing this from the sidelines, I'm struck with two thoughts:

First up, good on Dantechpro for the offer. Karmariffic.

Secondly, perhaps there should be an orphan speaker thread, where onesies can find their mates in a cross-country Dating Game. Hopefully not too many issues with who's a giver and who's a taker... Here's your host, Wink Martindale. ;)

Chip
 
I second the orphan speaker thread,currently I have no orphans but I do see them at yard sales all the time. I would pick one up if someone has a need for it.
 
I have one Yamaha NS-4. His sibling kicked the bucket, but the one I have is in great shape and sounds great. These speakers were once used as monitors in recording studios. Once Yamaha discontinued them, these studios bought up all of the replacement drivers, so finding a suitable replacement would be next to impossible. Once the legendary NS-10s came out, there were some studios that would place a thin priece of tissue over the tweeter to get the NS-10 to sound more like the NS-4, which is a bit darker sounding box.

If you buy some other replacement woofer, then don't expect to get the same sound. Speaker boxes like these are built to match the woofers used in them. I use to have a pair of these with replacement woofers and they sounded horrible.

The woofer with the deteriated surround can be easily repaired. Just take it to a reprioble speaker repair guy and he'll get you fixed up. As for your other woofer, it sounds like it's toast. That's where I come in.

My wife has convinced me to part with my NS-4. I'd be happy to sell it to you if you are still interested in restoring your pair of NS-4s or if you'd like to add to them and perhaps have a complete 5.1 set of NS-4s some day.

I might still be interested........hit me up on a PM.
 
I really enjoy my NS-4s. They are surprisingly good to me.

+1 :thmbsp:

Mine are very nice sounding 8 inchers with rubber surrounds,interior bracing and a decent crossover. Acoustic suspension and 90db.

The NS-4's are the babies of the 1979 line that also included the NS-6 and NS-8.


-Jim
 
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I didn't see this thread on Mayday, but at the time, I had a pair of these woofers listed on BarterTown. They were cheap, too!

Alas, they're gone now, but this is a good example of why you should become a subscriber.

I agree that they sounded pretty good. In fact, I thought they sounded better than similarly sized speakers I've had made by JBL, Monitor Audio, Marantz, Infinity, and Cerwin Vega.
 
DRAT!..........I hate missing out on something like that. What does it take to become a subscriber?
 
I just traded off a pair to a friend of mine, but I didn't really want to. They are awesome sounding speakers, I really liked them. He is the Yamaha guy though, now using them with his CR-2020.

I traded for a working pair of Dynaco A-25s and a Marantz 5030b cassette deck.
 
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