Yamaha HS80M, still unrivaled bang for the buck !

I listened to many monitors cheaper to more expensive than the HS80 (pricerange up to $550). The HS80 blew me away however. And I had to carry home two big boxes weighing 13kg each that day, which is 5 years ago. And I'm still very much in love. After all this time there's still no competitor for this price range. Or maybe there is?

Extensive HS80M review by Dr. Arkeville.

In the past 5 years I've always thought there wasn't any competition to the HS80M's in this price-range. Untill I met one other monitor made by Tascam. I auditioned them side by side in store. but more on this later. Now for a little myth which needs to be cleared: The HS80M do not sound anything like the NS-10M Studio, so please stop saying that. Trust me I own both. The mids, highs and low-end just do not compare at all between these two. On the woofer part judging by looks, you're right though. They both have the slim black rubber around the white cone. With a slim black lining just around the center of the woofer. I compared the NS-10 and HS80 ones by looks. And I must say the NS-10 woofers do look a bit better in my eyes. It's the way the black "mustache" applied to the NS10's which is a bit more appealing to me (true gearslut I guess)

Soundwise the HS80 leaves the NS10M studio far behind. The HS80 is a different animal. It packs plenty of tight and very controlled bass, unlike the NS-10. It has a metallic 'shwing' in the mids which is not unpleasing actually, but still unlike the ns-10's. The HS80 does however have a very harsh high-end which is unpleasing to hear. But still does not sound like the NS-10 does. I like to call this extra high-end on the HS80 "headroom". Which could prove usefull when you might need it. I've set the EQ-switch at the back for the high-trim @-2dB. And this works perfect. The overal balance I get is great and I love it. Never changed this setting for 5 years.

Besides the controlled bass on the 80's. The stereo-imaging also blew me away when I first listened to them at the store. It was way better than what I was used to and so precise. House of Pain's "Shamrocks and Shananigans" sound awesome from sub-low through clear mids and snares all the way to to the highs. This in contrary to the numerous other monitors which sounded muffled and inferior (haha). Even the acclaimed yamaha MSP5 could not compete. I do not like small monitors that try to sound big. Small drivers have to work hard to pump out higher volumes. And this you hear clearly on the MSP5. They should've put a piece of conrete on the top of the small speaker to stop it from shaking all over and coloring the sound you hear. Why MSP5's are so acclaimed really beats me. They were hyped and not what I was looking for. I'm glad I can differ opinion with S.O.S. on this one. Who had a pretty good review on them. Which makes me wonder SOS mmust have had earplugs in. Boy do they sound awful.

From the other demo speakers, I didn't like the Mackies as well (HR625 I believe). Which had a nasty cardboard souding thump in the low-end. Which made kickdrums sound hyped. So mackie went off my shortlist. The KRK RP-series were bad as well. The RP6 sounded okay if you were used to hifi. But steer clear form the RP-5 which is really money down the drain.. Then the Behringer truth's sounded hyped. But hyped across the whole spectrum. Which made it flat in a way, is that even possible? The HS50 however sounded very like the 80's with the volume lslghtly turned down. And a little less bass ofcourse. This consistancy showed me Yamaha put real effort into this product. I think the HS50 should sound fab with the Yamaha HS10W sub. This should be perfect. But I never listened to this combination though.

At my place there's little treatment to catch off first reflections. Which colors the sound of my HS80's. And they do sound bighter at home indeed. At the store there was carpet and treament everywhere. Which made the Yammies sound very balanced. So if you're complaining about the Yammies sounding too bright at home. Room-treatment might be the thing to look at. The great hing is you can distinguish very clearly different sources through the HS80's. Whether vinyl, CD, a different mixer, Anything I ever tried. I do have problems getting the tonality of some instruments right sometimes. But that might be me still needing to learn a thing or two.

Now about the other competitor I was talking about. Which is the "Tascam VL-A8". Sadly enough this gem is put out of production and very hard to come by. It has roughly the same height as the HS80 but the cabinet is deeper. Here's the kicker: My opinion is that the VL-A8, does everything better than, what users find a bit disturbing in general, about the HS80's. Don't believe me? There's plenty of high-end on the VL-A8. But dont sound harsh like the Yammie's when set to flat. The same goes for the mids. And the mid on the tascam's do reveal a lot without the metallic shwing the 80's have. The Tascam's even have tighter (but not deeper) low-end. Somehting you won't believe unless you listened to these 1:1

Tascam VL-A8 revealed more detail of bass-guitars and mids in tracks. Slave's "just a touch of love" for example. The mids are very punchy on the VL-A8 but not unpleasing like the HS80 can be at times. The VL-A8 however does lack some bass-extension compared to the 80's. This is something you won't notice right away. It took me about 7 clips of music before I realised this compared to the HS80. The 80's also sound a bit less controlled in the low-end compared to the VL-A8. Even a bit muddier. Yes this was to my surprise as well. But the 80's still go deeper though. My conclusion is the VL-A8 is a very worthy competitor. The store sadly sold out on these. And Tascam stopped the production a few years back. Which I really wish they didn't..

The Yamaha HS80 are very good. When you compare these to the Adam's, the Adam's do sound very clear and detailed but don't offer much more than HS80 can already give you. They do sound more honest and flatter than the HS80's. But there's something to the Adam's which makes them sound a bit unreal as well. They sound so good, too clinical and tame even. Which leaves me thinking they maybe color the sound to make you think they are flatter. It could also be the ribbon-tweeter though, I'm not sure. Anyway if you do not have double the cash to shell out for the Adam's. The extra price of the adams over the HS80's isn't really worth it. Even though there's a difference between the two in sound. The yamaha's still are a very good bang for the buck. And never dissapoint me. And I'm a critical listener.

I hope my english was good enough and you weren't too bored reading

Ps. Watch out for Tascam . Their VL-A8 was a very good speaker in the same price-range to the Yamaha HS80M (even a bit cheaper). I hope they will come out with a new product that rivals their previous installments. Which could be interesting.