Yamaha NS-6490 8" 3-Way Acoustic Suspension Bookshelf Speaker Pair

Haven't used them yet, still in the box for installation in the new house. But am confident they'll match right up with our Yamaha R-S202BL Stereo Receiver. Will give it 5 now and hopefully the rating will stay that way.

These speakers are great! Thanks to Downhiller's review I paid less than $100 a pair(refurbished) at 'Accessories for less'. Combining the Yamaha's with a Klipsch K-100SW subwoofer the sound is every bit as impressive as my $600 Polk TSI500 tower speakers, and for less than half the money! Whether you're looking for some old-school acoustic suspension three-way speakers or you just want good sound with a classy look at a reasonable cost, the Yamaha NS-6490's are a solid choice. edit: To get the best sound from these use an amp/receiver that has a warm sound, preferably one of Yamaha's 34;Natural sound34; receivers. I'm using a Yamaha RX-V650 with 95 watts per channel. The NS-6490's are even brighter than my Klipsch RF3 towers, but never shrill. They really bring out the details in the upper midrange. Because of that they would probably be very good for a home theater as surrounds or mains(with a subwoofer). I'm using then for stereo music without a sub. The recent Steven Wilson remastered CD of the 34;Chicago34; album sounds amazing, as if it was recorded yesterday. Like the song goes: I'm so happy...

Way bigger tha I was expecting. Not bookshelf, more floorstand. Sound is really good a full 3way speaker for a decent price.

After having the previous version since 1999, I decided to replace them and go with this newer model. My old NS-A638 speakers were getting rough around the edges cosmetically, though the drivers were good. The music they put out is heavenly. The 3 way non-ported design sounds so much more natural and warmer than speakers out now that cost 5x as much. I upgraded to the 6490's after much consideration and putting my A638's on garage duty. I was afraid they wouldn't sound as good as my A638's. I was wrong. After leaving my speakers playing overnight for about a week, they have broken in beautifully and sound exactly like my old ones. The mids and highs are silky sweet without being too overbearing, and the 834; driver is solid on the low end. I have an Outlaw RR2150 running them, with a 834; yamaha sub-woofer hooked up for 2.1 sound. It's BEAUTIFUL. This price is a killer deal (though I got mine refurbished from accessories for less .com for $89!) These speakers are worth WAY more. They will not disappoint. Great sound all around for hard rock, classical, beats, just about anything. I play a lot of 90's grunge, NPR classical music, Pretty Lights, Birthday Massacre, and Pandora from my phone. It all sounds amazing and clear. I can't say enough about these speakers and am so happy I saved a ton over looking at Klipsch speakers costing way more. There is a good review on Zeo's YouTube channel, if you would like a demo. Only thing I don't like about them, is their horrid ugly grills. They are 34;bubble34; grills that protrude out. Not much of an issue though, I took them off. They look much better showing off their drivers. If they had completely flat grills, I might use them, but alas. Take a look around, these can be had for a steal of a price. Go get these, you won't regret it! Hate to sound like a fanboy, but I am super happy with these speakers!

I love these speakers. They're so full, rich, and boomy! I got them to replace some tinny rear channel (surround) speakers I'd had for several years. I wanted more oomph, and these delivered. I have them hooked up to an Onkyo 5.1 A/V receiver. I also have a pair of old tower (cabinet) speakers from the 80's for front, a 100W subwoofer, and a tall cabinet speaker for center. I'm such a dork, but I don't care, it sounds amazing. These things were so loud, I had to turn the rear channel down to keep them from overwhelming the rest of the sound. They're also a lot bigger than I expected. Check the size, I was somewhat surprised. But NOT disappointed! I have these prominently mounted on top of DVD shelves at each side of the couch, and slightly behind. They're simply amazing.

Out of the box these speakers are harsh sounding. There is no crossover other than 2 small capacitors and there is no dampening material inside the enclosures. Measuring the sound output of the drivers separately reveals a complete mismatch of efficiencies. The Tweeter plays about 3 dB under the Woofer, this is good to make the speaker sound natural, but the Mid-Range driver is way too loud at over 10 dB louder than the Woofer. That calls for attenuation of the mid-range driver for more than 1/2 the signal. Another problem was large overlap of the spectrum of all drivers. As is, the mid-range driver is redundant since the woofer is covering the same spectrum reaching the tweeter lower end. All problems are easily corrected with a crossover and one layer of acoustic foam. The crossover was tuned to remove the overlap and to attenuate the mid-range driver to match the woofer. The end result is a speaker that sounds excellent. Bass is detailed and extended, lots of detail and pleasant sound. A lower cost solution, not as good, is to add foam and disconnect the mid-range driver.