Yamaha HS5 monitors?

[BoneDigger]

For a small room, would these work? They seem to get pretty good reviews overall. Presently, I have a set of RKR Rokit 6 monitors but I feel they are biased and not really all that accurate. There are some of the above mentioned Yamaha speakers for sale locally on CL for $300 for the pair, though I might be able get them for $250 for the pair. Or, is there another brand that may be better in the $250-300 range for a pair?

I'm mostly working with Americana music, not much drums or bass to speak of. So, it's a lot of Bluegrasss-like music. I would think that bass response wouldn't be as important and given the small room, I probably don't need 8" speakers? Or do I?

The room is mostly treated and about 16 by 25 ft in size.

Ideas?

Todd

[StevenL]

I doubt the Yamahas would be any 'better' than your RKRs. I'd spend the money on the 8" or 10" RKR powered sub (yes you do need one... you said "not much drums or bass") and then spend the time it takes to learn how your monitors translate to your finished mix with different playback sources. No matter which set of monitors you use, any of them will require training your ears to know how the sound coming out of the monitors from your mixes will then be, with your final product, what your intended listener will enjoy hearing when played back through his home system, phone, or boombox (or what your mastering engineer needs to get the recording ready for use). One can learn the process with cheap monitors or high-end ones but, of course, the better monitor will make it easier since the more you can hear, the better you can tweak. All just my opinion.

[BoneDigger]

Well, the CL guy didn't want to reduce his price and Guitar Center had the JBL LSR305s on sale for $119 each, so I went that route instead. I used my own recordings to A/B them at Guitar Center and liked the JBL better. It seemed a little more natural to me where the Yamaha seemed to accentuate the mids.

Todd

[jomaynor]

I often use a studio that has JBL LSR305 monitors, so I'm not surprised that its clearer midrange was that apparent when comparing with the Yamaha HS5.


The JBL's impressively flat midrange frequency response is graphically displayed in this very good comparison demo featuring the LSR305, the HS5, and the KRK RP5G3.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by BoneDigger

Well, the CL guy didn't want to reduce his price and Guitar Center had the JBL LSR305s on sale for $119 each, so I went that route instead. I used my own recordings to A/B them at Guitar Center and liked the JBL better. It seemed a little more natural to me where the Yamaha seemed to accentuate the mids.

Todd

So you got the JBL's then good. Honestly then at this point I would focus on learning these monitors by mixing a great deal on them and constantly A/B'ing your mixes with reference mixes you like.
Given what you are saying is the kind of music you are mixing, if it were me I would not spend money on a sub nor any other monitors until I had first started consistently getting mixes I was basically happy with, and until such time as I could greatly increase the budget for monitoring by somewhere in the neighborhood of roughly 5 times or more, minimum .

[BoneDigger]

I am working on a song I wrote right now and I'm liking the JBLs so far.

[rockabilly69]

I use a pair of HS5s with a sub in my home studio, and another set of HS8s that I use without a sub in my project studio. And I find it brutally hard to make the HS5s sound good, but when I do I get very consistent good mixes! I turn off the sub quite a bit to see how mixes translate to smaller speakers. All in all I like them, but as said with monitors the most important thing is to see how they translate to other systems.

[Yamaha Man]

Keep us updated please. Any regrets about not getting the 8" JBL's ??

[BoneDigger]

Originally Posted by Martin Maniac

Keep us updated please. Any regrets about not getting the 8" JBL's ??

For me, no. My music is mostly acoustic and doesn't have a lot of bass. And given that my room is fairly small, I think the 5 inch pair will be just fine. Most of the music I make is Americana, such as John Prine, bluegrass, John Denver, etc. I occasionally use drum backing but it's kind of rare. Mostly it's me singing, my guitar, my banjo, and maybe a resonator or light electric lead.

The issue I had with the RKR 6 was that it colored the music too much. I could make a recording that sounded good on the RKR and then try it on my car stereo or other device and it would sound like poo. The JBL seems to have more real life tone. The stuff I've made while testing them seems to be more in line with what I hear through other systems.

[Yamaha Man]

Thanks for that review. I'm currently using Yamaha 12" home three way cabinet and NS-10's and thinking about making a change. I did just what you did, I burned a cd of a recording that sounded good on my main system, then played it on my truck's sound system...too much bass, but that didn't show up on my monitors, so I'm thinking I need to get some dedicated studio monitors to replace the Yamaha three-ways.

I once demoed out a set of JBL4312A's and loved them. So I was sold on the JBL's but couldn't afford them. The 308's sound like just what I need to get the full range of the acoustic guitar. So I'm considering getting a set. Maybe a used set. I'm a little gun shy about 5" speakers because that's what's in the NS-10's and they don't deliver a good low end to my ears.

[Yamaha Man]

I checked around the internet for monitors. The KRK's I didn't like, they sounded muffled to me. The JBL's got a nasty review about how they are built. I wasn't impressed with the plastic cover. I was also informed that they hiss when first turned on. I don't like hiss.

The Yamaha HS8's were well built and got a glowing rave review from MIX magazine. The general consensus says that the JBL's sound better for listening, like hi-fi speakers, but the Yamaha's would be better for mixing. Plus they are built like a tank. Years ago when I got my NS-10's, I always wished that they had bigger woofers in them, the HS8 delivers that. Also the amps in the HS8 is higher wattage. Anyhow I found a used set of the HS8's on eBay, like new for $450, so I decided to go ahead and order them. I've had my NS-10's for about 23 ? years now and they have served me well. But they do not cover the lower end of the sound spectrum, The HS8's will.

[rockabilly69]

I love the HS8s, I consistently get mixes that translate well to other systems...

[Yamaha Man]

Wow, that's exactly where I'm going to put mine...on an elevated shelf above my computer monitor...exactly !!!

Thanks for the pic !!