David Price celebrates Japan's best-kept 'speaker secret, Yamaha's NS1000M.

Why, if humankind has put vehicles on Mars and mastered open-heart surgery, can it not design an accurate loudspeaker? Even at the best of times, modern 'speakers are compromised devices, and getting one to work properly from 20Hz to 20kHz is still an uncommon occurrence.
 
Given that moving-coil drivers have all sorts of colorations to sully them, and that electrostatics only work effectively over a limited frequency range, engineers have to employ clever tricks to get the best from these units. Back in the early Seventies, Yamaha decided the answer was Beryllium domes, and the NS1000 was born.
 
Using this expensive metal, Yamaha came up with treble and midrange drivers that produced extremely low levels of distortion, excellent dispersion and phase coherence. In fact, mated together by a complex crossover network, they behaved much as an electrostatic panel but with more extended highs and better power handling. Matched with a fast, light, rigid paper-coned 300mm bass unit, the combination was dynamite.
 
The first NS1000s went on sale in 1975, built like the proverbial brick powder room and with HF and midrange trim pots built into the front baffles. At over £400, their price reflected their advanced engineering and superb 32kg-per-box build. They were quite unlike anything people had ever heard ­ best described as sounding like a Quad ESL with a ribbon super-tweeter and a sub-woofer to handle the lows!

In Japan and the States they were rapturously received, with recording studios and broadcast companies throwing their money at Yamaha. Quite simply, there was no other 'speaker to touch the NS1000's combination of transparency, speed and power handling. But over here, reactions were mixed. Reviewers used to soft, bland Bextrene-coned BBC monitors found them forward and fatiguing and prone to harshness and fizz.

The problem was that the Yamahas were utterly unforgiving of the amps that drove them. With high sensitivity and a relatively easy load, most Japanese audiophiles were using them with muscular valve amps that had a warm, smooth sound. In Britain the fashion was for big, punchy transistor power amps such as Naim's NAP250, which, without soft Bextrene or polypropylene cones to hide behind, could sound ­ yes, that's right ­ forward, fatiguing and fizzy!
 
In 1977 the NS1000s gained slightly smaller, more rigid cabinets, black paint and an 'M' suffix. Re-reviewed by the UK press, they were decried as harsh - with the exception of Practical Hi-Fi, whose reviewer used them with the then seriously unfashionable Quad II and gave them a big thumbs up. Funny, that.
 
In truth, the NS1000Ms are one of the most transparent 'speakers ever made, with dazzlingly fast transients, superb sound staging and great clarity and detail. But they also have a JBL-like capacity to inject life, drama and scale into everything they touch ­ a formidable combination of virtues! 

Partner them with valves or Class A tranny power amps, turn the midrange trim pot down to ­3dB (they do have a slight mid-forward balance, but this assuages it), site them on sturdy, low stands (Atacama BD200s are perfect) and you'll struggle to find a 'speaker that's as much fun.
 
Although Yamaha discontinued the NS1000M in the UK in 1995, in Japan it lives on as the NS1000X. With the M's fabled mid and treble units plus an improved carbon-fibre woofer, it's a fantastic loudspeaker. But top dog is the anniversary edition NS10000, big enough to make the '1000 look like a Wharfedale Diamond!
 
Because the last NS1000Ms cost over £1500, these are not cheap boxes second-hand - pay between £400 and £800 depending on age and condition. Look for 'one careful owner' and avoid examples that sound fizzy ­ it's a sign of a distressed Beryllium driver just about to die. Replacements are readily available from Yamaha Electronics (tel: 01923 233166) but expensive. Happy headbanging!

Thanks to Yamaha's David Hunt for his assistance in the preparation of this article.