From Recording.Org Reviews Yamaha MSP5 powered studio monitors By Kurt Foster Aug 10, 2003, 01:15 MSP5 Close Up! Nothing can spark a discussion or dissention between recordists and audio enthusiasts faster than the mention of the Yamaha NS10M studio monitor. The Yamaha NS10M has been for years, a standard in studios worldwide, by which other near field monitors have been judged. A look into almost any pro control room will reveal a pair of these distinctive monitors, perched atop the mixing desk and many recordists have come to look upon them as a needed tool on the road to a great mix. It has been said by many, that if a mix sounds good on NS10s it will sound good on anything. I have to confess that I am one of these people who have come to love the NS10M in spite of the fact that in reality, it is not by any measure, a good sounding speaker. For this reason many engineers and recordists have resisted using them and much heated debate has occurred regarding them. But the fact that they are so ugly sounding, strangely, is what I like about the NS10M. They have a way of showing me the "ugly truth" in a mix. They also have an almost unparalleled ability to strike the same acoustic balance between lows, mids and highs, no matter what sound pressure level you play a mix at. The linearity of the NS10M is remarkable, much due to their superior passive crossover system. A while back Yamaha announced to the dismay of many and the joy of a few, that they were discontinuing manufacture of the NS10M, due to an inability to obtain the paper that was used for their distinctive white woofers. This announcement sent many engineers into a bit of a tizzy as to what they should turn to as a replacement for these much relied upon speakers as their ageing NS10s breathed their last gasps. Not to leave their long time users and new customers hanging, the folks at Yamaha have released their answer to this quandary, the MSP5 and the MSP10 powered studio monitors. The MSP5 is the subject of this review. The MSP5 is a powered monitor. This means the amplifiers required to power them are self contained within the speaker enclosure, a convenience for home recordists and pros alike, as a considerable cost and space savings is achieved. For recordists who do remote recordings, or move from studio to studio, this is a plus also. Not having to lug around a power amp is a real time and labor saver. Additionally, the power amps employed are matched specifically to the application and the speaker system benefits from the efficiency of bi-amping, the use of two amplifiers, one for the woofer and one for the tweeters. The MSP5 also utilizes a bass reflex port system to enhance the low end performance. The frequency response of the system is rated as 50 Hz. to 40K Hz., very respectable for speaker that is a compact 6 º" (169mm) wide by 10 ?" (279mm) tall by 6 æ" (222mm) deep! The weight of the MSP5 is 7.5 kg. The MSP5 system uses a 12 centimeter woofer and a 2.5 centimeter titanium tweeter in a bass reflex cabinet. The low frequency amp is rated at forty watts while the high frequency amp is twenty seven watts. MSP5 front panel On the front panel of the speaker we find a green power on indicator led, a volume control knob with fine detents to asset in level matching between two or more speakers, two 1 º" bass reflex ports, placed between the tweeter and the woofer, one on each side of the speaker baffle, the woofer (covered by a perforated metal screen for protection) and the tweeter mounted in an integral wave guide and associated phase plug. Turning to the rear of the speaker we see the power cable with its two prong polarized plug, the power switch and two "trim switches". The first, for the low frequency section, is a four position switch, allowing flat operation, a boost of +1.5db, cut of -1.5dB and -3dB @ 60Hz. The second trim switch, for the tweeter, is a three position switch, allowing flat operation, attenuation of ñ1.5dB and boost of +1.5 dB @ 15k Hz. Last we see the input jacks, an XLRF type jack, used to connect a +4 dB balanced input and a º " monaural phone jack to connect a -10 unbalanced line input. I hooked the MSP5's up to a vintage Nakamichi 410 pre amp, through a passive line switcher, feeding the outputs of the Nakamichi simultaneously to the ñ10 unbalanced inputs of the MSP5's and a pair of Haffler P3000's feeding my NS10M's, Auratones and Tannoy DMT12's, through a passive speaker switcher. I set the "trim switches" to the flat positions. After a few minutes matching the levels between the NS10M's and the MSP5's I started my critical listening. Playing a variety of sources, including some vinyl playback of Jeff Becks Truth and Beck Ola albums, as well as some Alison Krauss CDs and tracks I had recorded on my DAW at 24 bits, I listened for about an hour. The first thing I took note of was that the MSP5's do not sound like the NS10M's in any way. While the midrange has a similar quality, the low and high end of the MSP5's was noticeably different. Much more lows and highs. The MSP5's are rated as going down to 50 Hz., a full 10 Hz. more than the NS10M's which are rated to 60 Hz. and that extra 10 Hz. is very noticeable. The MSP5's do not sound anywhere as small as they actually are. In fact they had almost as much low end in my room as my Tannoy System DMT 12's do.. which was very surprising to me. The bass reflex ports play into this highly. As an experiment, I switched one of the MSP5's off and put my thumbs into the ports of the speaker that was still running, effectively blocking them. The low frequency response fell off considerably and while I put my thumbs in and out of the ports I noticed a lot of air moving through them (I mean a lot!). Frequency Response of the MSP5 The high frequency response of the MSP5's is almost as good as that of the larger (and much more expensive) Tannoy System DMT12's. I would like to point out that the MSP5's filled my 14' by 18 room comfortably without a hint of straining with an easy 85 dBs. I found the midranges of the MSP5's to be very much like that of the NS10M's. I like this, as it is the mids of the NS10M that I rely on so much when I mix. I can get the lows and highs from my other speakers but I have always turned to the NS10M's for the midranges. They tell me when I have too much of the "wolf" frequencies in a mix and when the mids balance out on the NS10M's, usually it will be right on just about any other system my music might migrate to. Now I can have it all in one easy to move speaker that doesn't eat up an acre of valuable control room real estate! I also took note of the spatial imaging of the speakers, noting a very good phantom center image and the appearance of elements well outside the placement of the left and right speakers. I found the spatial charictaristics of the MSP5's to be spectacular! 5 MSP5's and a powered subwoofer would be an excellent choice for a surround system. After listening and comparing the MSP5's to the NS10M's for about an hour to get my bearings, I mixed a song off the DAW using only the MSP5's and then burned a CDr to export the mix to some other playback systems. I then took the CDr and played it back on my Internet computer, which uses a Crown D60 power amp and a pair of Paradigm speakers that are very bass / bottom heavy. The playback on this system sounded clear and balanced with an excellent balance of lows, mids and highs.. I then played the same mix through my car stereo after dubbing it to a cassette with satisfactory results. I then took the CDr over to my best friend Franks house for a listen. He popped the CDr into his player and the mix played back balanced, clear and punchy. I am satisfied that the mix I pounded out "traveled" well, having played back on a variety of systems and exhibiting the intended balance. The Yamaha MSP5's do not sound the same as the much venerated NS10M studio monitor. I think they sound better! But that is not a hard thing to do. For years I and many other recordists, have had a love / hate relationship with the NS10M. We love it for how it helps us achieve the proper midrange balance in a mix but we hate it because of its lack of any real low or high end response. I personally think the NS10M is a very ugly sounding speaker. But with the MSP5's, Yamaha seems to have addressed these issues. While the mids are still very solid, much like the NS10M, the low and high frequency response of the MSP5 is wonderful. The lows thump with authority and are rich and full while the highs sparkle smoothly, without a hint of harshness or sounding strained or strident. I would not be worried about the low or high end content of a mix I had done, using only the MSP5's. I cannot say that about the NS10M. With the NS10M, I would want to go to a larger speaker to check the low and high end but after just one mix on the MSP5's I am comfortable mixing on them alone. For any of you who are shopping for your first set of quality monitors to use with your recording system, I recommend the MSP5's heartily! They are compact, internally powered, and sound and look great! Your mixes will travel well from system to system and they don't eat up a lot of space in a crowded control room. The best part is, the low end response of these mini brutes is sufficient enough you may not find the need for another set of larger monitors unless you are working with content that has a lot of low frequency energy. The MSP5's get loud as I need to have them, although some mat find them to choke just a bit at extreme s.p.l.s. I think that Yamaha has come up with a real winner to replace the NS10M! The MSP5 suggested list price is $319.00 USD each and has a "street" price of $250. When you consider that the amplifier is included at this price, it is almost like getting the speaker for free! A lovely pair! Specifications: General Type Biamp. 2-way, bass-reflex powered speaker General Crossover Frequency 2.5kHz General Overall Frequency Response 50 Hz ~ 40kHz Dimensions ( W X H X D) 169mm x 279mm x 222mm (6 5/8" x 11" x 8 3/4") Weight 7.5kg (16.5 lbs) Speaker Components LF: 12cm (4 2/7") cone (4 ohms); HF: 2.5cm (1") titanium dome (6 ohms) Speaker Enclosure Bass reflex type, magnetic shielding construction Amplifier Output Power LF: 40W at 400Hz, THD=0.02%, RL=4 ohms; HF: 27W at 10kHz, THD=0.02%, RL= 6 ohms Amplifier Input Sensitivity/ Impedance Line 1: +4dB/10k ohm/XLR; Line: 2 -10dB/10k ohm/Phone Jack Amplifier S/N Greater than or equal to 100dB (A weighted) Amplifier Controls TRIM switches: LOW: 4 position (+1.5dB, 0dB, -1.5dB, -3.0dB at 60Hz); HIGH: 3 position (+1.5dB, 0dB, -1.5dB, at 15kHz); Power switch: On/Off; Level Control Amplifier Power Indicator Green LED Amplifier Power Requirement US and Canadian Models: 120v 60Hz; General Models: 230v 50Hz Amplifier Power Consumption US and Canadian Models: 60W; General Models: 60W Yamahas newest studio monitor the MSP 5 Accessories: Optional: SM SPKR BRKT Small speaker bracket AP5 Pair of adapter plates for MSP5 VARISTAND Adjustable height monitor platform. Kurt Foster ©2003 Kurt Foster (p) 2003 Kurt Foster All Rights reserved 2003 Æ Kurt Foster Kurt Foster has been involved in music and recording for over 35 years. He owned and operated KFRS, a 2000 sq. ft. commercial analog and digital recording facility in the San Francisco Bay Area beginning in late 1980's through the 1990's, recording and working with greats such as Brownie McGhee, cult following guitarist, Kenny "Blue" Ray, Jackie Payne (Johnny Otis Band), Nick Turner (of Hawkwind) Polo Jones (of Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Whitney Houston) and individual members of The Doobie Brothers, Tower of Power, Huey Lewis and The News and The Tubes. He is retired to his ranch in Cedar Flat, Oregon but continues to be active in recording, artist development, procuring recording contracts for new talent, music publishing, writing both music and music related articles as well as serving as a Moderator and Review Editor for a popular online recording forum, Recording.Org. © Copyright 2004 Recording Org

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