Bryan Geraghty

A couple of years ago when I was visiting my dad, he was setting up for us to do some guitar jamming when I saw a distinctive logo on a couple of speakers collecting dust. As I looked closer, the label read “Yamaha NS-4″ and the model number imediately brought to mind the iconic NS-10M. I turned to my dad and asked if he knew much about them but he said he didn’t. He said someone had given them to him a few years prior and that they hadn’t even been plugged in for a while. I mentioned that these could be some significant speakers to which he replied, “I’ll mail them to you if you want them”. A few months later, true to his word, the NS-4s showed up on my doorstep.

Since receiving them, the NS-4s gained a permanent place on my mixing desk. I knew that they wouldn’t be true reference monitors, but to be honest, these speakers are amazing. Paired with my NS-10Ms, they make a great a/b team.

Related to the NS-10M?

Earlier this month, I decided to try and find out if there was any significance between the NS model numbers. Now, anyone who knows the recording industry has heard of the NS-10M. If you look through a recording magazine, you’re bound to find at least one photo of a studio with a pair of the iconic, white-woofered, NS-10Ms sitting on the the console. Why they’re so popular is a subject of much debate. Some engineers will say that they are really unforgiving and will only sound good if the mix is good. Others will say that it’s merely the result of some great engineer mentioning that they used them and it caught on. I won’t go into that argument here; Suffice it to say, they’ve been used to mix thousands of great records.

Interestingly, it seems as though there may be some relationship between the NS-4 and the NS-10M afterall.

I found this post on the following: http://thewombforums.com/showthread.php?t=3835&page=3

Bob Olhsson says:

Bob Clearmountain and a bunch of us LOVED the mixes we got using Yamaha NS-4s.

Lots of studios had them on hand because for a few years during the ’80s they were the biggest selling speaker having dethroned the JBL L-100. They had dethroned the Advents and before them the KLH6s.

Unfortunately Yamaha discontinued the NS-4 and the amount of professional use quickly depleted Yamaha’s stock of original replacement drivers. They came up with a substitute but it wasn’t the same at all translation-wise. The closest thing Yamaha made to the NS-4 was the NS-10 which was a smaller “high end” version. When the Power Station finally ran out of NS-4 drivers, they put in NS-10s. Clearmountain thought they were brighter but sort of the same so he put tissue over the tweeters.

He got a write-up about a Stones album he mixed that included mention of the NS-10s with tissue over the tweeters. Next thing we knew, virtually every studio in the world had NS-10s with tissue over the tweeters sitting on their consoles.

I’m not sure how much truth there is to that post but according to Bob’s website, he’s been recording since 1965 and I’m inclined to believe him.

Well, whether the NS-4s played a signifigant role in recording history or not, I sure do love them. If anyone has any more information about these speakers, I’d love to hear it!