My friend thats a pretty good mix engineer has been recommending me to get a specific amp and a single NS-10. He knows all the specifics and has like 2 pairs and a few auratones. Currently I don't have monitors but I could get one speaker and an amp for fairly cheap to use as a mono reference speaker.

What do you guys think about this?

 

NS-10 is great if matches with a really good power amp. But to just solely depend on NS-10, will not be the best set of references.. NS-10 has more critical listening for the clinical task..also NS-10 lacks low freq response which makes it hard to guess your balancing... Also take a consideration of this, a long session with NS-10 will make ur ear get tired. For me 4hr per session is my max, more than that everything seems dull to my hearing.

I have been using NS-10 for almost 20 years, and have 3 pair. And each pair sounds slightly different from the other.. so if u wanna get one pair, make sure u get a good pair. Like mine, my NS-10 match with Hafler 9505 amps.. very clear and crisp.

 

I've been using a pair of Auratones next to my Neumann's, I love them. In essence, what you need is a speaker with no bass or treble, just a revealing balanced midrange. I'm not sure how the NS10 delivers on that, but the Auratones do great. I've paired them with a Topping PA3s.

 

what works for your friend doesn't mean it will work for you. People vehemently defend their choices in gear, and if you have been using something for 20 years; you have good reason to continue using them. I wouldn't spend the money on this idea.

 

Fair enough. So based on this just save up for some Genelecs or ADAM audios.

 

We already had a similar discussion about NS10.
Basically, most ppl will use them as "mid frequency" balance check.
BUT there is nothing really special in them.
Like Auratone.
They are good mid freq speakers, that's all.
But you can find/make a bunch of equivalent, even better for cheaper.

No one is going to mix on Auratone/NS10 only.
It was only a "reference" speaker, according to it's time.

Here is a nice discussion about the subject, especially the conclusion :
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...tone-cla-10-yamaha-ns-10m-clone-review.46954/

 

I would not prioritize his idea over getting a nice set of monitors. Did he listen to a mix you did in headphones and then recommend this or something? There is no way I would buy a "deliberately bad" set of speakers before actual studio monitors. if you are making any music with bass, i'd buy a subwoofer way before i would get an ns-10 and some specific amp.

 

He was saying get them now before they go up in price. He said he also checks his own headphone mixes on them.

 

Last edited: Nov 20, 2023

You can always keep your eyes out for a great deal on something. But they sold over 200,000 sets of them. There are also people who are making clones of them. They are never going to be a $250 used Roland TR-808 that sells for 10 grand later on. They stopped making them in 2001, so if they were going to get crazy expensive, they would have already. Sometimes you can run into used gear that you can "buy for a song", and if you do any buy/sell/trade of second-hand gear; you know when to snap up a great deal on something because you can at least make money on it. Put them on a "passive shopping list" of stuff you have interest in buying; but only if and when you run into a great price. Used items rarely go down in value for no reason. Usually that is market fluctuation. You can always get your money back if you have to sell something, because a 4th owner matters no more than a 2nd. They are used or they simply are not; and that is where you see the biggest drop in value on used gear.

Going with the setup he recommends to you, is because he is obv set in his workflow and ways. Or maybe he is setting the stage to try and sell you his; because that is what it sounds like to me. But this is putting the cart before the horse. Who cares what your 1 mono ns-10 has to say about the midrange of your mix when the rest of your entire mix is no good either? I do not like using headphones for monitoring unless it is required. Like people often say, headphones are a zoom tool for better detail extraction.

This is the same thing as using mix cubes to do your entire mix, because you bought them instead of regular monitors.

 

The thing is, most people listen to music on pretty bad speakers or earbuds, so if you mix on an ns-10m, which is designed to reproduce the sound of pretty bad speakers, your mix will probably sound fine to most people, who are listening on pretty bad systems. But if anyone listens on a good system, it will probably sound quite bad. Also remember that most people can't tell the difference between a good mix and a bad one, especially while listening on their lousy systems - engineers may criticize a bad mix, but most people won't know the difference.

 

Yes, and the same works with any other bad stereo, boom box, portable radio and the like...

That's what I did. And after mixing on them, make sure you try your mix on the bad guys too.