Join for free to get:

  • Prizes - automatic entry in every      giveaway!
  • PLP Loops - Free!
  • 30 Days of Interactive Guitar Lessons -      Free!

Plus:

  • Private Sales
  • Exclusive Content
  • Weekly Deals
  • Insider Gear News

To get your free catalog, we'll need your address:

Sign me up for the zZounds Catalog
Joining is not required in order to shop with zZounds, and you can opt out at any time.
 
Add Something to Your Cart.    
Toll Free 800.ZZOUNDS (996.8637) Open until 7 PM EST
Mention priority code 7DZZSMC when you call
 

Yamaha HS80M Active Studio Monitor (120 Watts, 1x8 in.)

8 in. white polypropylene cone, 1 in. dome tweeter.

Our 30-Day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee applies on this item. Buy it, and if it isn't just right for you, return it!
Overview
Description
Docs
News
For the past twenty years or so, you'd be hard-pressed to find a professional recording or audio post-production studio that didn't have a pair of Yamaha NS10Ms. The iconic, white-woofer NS10s have long been the most trusted reference monitors in the industry, particularly for their ability to reveal mid-range detail in even the densest mixes. Unfortunately for those of us who don't already have a pair, yamaha stopped making the NS10s a long time ago. Luckily, they now make the HS80M.

Sporting the same, instantly recognizable look and ultra-flat response, the Yamaha HS80M is destined to become the new standard bearer that no studio will be able to go without. Even if you've already got a pair of NS10s, you'll want to take a look and listen to these new Yamaha reference monitors, as they offer a few significant improvements over their predecessors.

Easier Setup
While the NS10s were considered "necessary," whomever was tasked with installing them probably considered the monitors to be "necessary evils." For starters, the NS10s were passive, meaning a suitable, matching power source has to acquired to drive them. Yamaha has eliminated this hassle by designing the HS80M as an active, bi-amped system. A 120-watt power amp drives the 8" woofer cone and 1" dome tweeter, with an internal crossover perfectly tuned to maintain that classic Yamaha neutral frequency curve. Not only does this make setup easier, but having the right power source eliminates potential distortion issues, and the expertly executed bi-amping softens mid- and high-range harshness, making the HS80M a less-fatiguing listen than the NS10.

A More Flexible Monitor
Because of their unique, "brutally honest" sound, the NS10M is relegated to the role of secondary monitor; it's typically used as a tool for putting parts of a mix under the microscope, but not for getting the whole picture. While the incredibly detailed HS80M can certainly fill that role, the addition of HF, MF, and LF switches make them suitable as main monitors as well. These switches also help to combat issues that can arise from sub-optimal placement in crowded control rooms, like bass coupling or frequency-hyping reflections.

Affordable Quality!
Yamaha wants their new HS80M to be as ubiquitous as the NS10M, and that's why these monitors sport a price that belies their high quality construction. The MDF bass reflex cabinet delivers a tight bass response and smooth high end. The polypropylene woofer cones will outlast musical fad after musical fad, as will the high-grade XLR-1/4" combo input jack. Extra touches like complete magnetic shielding and low-damping rubber-surrounds make the HS80M an affordable, yet high-quality component for controls rooms, computer audio workstations, hi-fi entertainment systems, or for building 5.1 surround mixing systems.

It's become a part of common engineering knowledge that a mix that sounds good on a pair of NS10s will sound like a hit on any system. One listen to the Yamaha HS80Ms, and you'll know that the white-woofer legacy is still firmly intact. Let the Yamaha HS80M become your new indispensable studio tool.
The new HS Series powered monitors were designed to be true studio reference monitors in the tradition of the famous NS10Ms. When choosing your next pair of near field reference monitors, remember it's not just important that they sound good; they have to be an honest reference for your mix. The new HS Series of reference monitors were designed to give you exceptionally flat response so you can really trust what you hear. That means that mixes that sound good on Yamaha HS speakers will sound good on anything. In fact, that's the ultimate test of a reference monitor. Even better than that, HS series speakers not only sound good, they look great, too.

The HS Series is a two-way, internally powered speaker system designed to provide affordable, high quality reference monitoring for all types of recording and multimedia applications -- home studios, computer-based music production, gaming systems, keyboards rigs and personal computer systems. All products are sold and packaged individually, making it easy to build flexible monitor setups and 5.1 systems.

The 120-watt HS80M (8-in. cone and 1-in. dome tweeter) is housed in a bass reflex-type cabinet, and reproduces surprisingly tight low end and smooth, high frequency response to beyond 20 kHz. Inputs include a balanced XLR and 1/4-in. phone jack. In addition to master level controls, each speaker has trim switches that allow you to custom-tailor low, mid and high frequency response for different applications.

HS Series cabinets look as great as they sound. Enclosures are constructed of high-quality MDF material and a multiple layer finish that minimizes resonance. Design elements include a black finish and lighted Yamaha tuning fork logo. White polypropylene woofer cones recall the look of the classic Yamaha NS10M, and include low-damping rubber surrounds and full magnetic shielding.

Features
8 in. white polypropylene cone

1 in. dome tweeter

120-watt biamplified power

XLR and 1/4 in. connectors

Room control and frequency response switches
11/20 New stock arrives in zZounds' warehouse, New, Pair, with HS10 Subwoofer, available for immediate delivery.
11/20 New stock arrives at zZounds, New, Single Speaker, with Monitor Stand, order before they are gone!
11/06 Price drop! New, Single Speaker, with Monitor Stand, saves you $50.00, now $349.99.

What Our Customers Say About zZounds

"Your products and customer service are elite - better than any other company I have dealt with." - customer on November 13, 2009

Call 800.ZZOUNDS (996.8637) and mention priority code: 7DZZSMC
 
Item: YAMHS80M
Choose a model below and select "Add to Cart"
 
In Stock
Will Ship Monday  
$1,099.99
4 payments of $274.99
List: $1,498.90 SAVE 26%
Ground: $3.99
 
In Stock
Will Ship Monday  
$349.99
4 payments of $87.49
List: $613.95 SAVE 42%
Free Ground Shipping

related accessories

 
from $9.95
 
from $9.95
 

Yamaha HS80M Active Studio Monitor (120 Watts, 1x8 in.) Reviews

98 People rated this product :
           9 out of 10
           9 out of 10
"Well done. I cant fault them. Really."
Feature:
Well, it has room controls. high trim, low trim, all the trim you need. Ideally you want these mounted / isolated about an inch from the table you're working on. and a meter from the walls behind, but if you cant afford that, just use the room controls. I said afford because space is expensive isnt it!? I've heard alot of monitors, alot. And unless they're mounted and isolated properly for demo, your judgements are in vain. Mackie's to me sounded very harsh and all over the place. Genelecs to me were the smoothest and most transparent, obviously, because they come with isopods that must be used or the monitor wouldn't even stand. So they have a distinct advantage over all other monitors when it comes to demos.

Quality:
No problems with quality. These things came out fresh from the box wrapped up nicely, when I took it out, it was mint in condition and the very first thing that I really liked when I put them on desk was how nice the white cones contrasted with my setup ;-). I have a P-250 beside my desk and boy do they look sweet together. If anyone were to walk in i could say they would be impressed by how nice these monitors look. They look pro. ;-) Sure they dont have the yellow woven cones like KRKs, but they also dont have that unpro looking Rokit logo. (I can see KRK fans here squinting their eyes to a side) sorry couldn't help it ;-)

Value:
I would have to give it a 10. You get ALOT for your money like I said, if it wasn't assembled in China, Yamaha could have asked double or triple for it, and you wouldn't be able to afford it. Honestly. These are pro standard monitors in both aesthetics and performance. They are an example of 'Just because you're not paying $500 per monitor doesn't mean they're not equally as good, or better.'

Desirability:
Like I said, these monitors give my room a very sexy feel. The monitors may appear to be very deep blue in pictures due to the light reflecting off the MDF, but really, its jet black, and the cones are white as snow. If I could ask for one last favour from Yamaha, it would be to radius the edges and place the power switch on the front. (Make that two last favours) But I presume they were going for that classic NS10m look, so I guess its their call and its very acceptable indeed.

Sound:
Sounds excellent, I decided to try them after reading the reviews and even from music tech giving them a 9 I can clearly see why. Made in China (like all things) but if it wasn't for that, it would cost 3 times as much so be thankful you can have studio quality monitors today at this price range! As far as design is concerned, to my knowledge, Yamaha engineers do all the work to prototype the monitors, once that's done, they just hand over the specs to the factory in China to duplicate it. Mackie's made in USA or Mackie's made in China, there is no difference. Sounds exactly the same simply because its the exact same components, just different people putting it together. At worst, you get slightly sloppy workmanship on the chipboards but that's all down to the QC of the manufacturer. The frequency spectrum I must say, very flat and very wide, very nice indeed. THESE MONITORS LIKE ALL MONITORS MUST BE ISOLATED SO THE SOUND CAN COME OUT RIGHT. Mopads or books or whatever, isolate them and hear them sing. Completely different. How many people do you know who have returned their monitors cause they think it doens't sound crisp or tight enough but the truth was, THE MONITORS WEREN'T EVEN ISOLATED! Very very close to the sounds and imaging I was looking for, the only other monitor that can blow this away is Genelec 8050a, and I wouldn't say blow, just that Genelecs are maybe a little more transparent overall. And a million times more expensive giving you the mental feeling like its a hundred times better but that's not true at all...these Yamaha's are pretty incredible. I've never heard the NS10ms so I cant tell you if they sound the same, but I know this, they sound good enough. I cant imagine a monitor sounding any better. And like Yamaha says, a monitor is not supposed to sound good, its supposed to sound honest. But these monitors sound good so dont worry. Very accurate representation of the mix as far as I'm concerned, playing different tracks off different record labels will give you a good idea of what you're getting.

Ease of Use:
A dummy could use it. Just plug it in and turn the power on. Please be careful, first time i set the levels at +4 I almost blew my eardrums into my holy skull. These speakers are seriously powerful, I can honestly say, you can start a party with just these two pretty looking babies and none of friends will ever complain about the music not being loud enough. And you can bet, if you're mixing at high levels (not recommended for hearing loss) you'll have your neighbour knock your door in no time. There's no need to mix at such high levels unless you want to lose your hearing before 40. Even at low or medium levels due to the size of the monitors, I get a very wide spectrum and imaging.

Support:
Well, I have a Yamaha P-250 made some calls to them and it wasn't too bad. I always recommend calling, emails, take forever. I haven't had any problems with my Yamaha products so far (knock on wood) but I hope it stays that way. Shipping large audio stuff around is no joke.

Overall:
Currently, unless I can afford to fork out $3500 for the Genelec 8050s, I dont think i'm switching to anything else. These will do for now. I gave them a 9 overall because there's always room for improvement even though I cant fault these monitors other than the design twitches i mentioned. If they were lost? I'd probably say to heck with monitors and save up a year for the Genelecs ;) Then again, these monitors may be all i'll ever need. Especially if i'm getting used to them and making good mixes and am very familiar with them. You dont need to pay $5000 to get a good set of monitors. Yamaha has set this record straight.

Submitted: 04/26/2007
Style of Music: Just about anything that makes me rock. ;-)
50 of 50 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
Thanks for your opinion!
           10 out of 10
  zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
"I"
Feature:
average features for a monitor of this price range...

Quality:
Excellent, heavy duty casing, they feel real solid and heck its yamaha what do you expect

Value:
at roughly $350.00 each with the sound that you get they are worth it, they beat the pants off of my $1,000.00 Events, im sad to say that but its true...so these might be a little steep for the newer guys, but do yourself a favor and SAVE UP....

Desirability:
after one listening session I HAD TO HAVE THEM, so that's my view on it

Sound:
excellent, these things are milky, punchy a crisp threw and threw.

Support:
havent had to use it yet

Overall:
they are great, I heard them in my buddies studio after he initially set them up and right out of the box without tweaking they were hammering, so i knew i had to have them, bought mine a few days ago and im in love...

Submitted: 01/18/2006
Style of Music: Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B/Jazz
10 of 10 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
Thanks for your opinion!
Questions? Our musicians can help you right now!
Call Toll Free:  800.ZZOUNDS (996.8637) Hours
Mention Priority Code 7DZZSMC When You Call. Toll Free En Español: 800.460.7976 1 AM to 1 AM EST
Shop with those who respect your privacy— we do. Copyright © 1996-2009, zZounds Music, LLC. Terms of use apply.
A-ID: 3745