Price Paid:  $80.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
Great "cheap" speaker. Sadly my daughter blew the woofers and I replaced them with a non shielded woofer from Parts Express for $12.00 each. I discovered the speakers did not have any insulation in them so I added some cotton batting when I replaced the woofers...man what a difference! In addition the crossover is only one capacitor to the tweeter to filter lows disappointed me...I will try to get a two-way crossover for them. I am using them in a bedroom set-up with a Pioneer sx-450 (22 WPC), a sony dvd player and a AR passive subwoofer. Sound levels are low to moderate. I am very happy with these...I have been watching ebay for maybe some Polks or Mission replacements but I give them another listen and ask myself why?

Strengths:
Quality per dollar

Weaknesses:
Lack of proper crossover and lack of insulation...particularly for an acoustic suspension design.

Price Paid:  $6300.00

Summary:
I recently purchased the Yamaha NS-5290's to be used as rear surround speakers. Memorex doesn't know the meaning of "live." The slogan should be: "Is it live, or is it Yamaha?" These speakers perfectly reproduce reality and natural sound. I am a huge audio enthusiest. These Yamaha bookshelf speakers should be dubbed King of surround sound. For my front main left/right speakers, I have 2 Yamaha 12" boxes, each with 5" mid and a tweeter. No need for a subwoofer with this setup. The Yamaha NS-5290's stare my 12" yamaha's straight in the speakers and easily hold their own. I was very surprised with the depth and range of sound which came from these two yamahas, along with their great styling. The sound which comes from these speakers is so large, and so true, it's very easy to loose myself in almost anything I watch. I have a complete yamaha set up now, including my receiver and center channel (which itself is an older model bookshelf, slightly modified my by myself. Yamaha will not dissapoint or let their consumers down. If you have an oppertunity to purchase these bookshelf speakers, do it! You will not lie awake at night wondering if you made the right desicion or not. You will be wide awake all night enjoying the clean crisp sound of your new Yamaha's while you watch every DVD you have just because you won't be able to get enough of the incredible sound and value of these speakers! Enjoy!

Strengths:
Great styling (6.5" woofer even looks good), light weight, incredible audio reproduction, terrific deal considering the rediculous $$$ amounts asked by other EQUAL speaker manufacturers!

Weaknesses:
It would be nice if Yamaha included wall mounting brackets on the back, or stand brackets. Other than that, no performance weaknesses!!

Price Paid:  $60.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I was looking for a small efficient bookshelf speaker for my new found tube amp (knight tube amp with 4 el84’s about 10w per channel). I did not want to pay more than $300 a pair since I had only spent $5 on the amp. I went on the web comparing bookshelf speakers by their efficiency and I came across the Yamaha NS5250’s and saw the 90db rating and the price was unbelievable. I went to Best Buy thinking I could buy these speakers and demo them at the house return if they sucked. Well they do not suck. I love these speakers and it is hard to believe the sound which these speakers are able to produce. The speaker is very balanced just enough bass. Perfect for a small listening room.

Strengths:
Nice even sound. Good separation

Price Paid:  $80.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
Decent speaker for the price paid ($75-80) with minimal amount of problems.

Strengths:
Precise highs and good overall clarity at moderatly low listning levels.

Weaknesses:
Not properly video shielded. These speakers ruined one of my tv's.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer, Cerwin-Vega.

Price Paid:  $79.00 from Best buy

Summary:
These speakers are weelworth the price.Crisp highs and noticable bass from a 6 1/2' woofer. It was well worth the money if best buy had its big brother the three way set I'd have those instead. They could have priced higher for the value and has a good size to them for a two way. I am thoroughly satisfied with its clarity and response. I reccomend them to anyone wanting a good surround speaker to use in conjunction with a good pair of floor speakers

Strengths:
price and sound quality

Weaknesses:
not always in stock, and wire terminals a bit flimsy

Similar Products Used:
cerwin vega bookshelfs and sony with hop tech.