Whoever rated these as bad speakers is deaf.I had these together with a pair of Bose 201 speakers and there was no comparison in quality of sound.These Yamaha speakers had it all over the Bose in both mid range and bass and at higher wattage.

price, looks

Mid-range depth, bass response, size

I've been listening to these speakers for about 5 years now and have been fairly satisfied with the overall value. They were originally purchased to upgrade the front speakers of our old Aiwa 5.1ch Home Theater System and sounded nice when backed up with that system's powered sub. Recently we upgraded our HTS with Onkyo's HT-S780 which came with a complete speaker set. Not being satisfied with Onkyo's front speakers, I replace them with the Yamaha NS A638 which was an improvement, but at the same time revealed some of the Yamaha's weaknesses. I figured the 110W/channel receiver would really make these speakers shine, but I have to say I am no longer totally satisfied with them. They are still great when used for theater/movies applications, but listening to music is where they fall short. The highs are nice and crisp without being too harsh, but the mid-range lacks clarity and separation. The mids are somewhat 2-dimensional and the bass really flattens out at higher volumes. I looked inside the cabinet and noticed the mid driver, woofer, circuitry and wiring looked to be average, if not poor quality. It is still a decent speaker for the price especially when paired with a powered sub. I would recommend these to someone new to Home Theater or looking to get a decent, cheap, large bookshelf speaker for a entry-mid level receiver with a sub. They are also rather nice looking, albeit a bit large. The speaker grille has a tapered angle on both sides and the bottom that gives it a 3-dimensional look... If only that gave the sound a bit more depth.

Price. paperwieght.

sound, but who needs good sound.

DONT BUY THESE!!!! That said, heres why. I love in a dorm but i dont see that as i reason to not have good sound. I bought these speakers without hearing them online just for the price. I was just looking for a decent speaker for my room. These speakers did not fill this need. I run a onkyo tx8511 for an amp, so the problem is not there. The sound was muddy and distoreted. Bass was very dirty and the highs sounded fake. I gave them a good two weeks of use but the sound didnt change so best buy got there speakers back. I now use Axiom M3ti's. i love them. and for $239 how could you go wrong.

Similar Products Used:

Axiom M3ti. JBL S38II. Bose 301V

Bass, high, efficency, price.

High volume harshness.

I wanted to buy new speakers for my surround sound system in my room. I figured I already had ss-mb105''''s in the rear, so I thought get the ss-mb300s for the front. Like so, I looked on the internet and saw some poor reviews. I went to best buy, saw 3 I liked, (all 99.98 a pair). 1 was 12" KLH floor speakers, the Sony ss-MB300 and these Yamahas. I listened to all three, and the Yamahas and KLHs were better tyhan the sonys. The salesperson said between the two, sony''''s were out of the question. He said bigger isn''''t always better he said the highs were better on the yamahas but the KLH had more bass. He said, boomy bass or tight bass do you want? I of course said, tight clean bass. He said 1 word. Yamahas. I ended up buying them and when I got home, I played them and they were excellent. Don''''t listen to the few people that say no bass. They must have crappy recievers. These don''''t even need a sub. Those woofers pump out nice bass. The highs are excellent, but maybe a little harsh at times at high volume, only if they''''re up high. If they''''re on the floor, don''''t worry about that. They look very nice. I just have my own little ratings here from 0 being GPX crappy and 10 being movie theater. also, these are VERY efficent speakers. If you are looking for a budget speaker, these are them. Bass: 7 Mid: 9 High: 6 Looks: 9 Size: 6 Weight: 10 Overall sound: 8 Movies: 10 Music: 8 Efficency: 10 Price: 10 Availability in stores: 6 My overall score: 8

Similar Products Used:

sony ss-mb105, JVC mini system, Fisher speakers, and lots of others.

Plenty of bass, fairly good mid, good highs

Crackles a little at high volumes and bass

Now I'm fairly new on the home audio scene: I'm 15 and I just picked up the Yamaha HTR-5240 receiver at Best Buy for about $400, and these came free with it. Right now they're the only speakers I have hooked up until my JBL ND310's come in. I can say I'm happy with speakers that cost nothing. I plan to use them as surrounds and I'm betting they will sound great. Even if you can't get them free they're a good buy at $100 a pair.

Similar Products Used:

Bose, Realistic

Highs and Mids

Some bass lost at low end

I just added these to my Home Theater as my front satelites. They replaced a set of old Realistic "3 ways" with a 10" woofer...the model number escapes me at present. The biggest thing I noticed is the excellent clarity on the "highs" and "mids". I don't know enough about the construction aspect to comment, but for $70/pr I can say with great confidence that these speakers would be a welcome addition to any low-end home theater set-up. With out my sub turned on, the bass performance is mediocre at best. With it, however, almost everything I played through them sounds superb.

Similar Products Used:

N/A

great sound, inexpensive

bass cut off at 90hz

I dunno why everyone is raping these speakers so bad, i use a yamaha 5240 reciever in a home theater setup and they sound great. I have yet to hear this "popping" sound others are describing. And i listen at fairly high volumes at times. I did add a JBL PB12 sub for all the lower frequency's and to my ears dvd's sound amazing.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha & jbl

Low price, reasonable sound, shielded, reasonably attractive, acoustic suspension for tighter bass.

No crossover, no internal insulation, small boxes limit bass output.

For the money they are a good value. Since they only use capacitors for seperating the frequency you get some odd anomolies out of these. If you are just starting out they represent a good way to start out and they might even be good enough if you aren't real picky. They produce decent bass and overall decent sound as long as you aren't expecting the best.

Similar Products Used:

Infiniti RS1001, JBL500

Price, Appearence, Sound Quality

Low End sound

I ended up making these the front satelites in combination with ths NS-AP425A home theatre system. I'm very happy with the results. The powered subwoofer took care of any lowend complaints I had. This also alowed me to use the other two satelites in combination with a Synergy subwoofer and wire my bedroom. All-in all I'm very happy with the Yamaha products.

Good bass response for their size

Woofer popping during heavy bass/loud volumes, Unbearably harsh midrange, not much treble response

Before i gave these speakers a decent rating. I'm going to have to retract that review now. For a long time now, i thought the general harshness of my system was due to my H/K 3270 receiver. Not so. These speakers are ridiclously poorly balanced. You'd better have an EQ with a 3k-6k adjustment on it, because otherwise your hearing will be seared at higher volume levels by these speakers. Terrible. I finally came to this realization after switching them off to other receivers i have used before. Every other amp produced the same results: overpowering midrange, decent bass response. I would spend my $75 on something else, or save for a better pair of speakers. One of the very few positives is the very nice bass response these speakers have as long as you dont feed them a lot of power. But that does not even remotely make these worth it.