Sound: clarity, accuracy; it's beautiful
Look: piano black is elegant, stylish and also beautiful

There are no real weaknesses. Only some minor ones: bass is a bit deeper with a good receiver or a subwoofer; piano black loves fingerprints.

I was considering buying these speakers reading the reviews here at audioreview.com. The comments were very convincing and satisfying. As the speakers are...
Of course, as every speaker, they need to be used intensely for about 1-2 days at the first time, as they may sound a bit differently; they are "raw". After this I can tell you (as everybody told below me), the NS-555s are amazing in every aspect.
The highs are clear, there's no frizzling, even at very high sounds. Midbass is accurate and great. The bass is also pure and natural (at 2 channel music listening and high volume it's incredible), however, you need either a receiver with wide bass level-options or an additional subwoofer to get a very deep and rich low frequency sound. It's performance is outstanding in home theater use and in music listening too. (And I haven't been able to try out the bi-wired version yet!)
The look of the speaker is second best thing beside it's performance. I had the opportunity to look at the cherry colour, but I found the black piano much more elegant. It looks beautiful, but it's a great fan of fingerprints as well. I suggest buying white gloves. :)
To sum up, I can highly recommend this speaker for home theater use or just for listening music. There are no real cons. You won't regret it, as I didn't regret it either.

Similar Products Used:

JVC speakers

Extremely satisfying speakers. Great soundstage and very dynamic. Well balanced neutral speakers. Great imaging. Deep and punchy bass.

Low Sensitivity/efficiency (88db)

These are not very efficient speakers at 88db. You need a good true 50 WPC at a minimum to drive them. Additionally, you must position speakers properly in an appropriate environment/room. (Any/all speakers)

My listening room is 11x14 with 8 foot ceilings. With the rear of the 555's positioned about 18" from the wall and 24" from the side walls with a seating position about 24" from the rooms back wall the bass is nothing short of incredible when called upon to "thump".

Bela Flecks "flight of the cosmic hippo" is literally jaw dropping.

On Royal Crown Revue's "Mugzy's Move" CD, The upright bass is full and articulate. The horn section is crisp and smooth.

Rock and roll of any flavor is fantastic.

Powered by a 1984 vintage Pioneer SA 1050 Integrated amp (100WPC) They simply perform beyond what their asking price would imply.

Set them up properly, feed them quality recordings with CLEAN power and they are fantastic speakers. And I concur with others that they are aesthetically elegant with the piano black finish.

Similar Products Used:

Athena, Cerwin Vega, Polk Audio, Acoustic Research.

Superb audio specially when bi-wired.Precise and very acurate music and HT performance.

None, just handle these with care

This is seriously an overlooked speaker. Performance is outstanding when you use a decent receiver. The higs and mids are on the top notch and bass is precise deep and acurate. These are great for music and perfect for HT. I went to and high end store and audition a 1000$ monitor audio speakers and let me tell you the ns-555 has nothing short in performance. Get these and bi-wire them to your receiver; I recomend (Yamaha,Denon,Onkyo,Marantz,PioneerElite,H/K,sherwood....) and you'll get $1000+ audio from and afortable speaker and you'll get the plus that they look great in that piano gloss color.

Similar Products Used:

JBL,polk,monitor audio,infity

HIgh quality construction; attractive appearance; excellent sound

None that I know of.

I have only owned my Yamaha NS-555 speakers for 2 weeks so this review is based on a relatively short exposure.

I listen mainly to classical music with jazz and other genres a distant second. The NS-555s are, for me, an ideal choice. The very important middle range in the sonic spectrum is cleanly and transparently reproduced. Treble is without any harshness or sibilance. Bass is nicely extended and well defined. Listening to any of the later Mozart piano concertos, for example, is pure pleasure.

Although NS-555s were, apparently, designed for home theatre applications, they are excellent performers in 2 channel music. And as a bonus, they look great too. The piano finish enclosures and the brushed chrome feet are really rather elegant.

If you are in the market for quality speakers at a good price then certainly give these Yamahas an audition. They are hard to beat.

- Extremely accurate, the sound is extremely natural and realistic - Excellent Build Quality - Piano finish looks great - Can be Bi-Wired

- well, beacuse the sound is so natural there is only a "Natural Bass", so in my taste, not enough bass coming out. Well a good subwoofer will totally fix it.

Well, those speakers are another masterpiece of Yamaha. The price is very low for the treatment that the NS-555 give to your ears. From the outside, they are the most beautiful speakers i'v ever seen (piano finish). The sound, so natural, REAL.. extremely accurate. Those speakers are better than speakers that cost 2,3,4 times than the NS-555.

Similar Products Used:

well not similiar, much more expensive Klipsch RF-7 Axiom M80Ti Jamo E-550

Very musical...Great soundstage...Deep bass and LFE's on DVD's. Superior build quality. A finish to die for!

Personnally...none. So inexpensive that people with deep pockets will probably overlook a great system.

The NS-555's represent one of the best loudspeaker values on the market...if not the best. When I first auditioned these speakers I found myself continually looking at the $299.00 a piar price tag. I felt the wieght of them (about 43lbs.) and kept looking at how beautifully finished they were. I told myself that there was no way these speakers that sounded so good and looked more like they cost $1500 a pair were only $299...a pair. I went as far to ask the sales assistant to check and make sure. And sure enough the price was correct. Unbelievable!!! I have always enjoyed 2-channel music for years and years, but I also love watching a movie in digital surround sound. As these speakers were designed to compliment a home theater, let me tell you that they are simply awesome on two-channel music. I have an HK AVR-130 that is very musical and revealing. The NS-555's are a perfect match for this amp. Everything I play through these speakers is wonderfully recreated. Voices are well placed and up front. Symbals are spacious and given ample time for perfect decay. Saxaphones and horns are airy and have that bite when musicians decide to let loose a litlle. Bass is beefy and tight, but not unnaturally boomy. Bass guitars,kick drums and synthetic low end sounds are right on mark!!! I don't even use a sub- woofer with this system. I live in a medium sized condominium and the NS-555's fill the space with lucious sweet music all day long...when I'm home! DVD reproduction is awesome. Movement across the listening area, center vocals and low end effects are all wonderfully enhanced with this system. Along with being internally wired with high end Monster Cable, these speakers are also ready for banana cables and bi-wiring which I strongly reccomend. The cool silver feet that come with them really make them one of the finest looking speakers in any price range...any!!! I would recommend that when you install the feet, you turn them upside down right out of the box on carpeted area so you don't scratch that wonderful piano high gloss finish. All I can say is that for a small to a good sized medium room the NS-555's do everything very, very well. And look real real good doing it!!! A true bargain in the world Audio/Visual.

Excellent build quality. Wired internally with monster cable. Elegant piano gloss finish. Bi-wireable. 5 year warranty.

Must be careful when installing stablizing feet so as not to scratch the speakers.

Excellent sonic detail and imaging. Bass is tight and goes down to 35hz. The highs and midrange are accurately reproduced and will bring out sounds you would normally only hear with headphones. The tweeter is rated out to 35khz. These speakers will play at high volume without distortion. Movies sound great as voices sound natural. The tight low bass gives explosions impact. Overall a bargain for the money.