Yamaha NS-800A speakers with Zylon drive units

The Yamaha NS-800A speakers have just landed at Carlton Audio Visual. We've had them running in and stretching their wings in the main demo space.

The NS-800A feature the same innovative cabinet design as the top of the range NS-5000 speakers. That is to say that instead of packing the insides of the cabinet with acoustically absorbing material like foam, Yamaha uses their 'absorber tubes'. These don't completely dampen the sound rather they keep a freshness and pep to the music.

Even without being fully run-in, these speakers are exciting, forward and immeadiate. They don't quite have all the pep of the NS-5000s but that's to be expected given that the NS-5000s are nearly triple the price.

They also don't feature the Zylon drivers of the NS-5000s having instead a pulp (paper) mix in the driver. The Zylon evidently works to give the higher range of speakers extra punch and attack.

But the lineage is still clear and if you love that Yamaha pure and fast sound, you're going to love these.

What I've also noticed is unlike a lot of bookshelf speakers, the mid-range is still quite present with the NS-800a. They are quite consistent throughout the frequency sweep and don't show the characteristic hole in the mids which plagues many a lesser set of bookshelves.

You won't be dissapointed by their bass either. Rich and full. Surprising for a bookshelf speaker, even one like this, that is on the larger side. But more importantly articulation and attack are not lost in the bass either. This can be another pitfall of less efficient bookshelves that find it difficult to articulate bass lines and give you more wooliness than crispness.