Yamaha HS 5

The control room in my studio is approximately 7 meters long and 5 meters wide and I use the Yamaha HS 5s as my main monitors paired with a sub-woofer which I occasionally use to check the very lows. I absolutely love the Yamahas for mixing and they give me a very clear representation as to what is happening in my mixes. The bass response is great for a 5'' speaker and I could probably even get by without the sub which is more of a safety net for me. I used 8'' speakers in my room together with the Yamahas in the past, at the moment I don't have the larger speakers anymore and, to be honest, I don't even miss them. The mids are very pronounced and clear and if something is wrong in the mid-range the Yamahas will let you know that for sure. The highs are presented very well too allowing the listener to judge the overall balance of the mix. If you work on these monitors for a long time, pay attention to the listening level as the very present mid-range may start fatiguing your ears. If I come up with a balanced sounding mix on the Yamahas, the material almost always translates really well on other systems too. I recommend the Yamaha HS 5s to anyone looking for quality near-field monitors - these will not let you down.

Ive always been a KRK guy, and stayed away from these monitors, but i must say im stepping to the other side. Super clear and clean sound. The high freq are just amazing and very true sounding. Mids are present and even the low frequencies, when hearing it in your sweat spot, are really good. Its not a boomy sound, it will not have as much warmth as other monitors, but this one will give you a very honoust sound of what you are actually listening too, which can be very good for when you are a producer or engineer. If your mix sounds great on these, it will sound great everywhere! Do keep in mind that the low freqs arent super present, so a dubbelcheck with headphone or other monitor is recommended when using for mixing/producing. All in all great addon to my studio setup.

I use these boys as my general speakers , listening to music, watching films etc. (not any audio production - so I cant comment here). One con for home use is that they don't go too loud.. as they are monitor speakers (so not the best choice for a house party sound system). However, I share a house with 8 other people (and very thin walls) so playing loud music often isn't an option for me.

I went for the Yamaha HS 5's as an affordable way to get high fidelity audio with minimal set up (no amplifier is required, less wires, less mess, easy to move the set up around). The down side of this is that you can't play around with the treble /mids/ bass, and therefore can miss out on a specific "character" you might sometimes want from your speaker set up.

I would really recommend these speakers to anyone who wants great clarity in what they're listening to, It's really like I've rediscovered a lot of my music collection since buying these!

I am really happy with these speakers and Thomann's delivery service - I tracked them across Europe so I knew when to be in awaiting collection. They are definitely designed to be used as studio monitors rather than for general listening. They will reveal nasty secrets in your mixes (as well as poor quality mp3/Youtube clips that lesser monitors might miss due to less than accurate frequency response. Yamaha's claim that 'If your mix sounds good on these, it will sound good anywhere' should give you some idea of their intended use.

I was concerned that the bass response would be lacking as these are 5inch woofers. I guess this may be the case in larger rooms, but in my small untreated studio space (i am only 2 or 3 feet from the speakers), they sound fine. You can always buy a sub later if required). They also have control room EQ controls which allow you to boost/attenuate the bass and treble (but not mids) if your room is not acoustically ideal- particularly useful if you have the speakers close to a wall (they are rear ported so bass reflections can be problematic).

Aesthetically, they are nice looking speakers with the (now iconic) white cones, reminiscent of the legendary NS10s (not that looks matter at all!). They also feature protective mesh over the tweeters which, for me is a real bonus.

Of course, there are better speakers available... but are there better 5'' studio monitors in this price bracket?!

Firstly the speakers came secure in the packaging containing protection. The reason I bought these speakers was mainly because of the compact size, the breadth of frequency response for the size and also the flat response.

These speakers cope will with all tasks I have thrown at them. From mixing delicate acoustic tracks to full rock bands. The speakers also stand up well to electronic styles also. Everything sounds great through these speakers!

I am really impressed particularly with the features of the monitors. The option of room control by cutting lower frequencies is great if you live in a flat or apartment. Definitely consider these speakers if you want that control of now disturbing your neighbors!

All in all they are great and I couldn't recommend these more for the home studio enthusiast.

This are my very first active monitors made by Yamaha and considering the price and results, I'm extremely surprised by its quality! I've procured them for my Yamaha Montage, for small house amateur studio and happy to say that sounds are excellent.
Sound's clarity and accurateness is fantastic even low-pitched audio frequencies are softly reduced, but who needs that can buy a subwoofer and I'm sure HS5 together with a sub will deliver an excellent experience to any user. For me, as a "sofa musician" playing in a small apartment they sound like a god voice! I'm already disturbing my neighbors even without sub :)
I've procured them in a bundle offer from Thomann, together with Millenium BS-500 Set and this combination is smart.
Cons: I'm using them for almost one month and there are no cons for me!

I use a pair of HS5 in my home studio as well as for entertainment loudspeakers in a 20-25 squaremeter big room for longer than 6 months.

For bass heavy tracks, it might be disappointing since it has a very flat frequency response. However, this character becomes a very good feature when it comes to using them for studio purposes: recording, mixing; monitoring in usual. It has a very flat response, so you can hear everything clearly when you have enough volume. In a big room like mine, probably, HS7 or 8 would fill the room better. Still HS5 is good enough in my opinion. You can as well support them with a subwoofer or do low freq. monitoring with a good closed headphones. That depends on the purpose of use and budget IMHO.

Build quality is simply outstanding. Very sturdy units. The gain knob's level indicators is confusing -- though probably there is a note about it in the manual that I skipped --. MIN --> +4dB --> -10dB .?! What the heck is that? Another limited feature is the trimmers for EQ in my opinion. Having potentiometers or more frequency bands would improve it with respect to flexibility of use.

Other than that it is an amazing monitor so far for my needs.

First set of active Monitors, previously relied on my ATH-M50x's, these were a bit if a revelation to me. For perspective I use these to make electronic music, running through a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6.

Fantastic sound, they feel very accurate, and are a joy to work with. I feel like there may be a slight lack of depth at low frequency making it sometimes difficult to mix and master low frequency instruments, but I have no other reference monitors to confirm this, only a few other similar opinions online.

Build quality is fantastic, not sure of the exact material but its solid. All inputs and knobs on the back are great quality and feel like they would last as long as a caring user will allow.

Overall I recommend these for anyone looking for a decent pair of nearfield monitors based off the legendary ns10's, without breaking the bank.