Home > Consumer Reviews > Yamaha NS-6490 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers, Black Finish ( Pair )

I have audited several low price speakers, such as $100 to $300 range Pioneer, Polk Audio, Boston, KLH ... This Yamaha speaker has great highs, transparent, and Great 3D imaging! The focusing so sharp and accurate, I can almost 'see' the instruments and singers.
However, this speaker is weak at midrange and lows. A subwoofer can compensate for that.

WOW! What an outstanding product. They handle tons of power, it can output a lot of bass without distortion and the overall sound is exceptional for the price and size. Using as FRONT speakers in my setup. Sound clarity is also very good.

Made purchase of these NS-6490's on clearance from the 'shack in fall 2009 and I'm glad I did. Probably not worth current retail prices but grab them on markdown if you can. The exterior is beautiful even with the glaring white woofers. The speaker has the required heft to dampen the 8" woofer, and the range should be smooth with the choice of provided driver sizes. Unfortunately we consumers just won't know what it is capable of until it gets a decent crossover. Inside you will find no acoustic fill, which by itself isn't unexpected in a design at this pricepoint. However, there is no effective crossover. there are instead 2 capacitors acting as bass blockers for the 4" mid and the tweeter glued to the back of the terminal cup and the 8" woofer runs full range. In a larger woofer this may not be a problem as the voice coil simply wouldn't drive higher frequencies; here it is. Budget for acoustic fill and a proper crossover, or run a new terminal cup and bi-amp with eq's. I didn't take the other reviews seriously about the lack of bass, chocking it up to the sealed design. Stock levels are woeful for the woofer and box size. I'm hoping some acoustic fill will round out the bottom end a little until I can get a decent set of crossovers.

I bought these speakers about 6 months ago, and am happy with them thus far. Currently, they're hooked up to a Yamaha 5.1 receiver, but I'm only running them stereo. So many people said the speakers lacked bass, so I dragged out a powered sub I had and hooked it up. Eventually, I found that the speakers produced adequate bass for me, so I've removed the sub all together.

I was a little disappointed when I first hooked up these speakers because the bass was too over-powering and the mids were really lacking. I tried adjusting my receiver to lower the bass and increase the mids, but nothing seemed to work to my liking, so I did what anyone would do; I just played it at higher volumes. I'm writing this review because the other day I realized that the mids have developed over the past months of use, and now the speakers sound smooth and produce a very clean sound. So children, I guess the moral of the story is that patience is, in fact, a virtue! I gave it 4 stars because of the extraordinarily long break-in.

I have a pair of these Yamaha Speakers that I bought way back in 1996 at the late Good Guys Store. These speakers still sound like they are brand new. I use them to listen to my CDs, more recently we've been using them to listen to my wife's Ipod. I also use them as front speakers for the home entertainment system. They never failed me. They have been through some partying and they never broke, even when the music was playing so loud that the CD players skip.

These are good quality speakers made in the USA. I don't know at present time if they still make them here. I am very happy with the pair I got. I just wish I did not buy the extended warranty from the Good Guys. The warranty has long passed. Good Guys is no more, but my Yamaha speakers remain.