Yamaha HS8 Powered Studio Monitor
The Yamaha HS8 is a 2-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield studio monitor with 8" cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter. The Yamaha HS-Series have the inherited universal mix-translation legacy and distinctive white cones of the industry-respected NS-... read more
Yamaha HS8 Powered Studio Monitor
In this video Kevin can be seen using the Yamaha HS8 studio monitors when recording Tame Impala's third record 'Currents' in 2015 more
Reviews
Trusted musician and artist reviews for Yamaha HS8 Powered Studio Monitor
Based on 43 Reviews
Great monitors, if you have the space to put em
Sound-wise, no complaints. mid frequencies seem a bit scooped, but every speaker will have its own characteristics. sturdy construction, lots of features too.
be aware that this is a large form factor. for the home studio, make sure you have enough space to distance it from your walls and that you have an acoustically adequate room to put these in. do this and you will have a lot of joy form them
Best in the price range.
Amazing monitors with an extremely flat frequency response. I previously used HS7 monitors but found them to be severely lacking in bass. Upgrading to HS8s has solved this issue without the need to purchase secondary bass speakers or a subwoofer, but it is worth noting that the HS8s are massive (both the HS7s and HS8s are heavy). Would recommend.
Amazing
These sound really good. Bass, Mid, High, everything is really good for the money I definitely recommend these!
Boom
Flat, everything sounds so smooth and round, the bass/ low end is a step up / superior than my previous KRK Rokit 5 G3.
Accurate, Crystal Clear Monitors
I bought these monitors recently, upgrading from my older JBL LSR2325 pair. These are clean, more on the accurate side, and don't break the bank for the aspiring bedroom producer like myself!
glad I got the 8" woofers
Were a big upgrade from my Alesis Monitor Ones that I had forever prior. I still want the powered sub to go with, but the 8" woofers satisfy me enough without bothering the neighbors and function as solid nearfields that I haven't felt the urge as strongly as I thought I might. I blew tweeters once every couple of years with my Monitor Ones, but after like a decade I haven't had a single issue with these, and I do tend to spend some serious time in the cranked up zone. I prefer to monitor loud, and these handle it fine without ear fatigue. My only issues are being in a room that could still use a lot more tuning that I have acoustic treatments to cover. In addition to recording studio use, they double as multimedia speakers for everything online, and for impromptu DJ sets in the studio and sound great on all tasks. They are fairly flat in response which is what you want in a nearfield reference monitor. They are very cost effective for the rather stunning level of performance at this price point. There are aftermarket mods for the few flaws that hardcore audiophiles might notice.
Bang for the Buck!
Firstly, I would like to start of buy saying speakers are only, may be 30% of your monitoring; your room and calibration is what takes you there. Whatever, speaker brand you like you can't expect them to sound good in an uncalibrated room. Coming to the HS8, I know the speaker in and out meaning I have not only spent my fair time in mixing but also hearing other commercial music from perhaps all genres, both good and bad! There is no right or wrong speaker, there is just a speaker which is right or wrong for YOU! I would recommend that you go hear out a bunch of speakers and decide but once you decide STICK WITH THEM, it takes a lot of listening to get used to a speaker. If you don't have the luxury to demo studio monitors and these babies are within your budget, go for it and don't look back - iamplicit
Nearly perfect for the price, especially if you take care to really learn how your equipment translates the music you know
That much is clear: every price point has inherent limitations associated with it. I won't comment on all the things you've probably already read about the HS8 - they are most likely all true. I will, however, say this: once you've learned to make peace with the slight bass 'hump' around the 50-80Hz spot, and once you know exactly how your (and other) tracks sound, this is a very good option. That said, as with most sub-$1,000 models, the bass will slightly overpower the lower mids in untreated rooms, but that's a small price to pay, and, arguably, something you'll face with almost every pair below the $1,000 mark. The upper mids is where the HS8 really shines - and that's an important place to shine, at least to me. This goes for vocals, just as it does for all instruments in the vocal range. Very lifelike 800Hz-10KHZ representation!
I have a tendency to strip a lot of the low mids out of mixes for clarity, that's why I like the old NS10s, I kinda want to check out the HS8 after reading your excellent review.
Thank you, I'm not really an audio engineer, just go by ear. Never heard the NS10s, but know a lot of people swear by them. I'm guessing it's because they got used to them and learned to compensate for the differences (I keep reading negative reviews about their uneven curve). What made me go for the HS8 in the end was the fact that they're deep enough not to have to get a subwoofer. Yamaha does have a weird way of measuring them, however: they go as low as 35Hz, but with a -10db rolloff - unlike other manufacturers, where the low extreme is listed at -3db. So you'll get a noticeable drop-off after 40Hz+, but with a spectrum analyzer on hand, I can't see that being a problem. In any case, the HS8s are still deeper than anything at this price (aside from Event 20/20 v3, which I couldn't find here in Moscow, but also really wanted to try). Good luck with your purchase.
@jimmarchi1... ^