The mid range was hard. The treble was harsh.
The 12 inch woofers could not produce enough bass with transistor amplifiers.

I tried to build "audiophile" circuits to boost the bass electronically , but they sounded horrible !

It produces superb imaging. You can tell point a finger at where the singer is standing !

The harsh CD sounds disappears , and it is 99% like real life.

This gives much more bass than our Class B transistor amplifiers !

It sounds as though there is a little bit too much bass.

It produces reasonable imaging, but not as good as the cheaper EL34.

This sounds 99.9% like real life.

My live recording of the "Last night at the Proms" sounds
as though I was sitting 5 feet behind a bunch of noisy promenaders !
I really cannot tell if it I was listening to a Hi-Fi set
or I was actually at the Proms !

They are a difficult load for all amplifiers,
so I have to connect the Yamaha to the 4 ohms terminal of the valve amplifiers.
I suggest that you try connecting the Yamaha to the 4 ohms speaker terminals,
and see if you can hear the difference between the 4 ohm speaker terminals
versus the 8 ohm speaker terminals.

This is one big advantage of valve amplifiers over transistor amplifiers !

The legendary Yamaha uses

•   3.5 inch beryllium metal dome midrange , with a magnet big enough to drive a 12 inch woofer
•   1 inch beryllium metal dome tweeter , with another big magnet
•   12 inch offer woofer , with another gigantic magnet.

Other manufacturers are a bit more sane and cost conscious ,
so they settle for the 2nd best like aluminium , titanium , plastics , etc.

When Hi-Fi Choice measured the distortion of loudspeakers , they found that
the NS-1000M had the lowest distortion of the dozens of loudspeakers measured.
That was why we bought the NS-1000M many , many years ago.

We are extremely fortunate to have a pair of Yamaha NS-1000M

                                                                          A L Lim
                                                          Affordable Valve Company

April 2007 , eMail questions from an Audio Enthusiast who like bass !  = Comments : i am buying ns1000m's soon and don't want to buy subwoofers would a simple 40 watt valve amp from you suffice my greedy needs?? i want good bass for lovers rock reggae Comments : i have 400 pounds what is the best amp for the money  with tape and cd and vinyl and tuner to plug in?? i have a Yamaha tranny amp 55 watts per channel and has no bass Answer = Bass of most 'active' subwoofer is lousy (with a lot of 'bass doubling' or 'frequency doubling',  which is an POLITE old fashion tern for 2nd harmonic distortion !) Many Hi Fi reviewer who cannot hear the difference between a DEEP 40 Hertz test signal (BUY OUR TEST CD)  on BIG 12 inch woofer in BIG cabinet                        versus 'active' subwoofer in much smaller boxes, should give up writing about Hi Fi and write cookery articles. If you want to check if 'Bigger speaker are better' look at  http://cgi.stereophile.com/cgi-bin/showvote.cgi?475 The CLAIMED power of valve amplifier is totally meaningless and is misleading. For example, Primaluna 'automatic bias' valve / tube amplifier claim to be 35 watts amplifier, but can only produce about 3 watt of bass at 20 Hertz with 2 percent distortion Please see figure 7 at http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/205prima/index3.html                     ( 5 volts x 5 volts divided by 8 ohms equals about 3 watts ) What Hi Fi review said that Primaluna valve amplifier did NOT have enough bass. Our 20 watt + 20 watt 'Triode Connection' valve amplifier, that uses BIG OUTPUT TRANSFORMER DESIGNED FOR 40 WATTS + 40 WATTS will have MUCH BETTER BASS than Primal Luna GBP £600 to GBP £1200 monoblock  (Stereophile review that show Primaluna monoblocks show large increase in distortion at 1 watt of bass below 100 hertz) or Icon Audio GBP £600 to GBP £1800 300B valve amplifier ( Hi Fi World magazine was not happy with the bass of  the GBP £1800 Icon Audio 300B valve amplifier) or MONEY REFUNDED (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trial.) IF YOU HAVE BIG OUTPUT TRANSFORMER, like our superb valve amplifier, our GBP £750 or  GBP £850 or GBP £1050 or GBP £1250 or GBP £1400 'Triode Connection' 'Chinatown' or 'Lim Aik Leong Signature' valve amplifier will have about 20 percent to 50 percent MORE BASS THAN MOST TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIER, when used with the Yamaha NS-1000M or MONEY REFUNDED (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trial.) This sound unbelievable, until I explain that our GBP £850 (and above)  valve amplifier uses 8 kilogram main power transformer + a small choke / inductor (and no, Musical Fidelity did NOT invent choke / inductor for amplifiers). The weight of a 'typical' transistor amplifier is about 8 kilogram COMPLETE, metal box and all, (which is a bit of a sad joke, compared to our SERIOUS valve amplifier.) If money is tight, IF YOU HAVE BIG ish OUTPUT TRANSFORMER, like our superb valve amplifier, our GBP £408 MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG 'EL34 Triode Connection' VR-70E Lim Aik Leong Signature, will match (or beat) the bass of most transistor amplifier when used with the Yamaha NS-1000M. or MONEY REFUNDED (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trial.) If money is tight, IF YOU HAVE BIG OUTPUT TRANSFORMER, like our superb valve amplifier, our GBP £410 Audio Institute VR-110 (with silver front, like the TAC GBP £600 amplifier) have about 20 percent to 50 percent MORE BASS THAN MOST TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIER, when used with the Yamaha NS-1000M. or MONEY REFUNDED (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trial.) Our GBP £750 or GBP £850 MODIFIED IN ENGLAND AMPLIFIER (which look similar to the GBP £410 Audio Institute VR-110 and TAC GBP £600 amplifier) will have sweeter treble, and more realistic human voice, but our MODIFIED BY IN ENGLAND LIM AIK LEONG version cost twice as much If you are SERIOUS about Hi Fi and you are fed up with the lousy bass of small 5 inch or 6 inch stand mount speaker (that some Hi Fi reviewers go on and on about) and the lousy midrange (WHEN YOU ARE LISTENING LOUD, and human voice are so bad, that you CANNOT even understand the lyric of the song ) of small 5 inch or 6 inch stand mount speaker (that some Hi Fi reviewers go on and on about) then your Hi Fi World will be turned upside down when you hear Yamaha NS-1000M has 10 time to 100 time better bass (depending on how fussy you are)  (IF YOU ARE USING A OUR WELL DESIGNED 'TRIODE CONNECTION' VALVE AMPLIFIER) and 10 times to 100 times better human voices (IF YOU ARE USING A OUR WELL DESIGNED 'TRIODE CONNECTION' VALVE AMPLIFIER) and superb treble  (IF YOU ARE USING A OUR WELL DESIGNED 'TRIODE CONNECTION' VALVE AMPLIFIER) Yamaha NS-1000M are VERY REVEALING SPEAKER, and will ruthlessly expose the 'class B crossover' distortion of transistor amplifiers, and the poor stability (lousy 10 kilohertz square wave into a difficult capacitive / inductive load) of many modern transistor amplifier. Yamaha NS-1000M are VERY REVEALING SPEAKERS + 'class B' transistor amplifier + CD player will give you VERY VERY irritating, harsh treble VERY VERY irritating sibilance (when a woman say 'his' it sound like 'hissssssk' Shockingly, Yamaha NS-1000M are VERY REVEALING SPEAKER + our WELL DESIGNED 'Triode connection' valve amplifier' with BIG or HUGE OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS even the GBP £408 valve amplifier (or even our GBP £250 valve amplifier)  + CD player will give you SUPERB treble (100 percent NOT irritating) and SUPERB, REALISTIC, believable  human voice with greatly reduced (at least 50 percent) sibilance (when a woman say 'his' it sound like 'hissssssk') This sound unbelievable, but MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost. equipment returned  during 1 month home trial) that our MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG GBP £650 Chinese speaker are better than our LEGENDARY Yamaha NS-1000M studio monitors,  bought from new for GBP £900, which was an insane amount of money, about 20 years ago) I better explain that I own Yamaha NS-1000M studio monitors with 12 inch woofer + 3 and half inch EXOTIC BERYLLIUM METAL DOME MIDRANGE + 1 inch EXOTIC BERYLLIUM METAL DOME TWEETER ,  Yamaha NS10M nearfield studio monitor (the distinctive 7 inch WHITE CONE in a BLACK CABINET                                                                            seen in MANY music video of a studio) ,  Quad ESL 57 electrostatic speaker,  OLD Kef Concerto with Kef Kef T27 1 inch tweeter + B110 5 inch drive unit used in BBC design LS3/5a ) ,  IMF transmission line TLS 50 mark II with 8 inch woofer + midrange + tweeter, SERIOUSLY 'High End' stand mounts like Veritas with  6 inch woofer with TWO VOICE COILS (for deeper controlled bass in the 'typical' smallish stand mount cabinet) + 2 inch ALUMINIUM MIDRANGE DOME  + 1 inch aluminium tweeter to older designs like Wharfedale Glendale with the unique 4 inch WHITE midrange , that look as if there are hole poked in the WHITE cone, DESIGNED BY LASER HOLOGRAPHY, etc , etc ! -----     SO I CAN COMPARE MANY HIGH END SPEAKER            + I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT !        ------- I am not a 'Wannabe' so is so proud of his one pare of OVERPRICED hyped 6 inch speaker,  who goes on an on about how fantastic his 6 inch speaker is BECAUSE HE HAS NOT HEARD SERIOUSLY BIG SPEAKERS, that are WELL DESIGNED (that is NOT the same as silly GBP £6000 price)  ! ( Just because it is expensive, it does NOT mean that it is good !) ( Fable of Jack and the Beans stalk teaches children                         ) ( NOT to trade an EXPENSIVE cow for a CHEAP handful of 'magic' beans,) ( or you will get a clot around the lug hole from Jack's mother or your wife.    ) ( In fairy tales, the beans are magic, to make the fairy tale more interesting. ) ( In fairy tales, 'spiced up' Hi Fi reviews,       ) ( make some Hi Fi reviews more interesting, ) ( and sell more Hi Fi magazines.                    ) ( In real life, you have been conned by a cheap handful of bean, and you will get a clout from your wife ! ) How can eBay listing of our MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG GBP £650 Chinese speaker or Affordable Valve Company GBP £2000 British speakers be better than our LEGENDARY Yamaha NS-1000M studio monitors ? First of all, please forget about the fancy prose of timing , speed, imaging, depth, etc Let us go back to the basic ..... The most important sound on the recording of your favourite singer is the voice of your favorite singer. Our GBP £650 to GBP £3000 superior '3 way' speakers + our triode connected valve amplifiers will EASILY trick you into believing that your favorite singer is in your living room (eerie !) for most 'live' recording  + 20 percent to 80 percent (depending on which of our speaker you are using) of studio recording. The Hi Fi reviewers typical set up of  inferior '2 way' or inferior '2 and half way' 6 inch speaker + transistor amplifier (with a 'heart' of GBP £2 power transistor made in China, Korean, Malaysia, etc) is 5 time to 100 times worst than  our £650 speaker + triode connected valve amplifier  when reproducing human voice AND LOUD BASS DRUM, AT THE SAME TIME. One design weakness of most studio monitors with 3 inch or 3 and a half inch dome midrange, is the 3 inch dome midrange CANNOT cope with any bass power. Since SERIOUS studio monitor must go so loud that it can PERMANENTLY damage the hearing of MANY studio engineers  (which happened, time and time again),  and the 3 inch or 3 and half inch dome midrange cannot cope with loud bass power, you have to crossover at about 500 Hertz This means that HALF the human voice comes out of the 3 inch or 3 and half inch dome midrange, which is excellent. but unfortunately ..... HALF the human voice come out of the 12 inch woofer (typically un coated paper),  WHICH IS LOUSY FOR HUMAN VOICES ! Most Audio engineer will agree that it is a terrible idea to use 12 inch woofer or 10 inch woofer, as a midrange to reproduce human voices ! There is also the problem of ... If the human voice come out of 2 VERY DIFFERENT speaker (3 inch or 3 and half inch dome versus 12 inch cone) you are are going to get some pretty odd effect. The Crossover network is a necessary evil, and crossover will produce 'phase problems', etc around the crossover point. Crossing over at 500 hertz, right in the 'middle' of human voices, where our human ears are VERY VERY VERY VERY fussy about (human voices), is a bad idea. How do the Chinese Designer and I get around this problem of half the human voice coming out of the 10 inch or 12 inch woofer (which is bad idea) ? The answer is so simple, that I am surprised that most Western designer have not done it ! (even though it requires HUGE EXPENSIVE 'IRON CORED' INDUCTORS,) (and not the tiny toy inductors in most British speakers, e.g. OLD Kef Concerto.) Just look at the photograph, and shake your head in despair. The simple answer is .....                 'Do not crossover at 500 Hertz.' Crossover at 150 Hertz to 250 Hertz, so that MOST of the human voice come out of the SEPARATE DEDICATED 5 inch SUPERB COATED PAPER CONE MIDRANGE. (coated paper cones can range from 'Ultra High End' superb to music centre quality. They might look similar, but they sound 100 percent different, and the different in frequency response curve is HUGE HUGE HUGE !) Much much much less of the human voice come out of the 10 inch or 12 inch woofer, so this problem of 'lousy human voices from 12 inch woofers' is greatly reduced. I am saying that ............. Our SEPARATE DEDICATED  4 inch or 5 inch or 6 inch SUPER COATED PAPER CONE MIDRANGE WHEN REPRODUCING HUMAN VOICES.  (coated paper cones can range from 'Ultra High End' superb to music centre quality . They might look similar, but they sound 100 percent different, and the different in frequency response curve is HUGE HUGE HUGE !) is far superior to 10 inch or 12 inch speaker Of course, 10 inch and 12 inch woofer are far superior for reproducing 22 inch kick bass drums or 32 inch kettle drums.

April 2007 = How do Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 valve amplifier sound with Yamaha NS-1000M studio monitors with 12 inch woofers + 3 and half inch exotic BERYLLIUM METAL DOME MIDRANGE + 1 inch exotic BERYLLIUM METAL DOME TWEETER Answer =  There are many dealers (pretending to be innocent members of the public) in internet forum hyping up their products. Many Hi Fi enthusiasts are too trusting 'babes in the wood' and believe nonsense that these dealers say. Please read what I write, question what I write, question what other dealers write (pretending to be innocent members of the public) in Internet Forums question the 'spiced up' reviews in many Hi Fi magazines ('spiced up' reviews make the magazine exciting + sell thousand more Hi Fi magazines.) and THINK FOR YOURSELF,  THAT IS THE ONLY WAY THAT YOU WILL NOT BE CONNED BY ME , OTHER HI FI DEALER OR 'SPICED UP' REVIEWS IN HI FI MAGAZINES . Hum .......... Ha Ha , very funny , pull the other leg ! We have somebody saying that Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 valve amplifier at http://www.soundscapehifi.com/leben-integrated.htm sound great with Yamaha NS-1000M studio monitors. Please be reasonable. Leben CS-300 EL84 valve is half the power of our EL34 , 6550 and KT88 valves, and Leben can only claim 12 watts ( when our GBP £250 valve amplifier is 3 times cheaper, ) (          has bigger EL34 valves, and is much heavier        ) (                and produces 40 watts + 40 watts                 ) Leben output transformer must be pretty small. The entire amplifier weight only 10 kilogram, which is half the weight of a SERIOUS valve amplifier (with good bass). Our GBP £850+ models uses main power transformer (not the output transformer) that weight more than 8 kilograms ! Then, there is also the weight of the TWO output transformer  + choke / inductor (inside the metal box) + EXPENSIVE stainless steel metal box. So the 10 kilogram weight of the Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 valve amplifier sound like a joke to me, because the price is just so high for a 10 kilogram valve amplifier. If it was GBP £200 (Hong Kong price) to GBP £400 (British price), then I will say it is a competitive price, but not the kind of price that British Leben dealers want. As I keep saying, small output transformer = lousy inadequate bass so there are controls on the Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 amplifier actually has dreaded 'bass boost controls' to boost the bass by +3 dB or + 6 dB. This cheap and nasty trick might work with a cheap 'walkman' and headphone, but for SERIOUS 12 inch woofer like the Yamaha NS-1000M, it is a stupid idea, and it make bass sound unnatural and terrible (I know, I have tried this trick before,) ( and it does NOT work with SERIOUS 12 inch speaker.) (It might work with SMALL 6 inch speaker, if you are listening VERY SOFTLY,) (and you do NOT overload the SMALL 6 inch speaker with loud boosted bass.) Most EXPERIENCED VALVE ENTHUSIAST prefer our 'EL34 Triode Connection' to 'Ultra Linear Connection' used in the Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 amplifier. About 75 percent of EXPERIENCED valve enthusiast prefer our 'Triode Connection' for more realistic voices, even sweeter treble, better bass (for our cheapest VR-70E). About 25 percent of EXPERIENCED valve enthusiast prefer our 'Ultra Linear Connection' with BIG output transformers. You will notice that the 'typical' valve amplifier has the HOT valve and HOT main power transformer stuck on the top of the amplifier. And the electrolytic capacitors, that hate heat is stock INSIDE the amplifier, AWAY from the HOT valves. There is a layer of metal, that tries to keep the heat of the HOT valves away from the electrolytic capacitors.; It is a bad idea to shove the HOT valves + HOT mains power transformer into the SAME box as the electrolytic capacitor that hate heat. At 85 degrees centigrade, the 'typical' electrolytic capacitor will only last 2000 hours (about 2 years at 3 hours a day) (Electrolytic capacitors will last much longer at lower temperature.) The BIG valve can easily exceed 200 degrees centigrade ! SMALL main power transformer can easily exceed 60 degrees centigrade. So, it is a BAD IDEA to shove HOT valve + HOT mains power transformer + heat hating electrolytic capacitor into a SMALL box. THAT IS WHY MOST SERIOUS VALVE AMPLIFIER MANUFACTURER DO NOT SHOVE EVERYTHING INTO A SMALL BOX ! MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trail) that our starter GBP £250 superior 40 watts + 40 watts EL34 'Ultra Linear' VR-70E valve ampler will sound 2 time to 10 times better (depending on how fussy you are) than  the Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 valve amplifier (that only weighs 10 kilogram) MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost. equipment returned during 1 month home trail) that our MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG GBP £408 superior 20 watts + 20 watts EL34 'Triode Connection' VR-70E valve ampler will sound 3 time to 100 times better (depending on how fussy you are) than  the Leben CS300 CS-300 EL84 valve amplifier (that only weighs 10 kilogram)

Leben claims that  "but they (Leben) do have a very modern frequency response,  from 15 hz to 100 kHz". This give you the impression that  Leben 10 kilogram (lightweight for a SERIOUS valve amplifier) CS300 CS-300 valve amplifier has bass down to 15 Hertz. Leben CS300 might go down to 15 Hertz at the 'typical' measurement of 1 WATT. But it is doubtful, that any 10 kilogram valve 'stereo' amplifier (Leben or any brand) can produce 3 watts at 20 Hertz at 2 percent distortion (or less). Primaluna CLAIMED 35 watts amplifier (that CLAIMS to weighs more than 10 kilogram) can only produce about 3 watt of bass at 20 Hertz with 2 percent distortion Please see figure 7 at http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/205prima/index3.html                     ( 5 volts x 5 volts divided by 8 ohms equals about 3 watts ) Even our cheapest GBP £250 40 watts + 40 watts EL34 valve amplifier weighs much more than 10 kilograms.