Customer Reviews

Yamaha YSTMS50W 2.1 Computer Speakers (3-Speaker, White)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've owned these speakers since last year, and I'm as awestruck today as I was when I first brought them home. I had been waffling on new speakers for a long time -- you know, they're not a necessity, should I indulge myself, etc.. All this agonizing despite the fact that I store most of my music (about 10 gigabytes) on the computer. Finally, I stumbled into a computer store with a speaker display that included these Yamahas, and my inner debate ended instantly. I couldn't even wait to go home and order them online ... I had to have these things hooked up that day. I've been in sonic heaven ever since.

The low end in this subwoofer is beyond merely powerful, beyond merely fat, beyond merely distortion-free. (Your ears will buckle before these speakers ever will.) The low end is absolutely beautiful: sweet, tight, smooth (geez, I don't mean this to sound erotic), and, as many have pointed out, musical. I guarantee that any discriminating listener will find these speakers revelatory--you'll hear things in your music that you never heard before. I keep the volume knob on the subwoofer set to 6.5 (like 1:30 on a clock face) for a window-rattling, gut-clutching experience. Turning it up farther would make me fear for the structural stability of my home. My neighbors hate me, but I can't stop. My computer is now my main hi-fi system, despite owning a pair of JBL 4312 studio monitors in the other room. Even they don't match the excitement and transparency of these puppies.

Remarkably, these speakers deliver at any volume, without losing warmth or depth even when played whisper-soft.

I will note that the high end isn't as crisp and glittery as I like. But a little tweaking of the Winamp equalizer when playing MP3s solves that insufficiency. And my discriminating friends think I overdo it on the high end, so you might find the Yahamas perfect without any EQ treatment.

I'd be thrilled with this purchase if it cost twice as much. (In fact, I did pay 50 percent more than the price here at Amazon.) My acquaintances are gradually upgrading their computer sound, and I am absolutely forbidding them to get any other speakers. I listened to them all during a loooong shopping period, and nothing in this world compares to these Yamahas.

I hope I've made it clear that I rather like these speakers <g>. They have thoroughly distracted me for months now! I get far more pleasure out of my music collection, which covers a global variety of genres, than I did before. They make average music sound good, and good music sound extraordinary. Don't cut corners on your computer-speaker decision. These might cost twice as much as some other sets you're considering. But you will love them forever, and you'll love your music even more than you already do.

I purchased these speakers for computer use, but the sound quality, and depth coupled with power output led me to use them with portable cd/md players in my office. The sound is awesome!

Simply put, I was blown away by these speakers (and continue to be, of course). Not only do they actually produce the "brilliant highs" they're advertised to, but the YSTMS50's also provide enough bass to be felt three rooms away. However, they won't jar your fillings - the bass is round, smooth, and precise. The best word I can find to describe the experience of listening to these beauties is "immersion." You just feel surrounded in a swirling vortex of sound. It's great.

Now, I'd be willing to pay a lot more for this kind of quality, and I was prepared for a hassle setting them. However, they were blasting out tunes in about seven minutes from bringing the box in from my front step, and I couldn't be happier.

These Yamahas are THE choice not just for CDs, mp3's, games, DVD's, and all other computer uses, but they can be hooked up to anything with a simple 3.5mm audio plug. My Discman has never sounded better.

If I could give these speakers ten stars, I would, but we'll have to make do with five. They are perfect.

I bought these speakers after reading nothing but positive reviews online, and listening to many different systems in the stores in my area. After getting these things plugged in, I was really amazed - they sounded so much better than the HK's that came with my computer. The bass was really good, tight, not really distorted. The highs were clean, a little harsh though, and the mids were fairly good.
That was about 3 months ago. Now that I've had some time to listen to just about all the music that I own on these speakers, I have noticed a couple of things that I didn't hear before, probably because I was still in that phase of being excited about my new purchase.
First of all, the sub is low-passed at 200Hz, and the tweeters are high-passed at 12KHz. But I think the midrange drivers get the whole frequency range. So when I play anything with a lot of low bass in it ( < 80Hz or so), this really distorts the midrange because they can't reproduce those frequencies very well. I noticed this one day when I had the sub level turned all the way down (by accident I think), and I found out why the mids were distoring. The other thing is, the sub does not have really great low frequency extention as I would like. For midbass ( > 40Hz or so) it is pretty good, but I really need sound in the 20-40Hz range for some movies and songs. The frequency response of the system only goes down to 32Hz anyway, not low enough for me sometimes.
Another thing, now that I think about it, was that when they did the specs for this system, they measured the wattage at a THD (total harmonic distortion) of 10%. That is a lot of distortion, so you will probably not get 80 watts out of this system (even though it does get loud, the people in my dorm can tell you that) unless you like a lot of distortion.
Now it might sound that I am unhappy with this system now, but I still really like it. For only (...) (what I paid) it was a really good investment, but of course it is not gonna rank up with higher end stuff. But for most of the things I use these speakers for, they are great. Just certain things are a little lacking, but I think I can stand that for now.

I'm very pleased with this system:

Setup. It was easy, taking just a few minutes. All plug-ins were logical and snapped in crisply.

Sound. The bass is extraordinary. Besides being powerful, it's also very clean. This system does not have the vibrating, distortion-producing sound of many subwoofers--it is quite smooth. The highs are crisp. This Yamaha outperforms the Sony CMT-CP11 $300 stereo I just sold.

Features. Having a headphone jack up front is helpful. Separate volume knobs for the woofer and satellites is nice, and seems mandatory, but many lesser system don't separate them!

Price. Unless you need 4.1/5.1 sound for movies (or some live albums and classical music), this system is more than adequate for computer sound, even compared to systems that are twice as expensive.

Well done, Yamaha.

Got these because I occasionally wanted to listen to music without earphones at my desk and wanted something that would sound good when cranked up. I was not disapointed, the speakers sound very nice and the subwoofer (which is pretty large, but easily shoves away under the desk) really puts out a lot of base. (so much so that my neighbor complained and I had to turn the sub down a bit even though the music was relatively soft).

The earphone plug on the right speaker is very convenient, and the volume and power switches allow the volume to be adjusted or turned off. The speakers automatically mute when you plug your earphones in as well.

Probably my only negative comment would be that the connectors from the sub to the sattellites are somewhat odd, one is a standard RCA and the other is PS/2 style cable like you see on mice. I guess the advantage is that it's easier for people to plug in because they can't get the right and left speakers confused, but I would have preferred standard RCA or miniplugs on both so that I could possibly use other sattellites if these broke.

Overall these are great speakers....

I generally listen to music in two ways:

1. Turn the volume down low so I could pick every nuance of the music and let my soul blend in with the tune.
This set delivers relatively well when you prefer "quiet music". The bass can still be gently felt even at very low volumes. But the very high frequencies seem to be rather muted. My solution is to pair a pair of PC Works tweeters in the front and place the two tweeters from this 3-piece speaker in the back. The PC Works tweeters seem to render crisper high frequencies compared to this set.The resulting surround sound effect is extremely pleasing. Considering that you can get a set of PC Works for $50, it's worth the extra money.

The Yamaha speakers, unlike other PC speakers, has a broad listening range. You could be a fair distance away from your computer doing other stuff and still enjoy the music.

2. Turn the volume so high that my liver turns black by the booming bass.
The bass for this speaker set wouldn't disappoint even its harshest critics. The subwoofer could fill the entire room with the volume half-way up. I usually turn the volume to half its maximum when I want to listen to loud music, and it's LOUD at that level. The sound nevertheless becomes somewhat distorted after you turn it over three quarter to the maximum. Unless you want to die a deaf man, though, you should not try listening music at such a high volume.

The sound this set of speakers deliver is sweet given its price point. The rebate also came back to me after a 3 week waiting period, which is fast for PC rebates. I find this to be the best $100 I spent on PC equipment since the time I purchased my Voodoo 1 card (Yep, I got a deal back then for the real stuff;). You won't be disappointed.

This Yamaha Speakers 80 watts are really something, the mid ranges and the highs are awesome, very pleasing to listen to, it's incredibly clear, and the Sub produces a NICE, DEEP and warm sound, if you like strong bass, make it so, if you likes weak base, just turn the volume knob on the sub. The main thing about the sub is that it doesn't produce a loud, sudden and short bass, which makes your ears very uncomfortable to listen to, instead, it produces a long and smooth bass, won't hurt your ear at all. but of course, listening too loud is a whole different story.

Some other things are that what's nice about this is that when everyone else in your dorm/house are sleeping already, and you still want to listen to music, you can turn it as low as you want, and you will still get that deep and warm bass. you will be able to hear it, unlike some other speakers, you can't hear anything. One more thing which makes this speaker set great is that you can be listening to music to a moderate volume and won't bother your next door roommate at all. unless you really jam it up all the way, but otherwise, it's got a moderate volume.

Overall, if you are looking to a new speaker set, THESE are THE ONE to buy, Yamaha YSTMS50 , Yamaha is still the top brand in music industry. DEFINITLY WORTH THE MONEY!

These speakers are excellet, the bass is strong and clean, and the highs are very clear. Their design is smart and everything is easily accessable. Their price can't be beat, you really get more than what you pay for.

I just got these speakers earlier this week and they are great!!! The music CD's sound killer and the sound from the speakers are clean. I highly recommend these to anyone!