YAMAHA NS-F210BL 2-Way Bass-Reflex Floorstanding Speaker - Each (Black)

Some of the reviews on these speakers are so ridiculous they are comical… Seriously, did previous consumers take the time to read the specs and description about these speakers? These were designed and are marketed as front mains for a home theater system, either 5.1 or 7.1 – the specs clearly say they only go down to 50Hz and the main drivers are only 3.5” with a ported vent (HINT: that means these were designed to be used in conjunction with a subwoofer). I can’t believe that with these stated specs, consumers would try to think they could use these as full-range, main stereo speakers. If you can’t understand the specs, the product’s description even states they are AV speakers designed for HD digital and Blu-ray sources, etc.Anyway, on with the review: keeping in mind what these speakers are designed for, I can say they deliver 100%! I have a Yamaha 375 5.1 AV receiver and these are perfect as the front L/R mains. Just for kicks, since so many reviewers complained about what they sounded like as main stereo speakers, I put my AV receiver in 2 Channel Stereo mode and turned off the subwoofer. The source going in were digital music files from my iTunes library on my MacMini connected to the Yamaha AV 375 via optical TOS link cable so that the digital-to-analog conversion was being done by the Yamaha’s Burr-Brown chip set. First I demoed Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” – I was pleasantly surprised at the smoothness, presence, and detail – I could even hear the whisper quiet thud of the piano’s damper being lowered onto the strings as she let up on the sustain pedal after the intro. Then I played some jet-set rock by Ivy and some classic rock by Jefferson Airplane. The song Blue, just having Joni’s voice and piano, was perfect as is with these speakers solo; the latter two groups having drums and electric bass showed the limitations of these speakers if you are trying to use them as a pair of full-range stereo speakers. With 3.5” drivers and a ported vent in the back, naturally the bass is going to sound boomy and boxy. I was able to eliminate most of the boominess by moving them at least 9” or more away from the back wall, but the bass still sounded a little boxy. Also, these speakers are not going to give you articulate and tight bass lines as a proper pair of full range speakers would. However, I was impressed with just how much bass they pumped out from such small drivers.Do they sound as good as my legacy Klipsch horn drivers powered by a preamp and separate power amp using tubes? Of course not – that would be a very unfair comparison that I would not make simply because they are apples and oranges. Having said that, these speakers would not be bad if you did want to use them as stand-alone stereo speakers as long as you keep in mind the limitations on the bass that I pointed out above. They really do pump out quite a lot of bass due to the ported vent at the bottom rear. If you put your hand over the port hole, you can feel the bass waves thrusting on your hands – there is plenty of bass, just not high-quality bass in the lower registers. Again, for having main drivers that are only 3.5” and a ported bass vent, these speakers are amazing for what they are, and when you use them as intended, i.e., as part as your home theater’s AV amp, they sing. Depending on your subwoofer, you’ll have to experiment with the crossover frequency to get these speakers tuned in conjunction with your particular sub for optimum performance.While I was in music listening mode, I turned the subwoofer back on and put the AV amp in a DSP program that simulates the acoustics of the Roxy Theater which engaged the rear surrounds – wow, these speakers are so perfect for digital AV amps whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie. (Be sure to let these speakers break-in for a couple of weeks by pumping sound through them as much as you can, they are very stiff when new.) I then put on Underworld Evolution Blu-ray to with its spectacular opening scene where vampires come back to life in a war ravaged village in the 1200’s – it was awesome, you could hear the horses enter stage left mains and exit stage right mains – in one scene there is a fire burning in the upper right corner of the screen and the right mains produced all the crackling for this fire. These speakers do exactly what they were designed to do! For your home theater set up in your den, rec room, living room, etc., they will deliver stage left and right perfectly. If you have a true home theater with an inclined floor and rows of seating, then yes, you will have to purchase bigger and much more expensive left/right towers as well as an AV amp that can deliver more watts per channel then these Yamaha’s are rated for, but the average 5.1. or 7.1 home system, these are perfect.PS: I’m also amazed that consumers are inquiring/complaining about if the price is for a pair or a piece – the description clearly says “Each” – I mean, $149 is already dangerously cheap for one speaker; would you really want them if they were $75 a piece…? Look, if you want a pair of audiophile, full-range speakers, save your money because they start at about $1000 a piece and are made in the US or Europe (then you have to spend at least a few more thousand on a non-digital, pure analog pre-amp and power amp… ;) These speakers are “AV speakers designed for the new digital amps used in surround sound” – please know this before you buy. These were never designed nor marketed to be full-range stereo speakers. Having said that, if you live in an apartment, they have enough bass to serve your stereo just fine by themselves. If you want to really rock out with them, you absolutely have to have a subwoofer to use in conjunction to get the full range.PPS: In one of the comments someone gave the true dimensions but I’ll reiterate them here for ya: Yamaha, much to their disservice, gives the width and depth as 9” x 9”; no, that is just the dimensions of the round, metal base. The actually speaker column is 4.25” wide and 7.5” deep – very sleek and sexy – they look very cool next to my 51” plasma. One last note: the Amazon pictures do not really show the color difference of the removable speaker grills; they are not black like the cabinets, but rather a very dark pewter or a dark steel grey. I think the slight contrast gives them a touch of elegance. At Amazon’s low price of $299.99 for the pair, this is a steal! --thanks for reading this way too long review (I just had my morning coffee…)

Update: 9/2020Turns out I did go bigger, and have never looked back. I now have a full Klipsch Reference 5.1 system. There really is no comparison, and I bought my Klipsch floor speakers for only $25 more each on sale. You can’t get around physics: a bigger speaker will always sound better than a smaller one. I would only recommend these for an apartment setup, and for that, they would be good. If you have the room though, get something bigger.I have ran these speakers for 3 years in my 5.1 system with matching Yamaha series speakers, Polk PSW505 subwoofer and Sony STR-DN850 receiver. Overall I have been very happy with their performance, and the Yamaha speakers as a whole. My home theatre room isn’t very large, so they fill the space nicely with clear, detailed sound. You will hear nuances in the soundtrack that you haven’t heard before.It should be obvious by the driver size that these are not full range speakers, and a subwoofer is a must. That is pretty much the norm today, even with larger drivers, though. That being said, they have surprisingly good bass dimension on their own, but not impactful. These speakers are perfect for home theatre with the proper setup. This is helped by the auto calibration of the receiver, and the Polk subwoofer that sounds fantastic providing the low end, and even matches the wood grain and silver trim in the front. Together, the sound is crisp, detailed, impactful and powerful.For use with music, they are very impressive. Larger speakers would probably round out the sound more, but again, the auto calibration dials in the crossover so the sound works very well as a whole with the sub.Yes, I have been tempted to go bigger, but every time I crank my system I remind myself how awesome it sounds. I think it would be diminishing returns to get anything different at this point l, especially for the price.

I use a 40W Onkyo Stereo Receiver with volume controlled single pre-out sub jack and a Y-splitter cable to a 10" Polk Subwoofer. Once they are matched up with the sub volume and crossover right, it's a great sounding rig. The black and silver accents on both the speakers, and the Polk sub match perfectly. The small aluminum drivers and aluminum tweeter are very detailed in the mid and highs. Need sub though for full sound.

The buffet under the wall-mounted flat screen TV was short of space between the buffet on the (left) stairway side and we did not want anything protruding into the archway (on the right) to the front door lobby on the other side of the buffet. These narrow speakers fit perfectly and sound abolutely fantastic, excellent highs and booming base without distortion. We listen to DirecTV Music Channels in the 800-range, like 822 SilverScreen, using our new Pyle amplifier, and turn off the TV after getting the audio going. We had scrimped on a sound system for a long time, as this house was at the top of our budget and needed quite a bit of repair and updating. Now that it is paid off and most of the upgrades are done, we finally worked on the stereo system. I have a pair of Altec Voice Of The Theater speakers, but they are in my big workshop... The Altecs are WAY too big (and ugly, at least that is what my wife said...) for the house. I thought they were great when I was single, the TV sat on top of one of them. The Yamaha speakers are very low key, all black, so you almost don't notice them.

While the speakers were beautifully made on the outside and look terrific, unfortunately their sound quality suffers greatly. The sound has a cheap resonant quality to it and the bass reflex port does not do them justice. Yamaha needs to get it together and do a much better job at making a decent sounding speaker at $150 apiece. Sent the two speakers back the next day. Very disappointed.