The HS5's are fantastic speakers for their size and price range. I'm sitting and re-listening to my favorite songs and albums because I haven't heard them in such crisp detail before. As many others are saying, these speakers are pretty light on the bass, but I think that was an intentional mixing choice more than a lack of hardware. When you turn them up, these little guys are absolutely capable of rendering the tones across the full audible spectrum. I actually like how they sound sitting far away and turned up loud more than I do sitting right next to them at my desk. So if you are looking for thumping bass experience you can feel, I'd recommend getting a supplementary sub, but for the purpose of rendering the audio tones these do a great job.

These monitors are probably fine as near field monitors. I wanted to use more as speakers to hear my keyboard. For that application they were woefully under powered. I had to crank the volume just to get a low medium amount of volume. Also these deliver a flat response, so there is no bass boost or anything like that. Flat response is what you want if your mixing a recording. I prefer to do my mixing with headphones designed for that task. A minor issue is the cone cap is very thin styrene plastic which is pretty fragile, so I don't recommend moving these around a lot. It was punctured very soon after purchasing. Caps are easily enough ordered and replaced. The replacements were paper, which oddly enough is much better for durability.

These little guys amaze me. So balanced and surprising bass for their size. I have owned them for about 2 months and am really impressed. I am actually using them as my computer monitors after trying to find good computer speakers with no success.

Rob Whelan

I had some cheap Presonus monitors that came with an all in one studio setup and they were ok. When the finally died, I bought these Yamahas and the difference is HUGE!! They are clear, punchy and sound great when running my DAW and when monitoring my Fractal FM3. All in all, these are great monitors!!

I unexpectedly found myself on the market for a new set of monitors after a power surge fried my old set. I had been eyeing these for a while and decided to pull the trigger or them after seeing all the great reviews, and... wow. The sound quality is incredible. I'm no audiophile, but I had no idea music was supposed to sound like this. I can hear *everything*. They may be a bit more powerful than necessary when you live in a small apartment, but the dB adjustment switches on the back really help to scale back some of the power. These are very much worth the money and I hope they last me a long time (yes, I also got a new surge protector for them lol).

I bought these monitors as a temp monitor set up and I was very shocked and surprised at how much they were pushing for their size and very surprised at the great sound they deliver for the size. Full range and clarity to say the least and can't beat the price. Now have had them in as a permanent fixture for the playback of my main studio mastering.

These speakers have a very clean crisp sound and so far without distortion. I am using them on the MODX7+ I purchased last week. I started out using my guitar amp but the speakers are much better. If you are undecided between getting an amp or the speakers, in my opinion the speakers are a better choice.

Bought a pair of HS5's as a recommendation from coworkers in the pro-audio industry. they said these would be the choice to go with for studio monitors, and boy were they not wrong. not only is the sound quality clear and crisp, but I've yet to experience an issue with them (hopefully I don't jinx myself here) ...

Paired with the Focusrite 4i4, I'm sure I'll be able to use the HS5's for at least 5-8 years no problem. Not to mention, Sweetwater customer support is unmatched. (Shoutout to Melissa).

... now time to find a sub.

Great for the size and the price! I love the simple sleek look, no gloss to wipe fingerprints off of. They sound great and are a good size for a small control room.

He's been on 1k since they came in, thank you SWEETWATER.

I recently moved my studio to a smaller space, so I sold off my 8" JBL speakers and 450watt JBL sub that cost somewhere around 4 to 5 times what a pair of these Yamahas cost. I figured these little speakers would be better suited for the smaller space, and even though I thought they'd be a real downgrade, I expected them to be solid.

Calling these speakers "solid" is grossly underselling their capabilities. These little speakers ROCK. True, I can't hear the sub-bass frequencies, but they have plenty of bass for day-to-day work and overall - they are excellent. They are not hyped. They have a wide sweet spot. Clarity throughout the audio spectrum is very good. Depth/stereo imaging is solid. there is no listening fatigue like you often experience with some of the other "budget" monitors. Dang - these are great!

I experimented with the room correction switches on the back but for my room, they aren't needed.

I spent hours running music that I know intimately through these - big hits spanning many styles and many decades, plus my own mixes from the past, and I was really pleased with what I've heard. These are definitely not just a powered version of the NS-10s that I used at the very start of my mixing career - frankly, they are an upgrade, but they certainly share a little of that heritage.

I feel very confident in using these speakers. don't let the price fool you, these are great!

I purchased these for a small 13x15 booth and they are fantastic. I plan to get another pair of 8" in the future.

I been wanting monitors for along time as was not happy with my options till I discovered the Yamaha H5,the 5 inch driver is perfect for minimizing the transit time with the coil, resulting in fidelity not found in budget monitors, but was a hallmark of the NS 10, most people think you need a large diameter driver for bass but that is wrong larger diameter cones only increase the bass amplitude not the frequency range an only serve to broaden the q. The hs5 sound bright because every mixer knows that modern speaker preamp boost low end and if you wanto here those 5 " drivers produce the tighest bass sounds you ever heard just boost the bass in the Master mix.