These are the new arrivals - the legendary Yamaha NS-1000M (Monitors).

Set them up in my not ideal locations, but there's not much I can do about that, short of moving house.

They seem to sound as folks have described for examples of this age, with slightly forward mid and treble units, which are ruthlessly honest in their rendition and with a soft'ish bass. They are thirty odd years old and I suspect there are some tired parts in there somewhere. I aim to get them sounding as good as new and deserving of their reputation, but I must finish the Celestion 66’s first.






A quick and simple first task is to change the spring clips that are used to connect the speaker wire, for some decent binding posts.






I came across a Japanese seller on Fleebay that was selling these ready to fit sets of binding posts, that are mounted on a Yamaha compatible fixing plate, seemed ideal. On arrival I was disappointed to find they were made of white metal. I had on hand a very similar looking free standing set from another supplier that have gold plated solid brass contacts, they were so similar that it was easy to swap them over on the mounting plate.






That's the binding posts fitted, I don't believe in using expensive connectors but I do expect them to be brass under the inevitable Gold flash plating. These will make a much better contact than the original spring terminals.
Something concerned me when I was fitting these, the cables from the connectors to the x-over board are single strand bell wire, I am not kidding! I will get round to sorting that along the way.






Here is a closer look, for those that are not familiar with this speaker, it is a three way sporting a 12" paper Woofer in a sealed box of solid construction. The Midrange and Tweeter are Beryllium Copper domes and were state of the art at the time of manufacture. The large White Yamaha Logo is missing from the space to the right of the tweeter (both speakers), there is no sign of it having ever being applied. I think it was screen printed directly on to the cabinet as it doesn't look like a sticker or transfer on other examples I have looked at. No sign of it and the black wood grain finish looks perfect with no sign of over painting etc, it's a mystery. I think the logo was a bit large and did nothing for the looks so I am not that bothered at the moment. I will just enjoy them for now while I finish fettling the 66's.