YAMAHA NS-IW660 3-Way In-Wall Speaker System for Custom Install, White

I installed a pair of these in my living room (open concept, high ceilings) for background music. They sound fantastic in the living room and still have respectable sound in the dining room, kitchen, or even upstairs. Instructions are solid and the template was spot on. By far the most difficult part was determining the ideal location to place them (I went just above outlet height and spaced about fifteen feet apart) and how you are going to run the cables. I traced the template with a pencil, cut it out with a drywall saw, removed the insulation, ran the cables, REPLACED the insulation (these speakers are designed to have insulation behind them for a fuller and more stable sound), put the speaker in the hole, tensioned four Philips screws and I was done. At this price point these are hard to beat. You get a three way design, kevlar woofer, titanium tweeter, adjustable high level volume, and true binding posts rather than cheap spring clips. I've found the sound quality to be very good for a wide range of music and talk radio. True deep bass is obviously lacking but that will be true of any in wall unit and I think the frequency response is exceptional and well balanced. I was also looking at Polks, Monoprice, and other options but am very happy with these. Technical details: Pair of speakers used in living room Hooked up to older Yamaha v663 receiver out in the garage (also drives 3 outdoor Yamaha speakers and a pair of older Klipsch in the garage) Mediabridge 14AWG CL2 rated cable used for the install (90' for left and 70' for right). I ran this through the hole I cut, down into the crawlspace, through and then out the crawlspace, and finally into the detached garage. Obviously your install will differ. Monoprice screw type banana plugs on both ends Used primarily for FM radio or Chromecast (Pandora, Spotify, or anything I can get to play on my Android phone using the cast device function).

Let me start off by saying I built a new home and pre-wired a 7.2 surround sound setup. The room is 20'L x15'W x10'H. I did not want towers or bookshelf speakers. I wanted my front right and left speakers installed in the wall directly beside my TV, and all the other speakers mounted in the ceiling, with the exception of my subs which are to be located on the floor of the wall where the TV is located. I knew going in to my plans that my wife would flip if I had any kind of speaker set up that was obtrusive. Keeping that in mind, I wanted speakers that were less noticeable. I also wanted durable speakers in the mid price range. Nothing too expensive, but not too cheap either. Especially since I would be cutting holes in the wall and ceiling. So I started with the purchase of a Yamaha receiver, the RX V-673. It allows for a zone 2 speaker setup for my back porch, along with all the bells and whistles of airplay through my iPhone and an app to control everything. These speakers were my first speakers to add to my setup. I did a lot of research because I was worried about the sound balance since I would be using these as my right and left front speakers. I read all the reviews and knew that the screens on these speakers would not be flat, as one person said it had a dimension to it. And they were correct. This speaker could have a flatter screen (grill cover), but for some reason yamaha decided to add the curvature at the top and bottom, which makes these speakers very noticeable on my front wall. So while my wife was out of town, I installed these and got chewed out when she got back, because admittedly, they are a little on the obtrusive side. They are paintable, but I recommend a lot of patience. If you have a wall color like me that is hard to match with a spray paint, then I recommend watering down the paint and use multiple coats of paint to get the grill covers the color you need them to be. The small holes will get clogged with paint otherwise and it's extremely difficult to get the paint out of the holes. When paint did clog holes, I just pushed the paint brush down through the holes repeatedly and they disappeared. As for the installation, I recommend using a drywall hand saw or jabsaw as it's called, and go slow. Use the template that's provided because it is accurate. I already had insulation in the wall, but if you don't, you might want to add some just behind the speakers. The longest part of the install was actually measuring on both sides of the TV so that the speakers were perfectly centered. Cutting the drywall and hanging the speaker took less than 5 minutes on each speaker. As for sound, I was thoroughly impressed. I turned the volume up to as comfortably loud as I could and they never distorted. Listening to music or movies, these speakers provide a crisp, clear sound with all the highs and mids as you might expect from these types of speakers. They have thump for the low registers, but let me just say that these speakers are NOT made to rattle the glass windows in your room with bass. They will rattle your glass because of how loud they can reach, but booming bass is the subs job, not these speakers. I'm no audiophile, but I really don't think I would notice a better sound that would justify spending more money when this one does more volume and sound quality than I will ever need anyway. I added a BIC F-12 sub not long after i installed these two speakers. So all I currently have is a 2 ch speaker setup with that monster ours sub from BIC. My first movie test was Man of Steel. Oh WOW, these speakers delivered, more than I could have ever hoped for. My wife made me turn them down because I wanted to really push them, and they held up without distorting. In my opinion, if you can turn a speaker to a volume that makes it uncomfortable to listen to, and it can still go louder, that's a good speaker! Oh, and that BIC 12" sub, it would shatter my windows if I didn't adjust the volume down on it, because the bass coming from that speaker shakes my furniture. I highly recommend these speakers on sound quality and value. If you have a wife that doesn't like obtrusive wall speakers, you might want to pass on these, lol. As for the rest of my setup, I'm still working on it, but I will definitely have to find better hidden speakers for the ceiling.

Hooked these speakers up as my rear and surround sound in my 7.2 setup. They sound amazing. Im no audiophile but the mids and tweeters are directional and sound crystal clear. The woofer portion doesnt produce mush bass so youll want to get a sub with these. Here is a tip for installing!!! loosen the screws on the 4 mounting tabs. It will alow them to wobble. Now if you dont have any insulation in your walls simply slide it into the wall and tighten. Youll likely be good. BUT if you do have insulation these speakers can be tricky to install. The reason is the small arms that swing out when you turn the screw, if the arms meet any resistance(ie insulation) they wont rotate to a full 90 deg angle and will bind and can break! So the trick i did was to remove the 4 screws that hold the mid and woofer speaker. The two speakers will still be held in by the wires so be gentle! The soeakers will now move out enough to allow you to stick you hand inside the wall and rotate the tab the full 90 degrees. Then with your other hand tighten the hold down screw and once it starts pulling in toward the drywall your good! Now repeat the process! Also it helps if pre rotate two of the tabs to the full 90 degrees, slide that side of the speaker into the wall first and it will help hold it into the wall while you unscrew the woofer/mid. I didnt break any hold down brackets doing it this way. For the price and sound quality i would have given these speakers a 5, but because the install was a bit more tedious i gave it 4.

I installed the Yamaha NS-IW660 speakers about two months ago and I'm very satisfied with the product. They sound great and easily handle any volume level that I throw at them. Just in the last week, I upgraded my receiver and that made them sound even better so don't blame the speakers if you have a cheap receiver. My old receiver was 5.1 so I was using them for the rear channel but my new receiver is 7.1 so I am now using them for the side channels. The way the room is situated, they were better positioned for the side channel anyway. I now am using some speakers that came with my old receiver for the rear channel but I would like to get another set of the 660's for the rear eventually. They look great mounted in the wall. I painted them using a sponge paint brush and it was pretty time consuming but worth it. I had difficulty keeping the paint from filling in the holes in the grills but kept working on it and they turned out good. The directions recommend spraying the paint on and I do have a sprayer but it seemed like a pain to get the sprayer out just for that. If I get another pair though, I may spray them. We just built our house and moved in about six months prior so I had the wall paint available so the paint on the speakers matches the walls exactly. One the grills are in place they are somewhat difficult to remove. I used a corkscrew for opening a wine bottle and just hooked it one of the holes in the grill and it came off fairly easily that way.

First of All let me say i received these speakers very fast and in great packaging. Upon opening the factory sealed box the speakers were packed laterally standing on there sides rather than flat. FIRST thing I did when examining the speakers was to loosen the wall retaining clips( PLEASE DO THIS FIRST, IF YOU DONT THEY WILL BREAK ON INSTALLATION). installation into the walls were as easy as i thought possible. I did stuff the walls with polyfill before the final securing of the speaker. Sound= these things sound great! Frequency response is very wide ( from 20khz-down to about 65hz). Midbass is strong, highs are vibrant and audible without harshness. Crossover is huge, oversized, and built with quality( I have the high Fq set at a -2 and sound is well balanced. Look= Speakers profile is not low at all, I would say its mid-profile. Since the grill has some 3-dimensional curves to it, I think it gives it a nice look and it compliments its surrounding. Once painted and fully finished these speakers look great. Subwoofer? It really depends on your music taste. Speaking for my self, I think these speakers are good enough to give you the option to add a subwoofer or Not! They played extremely well on all music genres except Rap music. With that said from my consumer point of view. Well worth the cost and the gamble on yamaha, a lesser known high-quality in wall speaker maker. Posted a few Pics

I initially installed four Micca M-6S in wall speakers and was immediately disappointed. I suffered with them for years before replacing the two fronts with Yamaha NS-IW470 and was again disappointed, they had the same boxy sound as the Miccas. I finally tried these NS-IW660 and they are a very noticeable improvement over the Micca M-6S and Yamaha NS-IW470. The IW660 drivers are technically superior to the IW470 drivers, but I think the real difference is in the crossovers. The crossovers are a much better design with better components. I'm now using three of these for the front and center channels and I moved the NS-IW470 to the rear for surrounds. They don't compare to a good set of bookshelf or tower speakers, but for in-wall speakers they are pretty good. I would definitely recommend spending a little more for these versus the NS-IW470. The white bezel and grill is more of an off-white or beige which works for me, but if you are expecting pure white be prepared to paint them. Be sure to fill the wall cavity with fiberglass insulation at least 2 feet above and below the speaker, it makes a noticeable difference.

Titanium tweeters and Kevlar woofers are what sold me at this price point. These materials are the highest quality found is high end stereophile equipment. The highs are clear and tight and the mid range is solid and not muddy. The bass is clean. Considering the size of the woofer, there is not going to be a lot of deep bass (simple physics). Add a subwoofer if you want the deep wall shaking bass. But I wanted quality over sound pressure rating and I got tons of quality for the price in these speakers. I drive them with a Harmon Kardon AV 700 receiver and they are efficient at low volumes, with clear response. The directional tweeters and mid range are excellent to point the sound to the ears of the listener. Bang for the buck, these are the best I have found.

Real easy to install and the sound quality was very good. I would recommend them.