Attractive Yamaha 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers in Cherry NX-GX505

Torakusu Yamaha built his first reed organ in Hamamatsu in 1887 and founded Nippon Gakki in 1897; the company was renamed Yamaha Corporation in 1987. Yamaha calls the 1954 HiFi Player its first audio product, and dates its first Natural Sound (NS) speakers to 1967.

1970s hi-fi. The CA-700 and CA-500 of 1972 were Yamaha's first integrated amplifiers, and the CA-1000 of 1973 could switch its output stage between Class A and Class A/B. The NS-1000 and NS-1000M speakers of 1974 used beryllium dome drivers, and the NS-10M of 1978, sold for home use, became a studio monitor.

CD and surround. The CD-1 of 1982 was Yamaha's first CD player. The DSP-1 of 1986 was a Digital Sound Field Processor, and in 1993 the RX-V870 became the first Yamaha receiver with CINEMA DSP. The RX-V992 of 1997 added built-in Dolby Digital decoding.

AVENTAGE. The AVENTAGE (RX-A) receiver line launched in 2010, above the RX-V range.

CA integrated amplifiers (1972 to about 1979): the CA-500, CA-700, CA-1000 and CA-2000, followed by the A-series.

CR receivers (mid-1970s to about 1980): the CR-1000, then the CR-620 to CR-2020 generation of 1977 to 1979.

NS speakers: from the NS-690 and the beryllium NS-1000 to the NS-10M bookshelf speaker, made from 1978 to 2001.

CD players: from the CD-1 of 1982 to the CDX and GT-CD models.

RX-V AV receivers (from at least 1991): such as the RX-V800, RX-V850 and RX-V1400 we sell often. Built-in Dolby Digital arrived in 1997, YPAO room calibration in 2003 and HDMI in the mid-2000s.

RX-A AVENTAGE (from 2010): the step-up AV receivers. The RX-Z models were the flagships until 2007.

Formats. On an AV receiver, check what it decodes and connects to: Dolby Digital from 1997, room calibration from 2003, HDMI from the mid-2000s.

HDMI boards. On modern AV receivers, HDMI is usually the first thing to fail. We test every HDMI input and output before listing.

CR receivers. Owners suggest asking whether service bulletins were done on a CR-2020, and expect scratchy controls and burnt-out dial lamps on any unserviced unit.

NS speakers. Check that the tweeters on an NS-10M are original and both work, and inspect the beryllium domes on an NS-1000, since Yamaha stopped making beryllium diaphragms in 1997.

Everything we list is inspected, tested and serviced as required here, and comes with our warranty.