These are my "wife's speakers". I know that sounds a little crazy, especially in a 50/50 state, but what it really means is that they are hers... If we divorce she keeps them. More importantly they are for all intents and purposes removed from the pool of audio stuff that I can sell, loan or trade!

Anyway it sounds like they could soon be "mine" again! She wants my warfdale dovedales and a spot of cash. I really, really like the ns-690s and think they are probably as close to a pair of ns-10000s as I'm likely to get anytime soon. However I really need to consider selling them to support my recent McIntosh habit! Problem is that I can't seem to find anything about them. Audiogon doesn't even have a bluebook listing for them.

What I do know is they are in very good shape. Hints from the net seem to suggest they are first gen as they have the tri-amp connection block, a mesh covered hole in the center of the woofer dust caps and the Be tweeter (not sure what the mids are made of).

Can anyone shine some light on the history and specs of these? How they compare to the rest of the NS line, etc.? And what might fair market value be on these?

I've had photos of these in other threads and will post some here after work if needed.

Thanks in advance!

CORRECTION: Mine do NOT have Be tweets! Soft dome tweet and mid.

Plugged them into the McIntosh 2100 and they sound great! The Yammies and the DQs seem to love the McIntosh but the ARs sound better with the Phase Linear or one of my Adcoms. Maybe they just like more power? The 690's are a little boomy placed on the floor... Wish I had some real stands to put them up on. Other than that they have a very like-able sound. Neutral and balanced.

Oh, the previous owner also had the factory connectors replaced with nice five way binding posts! Wish I had the grill emblems for them...

Photos (click for larger image):

Those fectch quite hefty prices here in Europe.

They show up on ebay Germany quite often.

http://cgi.ebay.de/YAMAHA-NS-690-II_W0QQit...id=p3286.c0.m14

Cloth surrounds makes yours a Series I, which IMO is the best. The II and III have foam surrounds. It may have cabinet grade plywood construction whereas the later ones have particle board. Some say particle board is more consistent and gives a more even resonance but I like the greater stiffness which dampens secondary vibration a little better. The tri-amp capability is desirable, especially in the mid Seventies when watts were still expensive. $250-325 would be about right.

Thanks for the replies guys! Much appreciated.

Mine DO have the cabinet grade plywood, as you can see from the photos showing the binding posts in back. Nifty! I didn't realize they used two different materials until I read your posts. I looked at that pair of series II for sale in Germany too and yes, they appear to be particle board instead.

I put mine up on the Seattle CL for $500 OBO. We'll see if I get any nibbles and go from there.

I viewed your Seattle CL ad. Someday, I'll add the NS-690 Series I to my Yamaha collection. Yours sure are purdy!

The only flaw I can see in the design is that they are not mirrored like the later NS-1000's. I'm guessing the mellower cloth domes make the NS-690 less hot that the Be domes in the 1000's.