Avantone CLA10 - reworked Yamaha NS10M Pair

CLA10 is Avantone Pro’s keenly reworked take on the classic Yamaha NS10M design known from recording studios around the world. The speaker’s role is to highlight shortcomings from any mix to appropriate the sound for consumer listening devices such as TVs, radios and in-ear headphones.

The CLA10s are not the easiest of speakers to listen to. They provide a mid-heavy, almost fatiguing sound with limited bass shelving and can, at times, sound clinical to the point of chilliness. However, the benefits of mixing with CLA10s for engineers who stick with them are bountiful, such that if a mix can be made to sound pleasing on this speaker it is almost guaranteed to translate well whatever system the track is played on thereafter.

Avantone Pro took every measure in the design of the CLA10 to physically and sonically match the frequency response, resonance and power of the classic NS10M. The tweeter dome uses the same phenolic resin doping technique to match the original performance curve, whereas the woofer is composed of the same original pulp - sourced from the same original manufacturer. Crossover network capacitors are also set at the same value, and the MDF chassis matches the resonance of the original NS10 exactly.

To ensure uniformity across each new CLA10, Avantone opted for a machine-pressed technique for the AV10LHF woofer (in place of the lapped seam design). Also whilst the capacitors have been carefully matched, higher quality components for the crossover have been selected for increased life. The speaker’s banana plugs have also been upgraded to ensure extra stability and longer-term guarantee.