YAMAHA NS-C444 2-Way Center Channel Speaker Each (Black)

The sound of the center channel speaker made my entire Yamaha system sound spectacular. I wish I had bought this particular unit long ago. The sound is superb. The cabinet is truly beautiful and it is exceptionally made.

I purchased this center speaker for my bedroom system from J&R through Amazon for only $89 with free shipping. At this price, it is definitely the best sounding center speaker for the money. I have a higher end system in my family room. I am a little spoiled with this system since my center of this system is a $1000 Definitive CLR3000. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I first hooked it up and turned on the music. First, the material grade of the speaker is first grade. I was very surprised at this price point Yamaha can make this speaker of this build and finish. Then I put on on some instrumental music. The sound clarity is superb, and is almost as good as my Definitive CLR3000. The mid is warm. For movies, it produces very clear dialog. For one tenth of the money I spent on the CLR3000, I'd say it is worth much more and probably ranked among the best in the up-to-$300 price range. I almost bought the Polk Csi3 since I was able to listen to one. I was not completely happy with it because its high is not too clear. I bought the NS-C444 based on reviews, and I am glad I did because it is definitely a better speaker both in build and sound quality.

Speakers are hard to buy on the internet. Everyone hears different things, well... differently. I really like this center speaker that we have paired with our Yamaha in ceiling speakers. The voice and action scenes are crystal clear and free from tinny distortion that we had in our cheaper Sony center speaker. I would recommend to anyone looking for a center speaker, however, to go to the big box store and listen first. The center speaker is a critical component to any home theater system and can make or break your entire set up. This speaker is a little larger than I had imagined, but fits well. I would equate it to the size of a receiver in width and height, but obviously not depth. Additionally, I placed clear rubber bumper dots on each of the four corners so the speaker doesn't rest on the furniture itself, I would recommend doing this (it lifts the speaker by about 1/8 inch and the bumpers are about the size of the "O" on your keyboard). I particularly like this speaker, and would buy again.

If you are starting a speaker system I would start here! Especially since this can be a good standalone speaker.. or at least the first speaker in the set! I needed a speaker to match Front left and right channels and this was the recommended timbre matched speaker. I must say I am very happy with it! It is so well rounded it can almost be a stand alone speaker which is scary since I only wanted a speaker to be good for voice (the things center channels are supposed to do) and mid range. However this speaker handles Bass and highs exceptionally well. I also like the piano black finish which is important since the center channel is usually in plain visual sight since it is under the main display. I would recommend this to a friend and it would be hard to find a reason to have to replace this center channel.

The Center speaker arrived today and I just wanted to look at it to ensure there was no damage. The box says the speaker is Nior Black which should mean it should be the almost flat stain type finish but when I opened the box it was the piano finish(super shinny). Other than that the speaker was 100%. It doesn't match the other speakers I have but I'll not be returning it just because of the finish. It's black and that is what is important. I like the size of the drivers and the center mounted tweeter/horn. I have a complete set of Yamaha NS-6490 bookshelf speakers and a SW-216 sub woofer and I just needed the center to finish out a complete system I have stored for future use. Sound is clear and clean. After testing I re boxed it and placed it with the other components.

I recently received an older hand me down Yamaha reciever. It had 4 satellite speakers and a sub, but no center channel speaker. I used some regular 16 gauge speaker wire to hook the speakers up and the sound quality was decent, but it sounded like something was missing. I went to two major electronics retailers(Best Buy and HHGREGG), but for the price they wanted for a center channel speaker, I might as well bought a brand new system. I could have bought any name brand speaker, but I wanted to keep it all Yamaha(just a personal preference). I found this speaker for around $100. When I got it in the mail it was a little bigger than I expected, but after a slight modification to my entertainment center, it fit perfectly. I used the same speaker wire I used with the other speakers to hook it up. I invited some friends over and watched UFC 129 and it sounded great. I recently replaced the speaker wire with Monster speaker wire and it sounds even better. I'm completly satisfied with my little hand me down surround sound system.

I already have the NS-555 as my front speakers so getting the timbre matched NS-C444 was really the next logical step in building my Home Theater. Yes the dimensions listed on Amazon are STILL incorrect after 2.5 years but if you hit "see more technical details" you will see the correct dimensions. As a home theater enthusiast looking to build/upgrading a system one component at a time you need to do your research using the manufacture's site and other internet resources. So how good is it? There are four factors that influence the sound you hear-Media, AV Receiver, speakers and environment: 1) The input signal (are you watching TV with a stereo signal? or a DVD/Blue Ray disk with 5.1/7.1 audio encoded in DTS/DD/DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD? You want broadcast TV to sound as good as HD Audio it's not the receiver or speakers fault. 2) How good is your AV receiver in decoding, amplifying the input signal? Do you use Dolby PLII/DTS Neo/THX when playing back stereo signals. How good is the audio processing for those modes? You have a crappy receiver you cannot blame the media or the speakers. 3) How good are you speakers-ALL OF THEM-Front Left/Right, Center, Surround Left/Right and sub woofer in reproducing the signal that is sent to them? 4) The MOST important factor is environment/room set up for your Home Theater. If you have a DEDICATED home theater (you probably will not need an NS-C444 in that case) then you do not have the same problem with background noise as a living/family room or basement based home theater. When you have the dishwasher, washer/dryer, kids playing, other external noise in the background not matter how good your Home theater is or how EXPENSIVE it is none of it matters. This center channel does EXACTLY what it's supposed to do for the price. It reproduces all center channel inputs faithfully. So for my family room home theater it's the best value for money in center channel.

Do not skimp on a center channel as that is probably the most important part of a Home Theater System. This is obviously not a " High End " center speaker, but for the price it almost cannot be beat. Sound quality from this speaker is exceptional, build quality is what I expect from Yamaha, and the finish is high quality as well. Make sure you pair this with decent RF and LF speakers as this will definitely overpower a cheap set (Unless you know how to set speaker levels in your receiver setup). I got the Yamaha NS-F210BL's and they paired perfectly. Also my receiver is a Yamaha RX-475 which produces an exceptional quality of sound for its price. (Yamaha is always focused more on sound quality opposed to features). If your looking for a High quality center speaker for a good price then do not hesitate on buying this. You will not be disappointed!