Avantone Pro’s new CLA10 monitors look to supplant the NS10M

Avantone Pro has announced the CLA10 Passive Monitoring Speakers, which look to become the new reference speaker for the modern age…

Here’s the full story from Avantone:

For decades, a large number of studios have relied on the classic NS10M reference speaker to gain further insight into midrange frequencies, monitor gain levels to cater sessions appropriately for consumer audio products, and overall achieve a genuinely comparative mix.

Since 2001 (to the surprise of many) the famed NS10 design from Yamaha’s Akira Nakamura has been out of production and a state of rising prices and second-hand trading has been present ever since.

Reimagining An Industry Classic

After travelling the world to source the original speaker pulp manufacturers, Avantone embarked on a mission to create a new monitoring speaker faithful to the voicing, frequency response, dimensions and power requirements of the original classic design: presenting the Avantone Pro CLA10.

Additionally, Avantone intended to make the design as repeatable as possible to ensure uniform voicing, frequency and build quality across every new speaker they manufactured. In place of the lapped seam technique used in the original woofers, the CLA10’s cone is machine-pressed to achieve the same frequency response and speed of movement, every time. Better quality internal crossover components have also been selected, and the banana plugs at the rear of the MDF chassis have been upgraded with modern fittings for longer life and improved ease of use.

With the knowledge that the NS10M model had varied so much between different production batches, a stage of mass testing through one of the world’s largest collection of vintage NS10 units was undertaken to ensure that the new voicing was faithful to the broader NS10 range as a whole rather than an isolated batch (or pair).

Enter Chris Lord-Alge

One of Avantone’s principal consultants in the CLA10’s development and a true music industry polymath, Chris Lord-Alge’s long list of credits include mixing artists from James Brown to Bruce Springsteen, Prince and Joe Cocker. No stranger to collaboration with audio developers, in 2010 Lord-Alge also made his first foray into signature recording tools with the Waves ‘CLA’ collection of audio plugins.

As a fanatical user of the NS10Ms over several decades, Lord-Alge was consulted heavily on the design of the new product to ensure it would tick the necessary voicing and aesthetics boxes for the industry’s best mixing and mastering engineers. As a seal of approval on the final product, the new model features both his initials and signature.

Pricing and Availability:
The CLA10 monitors are available to pre-order now with an expected shipping date of Q3 2018 and will cost £660 inc VAT. Based in the UK or Germany? Head to SCV Distribution to secure your pair and any other Avantone products. For further information head to Avantone’s website.