I didn't know that, that's funny an really ironic since the NS-10 (any reincarnation) are anything but natural...
Years ago, i spent quite some time researching these. There was even a 5.1 set sold under the NS10 moniker. And several other variants. Like most hifi speakers from past century Japan, the high is very pronounced, while the bass is somewhat limited. Not so odd if you look at Japanese houses.
The big brother, the NS1000 is very renowned in audiophile circles. It's also much better. Hard to find a pair for a reasonable price, though. A friend inherited a pair and sold them on ebay for almost 2000€.
The story of how the hype started went something like "big name studio engineer wanted to hear his final mix on typical hifi speakers. So the intern was sent out to buy a pair. The NS10 wasn't selling, so it was being discounted heavily. When the big name was done, they remained in the studio and some bands after noticed and started demanding NS10s in other studios. It wasn't until a few decades later that Yamaha marketing noticed the high second hand prices for these and started introducing new models. The NS10m and studio were mainly redesigned to cut cost."
Sadly, I don't remember the big name and no longer have access to the database that contains my notes.
