Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help! What speakers to put on digital piano Yamaha P95 ?

I just bought the P95B, the inbuilt speakers are just not good enough, amplifiers are 2x6W, speaker size is (12cmx6cm ) x 2.


It's good it has two headphones jack, so I can put external speakers.
The thing is I tried for example to connect my home PC speakers

and the sound is not so wide, not so spreaded, it's somehow linear in only one direction if you understand me. It's like I have to put my head close to the speaker in order to completely hear everything, otherwise it's kind of dulled when I move back and the speaker is not directed towards my head. Otherwise the sound of piano and the bass is 10 times better, but it still doesn't sound like the original speakers, it's as if they were made to spread the sound somehow...do you have any ideas what speakers should I put to be able to have a quality sound and at the same time sound that sounds like the original speakers in regards to broadness?

One thing you could try is to just add a subwoofer for more bass, and still use the P95's speakers. I've tried this with my Casio PX-330 and it sounds pretty good.

Greg.

The problem you've got in getting decent speakers is that the P-95 does not have proper line out's for speakers you must use the headphone jack which limits you to PC style speakers which are not the best.

Logitech Z-2300's , Bose Companion 5, Bose Music Lab , Altec Lansing MX6021's are all computer speakers that offer decent proper sound.
The Logitech z-2300 in particular have a reputation for use with keyboards.

If you want a proper monitor set of speakers that can be used with your headphone output without modification your very limited in choice. The blue Sky exo2 system comes to mind.

Unfortunately a lot of these 2.1 system speakers will have very high crossovers to their subs which isn't ideal for piano.

Another downside is that many of these systems will cost more then your P95 .... but you get what you pay for in life.

This is probably the safe advice, however I have read that headphone outputs are often "reasonably suitable" for use with line level equipment. Just as an example, right now I have my Casio's headphone output hooked up to a good quality headphone amp that is designed for line level signals, and it's working fine. Moreover, the volume control setting on the headphone amp is about the same as I have it when I have the same amp hooked up to the line outs of my PC's audio interface. (and this is with the Casio's volume at max)

Greg.

Oops - forget my subwoofer suggestion entirely, because it's impossible. The P-95's speakers will (presumably) be cut off when anything is plugged into the headphone output. It is impossible to use the P-95's speakers and any external speakers simultaneously.

Greg.

How about adding some active studio monitors?
I think they should boost the quality to a pretty good level.

It would be difficult when the P95 has NO line outs .....

Well, you could theoretically use a 1/8 - dual 1/4 splitter to get a signal to a pair of monitors, but it will be in mono, which isn't ideal for piano.

There's no problem getting stereo to a pair of monitors. The problem is a potential level mismatch between the headphone output of the P95 and the line level input of the monitors. Personally, I wouldn't be very concerned about this on a consumer device like the P95. (however, I have the knowledge on how to check for any problems - many of us don't have this knowledge, so Dr Popper's advice is the best advice)

Greg.

Not at all. You can go from headphone jack to an external amp such as a home stereo. Maybe not optimal but it'd likely be an improvement over the onboard speakers. Works for me.

I have a Yamaha P70. Its a few years old. It was replaced by the p85 i believe. Anyway I had the same problem that you have. I tried computer speakers but it didn't sound right. Finally I bought some studio monitors.KRK Rokit 6. and it has worked pretty good for me.

Thank you all for the answers so far, so was there any really noticeable improvement with the KRK Rokit 6? Is the sound broad and spreaded well or you have to place them right in front of you to hear well?

It was quite bit louder. The sound isn't as good as using headphones. But it works. You do have to have them close to you. I ended up buying speaker stands. I have them on each side just behind the piano facing me. I also had to buy 1/8 plugs. I also have a foam padding underneath the speakers.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't use the 3.5 mm stereo headphone output to feed line input into an external amplifier and speakers. Indeed in your situation that's precisely what I would do. The one caveat is that it MAY be possible to increase the amplitude of the signal out (by using the volume control) to greater than line level. For that reason, should you go down that path, start with the volume right down and then gradually increase it until it matches the volume from another source such as a CD player etc.

If you don't want to have an amp, active speakers as suggested above would be an alternative. After all, these are just speakers with an amplifier built into each one.

It's extremely unlikely you'll get truly satisfactory results with computer speakers of any brand. In a word they're almost always crap; 20 cent drivers coupled with a boomy sub to appease the gamers. Indeed I think there should be a law about the amount some companies ask for such poor quality products ... or ask me what I really think of them

Pete

All true. And there is a law. The law of "don't buy crappy products".

Normally a defacto price/quality continuum can more or less be seen in most products, but that sure as heck isn't the case when it comes to computer audio. Just because the label says it comes with surround-super-mega-turbo-ultra-overdrive-bass-booster (tm) doesn't mean they've actually used anything other than crap 20 cent drivers, and just charge 4x more to make you think it's better. Indeed the more "tm" or "R" symbols after stupid sounding names, the faster I'd run! A case in point, is the world's biggest con in this area, a certain "US" manufacturer ie office is in the US but makes most of its crap in China, I won't mention the name of here but it starts with B, ends in E and rhymes with "those". Ooop, I almost said it Sell a pair of computer speakers for 500 bucks here in Oz. My guess is they've cornered the market to tone deaf millionaires!

Studio monitors like the KRK are designed to be placed near you and aimed directly at you. The idea is you hear the ssound from the speakers and not so much the sound of your room. You really do want these (and or headphones) for any kind of audio editing, mixing or mastering. They are designed to be accurate and not color the sound.

For musical instrument speakers I like ones that work the other way so most of the sound is indirect by reflection. If you had an acoustic grand it would "fill the room" rather than beam the sound to your ears. I use a pair of "full size" Polk R50 speakers. There are cheap too at $89 each but you'll need a 50 to 100W amp to drive them. Still comparable in cost to a pair of small size studio monitors.

Both kinds of speakers have their purpose. I've got both kinds here.

In audiophile circles there is a 60 year old debate about "you are there" vs. "they are here". Which is best? one group wants it to sound like you are in the concert hall. the other groups tried for a sound as if the band where playing in your living room. This debate is 100% applicable to digital pianos. You can try for either way.


Anything called a "computer speaker" is generally just horrible and cheap. But worse then that they just don't cover the frequency range of a piano well. Many of them at 2.1 system that cross over way to high, right were the left hand mostly plays and they mostly don't handle the mid range well at all. Good for games and action movie soundtracks.