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Roland RD-700NX Unboxing

Our Roland RD-700NXC (RD-700NX + RPU-3) arrived via FedEx yesterday afternoon, I thought people might be interested in seeing some pix of the unboxing ceremony. So "unboxing day" came before Boxing Day (bad joke). We bought it from RMC Audio for $2199 USD, free shipping, no tax.


Figure 1. Here's the RD-700NX box sitting in our foyer, looking rather the worse for wear. I really would have appreciated a double boxing here as the cardboard is not the thickest. I'm probably a freak, but I like to store my shipping cartons for when we move or resell an item, but this one is just barely worth keeping.


Figure 2. A close-up of the huge (kicked in?) tear, which is right over the right side keys / control area. Seeing it made my heart skip a beat as I was imagining the worst.


Figure 3. The main box opened, lots of crinkled paper on top.


Figure 4. Crinkled paper removed, you can see the Styrofoam end caps and the middle cardboard support surround. The large tear is at the upper left. The top of the cardboard support simply lifts out.


Figure 5. RD-700NX removed from the box, still sporting the foam sheet blanket and Styrofoam end caps.


Figure 6. A view of the inside of the box. The cardboard support surround contains the manual and the DP-10 sustain pedal.


Figure 7. Everything (that I could easily find) that was contained in the box. The RD, manual, and unboxed DP-10 pedal with box. I couldn't find a power cord in the box, luckily it takes a standard IEC C13 and I had a spare laying around.


Figure 8. Out with the old, in with the new. Here is the RD-700NX on our Quik-Lok W550 stand where the StudioLogic SL-880 used to sit. The RPU-3 triple foot pedal and Quik-Lok BZ-7 stool are below. The speakers will be replaced with small sats and a sub whenever I get past most of the house renovation. There is a nice Philips SPP1591WA power blocking surge protector behind the left speaker (can't be too careful with expensive electronics).

Glad the machine didn't get broken during that box damage. I'd send the pictures to the company i'd bought it from myself. That's probably just a result of bad packing in the truck.

So. Is it everything you wanted it to be?


Regards. Rimmer

Roland RPU-3 Unboxing

And here is a short unboxing of the Roland RPU-3 three pedal unit that shipped with our Roland RD-700NX.


Figure 1. The RPU-3 actually came double boxed, I'm skipping over that unboxing and going straight to the inner product box, which as you can see is in great shape.


Figure 2. Box opened, top cardboard and instruction sheet removed. Foam padding around the sides with the RPU-3 in a plastic bag.


Figure 3. The RPU-3 in repose, thinking outside the box.


Figure 4. The underside of the RPU-3, heavy sheet steel with five anti-skid rubber strips. I imagine the nine black screws hold it together (thinking ahead for when it inevitably starts squeaking).


Figure 5. Three 1/4" TRS plugs on the end of the cord. I put a DMM on them and it appears that all three pedals are identical and can do proportional control. This was a surprise, I was expecting one or two of them to be simple switches. Molded into a piece of rubber that keeps the three wires from splitting apart are the letters "R C L" (upon which my EE brain thought "resistance, capacitance, inductance") that match up to similarly labeled jacks on the back of the RD-700NX, so all the connection guesswork is eliminated. It's a solid unit.

Dewster, are you going to do a photo reveal of your face as you start to discover whether the RD meets your needs/expectations?

Starts smiling, hopeful, expectant...like a little boy on Christmas morning. Develops furrowed brow as if the little boy finds his main present is squashy (usually means clothes - boring!!). Furrowed brow turns to curled lip when some minor annoyance dominates his troubled thoughts (they trimmed the keys with red felt - RED!! Just so 2008. This is as bad as not fitting 2 cent's worth of commonly available, off the shelf flash memory and taunting us with built-in obsolescence - these corporate types are milking us all over again). Final picture of our Dewster, brick in hand, marching to Roland HQ to smash the CEO's skull in.

On the other hand, it might be a smiling face throughout!

Hope you love your new piano Dewster!

Steve

Dewster I'm really excited for you man. Just looking at your pictures, I got really giddy. Although the RD700NX didn't prove to be the upgrade to my RD700GXF that I was hoping for, (this is in no way a knock on the RD700NX, rather a nod to how great the RD700GXF is) it, the RD700NX, is the cream of the crop in the stage piano world. If Roland really won't be replacing the RD700 series anytime soon, I may upgrade to the RD700NX in the summer. Please let me know your thoughts on how you like the RPU-3. I think the RPU-3 compliments the RD700GXF/NX really well, and I was impressed with how well it worked.

Thank you for those photos, dewster. They illustrate the importance of retailers either opening the factory box to add packing material, or enclosing the factory box in a second, larger box. Only the larger stores can afford the second option.

If RMC had not added material to the box, your NX would have arrived damaged. I learned this all too well when I ordered an 88 key synth from another popular online store years ago. The box had no significant damage but the front of the keyboard had minor damage. By the way, when I ordered a smaller item from RMC they placed it in a larger protective box.

What do you plan to do with the NX factory box? Are you going to keep it for a while and then dispose of it? The "kicked in" portion looks like the end of a forklift hit that area of the box. I once had a non-music equipment item delivered with a smashed-in box as in your photo. The item inside sustained damage.

Your choice of stands is perfect. How stable is that stand? I really like the stability of my new Roland KS-G8. The only thing I don't like about it is the rear piping at the floor level gets in the way of a music stand.

The RD-700 series won't be replaced soon, but don't buy anything now. For all we know Roland could release the V-Piano 2 with Extra SuperNATURAL sound.

Roland 2011 surprises

It does seem like RMC added the crumpled paper, though the banding was intact so if they added it they must have done the banding too afterward.


Up in the attic where the other boxes can keep it company. Extra fuel in case we have a house fire.


It's a tank, folds up quickly to a fairly small size, and is quite sturdy. It's designed to hold PA speakers and large mixers, but holds a keyboard nicely. Lots of legroom, plenty of options with the pivoting legs and bolt-on accessories. The stool is a bit tippy for youngsters, but works well for adults and is comfortable and also folds up small.

.

Congrats dewster!

I just got mine about 45 minutes ago, and after setting it up and fiddling with it a bit, I found the Supernatural Pianos to be a bit...muddy and muffled. This may be because I have really poor quality monitors, but they don't seem quite up to the standard that I hear from youtube demos. It's almost as if the harmonics are louder than they should be, and are obscuring the notes played somewhat. I can definitely tell its a dramatic upgrade from my old FP-8 though.

Turning up the Tone Character setting to +2 helped a little but, but it still isn't quite the quality sound that I had expected. Did anyone else find this to be an issue?

Congrats dewster, and thank you for posting the unboxing pics!

Now the question surely on everyone's lips - how is the harpsichord?

Cheers,
James
x

Compared to what I'm used to the NX is marvelous. I have a lot more control of the dynamics than I am used to.
The action feels a lot more like a piano. The sound is a lot more realistic too.

Need to get used to the continuous damper pedal. I'm used to a sustain that doesn't kick in quite so soon. If I play with it partially depressed the sound quality dives after a while---I think that was what was happening. I'm getting used to it now, haven't fallen into that trap once today.

Action has more inertia than I'm used to, but not as much as a concert grand I tried once. Need to ration my playing for a while so I don't screw up my wrists again.

The NX has a few harpsichords. I also own the coveted Roland C-30 Digital Harpsichord. Although the NX cannot compete with the C-30, it has the best harpischords that I have heard on a digital piano. They are not as good as the C-30 of course, but they are very desirable.

One shortcoming I dislike is the inability to retain many system settings after powering off the NX. This is an inexcusable design deficiency. The NX is the fifth iteration in the RD-700 series. There is no good reason why these settings cannot be written to memory and saved across sessions. For example, I want a Light keyboard touch right now because as a factory new unit the NX key tension is too stiff until after the break-in period. I should not have to modify this setting every time I power on the NX. Similarly, I often assign the Tap Tempo feature to the S2 switch. Why should I have to do this after every power on? It makes no sense.

Yes, they sound a bit muddy through our PA speakers (though the tweeters in them are definitely not optimally pointed). Through headphones they sound much better.

It's OK. It seems to be around the same quality as the one in our Yamaha P-120 - OK for practice but not recording. Key off samples make it realistic, but I can definitely hear looping, which I suppose means it's not SN. Bummer.

Actually that was my initial impression, though in fact you can set individual key touch setting for each piano sound. When you do tone edit on a piano model and save it, it will be effective in all presets where the piano sound is employed. This implementation makes more sense to me, as not all piano sound needs the same key touch setting.

ClassicalMastery now you've got me jealous!

Do you hear looping at all on that? What are the positive organ sounds like, and are they useful? Could you perhaps reveal how much you paid for it?

Do you know if the harpsichords on the C-230 are as good sounding as those on the C-30?


Could you elaborate some on the similarities / differences between the harpsichords on the C-30 and the NX?

I don't feel qualified to answer the subjective audio questions. I am more a performer than a technical audio expert. However, I will say the C-30 harpsichord sounds are much more authentic and versatile than the NX, which is to be expected. I have never played the C-230. If your primary interest is harpsichord sounds, the C-30 is the better choice because it has additional dedicated nuances. Still, you can't go wrong with the C-230 as it is a fine unit. In the UK the C-230 sells for less than the C-30. It must somehow have fewer features than the C-30. Finding a C-230 in the USA is difficult. A dealer might have to order it.

When the C-30 was released they were selling at list price. They now can be purchased at a lower price. Expect to pay $4,000 for a new one. There are extremely few dealers in the USA that have the C-30 in stock. Dealers are aware of the instrument's elite status. Many of them routinely sell it for $5,000. They capture a large profit margin at this price. Then too there is not a great demand for the C-30. The best dealers sell about one C-30 per month.

A digital harpsichord is a better instrument than an acoustic harpsichord. It offers adjustable volume and something an acoustic does not have: dynamic sound. Roland has taken the harpsichord concept farther than the original acoustic instrument. Having seen what they have done with the C-30, it is only a matter of time before digital pianos go beyond what acoustic pianos can do. Pianos are more complex than harpsichords, so it is taking the digital piano builders much longer to model the instrument perfectly and add sophisticated features. Give them another 10 years or thereabout and few people will want an acoustic anymore. The maintenance, purchase cost, and everything else won't be worth the effort. By that same logic there is no point in paying $20,000 for an acoustic harpsichord when a $4,000 digital harpsichord does more and stays in tune.

Try adjusting the key touch to the light setting. I found the same with the Fp-7f but it starts to open up when you adjust with the key touch.. Worth a go...!

Opening the lid a little helps too..
Regards.. Rimmer

I've gone into shock ... I come home for the holidays fire up the computer and ...woah !!!!! Dewster's actually gone and done it !!!!!
Fantastic !!!!!