Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Amplifier or External Speaker for Digital Piano, I'm New

I'll be away on vacation but will make this one last post from home.

First, what is the keyboard in question?

How does it sound through quality headphones?

An excellent sound system cannot make a keyboard sound any better than high quality headphones. If it sounds less than adequate through high quality headphones, a sound system is just going to make it sound louder, not necessarily better.

I ended up getting a pair of Alesis MIActive 520 monitor speakers.

In my opinion they have a very nice sound and have plenty of power for home use.

Why?? Im thinking about gettin a samson xp150...

Its for home use and small solo gigs (love the portability)...
Will I get no bass with it? What do you recommend in the same price range?

Thanks and sorry if reviving this annoys anyone, but its such an important issue for us who gig with dig.pianos!

Since the thread is back from the dead . . . .

The reason you need larger-than-6" woofers (_if_ you need them) is to give you good sound volume in the deep bass. It's not that you'll get "no bass" -- it's that you'll get weaker deep bass than you'd get from a larger speaker.

Roughly speaking, the amount of air that a loudspeaker moves, at low frequencies, varies as the cube of its diameter. So an 8" woofer will move roughly twice as much air as a 6" woofer. It will also have a lower resonant frequency; that determines (in part) how efficiently it will work, at low frequencies.

The Samson XP-150 is a cousin of the Yamaha "Stagepas" integrated PA systems. They're very handy -- elegant, efficient designs.

I've used a Stagepas 300 (8" woofers) for a singing group, and it's loud enough (and deep enough) for a 200-person church. I've used my EV ZX-A1 (8" woofer, horn-loaded tweeter, 300? watts) for playing keyboard bass, and it does nicely (which surprised me).

If the venue is small-to-medium, and you're not playing Rachmaninoff (or rock-and-roll), the XP-150 should be OK. But you'll only really know after you've tried it with _your_ music, in _your_ venue.

There was a simple rule for keyboard monitor speakers, posted on the Pianoteq website (without any justification):

. . . Either 8" woofer (or larger), or

. . . . . 5" woofer with separate subwoofer.

Based on what I've heard, and read here, it's not a bad rule.

There is a (much-maligned) "rule of thumb" for PA systems:

. . . You need 3 watts per person.

It's not a bad ballpark estimate, IMHO.

Everyone else had gave excellent suggestion on the monitors - so I won't comment anything on that (not that I know much :P)

Just wanna pop in and say forget about using the build in DP sound, they will sound absolutely HORRIBLE even with good pair of studio monitors - in fact a good studio monitor will make it sound worse.

Hook your DP up to a Mac/PC and install some software piano like Pianoteq/Ivory/Ravenscroft etc etc and THEN hook the PC output to a good pair of studio monitors, like many of us in the forum does

Cheers.

As an older rock star , I can be forgetful. Yesterday, I remembered that I had two 17 year old Event 20/20bas studio monitors in storage. I retrieved them, dusted 'em off, then went to Guitar Center and got an Allen & Heath Zed 10 mixer. I hooked everything together, and it all worked! I had forgotten how incredibly good those Event speakers were. I now have a sweet stereo monitor mix with some real character. At gigs, I use a JDI Duplex DI to send L/R to FOH, and will now relegate my KC-550 as a stage monitor ony (slight overkill ). I believe one can find some very good used studio monitors on the cheap.

Nsureit, is all that gear set up in your living room?

Assuming you are married, may I ask what your wife thinks of this?

Cheers,
James
x

? If he's not planning to do any recording, there's no reason to prefer studio speakers aka "monitors" vs regular speakers; the former are not inherently better quality, just a different (truer) kind of sound.

I used to have a pair of cheap Alesis M1 Mk2 Active monitors but sold them (and I regret). Those monitors were surprisingly good at bass, I loved playing with them, but My God, I had to work hard to setup them properly (proper height, proper angles, proper room etc.). The main problem with close field studio monitors is that they sound good only to people sitting in the sweet spot.

I would say high quality home stereo speakers with addition of good subwoofer will do nice for playing at home.

This room is a finished, 400 sq. ft. area above my garage. It's all mine! Here's a better photo.


I have room to accommodate 4 or 5 bandmates, and my array of microphones. I have since added 4 SM57s, a SM58 beta, and an old C414 XL-B, and a 1960s vintage Shure 330 ribbon. The room actually records quite well.

Wow, great setup!
You, sir, are living the dream.

Sweet. Lucky. I have a complete studio in my house too Fortunately blessed to have wife who rarely complains about it

KRK are good (I have 4 of them) but I feel they are expensive to use them just as piano monitors for home. And uselessly loud for that unless you love headaches. Don't forget when you see the price it is for a single one usually. Not a pair.
Also the modern speakers can do wonders even if they are small if you going near field. Mackie makes such multimedia monitors Mackie CR4 and they are non expensive, sold in pair, include isolation mat and very decent sound in my opinion (I have the smaller CR3 for my PS4 and that little thing can really pump some deep sound!). They are ultrawide freq response, 50W and will sound much better than the underpowered slab speakers in yamahas. Of course these are not monitors for performing, but adequate for home use. You can spice it up with a small powered sub if you feel you need more deep end - but in my opinion it is not needed. I have small sub for my casio px and it is mostly off. It can add real piano like deep end, but the question is why - it isn't necessary good for everybody else in house - the deep basses travel far in house and are pretty disturbing.

3 year-old thread anyone?
I doubt the OP is still looking for answers (to the initial question at least).

Have to agree, the CR4's are very nice for its price, esp. if you can get it on sale. Used to run them on my korg sp170s, now they are my PC speakers.

At $100 per pair the CR4 is quite affordable. Has anyone found them at a retail store where I can evaluate them?

I tested mine in a retail shop called JB HiFi in Aus, the lad there was happy to hook it up and play some music. $100 a pair is a steal, I paid AU$200 for mine and it was on sale, couldn't haggle it lower.