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Wow. Did you have an order in?

Did you get the stand/bench/pedals deal?

No, just the piano, no pre-order. But I was happy with the white model, which is what they had.

Do some owners of the ES920 use it with external speakers?
If yes, what kind of speakers, what are their experiences and how they make the connections?

There's no need for external speakers playing it in a room, and it would take quite expensive ones to sound much better than the internal speakers. I haven't used the ES920 for a large gig yet, but with my ES8 I sometimes have run 1/4 cables from the audio outs to a Bose L1 system with a subwoofer. It's much louder, and very useful to fill a hall, but I like the quality of the sound from the internal speakers better. The L1 has something weird in the mid-tones between the line array and the subwoofer. (Perhaps the ES920's equalizer will help me control that.)

Oh, and I noticed that (unlike the ES8) there's a setting where you can toggle whether the volume slider controls the volume sent through the audio outs, or just the internal speakers. I prefer to send full levels out (because I'm usually sending that to a sound board where someone else controls the house levels), but there are some who might prefer the other setting, especially if you're also the sound person.

Thank you ColoRodney.

I was just wondering using external monitors, because I guess that the acoustic of the room and/or the place where the DP stand (in a corner) are not that good. I have seen on the net that there are some monitors which could help in that sense. Anyway, i am not sure if it is really effective.

G'Day everyone,

New ES920 owner and beginner-intermediate player here, after owning an FP-30x and really enjoying the digital slab especially with VSTs. However its action was for me was slow and heavy compared to the acoustics I play and have played, and the ES920 absolutely kills it so far as that goes IMO. Very happy so far in that regard. The built-in sounds are very nice as well a large improvement on the Roland.


However, I have had some difficulty getting my (2 different) Windows 10 PCs to recognize the ES920 USB to Host connection whatsoever and have and been unable to get my preferred VST (Garritan CFX) up and running, in fact, ASIO4ALL or windows doesn't recognize a USB output device? I can see that my key presses are coming through MIDI but nothing from the speakers when local control is OFF. With my FP-30x, this had worked every time with different VSTs so I am at a bit of a loss. I have a cheap Behringer UMC204HD Audio interface with MIDI IN and OUT and am hoping I can use that as the host device instead of the Kawai...does that make any sense to anyone or is there a better way for me to achieve this?

Much appreciated,

The es920 does not support usb audio in. The fp-30x does.

The FP-30X has a built-in USB audio interface, but the ES920 does not. Its USB IS MIDI only. You could use the Behringer to get digital audio from the PC to the interface, but from there you take the 204HD Line Out to the AUX In of the es920 .

I should say that I'm sitting in a restaurant and haven't looked up the 204HD features but I assume it must work as I described!

Thanks to both of you for your replies, I shall try using my interface in between to get the VST sounds back through the ES920. I also have a pair of monitors I can hook up as well...might have to try those too!

A few notes from an ES8 owner:

1- Try connecting the ES920 to the PC through USB-MIDI (i.e., that USB A to B "printer" cable) and then the PC to UMC204HD through another USB port and the outputs of it to your ES920 line input. It may work fine.
2- There may be some noise due to ground loop as you have two different points of connection, i.e ES920 to PC USB and PC USB to line in through UMC204HD. If the noise occurs, then it may be worth connecting the ES920 to the MIDI connectors of UMC204HD. Good USB products have electrical isolation on MIDI connectors; I am assuming UMC204HD is decent in this regard.
3- You may (most probably WILL) need tweaking ES920 or VST equalization to make it sound good through ES920 speakers. I am assuming they are similar to ES-8's sound wise and ES-8 is very good in this regard, considering the size of the speakers. But there might be some tuning between the internal generator and the speakers for them to sound this good (again, considering). My quick experiments with external audio sources were not very good, but I did not invest time and I think I could have obtained a better sound from the speakers if I had taken the time.

I hope this helps.

Rodney,
Thanks for the tip! Didn't know that.

This is a nice addition. I find the independent volume convenient for on line lessons (I zero the speaker sound to avoid being picked up by the mic) but there are situations where controlling line outputs with the volume slider is a must. So, the best of two worlds.

Greetings,

Just a quick question, what are the hole openings (underneath) for the ES920 for (approximately 3” diameter)? I know they are not for the piano stand but was wondering if they’re a part of the speakers or ???.

Thanks

They are bass reflex ports. Yes, they are part of the speaker system and part of the reason why the speakers sound that good, despite their small size.

Thank you.

Hi EVC2017,

Thank you for the response, I have indeed tried method 1 and it is quite noisy due to some sort of ground loop. Might be looking at a decent USB interface sometime In the future, the UMC204HD is quite old. Currently waiting on some MIDI cables in the mail to try method 2 that you suggested!

After playing the ES920 some more I am quite impressed by the default SK-EX sample as well as the Warm Grand, SK-5 with some Virtual Technician tweaks and the Upright is quite nice. Personally, I still prefer the sound Garritan CFX (although I am definitely getting used to the ES920), but I think you are right in terms of tweaking the default sound with an EQ or something might be necessary with the built-in speakers.

Thank you again for the helpful post and I will let you know how I go.

You can perhaps try a ground loop isolator:

https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=ground+loop+isolator&ref=nb_sb_noss

Kind regards,
James
x

Agree with James, I’m using the Pyle PHE300 on the ES-8. I’m an EE former analog chip designer, and got lost trying to sort out balanced/unbalanced inputs, outputs, cable TRS - just got the box.

Questions for anyone:
Is the ES-920 action identical to the ES-8? If not, what are the differences?

Same question about internal sounds…same or different?

Identical to later-production ES8, to my knowledge. Tried both in the same quiet room and didn’t notice any substantive differences in action feel.

I have an ES 920 and I kept my ES8. The ES 920 is a little softer when the key reaches the bottom. I suspect that if you got replacement switches for the ES8, it would be the same as the ES920. I like the ES8 a little better, but that’s probably because I’ve been playing on it for a number of years. I can make good music on either instrument, but the 920 is noticeably lighter to schlep.