b3plyr

+1

Great keyboard. I'm in Asheville, NC and have a Forte. If you get this way, come try it. PM me if interested.

Anyone found a user manual for the PX-S3000? If not - Mike, can you tell us when it will be available?

I would also go with the K8.2s. I used EV for years, still like their product. But I now have both K10.2s and K8.2s. The speakers are really good. We use the K10.2s for mains and K8.2s for monitors.

I knew I should not have watched/listened! Right now I'm using TheraTears for my eyes and it is hopeless for the ears! Thanks for sharing, though!

As mentioned in my post of 9/1/17, I was an early user of the NuTube. Feel free to hit me with questions. It is a cool (literally) product, but will it be earth shaking? Who knows. BTW, sorry for the multiple posts. Should have thought before typing!

Thanks Tim. appears he copied but did not quote!

BurchSung - please quote when you use someone else's post.

What would help here is specifically why you went back to the Mojo61. FYI, I have a Mojo, not an XK5.

Everyone has their opinions, but I agree with jeffinpghpa. I happened to choose the Forte over the Kronos partly because of the EPs. And as good as the original Forte EPs are, the updated ones released by Dave are simply incredible. I think the Seven will fit a lot of people's needs, but I'm probably not one of them. For one I have to have splits, particularly for LHB. And I'm now trying to be a one board person. However, looks like Andre and Gido have produced another great product.

I have been working with the NuTube since it was released to new product development. The main advantages of the tube are low voltage and low power operation - it runs very cool and with a neat blueish glow. The low voltage and power also lead to some interesting ways to control it. NuTube audio sounds much like a standard dual triode. And yes, you can get nice overdrive. Don't know if the new amp does, though. One more thing, look for solid state on the output.

The key will be the keybed (pun intended). It uses a Medeli K6. As to sounds, the SP6 has a lot of horsepower in Flash-Play, the LENA Processor, and 32 FX units. FYI, LENA is used in the Forte SE. I like the lightweight, but already have a Forte, so it is wait and see time.

Chuck-is this a fair comparison of the K8.2s and the RCF TT08s since you don't have them at the same location to A & B? Are you comparing based on how you remembe howr the RCFs sound? I think my K10.2s sound great, but may pickup the K8.2s. I agree the .2 series are a nice update.

Yes, I have 2 K10.2s. And for reference, I also have a Bose L1 Series 2 system. I bought the K10.2s on a recommendation from a fellow keyboardist and simply because the L1 didn't do the job at a recent gig. The gig was a long rectangular room with about 150-200 people. Very noisy people, I might add as it is a pizza and beer place that features music. The first time I played this gig I used the Bose. Sitting behind us, we had it so loud that we were almost in pain. (Ear protection at home. Yea, I know.......) While it sounded good, it had a real problem in covering the crowd as the bandstand was recessed with walls at one end of the room. Most of the energy bounced around us, the musicians. Got my K10.2s a few days before the next time we played the same gig and what a difference. Everyone could hear, and we didn't have to use ear protection. (Yes, I did bring this time.) The sound was great and an easy setup. Plenty loud and I did not hear any harshness from keys, bass, vocals, and guitar. I used an Allen Heath mixer for this duo gig. I have since added a QSC TouchMix 8 and although expensive, it is great. Everyone will, of course, have their own opinion. I have used EV for years, and also like the Yamahas, but I've moved to the QSCs. There is no doubt that the RCFs are great, but for the cost, I'm happy with the 10.2s - they have a great sound to cost ratio. BTW, they have an amazing amount of bass. And the fans are very quiet. Looks like time to sell the Bose.

Great reports/reviews. Dave - will you get a chance to give us your opinion on playing acoustic pianos on the DMC122? I've got a Mojo but a DMC122 might work great in my duo.

If that is the case then it could be that when the gain is turned up on the SS to accomodate a low-ish level drive signal then it clips at an early stage before the output stage does. Whereas if a larger drive signal is provided and the SS is run at a lower gain it would clip the output stage first (and be louder thereby). This is pure speculation. Regarding the mixer thing, as b3plyr said, if you follow a source with an amplifier you cannot improve the overall SNR over that of the source, only degrade it. Hence, using a mixer between the source and the SS does not produce a "cleaner" signal into the SS than the source by itself. However, when b3plyr conceded a point to MathOfInsects he introduced a wrinkle; he was referring to the SNR at the output of the SS whereas MathOfInsects was referring to the input. The output SNR is what you really care about anyway - what it sounds like. In this case of cascaded amplifiers (mixer and SS), the overall noise figure is set by the characteristics of each cascaded stage. So depending on noise figure and gain settings of the mixer and of the SS, the overall noise figure could be better or it could be worse than the SS alone. Agree, and well put, elseif! Much clearer than my post. NF is the right way to think about it.

Well, if you are going to call strikes, at least explain your position. However, let me clarify. My statement in terms of a single gain block, amp or mixer, is correct. The out put will have a fixed SNR for a given signal at a particular level. Simply adding gain does not improve the signal. For example, if you turned the SpaceStation output to max and then simply added gain, it would not be a cleaner signal. Unfortunately I was not addressing your example. However, in your case, you are correct. If you distribute the gain to optimize the SNRs of each block, in this case the SpaceStation and the mixer, you could get a better signal. We do this all the time in designing multistage amplifiers. The trick is getting the optimal gain for each stage or block. In general, you put the most gain where the least noise is. You are quite correct that the signal chain is critical. If you disagree with this, please educate me.

The signal from the keys has a fixed SNR (signal to noise ratio). Simply adding gain does not improve the SNR-it simply increases the signal level. As Aspen said, you can help the dynamic range. The only way you might get a cleaner signal is using EQ to filter out some of the noise-not always easy. Depends on whether you have noise within band limited segment(s) or is truly broadband noise across the bandwidth of the instrument output.

Higher gain, not cleaner.

Great idea - I'll be watching and thanks!

I don't have a SS3v3 (yet) so I am following this informative (and long!) thread with interest. However, I now have some concerns/thoughts. First, the thought of having to carry baffles bothers me. I am continuously looking for ways to streamline my rig. Now I carry 2 Acoustic Image Ten2 amps. If I get the SS, it will be to reduce what I am carrying - not have to add a baffle. As to cables. I am sure the SS is not sensitive to cables as long as they are well made with decent connectors. Bad cables, yes. But if there was a sensitivity to the nominal differences in two cable's properties, that would be a deal breaker. Having said all of this, I am encouraged by what dB had to say. I know, I really need to hear one!

No question - hiss is not acceptable. But I would also be concerned about the reply you got from your dealer. Their reply just doesn't seem right. Why would there be a noise gate in the first place, much less in a high level signal path? And as you said, Hammond closed for the holiday, so how could they get an answer so quickly? Although it won't fix your problem, I would ask the dealer if that was really the HS reply or their supposition. Like I said before, mine works fine. But I do have an SK2. Maybe there were some changes between the releases. Will