How many work with 10" or bigger speakers ?

[Theo Verelst]

I know, I know size often doesn't matter, but I'd like to know a little more about the opinions about keyboard amplification as present.

 

Supposedly I was a little inspired by a recent post of Dan quoting a source of Bose 901 loudspeaker components, with certain (linearity) factors that inspired me long ago to search for similar properties. Of course those Boses are a lot of small speakers. How large would the equivalent be ?

 

Anyhow recent threads about studio monitoring for home studios with keyboards and software instruments seem to indicate the lot of pretty small monitoring offerings correspond with the customer demand.

 

My main monitoring gets all the main use when compared with my mid-sized very well bi-amped monitors. That gives me close perfect control over transient and low end signals I feel I would only with a lot of effort get from the medium sized monitors!

 

T.V.

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"Shut up B*tt-head"

[Song80s]

Strictly home studio. My Cervin Vega sub does the heavy lifting on the low end. I have Event 8" Studio monitors

[Danny Linguini]

I think I'm hearing that you're asking for the purpose of home studio monitoring?

 

What I've found most recently is that size does not necessarily matter, but dividing up frequency responsibilities among multiple amplifiers does.

 

At home I have a pair of 6" Mackie powered studio monitors that sound absolutely fantastic -- fullest most realistic pianos I have ever heard, with no EQ required. I've considered adding a sub to that mix, but I don't really think it's needed unless I'm going to get back into full-blown sequencing. If I were to do it again (and who's to say I won't), I might go for smaller mains, maybe 4 or 5", and a modest studio sub. In close quarters, you can get a lot of good sound for not a lot of money.

 

[ProfD]

My KB monitor preference is a 12" full range box and 18" sub to complete the low end theory.

[WesG]

My live rig "keyboard amp" is a Yorkville NX55P speaker, which has a 12" speaker and a 1.4" compression driver with a 1" exit. Both are RCF, and the speaker is compensated for a nice flat response, with a moderate low-end boost. It sounds like a speaker + sub at low volume.

 

At home, sometimes I treat myself to two at once.

 

The best I have ever used is a pair of Yamaha HS-8 bookshelf monitors. Played a CP-1 through them. It was OUTSTANDING. The sound was so transparent, I could not use my ears to locate the speakers.

 

Wes

 

 

[Stephen S]

Live - 12" 2-way with 3" compression driver.

Home - stereo pair of 8" monitors with Ribbon-type tweeters.

[Theo Verelst]

I prefer my own system of most things I know, which isn't an extreme amount of long experience with all possible systems, but I sure heard a lot of systems over time, in various settings.

 

I do like the "big box" designs generally better, even though it's a different recording/live "mix" to play large two way systems. Big advantage of the big cone+decent tweeter construction is that it usually won't normally blow people's ears of, even at pretty high volumes. Three way is even better I think. For "live" I think those hung arrays aren't much good (i.e. don't sound very nice) except for distributing proper low- through high-mid frequencies over a large audience (for instance outside).

 

Lot's of people are ok with the "always the same" boomy bass small speakers can work up through reflections and resonances in a room, which has it's (for me small) charm, but I am way more satisfied after using my 5-way (15 inch sub, main speakers 12", about 4", a 2 inch and dome/(power) ribbon tweeter), 3 way (quality) multi-amped system every day for the last decade. I've used it for a few not too big PA situations a few times, and that's probably in some ways better than most existing systems, but only if it isn't pushed above the few hundred Watts it can do without much coloring, and it would easily damaged when used wrong.

 

For contemporary keyboard players it would be good to inform themselves about the mangling in various ways (sampling related, Head Transfer Function related, and boom-effect based low end) and the coloring in other ways (mid low and mid averaged frequency band coloring/or even always the same-ness) that all kinds of small "studio" monitors offer which change their perception of the instruments really sound.

 

T.

 

[WesG]

How the instrument "really sounds" is actually an interesting thing to define.

 

In my case, I use the same speakers for stage monitoring as I do for FOH. So... That IS how it really sounds, and I should be making my keys sound "right" on these, as opposed to bookshelf monitors... Which might sound great, but my audience will never hear them.

 

Wes

[J. Dan]

K10 here - but the context in which I posted those Bose components was more nearfield since this be sitting on top of his keyboard, so quite a different application.

[Mr. Nightime]

It's a bit interesting to me that the Bose 901 was brought up.

 

My dad was the plant manager of a company that made cloth, paper, and foam speaker components. They made the speaker cones, the surrounds, which is the suspension on the large side of the cone, dust domes, that protect the voice coil, and the spider, which is under the cone, and provides the rear suspension at the voice coil.

 

The plant that he managed made ALL the spiders for the Bose 4" speaker, which was in the Bose 901.

 

An I use a K10 on stage. If I really need them I have a pair of 15" 2-way passive Peavey cabinets and a Yamaha P2201 power amp currently set up in my office.

[Theo Verelst]

Those Bose ideas came across as natural and decent thinking to me, and searching for linearity and lack of distortion for me paid off.

 

Of course identifying sound characteristics is a hard game. Using the same speakers to test sounds and play live on makes sense, but not perfect sense: speaker placement and in many cases dB levels make a lot of difference, too. So how can you monitor sounds "neutral as possible" is one question, which implies as little addition (distortion, speaker cabinet resonances, room reflections/standing waves) as you can get, and "how is it going to sound", from that point on requires you to somehow learn, or maybe simulate, the sound difference between neutral and practical live sound.

 

It has become hard to figure the basic elements in sounds, so the first and the second projection aren't even considered logical anymore, but the sh*t out there proves there's no shortcut.

 

I heard on the news in Holland 1/4 of the young people have hearing damage. I blame bad PA systems, and bad sound production / reproduction products, and the people that use them. Quite a responsibility, even though keeping Rock and Funk and Jazz performances such that after 3 decades of public music making I still hear 19kHz fine isn't really hard, normally.

 

I don't think big speakers are a bad idea.

 

T.V.