Music stores and crappy demo amplification?

[Mighty Motif Max]

Hi, mini-rant warning.

 

Virtually very music store I've ever been at ANYWHERE seems to have this annoying little issue. Must be a rule of the trade. The typical setup is you have your keyboards, and then they are hooked up in mono to cheap monitors, like Samson and M-Audio. When they have lots of QSC Ks and Yamaha DSRs etc fifteen feet away in the sound department. The monitors make everything sound terrible and about equivalent, be it an entry-level Yamaha PSR, a Korg Kronos, or a Montage. I know some people get around this by bringing a set of headphones, but your average guy going into a store to find a new keyboard (or first keyboard) is not going to know to do that, or expect it. Sure, you have the instruments with built-in speakers, but if someone wants to try out a Kronos, or a MOXF, or a PX5s, anything like that, they have to listen to it in mono through a small cheap tinny speaker that may or may not distort at anything close to a decent volume.

 

From a pure business standpoint, since generally the keyboards without built-in speakers are on the higher end of the pricing, and you want to make money, why wouldn't you want everything to sound as good as it could? I mean, otherwise a Juno DS might sound far worse than a PSR-F51. Not kidding. I don't get it. If you want someone to buy the expensive stuff, shouldn't you make it so that they can hear a difference between it and lower-end stuff?

 

And for your person going in there with a small-medium budget, wouldn't you want them to not think that everything is crap?

 

 

 

 

Just my thoughts. What do you guys think about this?

 

 

P.S. Now occasionally a few keyboards will sound OK anyway, but other stuff sounds horrible, when in real life it shouldn't. This is probably why I was so disappointed with the sound of the Korg Kronos when I played one at Guitar Center 3.5 years ago. Now owning a Krome, I realize that since I like the sound (especially the piano) of the Krome, the Kronos couldn't have been that bad at all then!! :idk

[David Emm]

When I sold synths, we set up some proper QSC amps and TOA monitors so people could really hear what they were getting. I also added headphone extenders to preserve that jack on some of the gear. I put up a sign inviting people to bring headphones and use those freely. It kept the noise level more manageable and helped sales due to the clarity it conferred. I still hurt people who tried to play "Jump," though. Those who can't get that right should be hustled off to the drum department.

[Quai34]

I know that! Same thing at Lng and Mac Quade, they are all plugged into Yorkville keyboard Amp....I know they sell them but the sound is just average....Not the best way to sell high end stuff....

[harmonizer]

Not to mention the ever-present Roland amps hooked up to keyboards in the store.

[I-missRichardTee]

This is sadly common in Guitar Center . There is a lax attitude there. maybe the online sales have broken the heart of the on site stores. Profits down, sales force down, non maintenance of amps. Under staffed, may be a cause, and theft from scum who come in.

At GC they have an array of UNHOOKED up near fields. Maybe one is hooked up.. so you get to hear one side of a keyboard DESIGNED to be heard thru 2 monitors. That, or keyboards into a cheap amp like Alto or Roland, of chainsaw lore.

[Markyboard]

I wonder if using really nice monitors would result in people returning the product after getting it home and finding it doesn't sound as good as in the store.

[ProfD]

I wonder if using really nice monitors would result in people returning the product after getting it home and finding it doesn't sound as good as in the store.

There is that.

 

I would recommend taking a personal pair of headphones to demo KBs. I try not to leave home without mine.

[hardware]

Thats why you take your IEMs with and use headphone out on the keyboard or synth.

 

[BEMcCut]

I always use headphones as others have said.

 

[WesG]

Just go to the PA section and grab some powered speakers....

 

Best I ever heard in a music store (Long & McQuade Ottawa) was a CP-1 played through a pair of Yamaha HS-8s. They were so transparent I had to follow cables to figure out which set of studio monitors the board was hooked up to. Those monitors are now on my short list....

[Bobby Simons]

Absolutely your own headphones - I have my over-the-ears around my neck when I walk in. The next problem is that you sometimes have to find a sustain pedal on another board to grab.

The biggest problem, of course, is finding the instruments that you really want to try out in the first place.

[EscapeRocks]

I have an old pair of Shure SE-215 I keep in my glove box, along with an extension and 1/4" adapter.

If I go into a music store, I always grab them and put them in my pocket.

 

My favorite[sarcasm] are the stores that use the wall hangers to show their keyboards.

 

Invariably, the cheap stuff is on floor stands, while the good stuff is up high, in totally unplayable configurations.

 

 

[The Real MC]

If you want to hear keyboard gear with good speakers, go to events like KnobCon. There are also many casual synth meets around the country and the world with people bringing their gear for show-n-tell with decent monitors. I pretty much gave up on retail stores.

[Mighty Motif Max]

If you want to hear keyboard gear with good speakers, go to events like KnobCon. There are also many casual synth meets around the country and the world with people bringing their gear for show-n-tell with decent monitors. I pretty much gave up on retail stores.

 

Neat. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for the bucket list.

[Mighty Motif Max]

I wonder if using really nice monitors would result in people returning the product after getting it home and finding it doesn't sound as good as in the store.

There is that.

 

I would recommend taking a personal pair of headphones to demo KBs. I try not to leave home without mine.

 

Thats why you take your IEMs with and use headphone out on the keyboard or synth.

 

I always use headphones as others have said.

 

Absolutely your own headphones - I have my over-the-ears around my neck when I walk in. The next problem is that you sometimes have to find a sustain pedal on another board to grab.

The biggest problem, of course, is finding the instruments that you really want to try out in the first place.

 

 

As I mentioned in my OP, I do bring headphones. It's just that your average person going into a music store isn't going to know to do that. That said, if I'm on vacation somewhere and I see somewhere that looks interesting, it'd certainly be nice to be able to hear some stuff since I don't bring my headphones on every single trip.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Not to mention the ever-present Roland amps hooked up to keyboards in the store.

 

Yup. I heard a brand new RD-2000 in mono into a KC550(?) a while back. Sounded like CRAP. Horrible. But put headphones on, and sounded great. Of course, you have the issue of someone having played with the eq knobs on the amp too, which because of the way the amps are often set up, are impossible to get to without moving stuff in the store.

 

And of course you have the people who don't know how to have the stuff set up in the first place, and they're the ones setting up the store.

[Quai34]

Just go to the PA section and grab some powered speakers....

 

Best I ever heard in a music store (Long & McQuade Ottawa) was a CP-1 played through a pair of Yamaha HS-8s. They were so transparent I had to follow cables to figure out which set of studio monitors the board was hooked up to. Those monitors are now on my short list....

 

I had the same experience, Long and Mac Quade as well....with Genelec 8040A...they have been in my studio for 9 years now...

 

But my headphone (Audiotechniva ATH 50), while sounding great, never gives me what it will be with the band....The Yorkville PS-10P, yes....But Imhad to ask to listen to them with the Stage 2 when I bought it...