Korg Forums

Hi,

I bought my unit just about 10 days ago. Live in a smaller apt where space is currently at a premium and there's no room for a pair of full or even mid size speakers on stands. My goal is to find something that is reasonably powerful yet will economize on physical space taken and hopefully the price is also doable. How many watts do you think will suffice to yield a satisfactory outcome but at the same time not blast out the neighbors when I do not use headphones? Are there good quality powered speakers that any of you personally use, know of or would reccomend for my particular situation that won't break the bank?

Any "computer" speakers fit the bill?

Any advice, opinions, pointers and suggestions are most welcome & appreciated.

Thanks,
Bruce

I currently have a Yamaha StagePas 300 system in my studio. It consists of a small 300W mixer/amp and two 8" speaker units. It's great for a small space.

Many people use active monitors for their keyboards. Computer speakers probably won't handle the dynamic range of the M3. I tried that route years ago and was rather disappointed.

What's your budget?

I'm pretty happy using KRK RP6 active monitors - 6" woofers and tweeter - power is ample would be nice to have more bass though, but that was stretching the budget as it was! High Quality for about $350-$400. Check Ebay for deals.

Vantripper

I use the Yamaha MSP3.
They're perfect for my home setup.
300.00 US for the pair.

If you're will to spend 200.00 more, take a look at the
Yamaha MSP5 Studio.

Electronic Musician best buy for the year was the Mackie MR5 powered monitors. About $180 each. 5" woof / 1" tweet 55watts low / 30 watts high. XLR, 1/4 and RCA inputs. Low / Hi filter pad switches. Input attenuator. I use a JBL 4200 series, but these mackies look good for the $$$. I'm thinking about them as a second setup.

I use Yamaha HS-50's with my Oasys 88. They are small, and are powerful enough for my needs, and a good low and high range. I have them on brackets on a wall, so they don't impose at all. They also look great IMHO!

Behringer Truth 2030A monitors on a bookshelf against the opposite wall work well for me with the M3 (and they aren't very expensive, either)...

df

Also Stagepas 300's. Powered studio monitors give a clearer sound but are less robust for transport.

I use a pair of genelec 8040A active monitor, simply fantastic!

We just picked up a M3-88 for Christmas and purchased a pair of Mackie MR5's from Sam Ash. Paid 150.00 each and just sent in the $40.00 rebate form bringing them to $130.00 each. We are very happy with them and agree with the great reviews that they have been getting. Great dynamic range!

We have the volume control on each monitor set to the mid point detent and rarely go above the 1/2 way mark with the volume slider on the M3. This set up is in a 23' x 24' family room in our house and fills it quite well!

KingCustom

I have BX8a (mAudio), but BX5a, I think, sound cleaner (still quite powerful) and are more appropriate for smaller apartment (you can add a sub anytime if you feel insufficient at lower end). If you can afford - Genelecs sound good; Adam A7 sounds good, but I don't know how about smaller ones. Anyway, the best advice is - take a free day go to store and check yourself, since much depends on personal taste.

event alp5 here

I use the M-Audio BX 5s for the studio, and Behringer B 212A for stage.
Powered speakers seem to be the way to go, in my humble opinion.

I use the JBL EON 15. But a pair of JBL EON 10s would be fantastic!

As far as monitors go I'm making a short story rather long... bear with me:

In terms of music, to me it is important to have equipment that reproduces sounds/music as closely as possible to how they were intended by their creators/performers.

This has become somewhat of a hobby over the past 40 years.
Unfortunately, one can get a lot of misinformation about sound, be it “esoteric” HiFi, for studio and home use, or high powered – high performance PA systems.

Music, natural or synthesized sounds and the amazing capabilities of the human ear and brain in producing the joy that we get from listening to music, sounds, rhythms and vibrations is a fascinating and vast subject. Since we’re all musicians here in this forum, I’m pretty sure you know what I mean. If you’re interested you may enjoy reading some of the books by Alfred Tomatis and a few others.

No intention here to brag whatsoever. Just hoping to give you an impression of the way I have been trying to achieve my personal sound quality reference. ...A work in progress.

I use electronics that approach as closely as possible “the amplification of a straight wire”, using a valve or MosFet preamp and power amps that produce 200 watt per channel, either pure Class A or switching. Because of my loudspeaker preferences the power amps need to be able to produce lots of current, very low resistance capabilities (1.5 Ohm).
My preferred loudspeakers are 8 foot tall full-range electrostatics capable of truly amazing sound quality, realism, stage-depth and imaging. Treble is hardly a problem for electrostatics and on these particular ones bass extends to 10 Hz +/- 2 dB. Sound pressure level in a fairly large room can exceed 118 dB at 15 feet.
Any coloration comes from mikes used, mixing, the place of recording, etc., as well as the room where the speakers are located (bipolar radiators are seriously hard to place). Also, with equipment like this the choice of connecting cables is very important.

Now, I’m sorry if I am annoying those that are well aware of, or have gone beyond everything I have written so far but I am hoping to help those that have not yet been exposed to the “amplification-of-a-straight-wire” sound approach. If you’re looking for low coloration, realism, it’s the only way to go.

To those that think that they won’t be able to hear “the difference” I can only suggest: visit a serious high-end audio business and ask to audition a pair of Martin Logans CLX (full-range ESL, i.e. no sub-woofer) the way they should be auditioned, meaning with appropriate amplification, connections and source material. It’s amazing how much detail and just plain quality some studios record in their material, a true labor of love.

And now we have the M3 (and the Oasys). It is truly amazing what our M3 (and other Korg equipment) contains in terms of sound quality. The engineers didn’t do that by accident.

I auditioned most of the equipment mentioned in this thread. Most are near-field systems, some active some passive, that will reproduce sound under the influence of design choices like cross-over circuitry and phase correction, choice of components, looks, budget and other constraints. Unfortunately, coloration is a fact of life for small boxes, with or without a sub-woofer. Obviously, some brands do better than others. Taste enters the equation and of course the money you can or wish to spend plays a crucial role.

If you want to have a real world reference for the sound quality that you’re looking for, if you don’t already own them, get yourself a some high quality headphones, like those made by AKG, Sennheiser, Sony, Beyer, Grado, Denon, Audio Technica, Stax and others. Then go out and audition a few systems that fit your budget on the equipment that you use, let’s say an M3? – wink, wink –
Make sure you do this in an environment that is quiet (often a challenge) and roughly the size of your own studio/room. Bring your headphones for reference. If you want the lows that your M3 is capable of, seriously consider a sub-woofer. A book-size box monitor just doesn’t go low (and flat). It may go: “boom, boom” but that occurs nowhere near the lowest frequency ranges the M3 engineers also created for you.

So what did I get for my room? I got myself a mixer and a graphic equalizer and a reasonably priced and quality built near-field active speaker system made by Samson, the Resolv 1.2 (50a monitors and sub88). They also make a Rubicon series that feature ribbon high-frequency transducers. More expensive but sounding a bit less harsh than the dome tweeters on my monitors. The system I chose is robust and has a fairly flat frequency range, broad enough to cover what our M3, Oasys can deliver. And with the help of the equalizer one is able to iron out the unavoidable peaks and dips caused by the design of the speakers as well as the shape of our room.

Relatively small near-field cone systems, with or without a sub, all suffer from coloration. As I mentioned, I auditioned quite a lot of different brands. You’re going to spend a heck of a lot of more money for slightly better sounding equipment. Bear in mind though, that price doesn’t guarantee better performance. Most of the sets I heard sound very different from each other. Apparently, manufacturers disagree quite fundamentally.

So, how do I get closest to what I’m looking for? First, I use software to eliminate standing waves and a pink noise generator, mike and scope to measure and optimize overall room acoustics at my seated location and then, of course, I leave it to my ears. Yes indeed, acoustics just refuse to be simple.

Hoping to be of assistance, I wish you all a calm sea and prosperous voyage…
Berend