About Korg M50 (or any other) amplification/speakers

dimitra · Post by **dimitra** » Thu Jun 06, 2013 12:04 pm

Hi all,
I'm interested to know what other M50 owners (or any keyboard/synth owners for that matter) use for speakers. When I bought the M50, my dealer gave me a bundled discount for a pair of M-audio AV-30's.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/S ... eAV30.html

I have these monitors connected to the M50's headphone out jack (since they have 3.5mm to stereo RCA connectors).
Now these speakers are nice, and are powerful enough for my room, but I find that some of the low frequencies are a bit "muddy". This is especially noticeable for the A000 Combi "Dreaming without Sleeping", where the main piano timbre is not crisp & clear when played in the lower octaves. I usually have to transpose the piano by +12 to get a better sound. Of course, this may be a personal preference, but I had my doubts about the frequency response of the speaker itself. So this weekend I tried a experiment. I have a small Onkyo bookshelf HiFi; something similar to the product in the link below

http://www.onkyoindia.com/lmc_ms-cs325.html

I connected the M50 to this unit in the same way (headphone jack), and I was impressed by the sound. The same "Dreaming without Sleeping" combi sounds so much clearer, even if I play in the lower octaves!
So I'm now planning to ditch the AV-30's in favour of the Onkyo as a dedicated keyboard amp. Before I do this, I just wanted to check in this forum. What do you guys think? Is it OK to use a regular HiFi as a keyboard amp? Or am I missing something by not using "studio monitors"? What is your typical setup at home?

ursamajor · Post by **ursamajor** » Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:53 pm

The M-Audio looks like very cheap speakers with a low budget amp.

I can imagine that the sound is much better on your onkyo system.
I've hooked up my M50 with a bunch of other synths to a mixer which is connected to a Pioneer hifi amplifier with Wharfedale speakers. I also have an active subwoofer (remains from my car stereo

)
The bass from the M50 is really earthshocking and smooth

My experience is that hifi systems sound better than pa systems or those cheap ass studiomonitors.

When you really want to create a professional mix, you will end up with good studiomonitors and inevitable acoustic room...

dimitra · Post by **dimitra** » Fri Jun 07, 2013 4:43 am

I can imagine that the sound is much better on your onkyo system.

Nice to know that my ears haven't failed me yet

I guess the issue with the M-audio monitors are two-fold. One, they are cheap (if I remember corrected, it was 7,000 bucks, i.e. about 120 US dollars), and M-audio has cut corners. Secondly, studio monitors are probably not meant to fill a room with pleasing sound. Most likely the monitors are meant to give the "flattest" frequency response possible. I remember now seeing an online ad for some of these monitors with the catch phrase "If it sounds good on these, it will sound good on any speaker!". So there we have it

ursamajor · Post by **ursamajor** » Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:08 am

Onkyo makes good products

But those cheap (89 dollars in your link) monitors could never be flat or noiseless, reach the entire frequency spectrum a human can hear (or feel).

Professional studio's therefore have a special acoustic room with superb monitors (1 set or more) to master a track or an album. It also is an art to be a good master engineer.

But for the home use, hifi speakers will do and for a homestudio there are legion of monitors (like yours) available, discussed in several forums (like SoundOnSound).
But it is true, if it sounds good on a good set of monitors, it'll sound good everywhere!

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:18 am

dimitra wrote:
I can imagine that the sound is much better on your onkyo system.
Nice to know that my ears haven't failed me yet
I guess the issue with the M-audio monitors are two-fold. One, they are cheap (if I remember corrected, it was 7,000 bucks, i.e. about 120 US dollars), and M-audio has cut corners. Secondly, studio monitors are probably not meant to fill a room with pleasing sound. Most likely the monitors are meant to give the "flattest" frequency response possible. I remember now seeing an online ad for some of these monitors with the catch phrase "If it sounds good on these, it will sound good on any speaker!". So there we have it

I agree ... Studio monitors are different so it really depends on what your application is and what type of sound you are going for. Here's a wiki with a good explanation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_monitor

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:49 am

IF you use a HIFI system, make sure it is a good one. Because of the very dynamic nature of volumes of sounds being created by synthesizers, they can blow up a cheap HIFI speaker in seconds.

ursamajor · Post by **ursamajor** » Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:39 pm

I guess you are very safe with the internal presets. I've never blown up any hifi speaker with real analog synths like a Solina string synthesizer

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 9:45 am

ursamajor wrote:I guess you are very safe with the internal presets. I've never blown up any hifi speaker with real analog synths like a Solina string synthesizer

I think there is a 'better' chance for ruining speakers when you use square waves or orchestral hits on a higher volume than expected.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:25 am

The quickest way to blow up any speaker is with an analog synthesizer. Although I suppose a Solina String Ensemble should be relatively safe

dimitra · Post by **dimitra** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:48 am

Because of the very dynamic nature of volumes of sounds being created by synthesizers, they can blow up a cheap HIFI speaker in seconds.

Wow, never thought of that! I wonder if putting a limiter as the final TFX for all combis solve this??

ursamajor · Post by **ursamajor** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 7:50 pm

SanderXpander wrote:The quickest way to blow up any speaker is with an analog synthesizer. Although I suppose a Solina String Ensemble should be relatively safe

The ensemble, yes, but the String Synthesizer has an Arp analog synth which can produce fat bassdrumms and earthshocking subs

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Tue Jun 11, 2013 8:42 pm

Oh haha I overlooked that

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:56 pm

dimitra wrote:
Because of the very dynamic nature of volumes of sounds being created by synthesizers, they can blow up a cheap HIFI speaker in seconds.
Wow, never thought of that! I wonder if putting a limiter as the final TFX for all combis solve this??

Probably ... but then you want to audit some programs ... forget they do not have a limiter by default ... speaker blown.

ConnMan · Post by **ConnMan** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:20 pm

SanderXpander wrote:The quickest way to blow up any speaker is with an analog synthesizer. Although I suppose a Solina String Ensemble should be relatively safe

Yea...You'll be VERY SAFE with an ARP String Ensamble for sure. A Mini-Moog on the other hand...K-BOOM