Great Kronos Piano Sounds ruined by using MSP7's

[MusicLive]

Now I've had a Kronos 73 for over a month I'm disappointed with the sounds from the pianos when pushed through a pair of Yamaha MSP7 powered studio monitors.
What a let down. The pianos sound typically 'boxy' with a tinny over ring and giving the kind of sound I've come to expect from digital keyboards.
These monitors have various adjuster switches for setting bass, mids, or highs.
But whatever the settings the Kronos pianos sound real rubbish!

It's seems ridiculous, as when using an El-cheapo pair of open Plantronics Skype headphones the sound is really good.
Using my Sennheiser PXC 450 closed cans the sound can only be described as excellent. Though I have to say I'm not a headphone fan and always prefer a 'live' open sound, which the speakers should give.

I would have thought the MSP7's at £800 a pair would give me a good sound but obviously not.

Any thoughts on this? Should I drop them off in the nearest dustbin?

Thanks,

MC

[LZ]

This is highly subjective, and in full disclosure, I don't have a lot of experience with them, but IMHO, they are colored in such a way as to produce a certain type of mix. I wouldn't call them transparent. I realize they are widely used.

[jeebustrain]

this sounds to me like it might be a room issue - what other pianos have you tried through those same monitors in the same room?

I had the same sort of problem with mine (albeit with a pair of M-Audio BX8s) when I first set up my Kronos. It was in a small room with no treatment at all. Once I applied a bit of treatment to the room (to cut out a bit of the upper reflection), it helped a lot. It REALLY helped when I moved the whole setup out to the living room (which is much bigger and with high ceilings). The pianos totally came alive.

[dfahrner]

Since your KRONOS pianos sound "really good" or "excellent" through headphones, you should retitle your post to "Rubbish Piano sounds from Yamaha MSP7 monitors"...it's not the KRONOS that's sounding like rubbish...

df

[Mike Conway]

Since your KRONOS pianos sound "really good" or "excellent" through headphones, you should retitle your post to "Rubbish Piano sounds from Yamaha MSP7 monitors"...it's not the KRONOS that's sounding like rubbish...f

My thoughts, as well. I saw the thread and was about to suggest that you try the EXs2 piano.

[burningbusch]

When you listen with headphones you have 100% of the left audio going to that ear and vice versa with the right. There is no chance for phase cancellation which causes some frequencies to be cut, while others may end up boosted. This certainly could be, at least part of, what the OP is experiencing.

Speakers in a room do not have this purity. You can take the finest speakers and place them right next to each other and they will sound boxy as you essentially have a mono sound source and there's a ton of phase issues go on. Stereo needs proper separation. The vast majority of the left audio should be hitting the left ear, etc.

You could easily be losing bass frequencies, because of the room or speaker placement.

I don't have an answer but would look at speaker placement and using EQ to compensate.

Busch.

[StephenKay]

Are you running your piano into the speakers in mono? See this recent discussion:

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=89053

Probably not... but when you said "boxy"...

[MusicLive]

Great input from you all, thank you...well appreciated.

Had I titled the thread 'Rubbish sounds from Yamaha MSP7's' I doubt anyone would have replied, but since the word 'Kronos' appeared it brought about just the response I required and I'd anticipated someone having had the same problem from their Yamaha MSP's.
It just doesn't add up when a £25 pair of cans sound far better than an £800 pair of speakers????

I've only tried Korg boards - Trinity, Triton Extreme, and now the Kronos through these speakers and have to say I hadn't noticed the Triton or Trinity being particularly bad, as they just have rubbish pianos anyway IMHO, so it's difficult to tell.

They've been moved to various positions around the room and spaced accordingly but they still make the Kronos pianos sound Rubbish.
A pity really, as I would have liked to hear the Kronos emitting a good Live piano sound but I'm having my doubts now.

Perhaps I should stick to playing guitars, at least I always get a great sound out of my Mesa, or Music Man amps.
NO, NO, NO, the Kronos won't be going anywhere near those before you say it!

Thanks,

MC

[SanderXpander]

Really thinking you're running through a mixer in mono by accident (forgot to pan the channels or something) or you only hooked up one lead or something.

[PCFREE]

To be honest, I have exactly the same issues only on the kronos piano sounds but my other keyboards' pianos sound perfectly fine!
I've used Yamaha MSP3, MSP5 and Kurzweil KS40. It's much better through the cheap kurzweil, though still boxy and tinny
To clarify, I don't get this issue with any other sounds from the Kronos or my, Gem, Roland and Kurzweil equipment- just the piano sounds on the kronos. The connections are set up correctly

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks all!

[SanderXpander]

My suggestion would still be "the connections are not set up correctly"
Reinforced by that it sounds fine on headphones.
But it's getting pretty hard to troubleshoot this from a distance.
Hope you figure something out that works for you.

[PCFREE]

My suggestion would still be "the connections are not set up correctly"
Reinforced by that it sounds fine on headphones.
But it's getting pretty hard to troubleshoot this from a distance.
Hope you figure something out that works for you.

Thanks for our suggestion. However, everything is set up correctly. The problem Only exists with the kronos piano sound

[SanderXpander]

But it sounds fine over headphones?

[PCFREE]

I've just played and listened to the piano sound through headphones (I've not really done this before properly) and have exactly the same perception. I guess that's my personal perception of the piano sound. I monitored through DT770.
Please don't shoot me for my opinion and use of the word "boxy"! Lol. I still use the pianos extensively, however. I personally think they sound like an upright and that's why I use them.

[SanderXpander]

Ok then in your case it's just taste. I don't personally mind the present midrange. Definitely sounds nothing like an upright to me, but I suppose that's why they call it "personal opinion"
Getting back to the OP, if the sound is alright through headphones then either the speakers aren't very good (for this purpose) or something is hooked up wrong (e.g. resulting in mono sound).