I currently have a
Yamaha P300 piano, which has built-in speakers and amplification and is
ideal for me. However, I’m thinking about getting a Roland RD700-series
piano that would be mainly for home use, and I guess I would need to get
some kind of amplification/speaker system for it. Are you able to
recommend a reasonably priced setup that would do the job? Would
decent-quality home hi-fi speakers cope with the wide range of
frequencies that the piano can generate?
Geoffrey Clarke via email
SOS
contributor Robin Bigwood replies:
Built-in speakers are certainly a
handy feature for many applications, including home use. However, you’ll
probably find that some kind of external amplification for your RD700
will give more flexibility, and quite possibly an improvement in sound
quality too. At the very least, you’re going to want to match what your
P300 offers, which is a stereo amp rated at a modest 20W per channel,
driving a pair of one-way 13cm (5-inch) drivers.
A
pair of KRK RP6s, mounted on stands behind a digital piano, would be an
excellent choice for reproducing its sound in an accurate and pleasing
way. However, if you only need the speakers to hear piano playback and
they don’t need to double for mixing or other monitoring, a set of
quality hi-fi speakers, such as the Wharfedale Diamond 8.2s shown here,
will do the job well. They can also be picked up cheaply on the
secondhand market.
One option would be to look at a dedicated keyboard
‘combo’ amplifier. Most are essentially mono (even if they have stereo
inputs) and won’t give you much of an immersive piano sound experience.
However, stereo models are available and these also sport two-way
speaker systems (ie. a main driver plus a tweeter) that should provide
clarity as well as ‘oomph’. Roland’s compact KC110 may well match your
P300 for scale, if not stereo separation and, with a handful of stereo
and mono inputs and a battery‑power option, could be a useful thing in
and out of the home. The KC880, which costs considerably more, is the
bigger, gym-obsessed, steroid-taking brother, and knocks out 320 Watts
via 12-inch woofers. Probably overkill for your particular needs.
Better
still, though, I think, would be to go with a pair of active monitors,
mounted behind and at either end of your RD700, perhaps on a shelf or
tall stands. A pair of KRK RP6s, for example, would turn in a
performance markedly superior to what the P300 offers. Similarly priced
products by the likes of Mackie, Yamaha and M-Audio are also a safe bet,
and, if you can stretch to greater expense, offerings by Dynaudio,
Adam, Focal and Genelec will be that much better again. Many active
monitors also have an upgrade path, so to speak, in the form of a
matching subwoofer: that could help generate a feeling of scale and bass
extension on a par with a real piano. It’s useful, too, that all the
recent RD700 models — certainly from the SX onwards — have balanced XLR
audio outputs, so getting a good interference-free sound from directly
connected active monitors won’t be a problem.
You
mention the possibility of using home hi-fi, and since you’re primarily
going for a good piano sound, rather than ruthless accuracy for mixing,
this makes perfect sense. Some really high‑quality 1990s vintage
amplifiers and speakers can be had for peanuts on the secondhand market,
yet they offer excellent performance and should have no trouble
managing the RD700’s full-range signal. One thing to watch for, though:
most domestic amplifiers will have unbalanced inputs on RCA phono
sockets, so make sure you keep the line-level cable runs from the
RD700’s quarter-inch outputs as short as is practical, to avoid picking
up unwanted RF interference.
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