I'm going to be buying a Roland RD-700GX in the near future (because I fell in love with it and played it for an hour at my local dealer ) and I was wondering about certain accessories I will most likely need for my new beauty!

1. Keyboard Stand: I'm aware of the KS-G8 by Roland, but I'd like to know if there's something a bit more affordable. I think that music stand looks like a Goal net in hockey more than anything else. Is the V-Stand (KS-V7) any better and sturdier?
Bottom line, I just need something that will do the job with sturdiness and decent leg-room. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

2. Speakers: I went to Guitar Center and the assistant manager recommended these to me:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-BX5a-Deluxe-Active-Monitors-104837133-i1406020.gc

These were the monitors hooked up to the RD-700GX at the store and they sounded great, but if you guys know of anything better and less expensive, I'd love to hear it!

3. Headphones: I'm thinking about the retro Koss UltraPro Headphones (the ones that haven't changed their design since 1984). I've heard nothing but good things, but I don't know if it'll be suitable for a full piano's stereo sound? Ideas?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! I apologize if any of this has been covered previously, but I did search the forums before asking these questions!

-Russ

Russ,
I bought my RD700gx about 2 months ago, and I use this stand, and a pair of KRK Rokit 8's 2nd gen monitors, running through a small mixer, and then through an Emu 1212m, and the sound is very nice.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/p...tand?sku=450388


Congrats on your selection of keyboards. I know there are a number of nice ones to choose from, but I think you'll really enjoy the Roland.
John

8" speakers like JcSr56 mentioned are better(including the M-Audio BX8a)

This stand style is nice also

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-MUS-KS7150-LIST

I use a table stand like it and it gives the piano a nice firm foundation.

I have that exact stand for my 700GX and it can move from side to side a little when you play hard or even just playing trills.

And I think a simple 2.1 PC speakers would probably suffice. I use the logitech z2300, which cost me about $120 shipped.

I have Ultimate 1000 for RD700GX, very good and stable stand, ~49$. For monitors yamaha HS 50M

If the stage X stands adjust starting at 27" lowest, wouldn't that put the keys a bit higher than they should be? Even the platform stand at 26' lowest might also raise it a little too high. I guess it could be a preference thing but i thought the height was supposed to be a little over 28 inches from floor to top of keys.

Yes, that's why I took all four of the feet/rod out from the platform/table. Makes the height from floor to top of white right around 28 and a half. I think if I dab a bit of glue to the hinges it'll make the swaying while playing hard or doing trills stop. But it wouldn't really be retractable anymore... hmmm...

My table is made by proel. It does appear to be a little more solid than the one in the link I provided. Now that I think about it, I remember my first table that I had to return(it was used and had a crack in it's hinge structure), was a little lighter weight than the Proel my retailer replaced it with. I've also found that I had to remember to make certain that the legs were swung out fully and the knobs were firmly tightened, that definitely contributed to it's stability.
The X-Stand vs a table, also interferes with getting to the pedals.

I'm seriously considering the Logitech speakers, Do they handle the sound well and how do you hook them up to the piano?

Also, I went with the Roland Z-stand. I've heard nothing but good things and I got a good deal on it, even with shipping on eBay.

I'm thinking of purchasing my Roland Used on eBay as well, the only problem I see with the one I'm looking at is that it has a scratch well above the LCD and the seller has only had it for 3 months, tops. He is very effective in describing and the photos indicate nothing wrong with it whatsoever. He's assured me that it sounds and plays just as well as any new one.

The price is under $1800 as well and apart from that scratch it appears to be near perfect condition.

I will ask the seller about their return policy should I find something wrong with it.

Do I need any extra cables to hook up 2.1 speakers to the piano?

You mean the V-Stand right? Please let us know how you find it. I'm still on the lookout for a stand for my RD-700GX as well. I like the looks of the V stand more than the hockey-goal-net one, but was thinking it didn't look all that stable.

I've currently got 2 X-Stands for my synths but wouldnt trust the RD-700GX on one of them.




If you can, go with professional audio monitors instead of Logitech. M-Audio isn't the best brand, but would be a better option than Logitech. If you're going to get top of the line keyboard you dont want cheap computer speakers to be the weak link in the chain.

Actually I was reffering to the Z-Shaped stand they reccomended for the Roland piano, I don't know if it's still being made or not, but I got a good from eBay on one.
It's the KS-18Z shown here:

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=1018





Audio Monitors are on my parents' Christmas Chopin Liszt. :P
I can ask for nice ones, but I just want something that will do the job effectively and without making my parents' pay over $200 for audio monitors. Any suggestions for what monitors you'd reccomend that are under $200


Also, I am new to this system, but how does one hook up audio monitors to the RD-700GX??? I know there are output ports and all the right stuff on the instrument, I just don't know how they come together. Are extra cables necessary?

Thanks again for all your help, everyone!

Oh wow cool. So there's 3 stands. The hockey net, V stand, and Z stand. So do you already have your Z stand? has it been delivered etc? what's your verdict? does it feel steardy? solid? doesnt shake around etc?

Has anyone else tested one/some/all of these stands?



hahahaha



The keyboard (and stand) you've listed are pretty much flagship models. To do it justice you want decent monitors if possible. When it comes to monitors it really is usually a case of 'you get what you pay for'. You can have something cheaper than $200 thats not as good, or more than $200 that's better. Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with US prices for monitors, I just know that they're a lot cheaper than over here. I have Mackie HR-824's which I love, but I had them before I got my DP, so I didnt get them with the specific purpose of piano sound recreation, but they do a decent job. There may well be better out there for the purpose. Alesis make some reasonable cheap monitors as well.



If you get 'Active' monitors, that means they're amplified in the speaker, so you can simply run a cable from your keyboard to your monitors. The BEST cable you can use are XLR (they look ilke microphone cables - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Xlr-connectors.jpg )

Next best is 1/4 inch cables http://www.americanmusical.com/ProductImages/Large/p26838.jpg

And the bottom of the range is 1/8 inch/headphone jack cables.

MANY keyboards only have 1/4, and don't provide XLR outputs. Likewise some monitors don't have XLR inputs. And logitech speakers for example probably only have 1/8 inch. You're lucky enough to have a flagship keyboard which does have XLR outputs, so IF you can get monitors that have XLR inputs, go with those! Otherwise go with 1/4.

Well, I bought the stand, but it wont be delivered until the 17th (2 days roughly from now). I'll let you know. I'm buying my RD-700GX in a couple of days or so and it too will take a couple of days to ship. Also, The V-Stand was used in the video here:



I'm glad you liked the Classical piano humor "Christmas Chopin Liszt". I owe it to too many sources. The original sources can't be found because like Beethoven's teacher, they're Haydn. Ouch, I'm killin' myself here. I need to just stop.

ANYWAYS..



I'll look into some of the things you mentioned. I'll especially look for some eBay deals



Thanks, that clears it all up! Hopefully this will make sense when the time comes to actually getting the speakers and getting them to hook up during Christmas :P

-Russ

Before buying a used 700GX, I would suggest looking into live.com cashback for eBay... new 700GX can be had for less than $1800 with the cashback.

I really think the logitech Z2300 is sufficent for the purpose. I just plug the 1/8 plug into the headphone out of the 700GX with a 1/8 to 1/4 inch adaptor. I use the XLR out to my computer for recording.

I was really into hi-fi music listening, especially headphones like the audio-technica L3000, W5000, Grado RS1, GS1000, Sennheiser HD650, baby orpheus, Stax omega 2, Denon D7000...etc with zana deux amplifier...etc bel canto DAC...etc so I'm familiar with high end sound. But in my opinion, sub $200 speakers like the logitech Z2300 is sufficient.

I have the adapter already, but how does the logitech z2300 plug into it? All I see from images of the back of the Subwoofer are two L/R RCA cables going out to the speakers.

*is lost*

Any Ideas?

I'm not familiar with the 700GX ... but I have a FP7.

The line outs are 1/4" plugs.

You will need RCA adapter that fits 1/4" plug.

How important is it to get speakers that can go down to 50 Hz, as the lowest bass A key is around 55Hz?

Roland's own Speakers; the DS-7 can't reach that low. The DS-8 can, but has a sick price, I will not buy it...

The piano has 88 keys which span the frequency range 27.5 Hz (A0) to 4186 Hz (C8).

Arghh, you are so right!

Now I just have to find a pair of studio monitors that can go down to about 25 Hz.

I have really searched the net and so far I have found _NO_ speakers/monitors with lower frequenzy range than 35-37 Hz (up to 20-40 kHz).

Does this mean that I can never hear the lowest keys on a DP in their real tone? Are we being tricked to buy malfunctioning DPs?

I can really feel the taste of blood in my mouth....

Huygens,

Don't feel bad, it gets worse. I'm currently trialing VSL's Vienna Imperial and the bottom note on a Bosendorfer imperial is 16.35 Hz! I've been using Blue Sky's MediaDesk 2.1 Monitors and they get down to the 27.5 Hz fundamental without much roll off.

They are also very impressive all-around monitors.

I could be wrong, but I was of the understanding that it's not so much a question of whether speakers & monitors 'have' lower frequency range than 20-40Hz etc, the question is how accurately they reproduce those frequencies.




By the way Russ, how has the stand worked out? Are you happy with the stability etc? does it rock or move at all when you play with a bit of force?

PS. In your previous quote you didn't include the video link, do you still have it handy? Would be interested to see

Try this experiment: Find a DP with smallish built-in speakers. Play a low note. Can you hear it? Such small speakers are absolutely incapable of reproducing a 30Hz sound. But you hear it the 30Hz sound even if there can't be any 30Hz sound in the room

What happens is that your ear hears the 2nd, 3rd and so on harmonic sequence and "figures out" what the fundamental frequency must be. Your brain "hears" the pitch. You hear music with a system that includes not only ears but a little section of the brain that lets us hear things that might be masked by noise or filtered.

A speaker that can reproduce 27Hz is a very impressive and large device, not something you'd want on your desk. And you don't need it.

If you must have those fundamentals then you only need one large, expensive speaker, a sub-woofer and you can place it under the piano. But this means you'd have to buy an active crossover and other equipment. The result would be not that you'd hear lower notes (You hear them even on small speakers) What the subwoofer does is add s sense of "power" to the low end, the kind of power that can move window glass but that you can't really hear.

I didn't know that. Very interesting information! thanks for sharing

Nice explanation ChrisA

This is not just a DP issue. Smaller acoustic pianos produce very weak fundamental frequencies at the bottom of their range. Once again your brain fills in the blanks.

This is one place where DPs with better audio systems have the advantage over smaller acoustics. All sampled DPs at least have a strong lower range fundamental available due to having been sampled from full sized concert grands, where in a smaller acoustic the fundamental is simply weak to begin with.

Well my piano STILL isn't here yet. UPS attempted to deliver it, but they did so (according to their records) ONE MINUTE after I left for work.

I will probably get it Monday, but I have the Z-stand and I can already tell you this. "It a'int goin' nowhere."

It's super sturdy and it just doesn't wobble at all. You don't even need a piano on it to know that.

I have also sat down in front of it(wishing my piano was on it) and have been satisfactory with the leg room it presented. Also, it folds down really flat and doesn't weigh that much. I got it for about $60 on ebay, but you could get away with it + shipping for under $95 anywhere else.

Here's the video I meant to link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0bGgGP_KUo

Hmm... But isn't the technical limitation that prevents DP's from accurately producing these weak low fundamental frequencies the actual SPEAKER, rather than the DP itself? I thoguht it was because your normal size speaker cones can't physically move/'cycle' at such a low frequency (or if it can it's not always loud enojugh).

Accoustic pianos of course don't have any speakers, so how come they would suffer the same issue? If a string is hit, or pluck, it simply vibrates, which would create the sound (including the fundamental frequency), wouldnt it? Or is it a different reason for accoustics? I find this stuff fascinating.




Sounds like the stand seems quite steardy! Thanks for the feedback. I'll have a look on ebay & see what's available. That's cheaper than I expected.

Thanks for the video link too! It does look much nicer than the hockey goalposts one.

HI Manachi,

Yes, the limitation on the DP side is essentially the speakers. most smaller/lower-end instruments sound significantly better through good headphones or monitor speakers. The issue on the acoustic side is that smaller pianos--I'll use the example of a 5 ft./150cm grand--struggles to produce the fundamental frequency of the lowest notes. If you look at the lowest strings of a concert grand vs. those of a small piano you may notice that the strings on the smaller piano appear thicker. There are only 3 things to play with on a string: the speaking length, the tension, and the mass (yes, I'm ignoring things like metallurgy and cross sectional consistency). Shorter strings don't really want to vibrate at the slower rates necessary to produce low notes so mass is added in the form of thicker/heavier windings in order to slow them down. This allows it to produce the fundamental, but it is relatively weak compared to the harmonics or partials above it. This is a really short answer to a much longer physics problem but I hope it helps.

The best way to understand this is to go to the piano store and play the low bass on grands from one manufacturer going from the smallest to the largest they have in stock. The bass will get progressively better (stronger fundamental) as the piano and strings get longer.

Where's Del Fandrich when you really need him...

I think you are right. The limitation with DPs is the driver inside the speaker cabinet. You can use the Line Out jacks and run speakers as large as you like (or can afford)

The strings in a Piano produce the fundamentals and many harmonics. But I think maybe the ratio of the power of the fundamental to the harmonics may be different between large and small pianos. Then you have to wonder about the process of converting the string's movment into sound if maybe that is not more efficient with longer strings and larger sound board, I don't know.

I know a little about guitar strings. The sound produced near the ends is not the same as near the center. Even a beginner can hear this. The effect is very easy to hear. The ends make a brighter sound. Electric guitars always have multiple pickups so you can choose which sound you want. Longer string have more mid section