OK,

So a lot of people on the forum recommend monitor speakers with their digitals for practicing / home playing.

I just looked at some of the Berringer Truth's specs and they are rate from 50 Hz.

The lowest note on a piano is 27.5 Hz.

Would you not be wanting a subwoofer to cover the lowest octave on the piano accurately?

Has anyone done this before?

Thanks
Rich

These will go down to 20Hz.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--KRKRP5 for about $150 EACH !


I don't have any active monitors yet so can't comment on the response of any speaker trying to hit that low A if they are rated for only 50Hz. Something will come out. Either a distorted wave or one without much amplitude (speculation).

It depends on personal taste. I wouldn't find significant advantage to a subwoofer for piano.

At those frequencies the ear is less responsive anyway and the major benefit is in feeling rather than hearing. The second harmonic is well within the range of monitors. Don't forget that the monitors will still be producing sound at the bass fundamentals, just at lower volume. They don't suddenly cut off at 50Hz

I would think that a sub for home use would be overkill for a digital piano.
There are some really nice monitors in the $300-700 range today that hopefully would give you the low end you're looking for.

Yes, they will still be trying to produce the fundamental, but they will suck at it and it simply gobbles amplifier power without giving much in return (some nice rumble). A decent subwoofer will filter out the lows so the monitors stop flailing at somthing they aren't good at, keeping their sound clean and letting the sub do what its good at. It takes a little tweaking of the gain controls to balance to each person's preferences, but pretty much set it once and forget it after that.

You mightg want to look at KRK VXT 4 monitors. They are new. I was in the music store today and they had 2 Korg M3 hooked up to a set of KRK VXT 4 & KRK VXT 6. I set it on their piano and played the lowest and highest notes. To my ears, the "4s" sounded better than the "6s" They had more of the midrange of note. They are also only $299 a piece versus $449 and small enough to fit anywhere. I am anxious to hear how my Kawai MP8 sounds of them as I am looking to buy some monitors.