I bought a new Ryzen 5 (5500U)HP Pavillion windows 11 laptop just to run pianoteq to be honest. I'm (very)sad it's proved so tricky given a good ish CPU and pianoteq claims on program working in a newish laptop. When It works it's lovely though...

I have a similar problem with a recent laptop (different brand) that crackles continuously. I think it is caused by bad Realtek drivers rather than lack of cpu power. Fortunately, I don't use that laptop for music; for music I have a much older and slower laptop that works without a crackle.
If it is indeed a Realtek problem on some types of chipsets, maybe the only solution is a dedicated audio interface.

Hi Zumadale,

I'm very interested in the HS8's myself, currently using Kali LP6, not enough "umph", I'd like to feel more of the sound in my fingers I guess, please describe what made you choose the Yamahas over something else.

Thank You!

I really like the Kali LP8 V2s, and I feel like they've got great coverage in the bottom 2 octaves and I feel it in my body like I would on a real piano, except for my fingers. I'm very happy about the quality given the relatively low cost, but I think there's something about the structure of a piano that makes you feel it in your fingers where physically separate monitors might not.

Hi Zumadale,

I'm very interested in the HS8's myself, currently using Kali LP6, not enough "umph", I'd like to feel more of the sound in my fingers I guess, please describe what made you choose the Yamahas over something else.

Thank You!

Another hypothetical option, if you lose timbre in the bottom two octaves, is to go to a 2.1 system, adding a subwoofer to fill out the sound.

I have 2 x 5" hi-fi monitors + an 8" subwoofer. It's just enough and quite satisfactory.

James wrote:

Hi all, currently using Senheisser HD598s with Kawai CA67. Using a hp laptop and after some teething problems with crackle I've just about sorted that.

Any pointers on budget ish monitors? Do I need anything else to run them from hp laptop? Worth doing or opening a world of pain and expense? UK based just for personal use in small ish dining room. Thanks all.

I use yamaha HS8 monitors.  I like to feel the sound as I play.  I tend to crank it up a bit.

Hi Zumadale,

I'm very interested in the HS8's myself, currently using Kali LP6, not enough "umph", I'd like to feel more of the sound in my fingers I guess, please describe what made you choose the Yamahas over something else.

Thank You!

James wrote:

Hi all, currently using Senheisser HD598s with Kawai CA67. Using a hp laptop and after some teething problems with crackle I've just about sorted that.

Any pointers on budget ish monitors? Do I need anything else to run them from hp laptop? Worth doing or opening a world of pain and expense? UK based just for personal use in small ish dining room. Thanks all.

I use yamaha HS8 monitors.  I like to feel the sound as I play.  I tend to crank it up a bit.

Would I need amp type thing, sorry not very tech savvy. I guess they don't plug straight into laptop..?

@ James

James, did you already hook your notebook to the Audio-In of your CA?

And was there stil crackling or perhaps hummimg or buzzing?

I've not thought of that? I guess that would check cables and connectors, etc?

One of the first things to try is to switch to airplane mode, or even deactivate the wireless card completely.

Thanks I'll try airplane mode

James, did you already hook your notebook to the Audio-In of your CA?

And was there stil crackling or perhaps hummimg or buzzing?

[...]
Hardware optimisation can be recommended. Power saving CPU modes and so on can be sub optimal.
Laptops and their mobile chips tend to be setup to go to sleep at the drop of a hat!

I was guessing this could be the issue - I had this problem recently.

James wrote:

I bought a new Ryzen 5 (5500U)HP Pavillion windows 11 laptop just to run pianoteq to be honest. I'm (very)sad it's proved so tricky given a good ish CPU and pianoteq claims on program working in a newish laptop. When It works it's lovely though...

You have to remove bloatware...and turn auto updates to off.  All those anti-virus programs need to go.  If you aren't allowing your kids to use the laptop it's not needed.

Remove bloatware I strongly agree with.
Laptops and off-the-shelf desktop computers tend to have a lot of this.

Turning off auto updates should not help Pianoteq or your DAW on a daily basis, only occasionally when inconvenienced by updates.  Therefore I would recommend leaving auto updates and anti virus enabled for the safety of your hardware.  That is leaving light ones like Defender or Avast. Norton was horrible. I've seen systems slow to a crawl, but it several years since I've dealt with that myself.

Hardware optimisation can be recommended. Power saving CPU modes and so on can be sub optimal.
Laptops and their mobile chips tend to be setup to go to sleep at the drop of a hat!

I bought a new Ryzen 5 (5500U)HP Pavillion windows 11 laptop just to run pianoteq to be honest. I'm (very)sad it's proved so tricky given a good ish CPU and pianoteq claims on program working in a newish laptop. When It works it's lovely though...

You have to remove bloatware...and turn auto updates to off.  All those anti-virus programs need to go.  If you aren't allowing your kids to use the laptop it's not needed.

Hi all, currently using Senheisser HD598s with Kawai CA67. Using a hp laptop and after some teething problems with crackle I've just about sorted that.

Any pointers on budget ish monitors? Do I need anything else to run them from hp laptop? Worth doing or opening a world of pain and expense? UK based just for personal use in small ish dining room. Thanks all.

I use yamaha HS8 monitors.  I like to feel the sound as I play.  I tend to crank it up a bit.