Topic: Monitors..or not?

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.

Re: Monitors..or not?

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.

Normally I might engage in a conversation about getting some decent loudspeakers or headphones however:

1) You have decent headphones.
2)  You have a computer that can barely cope with modern Pianoteq.

Therefore I would put the funds to a better PC. Run the program at a higher sample frequency, higher voice count. Not worry about running out of CPU power with any update. Run simultaneous instruments with ease and so on. Your existing headphones will thank you for it!

Re: Monitors..or not?

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...

Re: Monitors..or not?

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...

Looking at the benchmarks for 5500u that CPU should perform much better than you're saying you've seen from your machine.
Pianoteq should be a walk in the park for it!
Something is wrong.

Re: Monitors..or not?

I was also looking for budget ish monitors and came across those ones... and I'm amazed !
Agreed, they are not Neumann but look at the price...
https://www.edifier.com/product-r1855db.html
NO, they didn't endorsed me !

Re: Monitors..or not?

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.

Pianoteq 8 Standard-Chord AI - Android App (displays chords)-Kawai VPC1
Real Samick (Stencil) Parlor Grand (5'6")-Focusrite 6i6 2nd

Re: Monitors..or not?

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.

Pianoteq 8 Standard-Chord AI - Android App (displays chords)-Kawai VPC1
Real Samick (Stencil) Parlor Grand (5'6")-Focusrite 6i6 2nd

Re: Monitors..or not?

Zumadale wrote:
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!

Re: Monitors..or not?

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

Re: Monitors..or not?

Key Fumbler wrote:

[...]
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.

Re: Monitors..or not?

@ 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?

Music was my first love. And it will be my last. Music of the future. And music of the past (John Miles)

Re: Monitors..or not?

Luc Henrion wrote:

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

Re: Monitors..or not?

Pboy wrote:

@ 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?

Re: Monitors..or not?

I've worked through various settings and got
Fidelizer.Audio which seems to help alot. Set power modes to advanced. I've got bitdefender installed but literally only use the laptop for pianoteq use. Any thoughts really appreciated. Thanks all.

Re: Monitors..or not?

Zumadale wrote:
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..?

Re: Monitors..or not?

Zumadale wrote:
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!

Re: Monitors..or not?

CircleOfFifths wrote:

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.

Re: Monitors..or not?

CircleOfFifths wrote:

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.

Re: Monitors..or not?

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...

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.