Best Monitor for playing digital piano? Not happy with JBL 306

There are two disadvantages with the larger monitors:  Size, and Cost.

Ideally, you want a large monitor.  274 cm on the long end seems to work quite nicely for the  Model D monitor made by Steinway, but it's mechanically activated only - you can't easily play your Spotify selections through it.  Yama makes, or made, a nice hybrid acoustic/electronic monitor called the TransAcoustic, whereby the grand piano-shaped monitor measured 153 cm on its long dimension.  You could play any electronic recording file through it, just as you would through a speaker, or you could use the keyboard to play either the mechanical way or the electronic way through the soundboard as a speaker.

So, while I may be kidding a bit, large speakers work just fine, as they are better emulators of the real pianos.

Hi Mehdiem. I agree with Luc Henrion to look at a subwoofer.

Regarding your volume set to 75 seems high, although I'm not familiar with this audio interface. Are the JBL monitors set with 12 o'clock volume (half way), this, at least on monitors I've used was the recommended (flat) setting. My last interface I used (not using one at the moment, long story), I had the volume at approximately one third.

I would also check your cables, although you did say it's only when using piano sounds. My guess is the above, unmatched volume on the audio interface and monitors.

If you use a sub, then you can reduce the low frequency output from sub to monitors, resulting in less stress on the monitors and the low frequencies taken over by the sub. Some cheaper entry level subs might not have frequency adjustments but most do. Also look at subs with built in speaker inputs and outputs, this allows connection from audio interface line outs (preferably balanced), to the sub, and then the outputs from the sub to the JBL's. It might solve the issue and not require you to upgrade the JBL's.

Nick

EDIT; I think it's always best to 'use what you already have', and see if you can fine tune things, volume for example, before buying more equipment.

JBL monitors are coloured in certain respects, I owned a pair and wished I hadn't. I would recommend Adam A5X or A7X monitors or HEDD 005 series, out of the two, HEDD has a clean and very accurate, almost forensic approach to sound which I love. there are certain manufacturers who's monitors are produced for particular artist needs such as rap (parcel tape edition), RnB (Duck tape edition), etc and there are others like Genelec, Adam, HEDD and a few others more designed for clinical level mixing where colouration is a bad thing. I let go of my last pair of monitors ddue to cash issues, so use a pair of adam SP5's which I kept and love, they are clean, non-coloured and offer a good headroom. I use a clarett 4Pre USB-C as my interface and happy with it.

lew

It's a sad story for me. As a piano beginner (1 year, studying in evenings) I amassed equipment stubbornly and been disappointed in many ways

I have a Roland fp90, Yam p515 and a Nord piano 4. Scarlett like yours or similar, Adam 7 and 2.1 Rokit 8 + sub 10". Finally, some phones (AKG 701 too hard to drive, ATH m50x horribly bright/tinny and Beyer DT990 32 which are really good) I use both FP90 and p515 with PTQ 7 with adapted velocity curves, but Nord without VST. Placed the keyboards in different sized and untreated rooms (I m not allowed to do modifications), mostly hard surfaces like bricks, walls, big windows and metal frames - all of which contribute to harsh, dry and overly bright sound. If I use the same speakers in the same rooms to play some music from Tidal, the results are much better. I often watch online demos of these keyboards - I guess the sound is from the RCA ports - and all of them are good or great.

- Keyboards with DT990 are sublime. Going to my speakers is a total let down no matter the onboard EQ fine tuning. For example, Nord has some amazing sounding pianos through the phones but switching to the speakers is barely ok. Many have told me that's the unavoidable gap between phones and speakers.     
-  I was thinking of upgrading the speakers to highly regarded stuff like Genelec or KEF LS50 ii (which I think has a mobile app to optimise sound based on the room features) but I m afraid I am throwing money at the wrong problem, i.e. without serious treatment of the room (sound reflection, absorption, etc) very little will improve.

am I wrong?

thanks

Basically, when you play, you tend to use (much) more level and dynamics than when you listen to music, so the acoustics of the room play a much more important role. If, for some reason, you can't get better acoustics, you'd better keep using headphones. Just my 2 cents, of course...

thanks, really. the SP5 are in a different price segment, I saw raved reviews. Very tempted.
- they are closed back. Does that affect sound stage?
- at 70 ohm are they easy to drive with Scarlett stuff like 8i6 without an amp?

thanks

Well, I guess you all think I am crazy to recommend the Tozzi One Kit from Markaudio-Sota, single driver pure point source speakers. Bwah, small drivers, go only down to 80 Hz, no crossover, no DSP, just a driver in a box, please give me a brake. Well, you would be amazed, I wrote about it before. For the price, you will not be able to get anything better, so worth a try I would say.  Depending on where you are based you can get them at home for a little over 200 euros for the pair, including CHN-50 drivers. These are passive Hifi speakers, but maybe you still have an amp lying around somewhere. They absolutely excel in midrange, soundstage and dynamic response.  And this is exactly what you need for acoustic piano. The sound is beautiful, you cannot imagine without trying. They are designed in such a way that they don’t vibrate (as it should be), so you can just put them on top of your piano. Such Hifi equipment is designed to sound good in a room (unlike studio monitors to be used in a treated studio), so maybe it is your solution. The waveguide provides a wide sweet spot, and a big room filling sound.  Single full range drivers seem to be especially suited for acoustic instruments and voice; it recreates a sense of live music. Exactly what you want when you play live on your piano.  Maybe because there are no crossovers that can screw up harmonics or create phase issues, no issues combining tweeters and woofers with different characteristics. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGWHX_SGIoY

I have the Sennheiser HD650 headphones, connected to Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
The headphones are open ones, which I prefer much over closed ones, since I don't have the feeling of being disconnected from my surroundings.
To me, the sound of the HD650 is amazing. I read some serious reviews about them, and the reviews tell the same.
They are studio headphones and don't colour the sound.
Best would be to go to your favourite music shop and play some piano through several headphones. Or just buy the HD650.

Good luck.

Well I am afraid it will be difficult to find a shop that has it, but who knows. Markaudio is in HongKong (a bit far away), KFJ audio in UK. Even in Europe it now a pain to get stuff out of UK.

As far as i have been able to find out, there isn’t much sound coming out of an acoustic piano below 80 Hz. Here is a link where you see the spectra (linear vertical scale) of the different piano tones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xjD6SRY8Pg

The A0 makes its first real sound at the third harmonic, a bit above 80 Hz. Well maybe D2 and some more should be considered also, between 60-80 Hz.

I tried to find out how important that is by making a recording directly from pianoteq, and then in Reaper, using an EQ filter to cut of everything below 80 Hz. After that I listen to the full recording and the recording with the missing low frequencies using good headphones (response down to 20 Hz). I should find a way to do a good blind test, but I don’t think I can consistently hear the difference. Maybe, if you know, you can hear a slight difference in attack.  In the low frequency recording there is some barely audible buzzing going on. Anyway, you could always use a Sub, the natural roll of at 80 Hz would combine perfectly. I am thinking of it, but it would destroy the simplicity of the system.

When I first hooked them up I used an old Hifi Receiver which produced a beautiful but much exaggerated bass boost (could only choose Rock, Pop or Jazz for EQ), resulting in very boomy bass. This fullness is actually achieved by boosting bass in 100 to 250 Hz range, and you can just do that by EQ (EQ3 in pianoteq). Now I have a good amplifier, neutral, and sometimes  I use some EQ to boost bass, but in fact it sounds better without, not sure yet, when I just increase below 100 Hz I hardly notice any difference, including using headphones.

Anyway, it just sounds so beautiful. I play now Goldberg variations, the Aria, these first notes, just pure magic. Or Schubert Sonata D894, first movement, some places so beautiful the single notes after the double D major scale run, but also these full FFF chords, there is huge dynamics in it. I just have to put down the headphones and do it over and over again. My youngest son just came in to ask if I could play please a little less loud (piano in 30m2 living room, son at least 15m away with three doors separating us, volume control half way or so).  Due to this pandemic he has online classes, always at home, I can never freely bang on the piano. At  least my wife goes out for a walk from time to time.

Hi Chris. Yes you can, in the effects menu you choose EQ3, and you just pull down the region that makes the boominess. There are also some presets you can choose. I guess the boominess comes from the 80-200 Hz range.

Here is an interesting link regarding EQing a piano. https://producersociety.com/how-to-eq-piano/

Another one to consider, and right in your price range, is the Neumann KH 80 DSP. These are small studio monitors; I've been very happy with them for everything including Pianoteq. It goes down to 53 hz and I personally haven't felt the need for a subwoofer. Neumann even sells a separate kit that allows you to room-correct your monitors and the settings are stored in the monitors themselves; no need for room correction software like Sonarworks or REW (don't bother with the free Neumann Control iPad app for these speakers, it's useless).

These are available in Canada from Studio Economik, which is where I bought mine. I'm very happy with them. See the review at Sound on Sound here: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/neumann-kh80-dsp

Wow! I thought I was a bit extreme with my servo-controlled 15" sub but you outdid me...

Mine is less subtle seen here in my music listening room with my B&W speakers that have two back-firing long-throw woofers so I keep the sub crossover at 40Hz. It's also very heavy to move of course. I don't use it directly with the keyboard, only play with headphones in another room.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/s4j8DNsw4Z2W9DWs8

I hope your neighbours enjoy your booming attic...

I hope you had a look at my photo because Google just removed it. I used my Android phone that took 3 shots and when trying to remove two, Google removed everything...grrrr.

I can reshoot them if needed.

I am new to this forum, so Hello! to everyone!  I am currently using Mackie CR5-XBT.  Though they are not "true" monitors they work very well.  I like the BT because I can listen to my playlist on my cell phone if I am not on the piano.

I'm happy with my MTM's.

I personally wouldn't recommend big woofers for untreated rooms, they move plenty of air and it's easier to have unwanted reflections. The MTM have got 2x3" woofers and the tweeter in the middle, I think this makes a good combo to get loud and direct sound.

Also, they're provided with a nice DSP to adjust their frequencies according to the room response (via mic).

It's true that Pianoteq generally sounds better through headphones but I prefer to listen through my MTM, therefore I most of the times end up changing the mic setup within Pianoteq so I can get decent and present sound through them, a lot of trying and tweaking but it helps a lot in case you haven't tried.

Once you get to a sound of your taste, you'll just stick to it as your one to go.