Nord User Forum

I recently played a jazz gig with my Yamaha P 105. I didn't feel like lugging the QSC Eights and the Nord piano to the gig. It was a small venue, and really didn't require all of that equipment. I would love to have some small speakers that I could actually attached to my Nord piano for such an occasion. Something that would be like having one of the pianos with on-board speakers. Are there such a speaker that I could attached to the Nord piano somehow for those venues where it's intimate and doesn't require so much sound reinforcement?

I guess it depends on how small a venue but Bose makes some incredible small speaker systems as does Jambox. If you're talking about 30-50 people that might do the trick.

For those kind of gigs, I sometimes bring one(!) RCF HD-10A with my Nord (NS3 or just the NE6D), and then I actually sit on the speaker, so that I don't need a chair... And I play mono, and use e.g. the Amber upright... and it works really well People tend to think I'm playing a real upright piano, if they only listen to me.

To my NP3 I use 2 Bose Compact L1 systems. This is easy to handle and provide superb sound experience for NP3 stereo piano sounds. For smaller settings I use just one Bose speaker with mono piano/sample sounds. The great think is that the Bose speakers fulfill both at PA and monitor and deliver great and balanced sound experience.

You won't go wrong with HK nanos. Great sound reproduction for NP3. Small tops too. I have the 602 system that will do a venue of up to 120 people and has a peak performance of 1500w. Alternatively the 302 system is 750w doing a venue of up to 80 people.

I don't have experience with small Bose or HK systems but here are some alternatives

1) Not sure if you could attach them or even just put them on the Nord Piano, but the FBT J5A are great speakers with a very natural sound, and they weight 3.4 kg only. If you put them on the floor, or if you put them side-by-side, then bass extension goes lower (like all speakers of course). Actually you might also bring just one in a backpack.

2) Currently I play a lot with a Roland Cube Street EX. It is stereo, it is loud enough to play with most drummers, it can run on rechargeable batteries for a long time (main reason I bought it), and it can be used as a small PA system for other musicians. I have used it for playing bass keyboard with a Rhodes sound, in various trios featuring a drummer and a solist, it works for small places / sensible SPL. I always use the line inputs for the keyboard. Weight is about 7.5 kg, and you will need a rather large backpack if you want to carry it this way.
It is not perfect, I think the upper high frequencies are not as clear and detailed as FBT-like speakers, so for a high end acoustic piano simulation like the Nord or, say, Ivory, it might not be the best choice.

3) Consumer systems like small hi-fi speakers, etc. Be careful about the line input quality though, I do have a Jambox (the 15x4x5 cm one) and its line input is crap (or maybe it is the A/D converter?)

4) Small studio monitors. Recently I used an old Yamaha MS-101-II as a stage monitor for the singer, in a restaurant. Actually most of the vocals went through this speaker, not through the Cube Street EX. There were no drums though, only occasional percussion, and we were asked to play soft

Have any of you tried Bose S1 Pro?

I currently have one Yamaha DXR12, and I am looking for a second speaker (or other system) to get stereo. I think the DXR12 is OK, but not fantastic. I have tried a lot of different systems, including Bose L1 Modell 2. Whatever system, I think there is a problem with the mid part of the keyboard with piano sound, so it will be a compromise anyway.

The DXR12 is heavy (19 kg). So I considered to have DXR8 as a second speaker. But yesterday I was introduced to Bose S1 Pro in a music store. I think it sounded quite good - but it is hard to get a good impression in a shop. The weight - only 7kg - makes it very tempting!

So my question: Do any of you have experience with this speaker?

EDIT: I just ordered one. Will get it in a few days. The light weight + the possibility to run it on batteries made the choice easier. (So now I only want to hear about positive experiences with the S1

jazz, here is a thread on keyboard corner for the bose s1 pro

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthread ... Pro#UNREAD

I think Roland’s KC-110 merits at least a glance. I have one, and it can handle a room of about 80 moderately noisy people. It’ll keep up in an acoustic jazz trio or quartet just fine. It won’t thunder like a Bosendorfer Imperial, obviously; physics goes only so far.
It’s smaller than the Cube EX mentioned above, cheaper, and to my ears, the tonal profile is better than its larger KC-series siblings. Even when there’s a PA involved, it makes a handy hotspot.
(This opinion is all about bang-for-the-buck and bang-for-the-portability.)