Monitors for playing akoustic piano samples at home

[Tico1987]

Hi,

I’m looking for some good monitor speakers for playing my Nord piano 5 at home. I mainly use the Nord for studying when the kids are sleeping at night and I can’t play our akoustic upright. So for that I have some Beyerdynamic headphones through which the piano samples sound good. I connected some guitar monitors I had lying around which sounded like absolute s*** playing the piano samples. Guess that doesn’t work.
The room’s small so I’m not looking for large speakers, the smaller the better.
Any tips on which type to buy that can get close to the detail the headphones give?

Cheers
Tico

[Nordine]

I only and still use my old Yamaha HS5 monitors I got in 2013.



Now some new series have come out: https://usa.yamaha.com/products/proaudi ... index.html

[harmonizer]

There are many good choices for quality amplifier+speaker combos that will sound WAY better than any guitar amp.
Just want to give you a level set that if you start your comparison with the sound you get from a $150 pair of headphones, even a powered speaker in the $500 range like an Electrovoice zx-a1 (which I have, and like a lot) will not sound as good as a $150 pair of headphones.

[docbop]

I've gone through a number of speaker Yamahas, KRK, Adam, and currently on Kali's and they all have their pros and cons and best ways to set them up with or without a audio interface. In the long run when I really want to hear my Nord the best I put my Beyerdynamic headphones on. I mention the audio interface because Nords have a rather low output that I finally got an audio interface so I could bring up the level to drive the monitors. So set yourself a budget and see what available in that price range and start listening.

[NordBanger]

The Adam powered studio monitors (T5V 5-inch) I have sound excellent and are perfect for my small room. I also use a single QSC CP12 when I want to jam with other musicians. The Adams have a flat response as they are made for mixing. I think that makes them perfect for my Nord as they let the quality of the keyboard shine through.

[Tico1987]

Thanks for the quick replies! I’ll have a closer look at the HS5 and the T5V for sure.
I saw the T5V are 318€ for two.
Any opinions on the iLoud micro monitors? They’re tiny (and ugly in my opinion).

Cheers

[Tasten-Bert]

Hi Tico

and a very warm welcome to this wonderful forum of nord enthusiasts. When I play my nord at home, mostly practising for next rehearsals or programming sounds, I connect it to my SONY stereo which has a pair of good BRAUN speakers. Pianos sound great over them. Even if I take the original small SONY speakers it’s still good. Micro monitors such as the small JBLs from my kids are nice if playing outside the house, but the SONY is better, louder!

Cheers from Germany and good luck, glad to hear your findings

[Macsaint777]

Welcome! I would suggest Adam T5 or T7v. I actually sold my Focal Shape 65s and replaced them with these.. and for playing music (not mixing/mastering) they are fantastic. I would steer you away from the Yamaha HS series based on personal experience and testing against other options....but I will say, you'l likely need to boost your treble significantly if you are expecting the same sound from the monitors as you get from the headphones. Which Beyer model do you have?

[Tico1987]

Thanks for the recommendation!
I use a Beyerdynamic DT-770 pro 80 ohm, closed back.
I’m not expecting the speakers to be just as good as the headphone, but the guitar speakers I tried briefly just didn’t produce any of the detail of the sound, just a muffled version of it.