Topic: Monitor quality vs headphone

I am verify the functionality of the Pianoteq trial version, in my room house.
Not considering the latency problem, (my notebook work at 1.8Ghz),   hearing the piano whit headphone the sound is very good, bat whit 30 watt  club 30/A of SR Technology my active audio monitor, the sound is quite bad.

Frequency response 50Hz-20kHz
Sensitivity (1W-1m) 88 db
SPL max 105 db
Crossover Passive
System-format 2-way mono-amp
Woofer 5"
Horn Compression tweeter
Max Power Out 30 W RMS
Connections JACK Line In, RCA Line IN, RCA Power Out
Controls Volume
Box Two-way bass reflex
Construction Plywood
Weight Kg 3,5
Dimensions(WxDxH)
17x19,5x23 cm

Maybe it is necessary to adjust the “Equalizer” and the “Spectrum profile”?

There is a mode to adjust these parameters?

Pierre

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

1) make sure your pianoteq output is set to mono (the setting is at the bottom centre) if your monitor is mono
2) aside from that, blame your monitor--I've run Pianoteq through a variety of amps and monitors and the better the monitor the better the sound--it sounds fabulous through a Motion Sound KP200s.

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

Thank you Doug for your reply.
My Monitor as two loudspeaker stereo.

maybe I need a better monitor like your Motion Sound KP200s.

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

Speakers with these specification must be enough :
Frequency response : 31 - 18 khz +-5 db
Sensitivity (1W-1m) 96 - 104 db
Spl max  114 - 122 db
Woofer 8" - 12"
Power Out 60 - 80 W RMS per channel , more is better .
No need EQ , just flat frequency response.
For instruments must be very good dynamic (not distorted) range.

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

After posting in another thread, I find that I still have some questions about monitors:

One sound guy once told me that he would never use anything less than a 14" cone in the monitors for a piano where the piano would be played solo. I don't play out, and I've used, and use at home, monitors with smaller cones, but large ones do make a difference. My question is: how much? Anyone here using 14" or more stage speakers with PianoTeq? How much difference can you tell?

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

there were several testimonials from pianoworld forums about the Behringer B2031A stereo monitors as being very good, especially for the money.  They are getting replaced by the B3031A's soon.  Both sell new for $340, but you can find the B2031As for closer to $200 new if you look around.  They are supposed to have good sensitivity, freq response and enough headroom/reserve power to handle a virtual grand piano.  Also important:  several people seem to be calling them an "exception" to typical Behringer product quality.  We'll see

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

Hi,

I am using the Behringer 2031P versions, two pairs, one for general use with an old Onkyo power amp for home stereo, one with a Samson 120 watts PA amp for my MP8. For the money the Behringers are an exception in that price range. If you need just two inexpensive but useful monitors I would recommend them highly.

Rainer

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

pierrecast (the original poster):

I worry that both the freq response and the size of the woofers in the monitors you describe will limit the sound:

The usual low freq response is 20 hz for a monitor.

A 5" woofer seems much, much too small for an acoustic piano. From what I can gather, a cone that is at least twice that size is the bare minimum to register the midrange and bass freqs. Not a PianoTeq problem: a piano needs large cones.  Vocals and guitars can sound astonishingly good on 5" cones, as will piano used as a backdrop for other instruments, so it's natural to assume that a solo piano will also sound good on them. But if you listen to a solo piano on 5" cones and then on 15" cones, you'll immediately hear and feel the difference. You might try taking a good solo piano cd to a pro sound shop and asking them to put it on monitors with small woofers and then on monitors with 15" woofers. You'll hear the difference.

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

try to reporpduce the sounds of a 10metre long imperial grand piano through a 5" speaker:
you do the maths

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

To All,
I thank for yours advices.

In the next, I envisage to test some monitors like you have described at the vendors shops.
I shall bring with me some  MP3 files from,  Pianoteq site “LISTEN” page, on a USB Key flash memory, to perceive the sound quality in the field.

Pierre

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

I hate to wade in with more advice, but:

1. If you take a recording (see 2 below), I suggest that you don't take mp3's. The frequency response is limited. Record wave files of PianoTeq. I would also suggest taking a cd. Many pro shops might not be set up to let you insert a flash stick into their computer.

2. The best thing might be to instead take your laptop (if you use one) with your external sound card and usb to midi cable. The shop could then very easily plug monitors into your external sound card and a keyboard into your computer, so you could actually play PianoTeq over the monitors. Just ask the shop--you might want to drop by beforehand to be sure that this is ok, and to ask when the best time would be--when it's not crowded, for example. Most shops won't consider this request unusual, now. This way, you could also listen to all of the presets, and experiment with various parameter changes. (I wouldn't worry about the amount of effort you're asking them to expend--if the shop is a good shop, they expect to spend time on people shopping for good monitors. It's not a small purchase, and the only way to hear if a monitor is good for a given sound is to play that sound through it. If the salesperson seems impatient or too burdened by your request, go someplace else.) Also: find the piano player in the shop. He or she will save you a lot of time and will also be interested in hearing PianoTeq through different monitors.

3.  Don't rely on JUST the size of the cones, comparing just small ones to just one or two sets of large monitors. Listen instead to several monitors with large cones. Some will sound better for a piano than others.

Let us know what you find.

Re: Monitor quality vs headphone

hello,

I am using proximity monitors Dynaudio BM5A, and record WAV at 96kHz. I may be subjective but the sound I get is gorgeous! On the otehr hand, I have headphones of medium quality that I rarely use for anything, especially not for judging sound quality ... and I must say, being so used to my speakers, anything that ends up in my headphones sounds like crap. BUt they are useful when I record some acoustic stuff