Hello Mark - not long asked much the same question. You're right about headphones, they do produce better sound than (my) speakers (10 year old Alesis M1s). I use Sennheiser phones, and am wondering what monitors might yield similar results (but affordable!).

Hey Mark. When you say "live speakers" do you mean for home/studio or for the stage?

For home/studio you should be using a set of quality monitors, for the stage you should be using a quality PA (stay away from "keyboard amps!!!!!)

There are so many choices for monitors and PA it can boggle the mind. You need to consider price, size, power (SPL) needs, and your personal preferences.

So if you want some hard recommendations let us know monitors or PA and your budget.

Hi Monitors and PA is also a question of taste, the best way is to try on a store, like scott write it depend also about your budget, your using and the size of your home studio or of the stage you can generaly done.

For Yamaha :
HS7 or HS8 for monitors.
DXR12 or DXR10 or DBR 12 or DBR 10. for PA (stage using).

Good advice Scott, and Joel!

Mark,
Aim higher than what "most users" are using. Avoid keyboard amps at all costs. Get yourself a quality set of Sound Reinforcement cabinets... Font skimp on your sound. Depending on the size rooms you play, get the best you can afford. It's about having fun, the better you sound the more fun it is, trust me.

Hello Bad Mister (and Joel) - I live in rural France, one drawback being the lack of available music stores, so I have to go on the advice of others when it comes to new equipment. I am unhappy with my 10 year old Alesis M1 live speakers in that they are 'boomy' with the Montage, some pitches blaring, others muffled. Incidentally, is there a control for touch response? Sorry, just occurred to me and I'm not with the Montage.

I am inclined towards Yamaha HS7s because they are Yamaha and therefore should be compatible with the Montage (or rather, the Montage should have been built to be compatible with them). But it's still another €400 on top of the €3500 already spent (those with wives will understand this!). So I don't want to spend the money to no good effect. My music room is small (a 2.4 metre cube) with no acoustic baffling - but I do prefer monitors to have some colour anyway.

You sound pretty confident about them, Joel, which gives me heart - just wondered if Bad Mister would concur? Or indeed anyone with relevant experience! Speakers are the forgotten element, it seems to me - we all go gaga about fabulous new synths, but overlook the item that gives them expression!

Hi Rot, i'm from France too, but not in rural land, HS series is the best sale of my local store partner, excellent quality/price rate.

You have two settings that allow you to adjust HS7 on your play room.

ROOM CONTROL allows you to attenuate the unnatural, exaggerated low-end that can often occur when speakers are placed next to walls, while HIGH TRIM allows for more flexible control of high frequency response.

Yes it's 400 euro more, not easy, you have buy a 3500 euro synth and you play it with a low cost monitors, it's like have a sport car and put low gasoline and oil quality, the engine will not done is best like this 😉

Before, i have an middle range AKG headphone, not bad, with the Montage coming, i have buy an HPH-MT220 Yamaha headphone (cost double of the AKG to compare 229 euro), no regret, top quality, top sound.

If you buy HS7 or other trademark with the same level of quality/price you will enjoy them, from my experience, Alesis color too much the medium and have a low response to high and low frequencies, not too bad for a youg player without enought money who start with a entry level keyboard but with a Montage it's like "donner du lard à des cochons" (french expression i can translate as "give bacon to feed a pork";)

"Live" then Yamaha DSR where by far the best sounding in the demo room full of many other makes of PA systems at my large music store, I have no preference to the make even though I'm saying so on a Yamaha forum the sound quality is all I'm interested in and the DSR really delivered , in the studio I'm using SE Munro 150 Egg's ( UK monitor) and again they deliver (good review in sound on sound magazine)

Hello Simon! I see you know of what you speak! Unhappily, the prices put both way beyond practicality - having just persuaded my wife to let me blow 3,500 euros on a synth, there is absolutely no way she'll stand for another 2,000 (plus!) to hear it! I must confess it's an unforeseen problem for me! I imagined that a good synth would play reasonably well on yer average speakers, but the Montage seems to accentuate any shortcomings of same. But to what extent does that apply to average Yamaha speakers? I hope that they may not suffer from the peaks and troughs the Alesis M1s do! The HS7s look an affordable solution - but does anyone run such a setup and can report favourably?

Joel - merci pour parlant Anglais! Thank you also for your advice there - the HS7s do seem more amenable, just hoping for hands-on experience with them. I like the adjustable acoustics facility - that's very practical! I see your car analogy - but I have a Rolls-Royce and it still runs perfectly well on bog-standard E10 95 ... so I hoped with synths!

I live in La Charente, where it was 42C yesterday, and just passing 39C and rising today. Are you in France?

Yes read carefully what i have write before

i'm from France too,

13 bouches du Rhône 😉

E95 is a standard quality, not low 😉

Just an update on this - faced with the problem of possibly having to replace my old Alesis M1s, and assisted on here, I've been experimenting with settings and levels. I have found that by turning down the volume level of the speakers themselves, compensating with volume control of the Montage, and more importantly from the effect, changing the velocity control from ,Normal' to 'Soft', the response from the speakers has improved a great deal. Certainly enough to stop worrying about changing them! So if anyone has similar worries, a little experimentation may pay dividends.

I hear what you say, Joel, and of course you are right - the more you spend, the better the result should be. But my hearing isn't good enough any more to appreciate the differences, and there comes a point where improvement becomes pointless. Thank you your website too - a very useful resource! My French isn't entirely up to the 'proper' version, so I cheat and use your thoughtfully provided translator!

My Montage through 2 yorkville nx55p's ... happieness

Use Event Opals or something like my JBL LSR 4328 w/ LSR4312SP SUB. You Montage will only sound as good as your monitors unfortunately.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JBLLSR4328P?siid=46983

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JBLLSR4312SP

For what it's worth I use Behringer B2031A active speakers in my little studio and I use either Stagepas 300 for small venues or Carlsbro 500W PA for large venues, although at the moment I'm only gigging with my Tyros 5.
Peter

Hello Peter, I'm still wading through reviews (and reeling from the prices!) and I must say your Behringer B2031a 'Truth' speakers are way in front at the moment, in that they do have a flat response and are adjustable to suit the room. Still beginners, though. The Tyros is a much more forgiving beast than the Montage, so I dither still, particularly as I won't be using large numbers of the presets ('thump-thump' and 'screechy-squelchy' ones) as they are anyway. But the brass is disappointing after Tyros, so that's probably down to the speakers. How nice it would be if Yamaha brought out a dedicated speaker set as they did for the Tyros series! Matched perfectly and reasonably priced, with a quality of sound more than good enough for anyone over about 50 ...