Kawai MP11SE (digital piano) Amp Suggestions for a Newbie

[AnalogSteph]

Looks like the construction has been amended to address the exact issues I was bringing up. It's always good to know that speaker manufacturers are not living under a rock. I'm still not sure about the claimed "minimalist crossover design" (apparently a 1st-order job, going by "an audiophile grade polypropylene film capacitor") in combination with a 1.8 kHz crossover. Sounds like a potential recipe for vertical directivity issues and somewhat limited level handling to me.

The metal grille over the tweeter is probably a good idea, but I imagine it would be showing up in the treble response in measurements somewhere, too. It's almost inevitable, you just can't get these grilles 100% acoustically transparent while still doing their job. Mind you, this should be happening past 6 kHz, so outside the most critical area. It's also quite easily addressed by EQ.

 

[jseyfert3]

I'm still not sure about the claimed "minimalist crossover design" (apparently a 1st-order job, going by "an audiophile grade polypropylene film capacitor") in combination with a 1.8 kHz crossover. Sounds like a potential recipe for vertical directivity issues and somewhat limited level handling to me.

Yes, it is first order, from reading his other pages. Just a single capacitor. He says the woofer is allowed to roll off naturally on the high end (no inductor), and the capacitor is sized to bring the tweeter on at the same rate the woofer rolls off.

How does a 1st order crossover cause vertical directivity issues?

I’ll have to read up on level handling.

 

[jseyfert3]

Looks like the construction has been amended to address the exact issues I was bringing up. It's always good to know that speaker manufacturers are not living under a rock.

Does the foam ring around the woofers help, even though the front baffle is still inset from the front edges of the speaker case?

I'm still not sure about the claimed "minimalist crossover design" (apparently a 1st-order job, going by "an audiophile grade polypropylene film capacitor") in combination with a 1.8 kHz crossover. Sounds like a potential recipe for vertical directivity issues and somewhat limited level handling to me.

Ah, I think I see. I did a quick search and found this. All speakers with offset drivers will have vertical directivity non-symmetry, but the shape of this will be affected by the spacing and the order of the crossover.

Looks like on a first order crossover there will be notches in the sound around the crossover frequency both above and below the horizontal axis. Judging from the graphs in that above link, a first order crossover will have a slight notch at the reference axis, pretty much no notch at a slight angle below the reference axis, and a rather large notch just above the reference axis. So I will definitely not want these speakers positioned below my listening position. (Or aim them up slightly I suppose if they are)

Also since the tweeter isn’t centered on axis above the woofers, I understand that will tilt the vertical directivity response. So it will not be flat across the horizontal plane like it would if they were vertically aligned. Probably not a huge deal for my planned use as piano speakers positioned optimally for the pianist, but it wouldn’t something you’d want for say, TV speakers where there will be multiple listening positions spread over a horizontal area at roughly the same height.

 

[tomtoo]

Does the foam ring around the woofers help, even though the front baffle is still inset from the front edges of the speaker case?


Ah, I think I see. I did a quick search and found this. All speakers with offset drivers will have vertical directivity non-symmetry, but the shape of this will be affected by the spacing and the order of the crossover.

Looks like on a first order crossover there will be notches in the sound around the crossover frequency both above and below the horizontal axis. Judging from the graphs in that above link, a first order crossover will have a slight notch at the reference axis, pretty much no notch at a slight angle below the reference axis, and a rather large notch just above the reference axis. So I will definitely not want these speakers positioned below my listening position. (Or aim them up slightly I suppose if they are)

Also since the tweeter isn’t centered on axis above the woofers, I understand that will tilt the vertical directivity response. So it will not be flat across the horizontal plane like it would if they were vertically aligned. Probably not a huge deal for my planned use as piano speakers positioned optimally for the pianist, but it wouldn’t something you’d want for say, TV speakers where there will be multiple listening positions spread over a horizontal area at roughly the same height.

Try, get a decent amp and try. Then tell what you like or not. You talk like 'what should i do that my first sex will be great?
Answer: Do it, and then improve.

 

[jseyfert3]

Finally doing an initial test. Not on my piano, as I still need some shelves and waiting on my Aimiya A07 amplifier to show up (I don’t want to use my $15 amp that’s hooked up to the cheap speakers on the piano now).

Listening to one of the few actual albums I have that’s not compressed streaming audio (how I normally listen). Lindsay Stirling: Brave Enough. Playing the ripped wave files (ripped from an CD) off a USB drive plugged into my Sony STR DN-1080 AVR, in Pure Direct mode (to ensure all audio processing is turned off). I had previously also gone and turned off as many audio processing settings as I was able to find in the Sony menus, and changed the output to Direct, before finally pressing the Pure Direct button on the front of the amp (which shuts the amp display off to “avoid noise from the display” )

I think they certainly sound good. Well I’m not great at describing things, the vocals are certainly crystal clear to me.

 

[jseyfert3]

Well, tracking said my A07 was delivered last night. So I went to the mailbox and grabbed the mail. And found something I was not expecting…an empty envelope.

My first thought was someone cut it open and stole what was in it. But on closer inspection, the strip above the perforated tear line had never even been sealed in the first place. So best guess is the machine malfunctioned or it missed the heat sealer, package got tossed around, amplifier slid out, but the padded envelope that had the addressed label continued on as normal, since it was properly addressed.

Anyway, called Amazon, got a person surprising fast (like two minutes), explained what happened. She put me on a one minute hold then came back and said they could refund me. I said I had pictures of the envelope but she said she could see I was a good customer and it was not necessary, and wished me a good day.

 

[tomtoo]

Well, tracking said my A07 was delivered last night. So I went to the mailbox and grabbed the mail. And found something I was not expecting…an empty envelope.

My first thought was someone cut it open and stole what was in it. But on closer inspection, the strip above the perforated tear line had never even been sealed in the first place. So best guess is the machine malfunctioned or it missed the heat sealer, package got tossed around, amplifier slid out, but the padded envelope that had the addressed label continued on as normal, since it was properly addressed.

View attachment 253363View attachment 253364

Anyway, called Amazon, got a person surprising fast (like two minutes), explained what happened. She put me on a one minute hold then came back and said they could refund me. I said I had pictures of the envelope but she said she could see I was a good customer and it was not necessary, and wished me a good day.

Bad luck. So you now get money back or the amp?

 

[jseyfert3]

Bad luck. So you now get money back or the amp?

I got my money back. I immediately ordered another A07. This is scheduled to arrive January 3rd.

 

[tomtoo]

I got my money back. I immediately ordered another A07. This is scheduled to arrive January 3rd.

Wish you good luck in the new year! Not only with the amp!

 

[tomtoo]

Any news?