You need to know that even though the speakers face the player, Generalmusic has also placed large openings at the back of the keyboard so that the sound also travels to the audience quite well. Yamaha has come out with a new piano called the P120 and it also has built in speakers which are also ported to the back as well as the top so the audience can hear the sound quite well. Genesys does the same thing.
Sound wise I was so impressed with the Genesys. The acoustic instruments especially. The Ketron SD1 has great sounds, however, with just the hour or so I had listening to the Genesys, I thought it's sounds were of a level above what I've considered the best so far. It's not to say that the SD1 or Roland VA's aren't great, but each new generation of technology tends to surpass what we have come to consider the best we know. I'm sure you can understand this with the way the computer world is. We have come to expect miracles from these manufactures when they come out with new machines and I think we almost always get it.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California