I seriously doubt that anyone in our audiences ever notices the onboard speakers, especially when you are slightly elevated above them on stage. They tend to notice speakers on poles a lot more. And, most of the non-speaker arranger keyboards usually have vented spaces where the speaker would have been placed.

That said, I know a lot of pros that love those onboard speakers and use them as monitors. In fact, some would never purchase a keyboard without speakers and for that reason. For me, I always dead headed the speakers so I could hear what the audiences were hearing. And, before I began doing this, I had a sound system failure (my fault) and I didn't know it until someone said turn up the volume. I had neglected to switch on the power to my Bose L1 PAS and was performing for a crowd of about 300 ppl. The music level sounded just fine to me through the onboard speakers.

Someone mentioned a price tag of about $2,100 US MSP. To me, in today's market, that seem like a great price for an arranger keyboard with all those wonderful features and high-quality sounds. When I was still working as an entertainer, the keyboard would have been paid off in a week and a halfs work on the NH circuit.

I read where two style categories were no longer there, Country and Ballad. I'm confident those styles still exist, just in other categories. No big dead for most folks because they rarely go to a style by selecting a category first, then rooting through the list to find the one they want. Instead, the styles are usually accessed through registrations or the Music Finder Directory (song list) which is far more efficient and quicker.

If I had more time remaining on the planet, I would likely go for the SX-900, which would be a big update from my S-950, which I am perfectly satisfied with at this time.

Good luck,

Gary