Tom and Alex

Tom There is no doubt in my mind that the Z5500's are well worth the extra cost. They are much more powerful and the extra controller with the remote control give a lot more flexibility in sound. I run first through an Alexis mixer and position the four upright speakers in pairs in front of the keyboards with the horizontal speaker behind me as a monitor. The sound is crisp and clear making my vocals sound much better. To me, anyway.

I did not need to build stands as the light weight ones which I had previously bought came with an adapter kit which simply allows a flat metal plate to be fixed to the top of the stand. I bolted two speakers slightly angled on each of these and then series wired them into the left and right front sockets on the sub-woofer unit.

Alex..I will not comment on the different playing techniques used by pianists and organists because that is obviously a matter of personal taste except that I am sure there must be a very large number of forum members who have graduated from the organ to the keyboard and who are used to having their
hands closer together.

On your second point however I must take issue. I also play only single gigs and the extra equipment I need to carry is the Roland keyboard weighing 9 lbs and a small very light stand which fits under the stand which carries the Tyros.Oh! and a midi cable.
I still have the Tyros at the same height as before so there is no obstruction to prevent the audience having the full benefit of my ugly mug!!

I have also used two or more full keyboards
in the past and totally agree with you that they are not worth the trouble for any benefit you gain but this system is actually only using one keyboard with a larger number of keys and is similar to that used by Richard Bower, one of the foremost Yamaha Concert performers here in the U.K. Except that he has a full pedalboard as well.

The greatest benefit for me is that I now have 60 notes available on the Tyros for melody and 49 available on the lower keyboard for accompaniment both of which are touch sensitive.

Trevor