On advice from DNJ and Don Mason, I bought the Yamaha YST-MS5O system, paid about $10 more for black, and when you included freight charges, then deduct the rebate, I'll end up spending $69.54--less than half the MSLP. The speakers sound great, they're more than enough to do those small, private parties where there's no more than 40 guests and space is limited to 1,500 to 2,000 square feet. I'm rigging them so they'll be on a flat-black shelf located just beneath the keyboard. This should be low enough for the subwoofer and the satellites point up at about a 20 degree angle, which should be perfect. Consequently, for these smaller venues, all I'll need is the keyboard, speakers, X-stand, mic and a folding stool--that's it. Life just got easier again.

Cheers,

Gary

Will this speaker work as monitor on the stage if you're playing next to lead guitarist? Guitar amps are mostly loud. Thanks. - Dan

Gary...

If they're really that good, that's a steal! How are they for vocals... and where'd you find them at that $$?

Gary, I just went over and set mine up for the first time. I'm playing the Country Club lounge, and it seats about 30.
It sounded pretty good when I checked it with nobody in there, but the proof will be tonight. I'm not sure how far out the sound will carry with people in there, but it sounds great up close.
I'm still figuring how best to set the speakers. I'll take some photos tonight and we can compare notes. No pun intended.
Glen, Buy.com is where we got them.
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 09-12-2003).]

Just got in from the job. The little speakers sounded great. There were about 30 people there, mostly older. Then later on, after the old people left, there was a younger group, so I "cranked it up" a little. The speakers did a really great job. You could hear them not only throughout the room, but throughout the building.
I was getting some distortion from the mic if I wasn't careful. Can't put my finger on it, but I don't think it had anything to do with the speakers. I'll check it out after I sleep awhile.
I didn't take any pictures.
DonM

The vocals sounded great when I tested the system in a 1,000 square foot room, and the level was excellent. There's a lot more coming out of those little speakers than I would have ever thought.

Dan, If the guitar player cranks up his 500 watt amp, he's gonna drown you out is he's one of those folks that things lound compensates for lack of tallent. Those that play in a balanced mode with the rest of the band should not produce a problem. As for using them as a monitor, I imagine they'll work just fine, but I haven't tried that yet. Because I'm playing a PSR-2000, I have the keyboard's speakers pointing directly at me, therefore, I don't need a monitor. In fact, I just gave one away a few months ago, a 12-inch Yamaha wedge that sells for about $150.

Glen, Buy.Com had the best deal anywhere. I looked at them locally in some of the so-called discount stores and they were selling for $139 for the outfit and no rebate.

Just woke up from last night's gig, five hours at the local Blood & Guts Saloon (American Legion). Had a good night, about 40 people who came out despite torrential rains and high winds.

when I finish building the custom shelf for the speakers, I post some photos.

Cheers,

Gary

hi Gary,

Congrats on the terrific deal you got on your new speakers.

The Yamaha YST-MS50 satelite/sub woofer speakers:
http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=95990

are essentially the same speakers as the Tyros TRS-MS01 speakers.
http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=87366

The only difference is that the Tyros speakers are colored silver (to match the Tyros), includes built in brackets which allow you to mount the satellites directly on the keyboard, as well as plug them directly into the keyboard rather than to the sub woofer.

What I've done with my subwoofer is to mount a handle on top, which makes for easy transport.

- Scott

Is there a nice soft canvas bag available to hold all 3 speakers sat/sub/wires...for transport?

Wall Mart has some nice luggage bags on sale that I believe will be a perfect fit, as well as protect the speakers. They were selling for about $29, which is not bad.

Gary

Does yamaha make a bag too?

Oddly enough, my wife had recently bought a mesh bag for my son to take to college, to put dirty clothes in, but he didn't take it. The speakers fit it in nicely, but a little snug.
I got the idea from Richard Peck.
DonM

Don & Gary...

Thanks for the tip, I ordered a set yesterday from buy.com... too good of a deal to pass up.

The deal just got nicer, just for today. The speakers will cost me $57.53 after the rebate.

I will use these as auxiliary speakers for my Motion Sound KP-100S which often doesn't deliver quite enough volume for my medium/large sized gigs.

Beakybird

I went to check this out at Buy.Com. It's $59 plus $20 shipping with a $20 rebate it should be $59 for the off white.

So what do you guys use as a mixer? I know the Yamaha keyboard's have a mic input right? But don't you need something external for reverb? Or are you folks not using reverb?

I assume if you guys are always quibbling about the harmonizer being good or bad, you must want to use some reverb on some tunes. No?

I plug my mic into my external ih harmonizer. It has a main volume slider and a seperate volume slider for the harmony voices and another volume slider for the lead vocal. So all I would need is to hook up my Nanoverb right?

This rig would be great for my coffee shop thing.

[This message has been edited by brickboo (edited 09-17-2003).]

[This message has been edited by brickboo (edited 09-17-2003).]

The Yamaha PSR2100 has all the reverbs, echos and other DSPs one would ever use. I also happen to think that the harmonizer sounds more than adequate for live use.
I do use an external mixer some of the time. It is usually Mackie 1202 VLZ, but I also have an 8-channel Behringer that seems to be just as good (except it has a wall wart power supply).
You would need the Nanoverb.
DonM

I'm not using a mixer. Just plugging in the speakers, plug the mic into the keyboard and that's pretty much all you need for private parties in rooms measuring about 1000 to 2000 square feet. Same holds true for the nursing homes, where most of the audience is wheel-chair bound and the room has the lousiest accustics on the planet. As Don said, the 2000s vocal effects are more than adequate for the smaller venues, and other than the harmonizer, they'll work on the larger jobs.

Cheers,

Gary