Hi. I'd been having trouble with my Roland EM-2000 and thought I'd share my discoveries with this group. For months I'd been having distortion/static coming from the right speaker at medium volume levels, which didn't used to cause distortion. I tried adjusting the internal volume pots on the amplifier board and checked for loose connections/cold solder joints in every way possible to eliminate the noise to no effect. I even turned the speaker connection around so the noise came from the left speaker instead of the right to insure the speakers weren't at fault. So I reasoned that the amp board needed to be replaced. I ordered the replacement Roland "P-100" amp board and replaced the old one: but the noise was still there! As I got to working with it, I found that the noise happened whenever the keyboard was jarred... lightly hitting the keyboard with my fist would make crackling noises come from the right speaker. Then I raised the amp board off of it's mounts and the noise would vanish. I tried this several times, and in the end I wound up remounting the amp board on five rubber grommets, one for every board mounting screw. The amp board no longer rests in direct contact with the keyboard case and the problem is solved. I can only surmise that the keyboard case material is a composite that is not 100% insulative. When the amp board was in contact with the case directly, there was noise from the right speaker whenever the keyboard was jarred by being played, which I mistook for distortion. When I seperated the board from the case by lifting it or finally by mounting it on rubber grommets, the noise vanished. It cost me a new amp board to learn this, so I hope you guys can benefit from this info in some way. Maybe even Roland can learn something here... what is this case made of anyway? Not your everyday non-conductive plastic, for sure!
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