Korg Forums

[JFVdu44]

Hello All, I'm french with a quite bad english so I apologize for the errors Icould do...
I own a Korg nautilus 88 for 1 month now but when I play with my headphones and after listen on my monitoring speakers the sound is really bad ! The speakers are Focal alpha 65 evo !
I respected the correct wire (TRS). The nautilus is connected to a little mix table (yamaha MG10XU) on balanced inputs (all the effects and filters are off) and when I altern the headphone output of the nautlilus and the headphone output on the mixing table, I don't get the same sound !
It seems the sound from the lines output is altered....sure it's not the same ! Not the so amazing sounds I get the headphones connect directly to the nautilus !
Is anyone experieiced this issue ?
Thanks for any help !
JF

[voip]

Welcome to the forum.

In what way is the sound from the speakers bad? Is it weak and "tinny", or is there some sort of distortion? Are the room acoustics controlled in any way, or do you have bare walls, which can interfere with the sound quality.

Make sure that the LF Shelving, and HF Shelving controls are set to the mid-point (0dB), and try connecting the speakers directly to the Nautilus, not via the MG10XU mixer, to see if the mixer is introducing the altered sound. Also make sure that the audio connections are all good. Try wiggling the connectors to see if that changes the sound. If necessary, clean the connector contacts with a contact cleaner, such as Servisol Super 10, or similar.

.

[JFVdu44]

Thank you both for your valuable comments!
Do you think I can definitively rule out a problem coming from the Korg?
I removed the mg10xu from the chain by directly connecting the focal to the nautilus but the sound still seems much worse than with my headphones.
The pianos appear “bland” and flat to me. With a more metallic and much less natural sound.
The cables are brand new and they are klotz.
I therefore come to think, as KK rightly points out, that it is probably the alpha 65 evo (purchased especially for the nautilus) which are in question and not "neutral" enough! However, all the tests placed them a little better than the Yamaha HS8 or HS7. I made a mistake buying them! However, I had heard the nautilus on HS8s in store and the sound was superb (but the focals were very well rated and there was a nice reduction during the winter sales)
Then, it is also likely that the acoustics of the room are not optimal!
Anyway, in your opinion, if the sound is good on headphones, it must also be good on the line outputs and It can't be a technical problem coming from the electronics of the nautilus? That’s actually my only real fear!

I think I'm going to sell the focals and save up to aim higher! Do you have any models to recommend to me to best reproduce the sublime sounds of the nautilus?

Thank you for all your advice to solve my problem.

[voip]

One thing to try would be to connect the Nautilus' headphone out socket to the speakers by using a stereo splitter cable. The L & R outputs from the splitter cable going into each of the speakers would be single ended in this case, rather than balanced, but it would help to rule out a fault in the main L & R outputs on the Nautilus.

Piano sounds, in particular, can seem dull and lifeless if the speakers are both playing the same mono sound. It might be worth checking that you are sending proper stereo signals, L/Mono on the Nautilus to the left speaker, and R on the Nautilus to the right speaker. Make sure the jack plugs of the audio cables are fully inserted into the Nautilus, especially the Nautilus' Main R output, as this is where the switching to Mono occurs if only one audio cable is used.

.

[JFVdu44]

This seems like a great idea to me!
I thought about something like this at first but was afraid of impedance problems!
I just ordered a cable splitter to test!

[downtownpaulyp]

Whenever I hear someone describe a balanced / TRS / XLR connection with tinny sound, I go immediately to a bad cable.

When one conductor of a balanced cable is broken, the result is always thin, tinny, quiet sound, so try new cables, balanced or un-balanced.

[JFVdu44]

Hello all !
I finally received my new cables and I was able to do quite a few tests!
Firstly, there seems to be no noticeable difference between the headphone output and the line output of the Nautilus !
But I noticed a pretty clear difference between balanced and unbalanced cable ! The sound is much brighter and clearer if I connect with unbalanced cable ! but it's just my opinion... I prefer this sound !
This goes against Korg recommendations ! I'don't know I can stay with an unbalanced configuration ? I saw there could be problems with it !
And the end result of all these tests is that I am now sure that the focal alpha 65 evo do not faithfully reproduce the sound that the nautilus produces! So I think the next step will be to resell them to go for Yamaha HS8s which I went back to listen to on Saturday and which have an excellent result! But perhaps you have other suggestions for speakers more suited to the Nautilus! I will be delighted to have new ideas (the HS8 have the reputation of being very demanding in terms of room acoustics)
Best regards !
JF