Hello from Yorkshire, England.

[John555]

Hello all, new to this site but taking delivery of my M50 88 Monday and thought id introduce myself because no doubt i'll need to refer to the M50 thread when i get stuck with something.. .......just a quick one...would my brothers Line Six Spider Amp be OK to use or would a dedicated keyboard amp be needed.....i've heard it is not wise to use ordinary home stereo speakers..is this right? Thanks.

[xmlguy]

You can use any powered speakers you want, you just might not be pleased with the result. Keyboard/synths have a much wider frequency range than guitar, so using a guitar amp imposes a limited frequency output range on what the synth can do. Most keyboard amps are a poor value. Powered PA speakers are designed for the full range output that keyboards can produce, and are lighter and more powerful for the money than amps. Good keyboard amps exist, but they're usually more expensive for what you get than PA speakers. A lot depends on exactly how you intend to use the keyboard. For practice/home, you can use whatever works good enough for you. For live gigs, the style of music, the size of the venue, and the noise/music that you need to overcome are big factors in choosing an output system that can handle these factors. Playing in a folk/acoustic band in a small coffee shop is much less demanding than rock/rap in a large, noisy pub or outdoor venue.

[John555]

You can use any powered speakers you want, you just might not be pleased with the result. Keyboard/synths have a much wider frequency range than guitar, so using a guitar amp imposes a limited frequency output range on what the synth can do. Most keyboard amps are a poor value. Powered PA speakers are designed for the full range output that keyboards can produce, and are lighter and more powerful for the money than amps. Good keyboard amps exist, but they're usually more expensive for what you get than PA speakers. A lot depends on exactly how you intend to use the keyboard. For practice/home, you can use whatever works good enough for you. For live gigs, the style of music, the size of the venue, and the noise/music that you need to overcome are big factors in choosing an output system that can handle these factors. Playing in a folk/acoustic band in a small coffee shop is much less demanding than rock/rap in a large, noisy pub or outdoor venue.

Thanks for the info. I will be playing mostly at home but my intention is to try and come up with something on the Korg (songs/ideas) and then take it to my brothers bands studio and see if they can recreate something i've made with live insrtuments etc. I think i will get some PA speakers when i can afford it but for now i will use the amp or my home stereo speakers. Thanks again for the guidance.