Basic Kronos discontinued?

Dreamer · Post by **Dreamer** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:23 am

Two days ago I went to a music shop to buy a Kronos 61; they told me that they had only one left and that was a demo unit, so called the rep (who was in Frankfurt) to ask when a new, sealed, unit would have been available. Much to their (and my) surprise, the rep answered that the basic Kronos will be discontinued and from now on only the Kronos-X will be available. I was dumbfounded, but then emailed another dealer and got the same answer. I asked if there was any price reduction foreseeable for the Kronos X but the reply was that no, the price will remain the same. So, since this meant a difference of 700 euros just to have 1 Gb more of RAM and a second 32 Gb SSD, I went to the first shop and purchased their demo unit, because the dealer offered me a special discount.
Now I wonder: why such a move on Korg's part? Could it be that this is their answer to the faulty RH3 keybed problem, since it only affected the basic version and not the X? But it appears a rather drastic solution, doesn't it? I mean, if you are a doctor you don't cure an illness by killing the patient...
And there is no doubt that from a commercial point of view this decision will affect the Kronos sales, since now the minimum price to enter the Kronos family, here in Europe, will be around 3200 euros vs. 2500.
What do you think? Has everyone else heard of this decision? On the Korg website there are no news yet...

spalding12 · Post by **spalding12** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 10:17 am

why WOULD they continue to make the "NON-X" kronos keyboards?
maybe in THIS economy KORG should decide to LOWER the price of the "X" units to the price of the "NON-X" versions...
but, the "X" represents the "NEWER/IMPROVED" version so it is ridiculous to assume KORG would ever make the "NON-X" versions again

Joe Gerardi · Post by **Joe Gerardi** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 12:03 pm

They've been gone a while. What you see at the dealers is dwindling old stock. It's how I got my 88: the dealers was closing it out to make room for the X.

..Joe

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 2:36 pm

None of the changes in the X affect the build structure of the original. So in essence they are still making the original, but it has a big red X on it and a larger hd and 1gb more memory.

They may have figured out what to do with the keybed and fan. But that seems hit and miss.

Bertotti · Post by **Bertotti** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 2:46 pm

it was to easy for people to buy the non x and update ram and hd at a much lower cost. I imagine it impacted the x sales so naturally it would go. The x also has a newer mother board if I am not mistaken so there is more to the cost then just hd and ram, not sure how much more though. As for keybed and fan, I can say the fan has not been dealt with, twice I can say that.

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:47 pm

Bertotti wrote:The x also has a newer mother board if I am not mistaken so there is more to the cost then just hd and ram, not sure how much more though.

I think the original mother board was the Intel D510MO. I don't know the new one but I would think it's about the same price or cheaper so I have my doubts that the mobo contributed to the added cost. Some of the added cost is likely tagged on to cover keybed replacements and repairs.

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 3:55 pm

The x also has a newer mother board if I am not mistaken so there is more to the cost then just hd and ram, not sure how much more though.

The motherboard in the Kronos X is an Intel D525MW. It is dual core 1.8 GHz. I bought a spare just in case.

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:31 pm

Lolz...it is perfectly justifiable to discontinue the original Kronos, the X is out.

runningman67 · Post by **runningman67** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 5:10 pm

I'm guessing that it is quicker and cheaper than it used to be, to adjust and develop new improved versions, a PC based machine is simpler in engineering terms than the previous make-up of Korg synths, so we will have to get used to it and embrace it. The X came along very quickly !! for us Original Kronos owners.

The price in real terms is far cheaper. I payed £2100 over 8 years ago for my Triton. My Kronos was £1800.

Ojustaboo · Post by **Ojustaboo** » Mon Apr 15, 2013 1:22 am

JonSolo wrote:None of the changes in the X affect the build structure of the original. So in essence they are still making the original, but it has a big red X on it and a larger hd and 1gb more memory.

They may have figured out what to do with the keybed and fan. But that seems hit and miss.

Fan is still hit and miss but I've yet to see the RH3 problem on the X.

I owned two different originals before the shop upgraded me to the X for free (88 version) the keybed is on a different scale quality wise. Both my originals had uneven spacing between the keys. The space between each key of my X is identical and after having the two originals, I can only conclude that the X has an improved keyboard.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Apr 15, 2013 2:20 am

lonelagranger wrote:
The x also has a newer mother board if I am not mistaken so there is more to the cost then just hd and ram, not sure how much more though.
The motherboard in the Kronos X is an Intel D525MW. It is dual core 1.8 GHz. I bought a spare just in case.

Hmmm upgrade the motherboard?? Heh

degaffman · Post by **degaffman** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:38 am

lonelagranger wrote:
The x also has a newer mother board if I am not mistaken so there is more to the cost then just hd and ram, not sure how much more though.
The motherboard in the Kronos X is an Intel D525MW. It is dual core 1.8 GHz. I bought a spare just in case.

I was looking at the D525MW boards - the ones I see use DDR3 ram, not DDR2. Were you able to find a DDR2 based model, or are the new Kronos-X models using DDR3 ram?

MarPabl · Post by **MarPabl** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:44 am

degaffman wrote:I was looking at the D525MW boards - the ones I see use DDR3 ram, not DDR2. Were you able to find a DDR2 based model, or are the new Kronos-X models using DDR3 ram?

Kronos-X uses D525MW. Read Question KORG KRONOS RAM!

Davidb · Post by **Davidb** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 3:26 pm

Dreamer wrote: Now I wonder: why such a move on Korg's part? Could it be that this is their answer to the faulty RH3 keybed problem, since it only affected the basic version and not the X? But it appears a rather drastic solution, doesn't it? I mean, if you are a doctor you don't cure an illness by killing the patient...

XDDD
True.

IMHO its in part because of the RH3 keybed problem, which may have damaged sales and the image of the product worlwide (rightfully IMO, as there have been a lot of users affected by this issue alone ), and in the other part due to demands in the production (i.e. SSD, RAM, and motherboard price and/or availability)

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Thu Apr 25, 2013 9:05 pm

Davidb wrote:
Dreamer wrote: Now I wonder: why such a move on Korg's part? Could it be that this is their answer to the faulty RH3 keybed problem, since it only affected the basic version and not the X? But it appears a rather drastic solution, doesn't it? I mean, if you are a doctor you don't cure an illness by killing the patient...
XDDD
True.

IMHO its in part because of the RH3 keybed problem, which may have damaged sales and the image of the product worlwide (rightfully IMO, as there have been a lot of users affected by this issue alone ), and in the other part due to demands in the production (i.e. SSD, RAM, and motherboard price and/or availability)

yep, sounds about right. Buyers can see a dramatic difference between the Kronos and Kronos X. the big corporation believes that selective amnesia will occur about past keybed problems and the X makes it all good in the worldwide image