Stage 3 + Nord Piano Monitors: you'll need a Torx T30 driver

[JonnyHightower]

My Nord Piano Monitors (v2) arrived this morning, so I set them up with my Stage 3 88 (rev B). Although they're expensive, they do ooze quality from the moment you even see the box and they are packaged beautifully inside. More importantly, they sound lovely, and because they are mounted on the Nord itself you can feel the vibrations from the lower registers through the keys. In my opinion so far, they are well worth the money.

In order to attach the monitor brackets to the Stage 3, you first have to undo four small bolts on the back of the Nord. These protect the bracket bolt holes from dust and dirt ingress (as well as looking better than four empty holes). To remove these you'll need a Torx T30 driver. Just putting this out there, since I haven't seen anyone else mention it online, and Torx drivers are not as common in most households as Philips screwdrivers or Allen keys. I have some rarely-used Torx drivers in the garage, but others might not be so prepared/lucky.

[Schorsch]

Hi Jonny,

thanks for the information, I wonder if you could provide some photos of where and how the brackets are exactly mounted on the Stage 3 88? I am looking to buy the monitors if I could build something myself to attach the brackets to my Nord Stage 2EX 88, am therefore interested to see the details of how it is done on the Stage 3

[JonnyHightower]

Hi Jonny,

thanks for the information, I wonder if you could provide some photos of where and how the brackets are exactly mounted on the Stage 3 88? I am looking to buy the monitors if I could build something myself to attach the brackets to my Nord Stage 2EX 88, am therefore interested to see the details of how it is done on the Stage 3

See attached pictures. I've only shown the right speaker mount, but the left one is the same, and equidistant from the other end of the instrument. The two vertical hole centres are 41mm apart. Hope this helps!

[harmonizer]

That is a beautiful looking piece of gear.

[Schorsch]

Thanks a lot Jonny, this is helpful - looks like it can be done on the Stage 2 with a bit of craftsmanship

[JonnyHightower]

Yes, I think you could replicate this if there's room inside the case to put a plate you can tap. They are beautiful bits of kit, not just to look at, but they sound fantastic too. Much more low end than you'd expect. That might be partly because they're so firmly attached to the Nord itself.

Slightly off-topic, I also bought a spider pro stand, which is really firm and confidence inspiring. Before that I had a K&M 18950 which was nice and solid but wouldn't go high enough (I'm 6 ft 5). The spider pro is the tallest stand I can find that still looks good. I had it much higher when I first set it up on Thursday, but my wife complained it hid the flowers on the window sill! It was still solid feeling at that height though. Very pleased. Looks as though there'll be enough room at the feet for a control pedal or two too. You might find if you have a second keyboard tier that the monitors interfere with it, depending on the configuration of the stand. The spider pro's second tier doesn't interfere with them, but it's quite close. I've removed it at the moment as I don't have anything to put up there right now.

[Schorsch]

The Spider Pro is superb, I have one as well (silver color) and sometime even use a third tier when needed. There’s enough room for two sustain pedals and two expression pedals. I also have a K&M Omega 18810 Red with a 2nd tier and wheels, looks pretty good with the Nords. The K&M is used for my primary band, the Spider Pro in my home studio and for Playing with my 2nd band

[igneousrock]

Has any Nord owner tried drilling in the holes for these? I appreciate Johnny sharing that the two vertical hole centres are 41mm apart... I have a NS3 76HP (Rev A) and would like to install these DIY style. Any tips appreciated!

[Bjosko]

I am afraid it’s not enough to drill the holes, if you look closely at Jimmy’s post above, you can see that it is a insert thread in the holes. The metal in the frame is too thin by itself to make any thread in it.