Rudolph R-N R Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 Just got the ctx700. I've already got a Korg Pa1000, which I love. But as a travel keyboard, and for a couch/bed keyboard, it's pretty heavy and I'd worry about it getting stolen or damaged while traveling. My initial push was for uber light,, but the roland go piano-61 and keys are nowhere to be bought, and the casiotone ct-s300 just doesn't do it for me. The speakers are kind of a joke and the sounds remind me of the worst from previous casio boards. On Mike Martins suggestion I bought the ctx-700, and viva la difference! Really enjoy a lot of the sounds, and even though it too only has 5 watts total power, the onboard speakers sound WAY better, decent. I've always had a thing for good speakers in my keyboards, and after the MX-x500, very good, and the Pa1000, outstanding, I'm wondering how much better 12 watts total power or 30 watts total power is than the 5 watts of the x700. Hence my post. I would enjoy the other benefits from the upgrade as well, esp the pitch wheel and adjusting sound volumes, but my main question is this upgrade worth gaining 5 pounds in weight (heavy when you're in bed or on the couch) and $130 or $275 in cost? Please feel free to be verbose! And if you want to carry on about boards you've played and the best speakers built in, let's hear it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 If you know the sound of the MZ-X500, I can compare that 40 watts to the 30 watts of the CT-X5000. MZ-X500 vent ports face the rear, so you may hear more mid bass on the CT-X5000 since the vent ports are on top. I'd say the MZ is definitely louder, but it's a pretty close race between the two. I often play the CT-X5000 in bed or on the sofa, although I'm sure the lighter and slimmer CT-X700 is more comfy over a longer period. The X5000 can get heavy after a while. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolph R-N R Posted September 5, 2020 Author Share Posted September 5, 2020 13 hours ago, Brad Saucier said: If you know the sound of the MZ-X500, I can compare that 40 watts to the 30 watts of the CT-X5000. MZ-X500 vent ports face the rear, so you may hear more mid bass on the CT-X5000 since the vent ports are on top. I'd say the MZ is definitely louder, but it's a pretty close race between the two. I often play the CT-X5000 in bed or on the sofa, although I'm sure the lighter and slimmer CT-X700 is more comfy over a longer period. The X5000 can get heavy after a while. Thanks Brad! That's a pretty ringing endorsement if it comes close to the MZ-X500 in volume. Yeah, with top facing speakers I believe you usually get a clearer sound, right in your face. Have to say, I've only had the CTX700 a few days, but so far I'm SUPER impressed with just about everything- the sound quality is decent to very good for the most part, the action is surprisingly good, if I'm remembering correctly I think it's a step up from the MZx500, and something about the keytops, they feel smooth in a noticeable and pleasurable way, not something I usually notice. And the speakers sound really good for 5 watt speakers! This is a lot of keboard for the money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 I have compared MZ-X300 and CT-X5000 side by side, and X5000 won - deeper bass and overall louder volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolph R-N R Posted September 6, 2020 Author Share Posted September 6, 2020 On 9/5/2020 at 2:14 PM, Just Alex said: I have compared MZ-X300 and CT-X5000 side by side, and X5000 won - deeper bass and overall louder volume. Yeah, the mz-x300 and x500 have the same speakers n power Liking the light weight and inexpensive platform of the x700. And for awhile i was thinking, well, what if i had both the x700 and x5000? And I have a lithium ion battery that easily could power the x5000. It'd be cool if casio made a lithium battery powered x5000. but as much as I liked the sound quality and action of the x700, there was no way to modify the sound. Thats a feature I love on the Psr E4xx series, those two assignable knobs. but it's not fair to compare to a board that costs over $100 more 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 I can made a lithium battery "upgrade" kit for X-5000. It actually do has battery compartment, but it is sealed. Have to open it and check internals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolph R-N R Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 2 hours ago, Just Alex said: I can made a lithium battery "upgrade" kit for X-5000. It actually do has battery compartment, but it is sealed. Have to open it and check internals It's 24 Volts instead of 12 volts for the x3000. How do you make a battery upgrade kit? I've got a lithium ion battery with a capacity of 251 watt hours, overkill for the x5000. I used it also to power a QSC K8.2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Well, my main job is electronic engineering, music is just a hobby, so I have designed a lot of power supply devices (some of them are in mass production even). I haven't looked what's inside that battery compartment of X5000 yet. But I estimate, whole kit should fit in there, providing 24 volts to instrument and handling all charge/protection/etc tasks. If I ever make this kit for sale, there would be two options - with batteries pre-installed (very limited shipping), or you place batteries by yourself (worldwide shipping). I'll check X5000 later today, whenever it is possible to access that battery compartment. If not, I can easily make an external power pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 I checked the battery compartment of X5000. It is similar to X3000, just they have not installed battery contacts. So my upgrade idea is still doable - I guess, I can fit in 3x26650 cells, which will deliver about 60wh power, which in terms of playback, will give you 2 hours of continuous playback at full volume, or about 6-8 hours of normal playback at half of maximum volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Oh forgot to mention the price, it will cost around $100 with shipping included (w.o batteries), battery prices wary across the globe wildly, so I estimate single set of batteries will have $30 average price (I will not be delivering them with device, due to shipping restrictions) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudolph R-N R Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 The 26650 has about the same capacity as a c cell battery, but is 3.7 volts instead of 1.5. How would you get to 24 volts with the 26650s? Is it something i could throw together myself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 Just a heads up, promoting items for sale is not allowed on this site, Casio or otherwise. Such posts will be removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokeyman123 Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 And building your own lithium battery pack-will it be regulated, balanced, reliable? I would not use lithium cell sinside anything unless I was absolutely guaranteed these would be safe, other wise your Casio could be become a pile of melted goo, or worse. I use external lithium-ion packs-but only 12V max, and designed to be balance charged. even that, I don't feel totally safe and will only use for short periods of time. And this voids any Casio warranty by the way, if anything were to go south. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Well I'm not selling anything here, because I have nothing to sell I'm explaining one of possible ways how it can be made, and how much it will cost. This includes all charging, balancing, protection and other circuits. Personally I don't need it, because I use keyboards indoors. By the way, I don't see any "warranty void if removed" stickers on battery compartment door on X5000. You will be using it just as a storage compartment, won't connect to anything inside. Of course, pack can be made external, my idea was to make it convient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokeyman123 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I think in general, somewhere it will state for any Casios that use the external power supplies (wall warts) that using any other will void the warranty. I'm sure if you modify the 5000 in some way, you will void the warranty. I always post something when I post a mod-just in case. If Casio doesn't state it obviously, I'd be almost certain there is something somewhere that could void the warranty. None of my keys were under any warranty, so I felt safe if ruined mine, I'd have to live with the results.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokeyman123 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Another thought, just curious from a technical point of view. 24V seems unusual for a Casio-all mine feed from 12V. do you think (Just Alex) this supply might have an internal + and - supply with center ground-12V for each side? Don't see many of these anymore with music equipment, I've built a few for myself years back-my old Korg D16 needed this-had a 4-pin power supply port I recall for the 2 different power rails-would make it harder to mod this I think. I'm wondering why this one needs 24V, even the PX560 can run off a 12V standard outboard power pack with a matching barrel plug, unless the speaker/amp is using alot of juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Well, that is easy to check, even without opening the instrument. I can do it later today. All you need is multimeter in probe mode. Put multimeter's one wire onto ground of say line output jack, and test power port connectors with another. If there is dual power supply making +-12V inside from 24V, then you will have no beep on multimeter. If internal system is single power supply, you will get beep when touching negative power supply pin and GND on line output jack. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 24 volts is common on Casio models with higher wattage speaker systems. CT-X5000, MZ-X series, CGP-700, and many Privia and Celviano console digital pianos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 After my 2 week unconditional return period ends, I will take X5000 apart and give you some info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbdx66 Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 On 9/5/2020 at 6:16 AM, Brad Saucier said: If you know the sound of the MZ-X500, I can compare that 40 watts to the 30 watts of the CT-X5000. MZ-X500 vent ports face the rear, so you may hear more mid bass on the CT-X5000 since the vent ports are on top. I'd say the MZ is definitely louder, but it's a pretty close race between the two. I often play the CT-X5000 in bed or on the sofa, although I'm sure the lighter and slimmer CT-X700 is more comfy over a longer period. The X5000 can get heavy after a while. Hi @Brad Saucierwell, this is precisely the reason why I sent my CT-X3000 back and bought a CT-X800 instead. I cannot drive and I thought that the CT-X800 was really featherlight to carry on a bus or a train. The second reason which made me send the CT-X3000 back was its clumsy user interface. The user interface is much simpler on the CT-X800. I wished I had a keyboard as light and easy to use as the CT-X800 with the sounds and styles of the CT-X3000 and the Live! Knobs of the Yamaha PSR E4xx. Now that would be a nice 🤗 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Then you need PSR S6xx series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faz726 Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I believe the CT-X3000/5000 both use a Texas Instrument TAS5760M General-Purpose I2S amplifier - (correct me if I'm wrong). Extra power (watts) can be obtained by increasing the PVDD voltage on pins 44/45, which I suspect on the CT-X5000 is set at 24 volts. On the CT-X3000, with 8 ohm speakers and PVDD set at 12 volts, only 8 Watts per channel is allowed - assuming that the CT-X3000 has 8 ohm speakers. All this is pure speculation by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Well I haven't looked into it, but if we have I2S somewhere, this is very good news, since we can connect Toslink or Coax transceiver there, and get digital stream output directly into PC for recording - without loosing quality on DAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faz726 Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 If you look carefully at the official Casio blurb for the CTX series, the background shows what I assume is part of the main PCB. The AIX LSIC is at picture center and the Texas chip is just to the right. You can just make out the chip number - TAS5760M. A quick search will pull up the data sheet for this particular IC. Makes interesting reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Alex Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 Well, I can take mine apart and have a look, just when I'll have the time. I know enough electronics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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