Yo Chuck ! Excellent job on defining better sound and taking the trouble to lay it down so clean !!!!!!! I was thinking twice about it .. now I'm more inclined to buy and replace the speakers. Thank you!
Did this "upgrade", and have to agree! The Jensens were a perfect fit, and the sound is so much warmer!! Great (and not expensive) upgrade..........reccommended +++++
What was the Cost of the 2 Jensens? I love the Jensen in my 65 Blackface Fender Princeton Reverb. That amp is going to the grave with me = Phenomenal Sound.
Inspired by your very helpful video (thanks a million!), I ordered and installed the Jensens (be careful to order the 4 Ohm ones, since there are also 8 Ohm ones on the market) and am now FINALLY happy with theamp, for only €50 extra for the pair including shipping. Here in Germany, I got them as a special order from Musikhaus Thomann (thomann.de). You pre-pay, and then it takes about a week for the order to be filled. That's a lot cheaper and faster than trying to order them from the U.S. The amp now has the warmth, depth and punch in the bass region that I found lacking, especially on the vocal channel (which is probably also crippled a bit by some kind of built-in bass-cut filter to prevent overdriving the woofers on loud, up-close vocals). With the new speakers, just dial in a bit of extra bass (about 3 or 4 o'clock on the EQ knob), tame the overly present treble by dropping it back to 11:00, and you're good to go. Nearly the same settings worked really well for 3 different mics I have. Whoever might be considering the speaker switch will be happy to hear you can even do it WITHOUT ANY SOLDERING whatsoever! Yep, it worked. :-) As PianoManChuck pointed out, not all the terminals fit as-is. No prob: Just grab a pair of wire cutters and carefully split the overly wide terminal in half, lengthwise, effectively making two pseudo-terminals out of one. Then you can just slide the black wire's terminal over one of the half terminals, which is a rather perfect fit. Done in 10 minutes! (Best to have a friend gently and firmly hold the Jensens while you do the surgery, because the wires are quite short.) If you really want the connection to be rock-solid for eternity, you could also solder it, but my terminals fit on so snugly that I won't be doing that. By the way: If you pay attention to the + and - signs on the terminals of the original speakers vs. the Jensens, you'll find that they are located on OPPOSITE sides of the chassis. So I just made a point of connecting the red (+) wires to the + terminals on the Jensens, and the black (-) wires to the - terminals on the Jensens. If I paid proper attention, in this video PianoManChuck attached + to -. I suppose it doesn't make any difference as long as you do the same for BOTH speakers. On the other hand, perhaps this switch can make the difference between the speakers being in phase or out of phase. Just something to consider, though when in doubt I'd recommend connecting + with + and - with -. There is a slight drawback to the Jensens, though. Although they are every bit worth it in terms of added fullness and warmth and punch, and even make the amp a couple of decibels LOUDER plus lighter in weight (great!), the resulting sound is a bit less detailed and "airy" in the upper-mid/lower-treble regions. This is noticeable on your video (with the Jensen's sounding a bit more "nasal"), and I perceived it immediately when plugged my guitar in. I was then able to explore the difference by testing my Jensen amp with a friend's original amp, side by side. The difference was signficantly more obvious on the acoustic guitar channel (due to its wide spread of frequencies). Fingerpicking showed that the frequencies covered by the top three strings were less transparent and present. For my acoustic (with a passive Fishman piezo) I just dialed in a bit more treble, and that did the trick, especially since the Cube Street Ex has treble to boot. Despite the more transparent sound of the original speakers, I would never want to go back to them! They lack the "guts" I need and want on the street - so much so that the amp was gathering dust for nearly 4 years until I caught wind of PianoManChuck's video. The Jensens move more air, and are more captivating alltogether. Incidentally, when I had the speaker grill off I took a pair of neednose pliers and a knife and managed to squeeze, scrape and remove the bits of plastic holding the "CUBE" emblem in place. Not only does the amp now sport a cooler, stealthier look, but this also saved me 25 grams of dead weight. As an ultralight hiker that cuts his toothbrush in half, 25g is actually something. ;-) One more thing: Some folks here (myself included) were thinking that the Cube Street Ex has no bass reflex opening. Actually, there is one, and it's a fairly large hole of about the same size as the two tweeters. The hole is located at the top center, just behind the "CUBE" emblem. So those speculating that the amp is weak in the bass for lack of such an opening are wrong (as was I for a while).
Hello so I'm thinking of getting these speakers mainly to use for the acoustic guitar mode as you mention. Would you say there's a big change in acoustic tone with the jensons. I have the AC33 which sounds much better than the EX Acoustic channel. I find the EX is very tinny and lifeless with acoustic guitar and was hoping the speaker upgrade would make the EX Sound much better? I'm on the verge of selling my EX which is a shame because I love it's versitality and practicality
man what a great video. I thought the Jensens were going to be like $80 a piece there only like 25 bucks. As a guitar player we all know you take a cheap app and throw a great speaker in it and the whole tone comes to life. This actually sold me on purchasing this amp. Thank you great G arpeggio by the way
I have two Roland Street EXes. I installed Jensen's P8R (25W) speakers on one of them and compared it with the original Street EX. I couldn't say that Jensen is definitely better because the original Street EX sounded much wider. However Jensens provided a very clear and detailed sound, but it hadn't that room of sound as Roland had. So I came to compromise and I left one Roland's speaker and installed just one Jensen's. Now the sound was really good. There was the wide sound of Roland's as well as Jensen's super clear and detailed sound, especially when I put two such Street EXes together. It felt like I can touch the sound with my ears :) Also, I think the used sound samples in the video do not show the advantages of Roland's speakers.
I have /use the Roland Cubestreet for approx 6 yrs now with guitar & vocals. Like it a lot & very portable. Thinking on moving up to the Roland Cubestreet Ex. a little more power and it's still light. Rather expensive as it is so I don't think I'd spend more $$ to have it sound "better". I do understand why you changed out for the Jensens . Does make the keyboard sound better. I'll probably keep the stock speakers if I get the Ex. Wonderful informative video. Thank you for sharing.
I replaced my stock speaker in my Peavey bass practice amp with a Jensen Mod 10-35 4Ω and got similar results; more mids and overall loudness. It is advertised as a guitar speaker but in the product description, it said it can be used for bass. My stock speaker was torn and I needed an affordable replacement and it sounds great.
Based on your review, I bought the cube. Using backing tracks and various guitars, it really took me some time to nail down decent tones. I have found that it makes a huge different on how you ‘place’ the amp. I placed it on a stand and even after making all my adjustments and got a good sound, the bass really decreased and the tweeters were just overbearing. So back on the ground and perhaps a floor helps boost the low end. But now, I’m going to go with the speaker replacement and hope an overall tonal increase will occur. THANK YOU!
Very much agree, I love mine but the bass has always been underwhelming, though a bit better on the floor. I keep the bass dialed up on the EQ pretty much most of the time, if I knew how to do this speaker replacement I would.
@@AndrewAviles It’s really easy. Just make sure you mark somehow which wires are attached to things? I play guitar thru a Roland GR 55 and backing tracks on my iPad thru it! The synth sounds come out fine as do the backing tracks but the guitar tones need help. I run the GR55 thru a Boss EQ-200 with the 12.8k slider almost all the way down and the guitar tones still needs help. I eventually disconnected both tweeters. I did the the replacement using the same speakers used in this video but found no difference. Perhaps really high end speakers?
I'm about to do the mod. What do you guys think about just changing one of the speakers ? So you have best of each speaker. Could that be the best option? Or better change both?
Chuck, you never fail to amaze me! You must have read my mind! I've had the Roland Street Cube Ex for a couple of weeks now.... I've been using it with my Roland VR-09, outside, using both with and without the Behringer 1002B mixer. My impressions: 1. The mixer is essential and, for reasons that I don't pretend to understand, actually adds volume. 2. The guitar/instrument inputs have more chutzpah than the line ins. 3. Don't point the speakers at your ears; you will get fatigued and your ears will ring for a few hours. The sound is "direct" and "in your face." 4. The VR-09 sounds quite nice; using mainly the NON-acoustic piano sounds for outside playing (organ, synths, electric piano, etc.) Lat night, the cord on my trusty AKG 271 MKii headphones finally gave out. I use these to practice piano (Kawai MP11, same as you). So I ran the Kawai through the Behringer mixer-Roland amp combo for the first time, and on acoustic piano (both the internal and sampled, Faziolli... Off topic, but when I first did this, the sustain pedal on my MP11 displayed, for the first time, the dreaded "lock" malfunction and the whole thing sounded terrible! Currently, it's unstuck, but this will be an issue I'll have to take up with Kawai - have you had this problem, too? It's discussed on PW... The Jensen switcher on Amazon reviews says the stock Roland speakers in this thing are "general purpose" which, of course, is what I'm using it for (piano, synth, organ, AS WELL AS BACKING TRACKS = PA.... He says the Jensen speakers are GUITAR speakers..... Are you using the RSCEX on gigs with these Jensens, or sticking with the KC-110? Does the KC sound better for PIANO, even with the Jensens on the RSCEX? I note that some reviewers prefer the Eminence 820H (also 8", 4 ohm) to the Jensens, but they weigh as much as the stock Rolands and cost twice as much. I listened to this video on my Roland MOBILE BA with it's two 4" speakers. I did notice an improvement with the Jensens - especially with the backing tracks you played - But I'm not in your studio.... I don't always bring the Behringer mixer to outside gigs, as I have to cary everything (tenor sax included...). So, some non-mixer, amp only bass improvement would be most welcome... You sound quite enthusiastic in your recommendation. GIven my experience as set forth above, should I switch to the Jensens? Thanks again for all you do!
For piano, the KC-110 is definitely better sounding than the Cube Street EX, even with the Jensens! Jensens are still guitar speakers, but they're better than the stock speakers for almost everything else.
I use the Street Cube EX with my Roland VR-09 outside, and I mainly use non-acoustic piano sounds, especially the EPs and synths, which sound fine through the SC-EX. For gigging with my Casio PX5S, I may have to get the KC-110. Bear in mind that Roland's tech support advised the SC-EX for my former purpose. I figure the KC-110 is "tweaked" for piano. Are you finding it loud enough (I assume with the RAV Power...) for gigs? I ordered the Jensens; they will arrive on the 26th. As far as I can determine, nobody makes an 8", 4 ohm "PA" tweaked speaker. I'll report my findings.
I heard a couple of fellow buskers use the Roland BA-330 (one cat plays flute, the other, vibes). They both sounded excellent and quite loud. However, the thing is 30 pounds! 4 6.5 woofers.....
Yes, I'm finding the KC-110 loud enough for my solo piano gigs (again, each gig is different with different environmental circumstances and requirements).
I think it would have been better for this comparison to not close mic the speaker. I'd really like to hear how it sounds in combination with the tweeter, I think that would give a better representation of what we would hear in person. Really appreciate your vids though, thank you so much.
Lots of effort on this video. Much appreciated. From what I am hearing, it sounds that the piano is more "honkier" in the midrange with the Jensens than with the stocks. Same with the track - more, louder low mids with the Jensens than with the stocks. However, I do notice that the mic placement on the stock recordings is a little more mid-cone and the Jensen recordings the mic is at the edge of the cone which would make a noticeable sonic difference in what we are hearing. Would have to actually hear this comparison in person, live to be able to tell exactly how it improves or does not improve the stock sound. From this presentation, I am hearing a clearer sound with the stock speakers, listening to this through a pair of A-T ATH-M50 cans. Thanks.
Exactly what I was thinking. On all accounts. Still it seems the sonic difference is more in the direction of "desirable", so I'll probably go for the conversion and see.
I bought this amp/sound system a few weeks ago. After watching this video I bought a pair of the Jenson Mod 8 @ 4ohm. You showed the stock speakers were made in China. Read the back of the amp, the whole amp is made in China.
Thx a lot for such a detailed review. It should help. Got one of the speakers broken recently and was searching for a replacement model and algorithm to insert it. P.S. Special polar gratitude to MatGurman below) P.P.S. 15 (not 20) China Watt, my ass.
I accomplished the replacement and the results are spectacular! Roland should ship the SCEX with the Jensens. The surgery was challenging for me and took all afternoon.
For anyone else doing this, I covered the tweeters and the clip area of the new woofers with parts of a dollar store tin pie pan (using small binder clips for the former), so that I didn't puncture the tweets or drip solder on the woofs. I second person would be useful. I placed a brick in front of each new woof, and a drumstick behind it, to position it for the surgery. Also, the wires are really tough to strip (which is a good thing), even with the correct tool. That's when I decided to cover the tweets!
Good job Chuck! Been wondering for a while about a speaker upgrade for my SCEX - found your review by chance, could hear an improvement even with all the compression going on with recording and YT probably having had an effect. Anyhoo....pulled the trigger and completed the upgrade. I'm very impressed with the overall improvement in sound on my Taylor with ES2 acoustic, and voice through Sennheiser dynamic vocal mike. Can't thank you enough Chuck!
thanks for the info/comments…. do you have an update for us. I just received my new jensen speakers last night and I'd really like to know your opinion before I solder things in place. I labelled the roland wire setup as 1 2 3 4 and planned to solder the jensen as 4 3 2 1 so that they match up with what roland had as their + and -. Thanks again
I have the non-EX, 5W model with 2x 6.5" 2W driver. I replaced it with an old car speaker (RS Audio Smart 165, 4 ohm, 60W) which sadly is too powerful for the built-in amp, but I'm hearing more dynamic range, clarity and depth compared to the old speaker. Headroom is of course increases too, but at the cost of lower dB range (speaker is rated at 60W! 😂).
What is your opinion on the Jensen C8R (4 Ohm) speakers? How do you think they differ from MOD 8/20? Do you support the idea of installing Jensen C8R speakers on Roland? Will they be good for vocals and acoustic guitars?
Hi Chuck, thank you so much for this video. I bought this same amp/sound system a month ago. My electric 12 string sounded great but my vocal and acoustic guitars sounds were lacking. So thanks to you my Jenson 8 20 watt 4ohm speakers arrived today. I have not put them in yet. One question maybe you or your followers might answer. The original Cube Street EX had 15 watt speakers. The Jenson’s are 20 watt. Will that difference effect my battery operation and or battery life change using this Jenson 20 at 4 ohm watt speaker rather their original 15 watt at 4 ohm. Thank you, Darryl
Chuck! I have the Roland Street Cube Two which is the smaller version and it comes with two 6 1/2 2.5 watts per speakers. Is it ok to replace them with the Jensen MOD6-15 6'' 15 Watts 4 ohms speakers? Thank You!
Chuck, Can you make any suggestions on getting the clips to slide off the speaker terminals? I'm having a difficult time getting them off the Roland speakers. I've used needle nose pliers and also tried wedging with a flat screwdriver but they are not budging and Im hesitant to put touch much force into it........UPDATE - I' did get the clips off, I just needed to do more wiggling than pulling. Also, dont be a dum-dum like me and connect the new speakers polarity incorrectly, cause they sounded awful. Once I corrected my error and soldered them the right away they do make a nice improvement on the overall sound of the amp.
Awesome thank you, it was a real problem for me during the gigs to have this parasite sound. It s more professional now ! One questions what do you do with the old speakers? Using in other place? Sell? Recycle? Any idea?
Very helpful - thank you! Just a wee bit of a shame that your back-to-back sound samples towards the end of the clip (before vs. after replacement) weren't played in the same key: the bass line used for the Jensen demo was lower than with the original speakers. But still the difference in sonic images comes across pretty well. You may have just convinced me to not sell my Cube Street Ex because of lack of bass on my baritonish vocals and too aggressive treble on several of my mics. I bought the unit 3 years ago and only used it about 3 times. It's been gathering dust since, with my Roland AC-33 getting all the use (despite its much lower power and tendency to break up when pushed too hard). The AC-33 just has the more pleasing sound for acoustic guitar and vocals, compared with the biting-but-low-in-bass Cube Street Ex. I'm guessing the speakers aren't the only culprit. Maybe due to experience gathered with the AC-33 in terms of bass break-up when pushing the unit (e.g. with a strong male vocal) they might have implemented some kind of digital bass-cut filter. This would also help the unit to last longer on batteries, since a woofer's large membrane takes more power to move. But this is all conjecture, and your speaker switcheroo proves that it is possible to eek out much more pleasing bass (and overall) sound from the unit. Funny that I only discovered the Jensen option when a prospective buyer of my amp pointed out to me that he wants to make the conversion, and pointed me to your video. :-)
Scott Becker hi Scott. So would you say the Roland ex sounds as good as the AC33 for acoustic guitar with the mod. I have both amps. The AC33 sounds way nicer than the EX. THE EX sounds brittle and lifeless with acoustic to my ears and I'm debating weather to do a speaker change or sell my amp
I just went thru the experience of exchanging the stock speakers for the Jensens...and I have to say..I was sorely disappointed. The bottom end decreased quite a bit and the low mids jumped up a LOT. I just put the stock speakers back in, tested the sound and I have no choice but to say I prefer the stock speakers far more. Anyone want two used Jensen speakers?
i find it strange that people say the bass is lacking with the stock speakers, often I have to turn the bass way down on mine. Although I am an acoustic player and my guitar uses a vacuum tube and not a piezo pickup so that is a big difference as I dont get the piezo quack other acoustic players fight with
Interesting! Just a remark (I know, 6 years later haha): close miking the woofer might be not ideal for us to hear how it's sounding because the mike doesn't "hear" the tweeters that a normal person in the room would hear.
Normally you'd be correct, but the idea here is to hear the woofers rather than coloring in the tweeters with it. After all, its the difference between how the Jensen woofer sounds from the Roland woofer that this video is trying to convey.
Efficiency is a big deal with this stuff. I bet some full range/ 2 way car speakers would be the best for this, as it's a modeling amp? The lows come through awesome with the Jensens though!
I also play fretless jazz bass. When I tried bass thru the street ex, it was really bad, sucked:) but with the Jensen in it it's great, nice warm and round bass sound without any distortion or breakup at piano/bass jazz duo levels.
In the UK I can get both the amp and speakers easily (Jensen speakers are Italian). The Jensen speakers I got from HotRox. The Jensens are also lighter as well as better for something like acoustic bass, full on win for me! I cut down the spades on the speakers and pushed the connectors on!!
I can see the mic on the example beat much closer on the jensen example. That would probably change the sound a lot in the video therefore I can't tell if there was any real improvement. I saw a list of multiple speaker, they all share more or less the same characteristics. I couldn't get the exact same but got a pair of Jensen rated 25W 4Ohm so I should be safe. They costed 40 euro each. I saw the chinese made speakers on the original and they look totally yuck!!!! That said I do think you will achieve the best out of your line inputs by adding an EQ in the middle. Personally I recommend you to get a "Zoom MT100BT" which is stereo, you should use a module called "Exciter" and turn up the high and bass parameters, that will give you a "HiFi" sound, much better than the middle range on these boxes. I also tried with EQs but the Exciter gave a surprisingly immediate good result, it was night and day. I just tried that yesterday on my new Cube Street (no EX) and it was simply horrible without EQ, I assume the EX is better but still not 100% good and still very predominant on the mids even with the Jensens.
So I got the EX and a pair of Jensen similar to yours. I prefered the stock speakers, the cone material is better and the bass is cleaner than with the Jensens. Yes they are rated less than 25W each but the bass started to distort quicker on the Jensen while trying them side by side and they were also very predominant in the mids. So my two cents and advice..stick with the stock speakers.
I also found this: www.thomann.de/gb/celestion_eight_15_4_ohms.htm I wouldn't be surprised if these are the actual speakers on the Roland EX, the cone material, color, basket dimensions and specs are identical.
I finally took both Roland speakers and replaced them with the Jensen C8Rs I can crank the volume all the way up with them now without sacrificing bass given the input is not terribly hot. The result is LOUD and noticeably cleaner. Something very peculiar happened too, the music doesn't sound so prominent in the mids with the Jensens anymore, the MS100BT "Exciter" I'm using helps even more but with it off it felt much more balanced than with the Roland speakers. One guy on a forum tested the: - Celestion 8' 15W (which I believe are the original ones in the Cube EX, just branded to Roland) - Jensen MOD 20 - Jensen C8R He said the C8R was the loudest, followed closely by the MOD and the Celestion being the quietest.
would a celestion EIGHT 15 work? Since I am in Australia and I can not find the Jensen anywhere but Celestion is available, and there is a question no one seems ask was, is the roland speaker guitar amp speaker or PA, HIFI type speaker?
Okay we spent £75 after seeing this vid upgrade bought the speakers from U.S tried them sounded crap put the original speakers back however personal preference we believe Roland have got it right my advice keep the speakers it came with if it's not broken don't fix it however we were using the speakers with backing tracks and a singer Jensen mods sounded muffled Roland projected the sound singer found it easier to sing with the Rolands after all Roland have spent thousands on tuning speakers to match the boxes Sorry Piano Man Chuck Maybe all right for keyboards not for backing tracks and singers
Actually, this is a guitar amp, designed for guitar players! All guitarists who've done this upgrade couldn't be happier with the upgrade (literally TONS and tons of positive reviews from guitarists who've done the upgrade where you can read about their experiences on guitar forums). Next, this is definitely NOT a keyboard amp (the Roland KC-110 or KC-220 is a battery-operated keyboard amp), but many keyboardists want the 50 watts of power using batteries. While the Jensen upgrade definitely makes it better for keyboardists, there's better options out there (none of which offer 50 watts on battery power)... In the 18 months since I've posted this video, check out all the positive comments below from keyboard and guitar players who've done the upgrade (and then check out the multitude of guitar forums!). Lastly, this is definitely an instrument amp - Guitar specifically, although some of us are using it for keyboards. I wouldn't recommend this for "backing tracks" (as you stated you're using it for). If you're looking for a battery-operated amp to use for that purpose, I'd suggest the Roland BA-330, which is much more suited toward what you're looking for but without the 50 watts (those are 30 watts with AC power, 20 watts on batteries whereas the Cube Street EX is 50 watts on either batteries or AC - which is the main reason people are getting this amp whether they're keyboardists or for Karaoke but not designed for either).
Then why do you demo it with a keyboard in fact I have worked with pa for a number of years all so I have found this peace of equipment SUPERB for the singer and backing tracks Roland would have spent lots of time and money in design to make this product sound great so I would go with Roland sorry mate all so changing the speakers would all so invalidate the guarantee I tried your idea and found it did not work for us so if anyone wants a pair of Jensens feel free to contact me for a price
Whatever works for you.... which seems to be different than most here in these comments as well as the forums. And your question about demo'ing it with keyboards was already answered in the previous reply.
