This was my response from Aspen Pittman re: his Space Station amp.


Thanks for your interest in our Center Point Stereo Spacestation v.3 powered stereo monitor.

Unfortunately, due the to unprecedented (and unanticipated) demand, both our exclusive reseller partners Sweetwater Sound and our parent company Aspen & Associates are completely sold out at this time.

We have 3 more production runs in process now and the next shipment is expected to arrive at our warehouses in the last week of December, just after Christmas.

We recommend you contact Sweetwater, place an order and "get in line" for that delivery as it is mostly sold out. A&A's delivery quota is already sold out.

We have increased the size of our production runs, and the next larger delivery will be early February, then followed by a double run that arriving in early April 2015.

Thanks again for your interest, and we are very sorry for the long delivery schedules. We hope to be caught up to demand and have some stock on the shelf by April 2015.

God bless, Aspen Pittman

Center Point Stereo
www.centerpointstereo.com
1547 Truman Street
San Fernando, CA 91340
818-512-4500

Yes they are selling very very well because of the real life experience of in the trenches musicians reviews .keyboard magazine will be doing a review next month and they have already hinted that this is the amp to beat medium gigs for keyboard players . I have ordered mine . Don't sleep on this one folks !

If I do go this route, I'm going to be waiting until spring. We don't do much playing winter months here.

I'm also looking at Nano 600 and there should be more info on that in the next few months. My local music store sells Yamaha and I still check those PA's out from time to time. Our store folks also tell me that there's other very good line array systems that will be coming out in 2015 that they are looking into...however pretty pricey...one unit = $2,500.

Also, I'm looking at doing nothing. After all, I've got two Compacts, a Nano 300 and a couple of JBL 515XT's. I still use the Compacts from time to time and Nano 300 gets used daily for practice and goes out on all gigs.

I can remember when amp choices weren't that great. Nice to have so many good choices. But it does seem that the good choices start at $700 apiece or more.

You seem to have all the bases covered in terms of amplification ! I play predominately in a church that holds 500 to 600 people. Massive volume is not important but absolute clarity and dispersion is. This keyboard amp sounds like a complete marriage made in heaven for the way that I play and for the audience i play too .

You can appreciate that being able to hear the sound in stereo everywhere in the room is a killer feature that I don't think any of the Amps you have mentioned can achieve at all. Even the HK Nano will only provide a stereo spot in a given area of two bose compacts and the majority of your audience will not be hearing in stereo although possibly you will which is just as important I guess . Anyway it will be while before I received mine as the amp is so far backordered !

You're right about the stereo thing. Even with two powered monitors plugged into, the keyboard, it isn't stereo unless you happen to be in the right spot in front of them.

The folks at Centerpoint weren't quite clear as to whether or not this was intended as a personal monitor or could be used in smaller gigs. I think as more folks try them out, we'll get more info on that.

Even the Sweetwater sales person I talked to hadn't heard one up close, his info was from YouTube. But he did say this amp was different than anything else he had experienced.

I'm in no rush at this point. There's no point, doesn't sound like one will be available until the spring anyway. Apparently they are having quite a success with this system.

I have spent some money trying to find that 'perfect' system and there are a lot of new systems coming out. Once I settle on a system, I'm guessing that I will use that system until I retire from playing publicly.

One other thing that I do like about this system is that I think I could use it at home to get a stereo sound out of my TV...not sure about that but possibly.

All major concerts and most professional venues are in mono. The only place you're going to achieve a stereo effect in every part of a large venue is in BizzareWorld. It's just not possible. Although I too fall prey to the myth that it MUST be in stereo, intellectually I know that the stereo effect I achieve using two powered monitors, is primarily for me (and a handful of folks in the 'sweet spot'). Still, it's a great way for music stores and speaker manufacturers to get you to buy two of everything.

Trust me (he said slyly ), 'bridge' that stereo power amp and send a mono signal to as many speakers as you want (placed strategically all around the room) just as pro acts send a mono feed to their sound engineer.

Don't forget about the diminishing effect of stereo as you get further away from the source.

chas

Ps: Most of what I say is sometimes true.

When I did a series of concert gigs at a local theater several years ago,, I was able to achieve a huge improvement in the stereo sweet spot, literally mostly everywhere in the room, with a pair of Bose L1's Standards (each had a sub). It sounded superior to, and the dispersion was also much better than, anything else I've ever used.

But, here's the rub...this system was EXPENSIVE, so, in my case, it had to be a rental. I'm sure you could get similar, but less adequate results with two Bose Compacts, each of which is considerably more money than a single SpaceStation.

Being able to have my "stage" and "out front" sound in glorious stereo is what I've always thought to be the ultimate in reproducing the sound of my arranger, which has so many features that thrive on stereo sound, especially effects such as Stereo Chorus, Delay and Rotary Speaker. The samples in my Yamaha also sound way better in stereo.

I don't want to compromise the sound quality of my arranger in any way (it was a rather pricey investment) either for my listening pleasure or that of my audience. A good PA system, unlike keyboards, which are sometimes updated/replaced with newer models, should only be a one time investment.

I'll be very interested to hear your review on this product Spalding...I'm in no rush for new gear, but, if this does what is claimed, it will make a great addition to what I have at present.

Ian

Ian you are certainly right about using two Bose L1's!. I had two for a few years but only used them together on a few occasions! Just too much to worry about lugging and setting up for a small one-night stand.
My friends Dean Mathis, Joe Lee Richards and I played a fourth of July celebration up in Arkansas at the fair grounds, and the sound was phenomenal.
I ran Dean's keyboard, pedal steel and fiddle, a send from Joe's guitar amp, my keyboard and four mics (one guest mic for announcements) all through my 16-channel mixer, left output to one Bose and right to the other. The keyboards sounded fantastic; of course everything else was mono. People 100 yards and more away came up to see the system and tell us how great the sound was. Their big point was that previous bands had made their ears bleed up close, but lost clarity at the far reaches of the venue (which was an open field). Of course there was no stereo effect past perhaps 20 or 30 yards, but it was sure sweet where we were sitting!
We played that job every year for five years. It was one of my best-paying gigs ever.
I found myself only using the dual system for this job and one New Year's Eve party. When they brought out the Compacts I tried them, and really haven't used much else since then. They are better suited for the small jobs I generally do.
I now also have two Nano 300's and I love the sound of them. Setup is a little more time-consuming than the Compacts though, and the dispersion is different. I have a job next week in Oklahoma where I plan to take both Nanos and both Compacts. Can't wait to hear how that works!
Lots of great choices now!
P.S. I sold one of the L1's to Bill Semilivemusic and the other to another friend, both with the stipulation that if I ever needed them I could use them. I haven't needed them.

I agree the Nano takes a bit more fiddling. But with that effort I think I get a bigger sound.

The only drawback is that I like the vocal pre-amp in the Compact better than the single input on the Nano.

Here's the other thing. I've A/B'd running the keyboard through a single Compact with one input and running the keyboard(two inputs out)through the Nano with it's two inputs. Granted the Nano is not stereo at this point but the sound coming from the Nano with it's two inputs really sounded much more full(to my ears anyway) than the single input to the Compact.

That sound two inputs into an amp from the keyboard convinced me that if I use one amp it will be the Nano. If I use two amps, then I think both the Bose and Nano work.

I sincerely believe that because they are two totally different systems, that the EQ of the keyboard must be set differently as well in order to compare apples with apples.

I could be wrong, though,

Gary