The Roland CM-30 Cube only cost 220 bucks and has a 30 watt output. That is not bad for the money; it is also a powered monitor with a metal grill over it to protect it and a good handle to carry it with. Carrying it is not hard because it is not very heavy nor is it big. It only weighs 12 pounds and it is about 10 inches tall and 8 inches wide. You can mount it on a pole or use it as a floor monitor. The sound that it produces is clean and warm but it is not very big. There is not even power for it to be used in a big club or even a medium size club which leaves me to think where it can actually be used at? SOUNDS There is no cross over frequency but it does have 3 input channels, only 1 of them is XLR and there are AUX inputs. This monitor is only for a small show or gig because you just cannot get a big sound out of it. If you are a traveling gigging musician then this could work great for you. For me I hardly ever gig as a musician anymore I just DJ now and this is no good to me anymore. OVERALL OPINION My favorite aspect of this monitor is the 2 band EQ on it that will allow you to control your low end and high end right from the monitor no matter where you are. Having EQ controls on the go is crucial with a small monitor like this because you always need to shape your sound to your surroundings. For the money, this could be one of the best 30 watt monitors you will find on the market for small gigging musicians. Also check out the Galaxy Hot Spot VC, it is very similar to this.
The Roland Cm-220 is a speaker monitoring system that has two 50w speakers and a 110W powered sub. The size of this system will seem small when you have it and look at it, but don’t be misled because the Roland CM-220 has a huge sound that you can use on a number of different applications because of all of the hook ups. It was made for electronic drums and keyboards. Though I have never heard it on an electronic drum set yet, I will say it sounds great on my Yamaha keyboard. The sub woofer is only 10” but it feels a lot bigger when you hear it in action. You have all of your main inputs with the Roland CM-220, ¼ TRS, RCA, digital coax and XLR ¼ inputs as well. There is a headphone jack as well, but chances are you won’t be using it much since you can just plug your headphone jack right into your keyboard. The Roland CM-220 has a 3 channel inputs and they have volume and tone control knobs that you can tweak in real time. When you use your keyboard with the CM-220 it is better to use it with stereo inputs if you want a bigger more crisp sound, sometimes I don’t like the way that it sounds when plugged in mono. While using the Roland CM-220 you will get a very clear sound. You can’t go wrong with this monitoring system from Roland. I have used a few other Roland systems similar to this one, and only one of them was better but it cost almost twice as much. The Roland CM-220 cost less than 700 dollars which is really affordable for two 50w speakers and a 100w sub! Make sure you invest in some high quality cables as well, they are not included with the Roland CM-220, and if you use cheap ones your sound will suffer.
