Which digital piano ?

I am looking for a new digital piano for my beginning daughter and have narrowed it down to these models :

Roland : HP-2, HP-3 Yamaha : CLP-130, CLP-150 Technics : SX-PX662, SX-PX664

I have seen some of them in stores but not at the same one and so it's hard to compare. Besides, I am not a player myself. I'd be interested to hear opinions on these or previous but recent generations of these brands. I favor a better keyboard action sound and features. I hear that Roland has the best action, can anyone confirm this ? I got an interesting and kinda convincing demo of a Roland (HP-237) where the salesman put a weight on a few keys of a grand Steinway and showed me how the Roland keys were weighted and reacted just the same, the Clavinova he had didn't produce the same result at all, not sure it's meaningful at all or just another salesman trick.

I just bought a Roland RD-700. It's not like the HP series, but it has the same weighted key system. It was a toss up for me between Yamaha and Roland.

The bottlom line is how the piano feels and sounds. I felt the Roland was just a better action for my style of playing. I also thought the piano samples sounded better.

I am not exactly sure what you favor

oops, I meant I favor a better keyboard action *over* sound and features. I should also precise that my daughter is only 3 1/2 yo. So she won't be playing complicated pieces for a while and therefore I think sound accuracy like string resonance and such may not be as important as keyboard action. Most likely I will try to get an acoustic piano in a couple years if she is still learning.

Last night I went through a lot of the messages in this newsgroup and some people were saying that the Roland action is lighter than the Yamaha's, which could be better for a young child, wouldn't it ? I did notice that too with the weight the salesman used on the keyboards. But he had an older Clavinova so I am not sure if that still is the case.

I certainly don't trust sales people very much, they lie as they breathe ... Actually piano dealers are some of the worst I have seen with their fake university sales, anti-competitive and other lame practices. They even go as far as trying to sell pianos above list prices ! When I decide which model to get, I will most likely buy it overseas so disgusted I am of dealers here in the US. I find it interesting actually that when I go to a non Yamaha dealer, they just happen to have some Clavinova to compare, how lucky ... ! Of course, these are always older and lower end Clavinovas and they compare to the latest generation of their products. Digital piano technology is changing every year which makes it even harder to compare between manufacturers.

Btw, I can't find anything about the HP-2 and HP-3 in this newsgroup, are they that new ? Do they use the same action as the previous generation (HP-237, HP-337, ...) ?

Thanks.

Ask her teacher to come to the shop with you. He/she will have the best idea of what's right.

Clive

Well, there are an awful lot of piano dealers on this list, and I know for a fact that there are plenty of scrupulous piano dealers in the United States. I doubt if your scathing indictment will win you many friends among them. If you want to know the truth, there are some pretty nasty scams being run by overseas piano dealers that involve people sending their money and never seeing it again, let alone, the piano they supposedly purchased, but whatever makes your sticker peck out...

Good Luck! (You're going to need it)

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What do you mean by 'fake university sales'? How does that work? Do companies like Yamaha not actually rent keyboards/pianos to universities for a year, check them over, and then sell them through local dealers at reduced prices? I'm really interested in what you have to say about this.

Jon Larsson

Jon, check this out: http://www.douglasspianos.com/scams.html

Thanks for the great link, Frank. So if the dealer is completely(ha!) upfront about his involvement in the sale, i.e. - 'These are pianos that we, the dealership, are selling after the school has used them for the past year.', is it possible for such a sale to be legitimate? In other words, aren't MSRP prices the starting point to determine if the instrument is being sold at a decent price or not? Figure that brand-new instruments will often have a certain % of discount from MSRP, and then figure that if the instrument is a year old, used but with a 'new' warranty, that a certain price would be reasonable?

I really appreciate all the information and input about this.

Jon

I agree there are scrupulous piano dealers that participate in this newsgroup, and some are indeed very helpful. Whether or not you find one in your own area might be a matter of luck. If you do, I believe it would be good to support this person. I was told by the a saleswoman who sold Kawai home pianos that they have one of the worst keyboard actions of all digitals. I truly didn't understand this comment,as, in my opinion, they have one of the best, and this was the best product these people sold. I was told by the Kurzweil dealer that almost all professionals use Kurzweils in their recordings as they have the most realistic sound. This was news to me, as at the time their technology had not been updated in around eight years. I was told by the Yamaha dealer that if I bought a Clavinova from overseas it would burn up in a fire. It has been 2 1/2 years since I bought mine from overseas, and I am still waiting!! But I checked first, and I found an electrical engineer who had actually taken apart an overseas Clavinova and a U.S. Clavinova. They were identical, except they are set up to use different voltage standards. But there are risks, and you can go to the Roland website to find out more about this. And there is also a credit card risk for buying from overseas, as I don't believe there is the same protection as we have here for credit card abuse. The local dealers should give a much better warranty and provide support also, although that doesn't always mean they do. Some Yamaha and perhaps other dealerships are given very wide exclusive territories, making competitive pricing non-existent, which is probably not such a good policy in the age of the internet. I could have seen paying more to a local dealer, but now almost three times as much ($2500 versus $7,000). I think the best approach might be to find a U.S. dealer through the net, or just out of your local territory, who will give you a better price and then ask your local dealer to match the price. Although often not happy about it, they will often do so. In fairness, I have never heard the same type of comments from those working in music shops that serve the pro market, selling mostly portable MIDI controllers. They have price competition, and they usually leave the decision up to what you find best, without pushing any brand. Pricing pushes the brands they sell. Sometimes, you find some of these type of dealers who also serve the home-furniture digital piano market. I don't know about the specific Roland models you ask about. Perhaps you could look on the website or just e-mail to Roland about the differences. If you can, take someone who really knows how to play with you to check out the models you are interested in. This wouldn't necessarily be a piano teacher, but his or her input can be useful as well. Good luck,

Alex Maas