Based on Yamaha Announcement on September, new series of its CVP Family of Digital Pianos will be available during next week. Comparing with the CVP-4xx DPs, you can see that new products are not a major step forward. For example when I compared CVP-509 with CVP-409, I found that it is mainly a combination of the CLP-380 with CVP-409. For example, in CVP-409 we had only 4 levels of sampling, in new CVP-509 it is upgraded to 5 levels (similar to the CLP-380). And the features like iAFC, and pure Yamaha samples are not new and we already had them on CLP-3xx series. Then, if you want to have a CVP piano with best features of the CVP-409 and CLP-380, then the CVP-509 is for you.

Another interesting feature added to the CVP-509/505 is their ability to directly write music as a .wav file on a USB flash memory. It is similar to what Kawai also promised to offer on their new CA93/CA63 DPs(planned to release at the same week)

And the polyphony upgraded to 128+128 comparing to 128.

Expected prices for international offers for CVP501, 503, 505, and 509 would be $2300, $3150,$4725, and $6200 respectively.

Thank you for the information ! Will it be available in US market. I checked with dealers and they don't have any information. It's possible that they are trying to sell CVP-401 and not talk about 500 series.

reza, thank you for this information.

piano19, the CVP range is still extremely popular in the US. As such, I believe it is safe to assume that an American launch is indeed planned.

Cheers,
James
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U.S. dealers are offered a presentation in Vegas on 10/13-10/14 for a first look roll out. Product will trickle in over the weeks following. Don't expect all models to hit all sales floors immediately. Not gonna happen.

Reza wrote, "Expected prices for international offers ...". What is that supposed to mean from a poster in Iran that doesn't present as a dealer? Where is this person's intel comming from? Motivation for post? Has this person actually seen and played the product or are they just comparing printed specifications?

Marty, I expect Reza is simply converting the Japanese RRP into USD. However, as we both know, this is never a terribly accurate representation of the final price once products are available in US stores.

Cheers,
James
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Thanks for all the information my friend
I have a question regarding the prices. for example: 501 for 2300? The cheapest price for CVP 401 I ever seen is 2900 + tax + ship....
I mean, where did you get all the prices above? Is that an ACTUAL price of the CVP 50x? If so, I guess I should try to negotiate with the dealer for CVP 40x more and more :))
thanks

The 500 series has arrived in Vancouver. $10,000 CDN for the cvp 509. The 501 is in store, the others in the warehouse.

We have had the CVP501, 505, and 509 on the floor for a couple of weeks. New features are slim in comparison to the 400 series. The sound is the thing. They have done things to the sound systems in the 505 and 509 that spreads the sound all over the room, a Bose wave kind of effect. Don't know how they do it, but I like it a lot.

How does the CVP-509 Grand's sound compare to the Grand's sound on the synthesizer Yamaha S90 XS?

Sorry, I have no experience with the S90 XS. I am told that the voices on the 509 are from the Tyros.

I had a try of the CVP509 last week as it has just arrived in Singapore, then also the S90XS.

The CVP509 has a very beautiful piano sound with their pure CF sampling and it was very enjoyable to play, the feel of the natural wood keyboard is great. The 1st piano patch (Grandpiano1) is nice, but I did prefer the Grandpiano2 (if I remember well) which was brighter, but was disappointed with the lowest C0 to A-1 notes. Those notes were 'thin', lacking the punch and no matter how hard those keys were pressed, they still sounded weak - not sure if it was that particular CVP that has this 'problem', but it may not affect if one is not playing those particular notes.

With the built-in speakers, the sound from the CVP509 is more optimized to sound at its best in comparison to the S90 XS which has to be connected to external monitors/speakers. At the showroom, the right monitor connected to the S90XS, had some distortion, so overall I wasn't impressed with how the S90XS sounded (and also the balanced hammer felt like the higher keys were a bit heavy!), may be with other speakers the S90XS should have sounded better!? The CP300 that was next to it sounded better with the internal speakers! I would like to revisit the S90XS again if they have hooked up some better of speakers with it.

Back to the CVP509, I did like its capability to play MP3 files directly from the USB stick. I have a Tyros2 which needs to have the files converted to WAV first and then uploaded. Also the CVP509 has the new superarticulation 2 which is great for playing instrument voices like clarinet and saxophone to sound much more realistic - effects activated by the left and middle pedals compared to Tyros3 with the 2 buttons next to the modulation wheel). Another difference of the Tyros compared to the CVP is the Multi-Pad function which is a great.

Overall, I think the CVP509 is a very good instrument for the home, more focusing on the piano sounds with built-in speaker systems and autoaccompaniment which I enjoy a lot playing on my current setup of the Tyros2 and the Roland Fantom XR module controlled by an old Ci9600 Korg digital piano which desperately needs an upgrade. I'm looking at the Kurzweil PC3X, Yamaha S90XS among others as a stage piano for mobility for gig playing as well as for home use - the arpegiator function on those keyboards looks very appealing as an alternative 'autoaccompaniment/multi-pad'.