Just 2 questions:

a) Is the piano sound on the CLP 300 series better than the CLP 500 series or are they the same?

b) I understand that the on board speakers on the P-155 is different from those on the CLP 300 series, but they shared the same sampling technology. Hence, is the piano sound of the P-155 technically the same sound source as the CLP 300 series?

I'm just guessing. I can't find the CLP 500 series online, so I assume it is no longer manufactured. my guess is that the later CLP-300 series has:

A. Better hardware in its audio interface (sound card).
B. More hardware in its internal memory and thus can accommodate a bigger quantity of sampled notes, meaning more sampling data for each note.


I can't guess if the HW and sampling amount is bigger or smaller in the P-155, but the CLP-320 & CLP-330 only have 3-levels of sampling and should be weaker on that point at least.

In answer to your questions:

a) The piano samples on the new CVP500 series are the same as the ones from the existing CLP300 series.

b) The piano sample on the P155 is the same 4 layer piano sample found on the CLP340 and CLP370.

The CLP300 series has a range of technology. The p155 has all around better specs than the CLP320 but the CLP380 has one more sample layer than the P155. I think the CLP370 matches up with the p155.

You have to read which has things like key-off samples and string resonance and how many layers each has. And then these DPs will have at least two grand piano voices and not all these technical features are present in the second voice.

But the CLP series has much better speakers and more powerful amp. When you listen, it's the speakers you hear. So even if the sample technology lacks slightly the better audio system makes the overall sound better. Those CLP300's are expensive, if you only cared about sound you probably do best with a P155 and $800 external speakers.

So, general conclusion gathered from the comments above are:

The "piano 1" on the P-155 will sound the same (with the use of better external speakers) as the "CLP-340/370" and the new CVP 500 series (from model CVP 503 onwards) because they have the same 4 layer sampling.

Ok, thank you.

Specs-wise, the p-155 pianosample seems very similar to the CLP340/370.
But, the pianodealer connected the p-155 for me to the speakers on the CLP340 (via the aux-in connection, I think). That way, I could compare the samples on the two instruments using the same speaker-system.
I concluded that I liked the sample on the CLP340 and 370 a lot more. But that's personal. In any case, although specs-wise the samples may be similar, the actual sounds are different.

On both the p155 and clp370, I really only like the the first grand-piano sound. I believe that for the p155, many share that opinion. For me, 1 very good sample was enough though, so i bought the 370.