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We are looking for a piano for our children to start taking lessons (6 & 10 yr. old). We prefer digital, but very hesitant about the choices we have. So far we liked Yamaha Clavinova CLP320 and Arius YDP160. Is YDP enough for children as a first learning piano or we need Clavinova? Are there any other brands with similar quality/price? Thank you.

functionally, the 2 are pretty much the same, but CLP320 build quality is better. so, i would choose CLP320 over YDP160. but if you could spend a little more, then CLP330 is a much better choice.

Agreed.

Furthermore, as noted in a previous thread, the Clavinova models offer a superior warranty package to the that of the lower cost Arius.

Kind regards,
James
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What are you looking for? Better sound, lower price, better key action?

The Casio CDP100 comes highly recommended to those on a $350 budget. Lots of people really like the Roland RD700GX for it's key action and sound. But that is a bit much for a 6 year old. I just bought a Yamaha P155 for About $1,000 because I thought it had the best key action and sound at that price point. It's certainly better than the YDP160. Kids could do (equally?) well on any of those with prices from $300 to $3,000. What is it you're looking for?

Thanks for all the replies. We are looking for an affordable home piano (preferably under $1K), 3 pedals, as close to the real piano in key action and sound as possible and the bottom line is: we do not want to spend a fortune on what we are not sure our children will like to do, yet not to get a lot of complains from a piano teacher about the instrument. Are there any good suggestions what we can buy and/or where we can look for the best deals on it? Thank you again.

For kids that are just learning I'm not sure why you need 3 pedals, or are you really wanting a console type piano (piano that looks like a piece of furniture) as opposed to a stage piano (which looks like a large slab of black plastic with keys, and you set it on some kind of stand). The good stage pianos have the same action as their larger furniture enhanced cousins, but generally only have one pedal. If you want to stay under $1K you have many good options with a stage piano, relatively fewer options with a console. The sound on all such pianos is not going to be great because the speakers are small and not very powerful, but if you own a stereo you can plug it in and get a much improved sound.

Thank you very much, it was very useful. What do you think about Yamaha P85? If it is suitable choice for a beginner, will it be enough and for how long? Also, what do you think on how it sounds? Thank you.

One approach is to spend as little as possible in case they don't take to it. At the lower price point (<=$500 US) the Casio Privia series is really hard to beat as far as bang for buck. And I would think most good practical teachers would agree that it is more than adequate for beginners to learn on.
If the do take to it and you eventually upgrade, you would be able to sell it fairly easily.

The Clavinova and Arius are quite good, but of course the Casio PX-130, 330, and the Yamaha P-85 are also available with wooden stands and three pedals, and they are also quite decent in terms of touch and sound. If you later decide you want an acoustic after all (since you say you prefer a digital, which I take to mean you were also considering acoustics), you will not have paid as much for the digital and there will be more incentive to upgrade.

If you start out with a Clavinova, you might never upgrade or upgrade too late, thus impeding your childrens' progress. If your children have a piano teacher, perhaps you could ask her what she thinks?

Thank you all for your insights. We have bought Yamaha P155 using a coupon found on this forum for 20% off. We are quite happy with the purchase and grateful for any information we have found here. The piano plays and looks great with the L140 stand and Yamaha piano bench.
Marry Christmas and God bless!

I think you made the right choice and good for you for getting the coupon! To me this model is perfect in not spending too much, or too little and being sorry later, but getting a great DP. If you add some better speakers it will sound like one of the models costing well over twice as much, console clavinovas that is. Some people here have recommended the logitech speakers for about $120 on amazon i think they are. ----I do have the p155 myself and love it and usually play it using headphones so the speakers aren't a big issue; not that they're all that bad but upgrading to external speakers will get you to a fidelity you're able to also get with good headphones.

^
Have you actually tested out those Logitech speakers? They sound too good to be true. Especially since "decent" piano amps are quite expensive and are around half of what the P-155 itself cost. So if those speakers work, we might be on a breakthrough discovery!

I've got considerable experience with the Logitech Z-2300 2.1 speakers...I have three sets of them.

They were discovered, quite by chance, to make digital pianos and arranger keyboards sound incredibly good.

The price is usually under $200, and you get two satellite speakers, a sub-woofer and a wired remote control.

My P-85 piano sounds better than digitals costing twice or even three times as much, because the Logitechs allow for the low notes to sound as they should, and the mids and highs are clear and distortion free.

Snazzy

So what about other speakers that are around the same price range as the Z-2300, so around the $200 price mark, would they deliver the same quality sound? Because there seems to be a sale on some speakers around 300.. which are now 150, do you think they'll work?

I can't say about other speakers, other than the Z-2300's. I've used these for almost a year now, and I'm always amazed at the power and the sound.

The bottom notes of my P-85 "clank" like a big old grand piano, and the mid and upper notes are just as clear and clean as one could want. You need a sub-woofer for that range, and the sub with the Z-2300 is potent.

Of course, it helps that the P-85 has a good basic piano sound to begin with, but the on-board speakers certainly do it no justice, whatsoever.

Logitech products are well made and well respected.

Snazzy

Thanks for the feedback. I see the Z-2300 is actually on sale too! It's at $60 off, so right now $150! I'll go pick one up right away. I hope it does my P-155 some justice.

Those plastic boxes make a digital piano sound good? Plastic boxes replacing the plastic boxes of a DP.

Everything is a matter of taste, but I wonder how that logitech compares to good headphones or even basic bookshelf speakers in terms of sound quality.



Wow - if you are not already in the sales business, you really should consider getting into it as most of the people just take these kind of statements for real even if said by a salesman/-woman.

Could you define "clear and distortion free"?

Can you provide some test graphs also to support this statement as well (forget the graphs by Logitech)?

I have bumped into those boxes in the place of a friend of mine who listens to bad techno.

Hardly need to be in the sales business...I'm retired, just purchased a lovely Yamaha Avant Grand N3, and even I am envious of me.

"Clear and distortion free".....do I really have to define these terms for you?

I just realized they may be foreign to you, but let's just say, for simplicity sake, they mean the instrument sounds natural....like a piano.

I consider myself fortunate that I don't have any friends who listen to "bad techno", but I do have several who actually care about how their instruments sound...they are very pleased with the Logitech Z-2300's, as am I.

I also use a pair on my Korg PA2XPro arranger keyboard....awesome!

Logitech speakers make even Casio instruments sound better.

I realize that people like you only seem to believe specs, and I'm sorry, but I'm not one of those people...I rely on over 40 years of professional playing experience.

That's why I bought them....they sound really, really good...honest.

Snazzy

PS...borrow Mr.Bad Techno's system (if, in fact, they are Z-2300) and try them on your Casio...report to Piano World immediately after...I'll have them prepare the crow...how do you like it done? Would you like fries with it?

I don't believe in specs as manufacturers are salespeople, but when tests are done by 3rd party audio professionals, until some point those tests do provide valuable information on what kind of system we are talking about as subjective issues are hard if not impossible to compare otherwise.

When you say "clear and distortion free" it should really mean clear and distortion free, but I guess for people like you it is is the same as "some distortion" or "not so much distortion as the Creative Labs computer speakers I used to hook up to my DP"? I mean come on - they might be "better than average".

Here is another review on them:
http://hometheaterreview.com/logitech-z-2300-21-desktop-speaker-system-reviewed/

"The Z-2300 plays loud, which will benefit many types of material, such as movies and games...The subwoofer kept up with increases in the subwoofer volume knob, but at the extremes, it clipped a bit and distorted."

"The Z-2300 will leave audiophiles looking for more in terms of musicality when comparing the system to even the most basic bookshelf speakers."

But again - it's a matter of taste and depends what you are comparing it against to. I have not tried that set of the friend of mine with my Casio PX130 midi controller, but I might just do it. If they are a huge improvement then that 125 euros in not a bad price for them, but I don't think that I have use for them as I already own good headphones and basic bookshelf speakers (which do lack some of the bass though so hmmm).

You may have noticed the review you referred to is not done on a keyboard.

I actually have a set on my laptop, and I'm very pleased with their performance.

Whatever they have done with these speakers, they appear to be set up, probably accidentally, to work especially well with digital pianos and/or arranger keyboards.

Just last night, I just tried the Z-2300 system on my newly acquired PSR-S910, and was very impressed with how they handle the whole spectrum of sounds that these type of instruments produce.

If you need even more power, you can try the Logitech Z-5500 5.1, which is rated at 500 watts and can be set up very easily to stereo and thus work on a piano/arranger. I have several friends on the keyboard forums using these as well. One guy, even had them made into a system that can be carried to gigs, and I have several acquaintances that are using Z-2300 for Nursing Home gigs.

I can only recommend something that I've actually had real world experience with, so that's why I suggested the Z-2300. I also have tried the Z-5500 for a whole day, so I can recommend them as well, although for home use, they are a bit of overkill, in my opinion.

Any speaker system can be distorted, and especially if not set up properly, or if it is over-driven by the instrument it is amplifying; for example, the master volume of the piano, should be lower than that of the speaker system.

You need a sub woofer to get the low notes of a piano to "clank" with authority, and the Logitech's is easily up to the task.

Don't knock them till you've tried them....they are a bargain, and a very good bargain at that...honest.

Snazzy