I'm finally returning to playing the piano after 20+ years. I was an intermediate player back in the day but will be starting somewhat anew. My price range is $1500-$2000 (CDN - which is almost on par with USD). Ideally I'd like one that feels like an acoustic piano without too much key strike noise. I'm very excited about playing again and appreciate any advice you may have.

ETA: I've been mainly looking at Yamahas thus far

In that range you can get a Yamaha YDP223 or YDP160 (somewhere in the $1300-1500 US range).
You might squeeze a Yamaha CLP330 or Roland HP203 in there at $2000 (maybe just a bit more).
If you can forego the console, you might get a slab keyboard with similar capabilities for less money.

I'm pretty happy with the Roland 700GX. The feel and action is great (so they say, and so is my experience). It is also very easy to use, at least at the basic level, with a lot of room for exploration. I got mine on clearance at Best Buy, so now might be a good time to find one of them. It is pretty well reviewed on this forum.

With that budget you could get one of the better Roland pianos like the FP7. The RD700GX is just over your limit. The Rolands with the "PHA II" actions are good. I don't think rolands lower end "PHA Alpha II" is as good But with your $2K budget you could grt into the better Rolands.

In the Yamaha line all the pianos in that range will gave about the same, if not the same keyboard action. That would be "GH". What I did was buy the lowest cost Yamaha with GH action. That would be the P155. To get a console style piano with the P155's features you need to move up to the Clavinova rang. The low end CLP would be good for you to look at too.

But if key noise is a big issue look at Kawai's wooden keys the CE200 uses them and sell for about $1,800. Kawai makes plastic action DPs too and those keys, I think, are a lot like Yamaha's GH keys. Kawai's wood keys are not like any other so you need to try.

There's a lot to look at if you can go as high as $2K.

I got my Roland 700GX for either 1800 or 2000 from Best Buy. They had it on clearance and then for every $200 you spent you got a $20 gift card. So essentially, they through in a Roland cube for free!

If you don't have headphones, you will probably want them. They cost at least $100 for quality. I made the mistake of buying $30 headphones (thinking that was quite a lot to pay for them--afterall they come with an iphone for free! ). I had to go back and get some real headphones. AKG 240s I think they are.

Sprout

wait until after naam. New yamaha pianos will be out, and there is a Nord Piano you ought to look at. If you can't wait, look at a yamaha cp300 $2100), cp33 ($1100), p155(1100.00), and a casio privia px-330. The Privia is probably the best value at $699.00 and I like its pianos.

Thank you all very much for your replies. I see I have a bit of research ahead of me. I dropped in to my local store and looked at the Yamaha Arius YDP160, CLP320 & CLP330 (a bit above my price range). This store only had Yamaha & Roland but no Roland pianos, just keyboards. I will do some research on all the suggested models online.

I was amazed at the sound of them. This is my first foray into the world of digital pianos and I love them!

ETA: daviel, I had to look up what NAAM is. My only rush is that I'm anxious to get started. No other immediacy to speak of.

Another ETA|: I hadn't thought about the headphones so thanks!

My background is similar to yours.
I had classical lessons through
high school. Back then there were
no digitals, and I played acoustic
pianos only. I quit playing in
high school, over frustration
at lack of progress, and
didn't touch a piano for 20 yrs.

When I restarted in the early
1980's, I had big hopes of
making a better showing the
second time around, and to
that end, the first piano I
bought was an expensive
acoustic upright--a similar
model today would be in
the ~$20,000 (US) price
range. But I soon became
disillusioned again at lack
of progress--and the fact that
the expensive piano didn't
help my playing at all--and I
quit again, and put the upright
into storage, where it has
remained till this day.

By 1989 I was living in an apt.
building where an acoustic
piano was unfeasible due to
noise concerns, but I had the
urge to try playing again.
By this time digital pianos
were widely available, but
I never considered looking
at one because of my long
association with acoustic pianos
and my classical training.
But one day I happened to
wander into a piano store
that had digitals, and I was
absolutely stunned by the
digitals that were available.
This was in 1989, but even way
back then the digitals played
like an acoustic piano. I
was so impressed I bought one
on the spot, a Korg, for $1700.

Since 1989 I've owned four digitals:
that Korg; a Casio, bought online
in 2005 for $700; another Korg,
bought online in 2006 for $900;
and my current piano, a Williams,
bought online in 2009 for $600.
You can see from this that I've
gone to less and less expensive
pianos, even as my playing has
gotten better: ~$20,000 --->
$1700 ---> $700 ---> $900 --->
$600. This is opposite to
what most people do, which is
to upgrade to more expensive
pianos. My reasoning
is that by the late 1980's
digitals already played like
acoustic pianos, and today even
the least expensive digitals (with
vastly superior techology
compared with the best digitals
of the 1980's) play as good
as the best digitals of the
1980's, and if you can't play
something on a $600 digital, you
won't be able to play it on
anything else either. My
$600 economy digital is adequate
for playing anything, from
jazz improvisation to big-time
concertos.

I envy you Gyro...your posts always say that your Williams is "okay" or "adequate". Many of us on the forum are looking for more than just okay or adequate. I would like to have such lowly expectations. However, I think you are in a minority....most people want the "best" within their budget.

The OP has a budget of up to $2000. My advice would be to stick with Yamaha, Roland or Kawai and ignore the rubbish out there such as Williams, Mantova, Classenti, Kobrat, Sulinda, Hemingway, Chase etc etc.

Cheers,

Steve

Does this mean there will be a new CLP series coming out too? I’m interest in a CLP340 or CLP380. Maybe if the new ones are coming out, these prices will go down a bit?
Thanks.

Those ARE the new CLP-series pianos. You're about 12-15 months too late for the CLP200-series clearance.

I have become entranced by the CVP series. Of course way out of the original price range. I liked the idea of displaying the music and being guided to play the right keys. Not sure if that will be of great enough benefit with regard to extra cost. I'm finding the more I look the more shiny stuff I want. Sigh!

That's what happened to me. I started looking in around the P-85 range. Almost bought it. Then went to the P-155. Almost bought it. Ended way up at the Roland 700GX. I think it was a good purchase.

My friend has a Roland FP7 and she's very happy with it. I'm sure how comparable it is to the 700GX. Learning about all musical possibilities with a DP has been fascinating.

Seems like the budget has been increased a bit to around 3,000 and I've come to the conclusion that I don't need all that extra jazzy stuff on the CVP series. I played a Yamaha CLP370 and it was lovely (priced at $3299) and a CLP330 ($2399). For someone just returning to playing will the difference between the two pianos be significant enough to justify the cost difference? I like the 5yr warranty on the Clavinovas and I have not been able to find a local dealer who carries Roland digital pianos yet. The ones of interest are the HP203/207 or perhaps something in the hpi series. I'm not sure how much they run (aside from the 203 which MacMacMac suggested runs about $2,000).