Good afternoo. Im astudent aged 23. Hopefully, this is not too late to start playing piano. ( Please dont be too harsh on me if I ask stupid questions or make mistakes on common sense of pianos!)

Recently I have been looking for a bugetable DP. As a beginer, I would prefer DPs with a price range of 1000-1500 Canadian Dollars, and with close key touch feeling to the acoustics, and good sound quality. I have tried several in local stores (Sorry I can not play, so just felt the keys and sound). Here are my options I am considering:

Yamaha P155: Priced at 1299CAD+Tax, another 200CAD for Stand and chair.
Yamaha YDP160: Priced at 1299CAD+Tax, including matching chair
Yamaha CLP320: Priced at 1799CAD+Tax after rebate.

Here is my situation:
I firstly was thinking of buying a portable DP as I am an international student in Canada. But I will probably stay in Canada after my graduation for anther 2 or three years or so. I am going to graduate in a year BTW. So portability would be good. In addition, I might relocate within the country for a job.But they dont have any P155 in stock in my city. So I have not tried it yet.

Then I tried the Yamaha YDP 160 in the store. I quite like the solid, and heavy feeling of its keys. It is cheaper than a P155, with better speakers I think. But it weighs 2.5 times as muc as a P155 does.

Finally, the CLP320. Again, I have not tryied it yet,but the feeling of the keys should be the same as the above. The speakers 2*20 watts, same as YDP160. But more expenvsive.


Above all, I guess I am probably okay with no portability sice I will just practice at home and won't leave this country soon. With headphones mostly, speakers won't be a big issue either. Price is a major consideration.

So finally, here comes the questions.

1. do you guys have any suggestions regarding my situation?
2. do the three models have the same keys exactly?
3. what is the difference on the sampling technolgoy adopted among the three? Will it make a big difference in the tones of pianos? As a beginner, will I notice it? Can I tell the difference between 3 levels and 4 levels (for P155)?
4. I quite like the piano sound mixed with strings. Will the 64 polyphony of a YDP160 be enough for the dual of grand piano and strings?
5. Do you have other alternatives you would recommnend?

Thanks you very much for reading my long post! Any opinion would be greatly appreciated!

I have the P155 and matching LP140 stand. When you concider the stand the weight of the P155 and YDP160 are close. The box containing the stand was not light at all. If you need a portable DP you will have to use a folding steel stand of some kind.

But if you are only worried about moving infrequently all the models the P155/LP140, the YDP the CLP all are mechanically the same. They all use the same four machine screws to attach a "slab" piano to knock-down (Ikea like) stand. Down load and read the user manual and notice the assembly and setup instructions. All of them come apart with just a screw driver

The key action is the same "GH" keys all around.

Can you hear sampling difference between four the three layers? Likely not at first

What happens is that over time your ears become educated. This is an expensive process because gear you once thought was great, later you can hear it s no so good then you upgrade. The process never ends.

FjJeffrey - If you are not going to be buying a piano in the immediate future, please note that Yamaha is coming out with a bunch of new YDP pianos. The 141,161 and 181(totally new) have some upgrades from their predecessors like 128 note polyphany for the 161. These are not supposed to be showing up until the summer, and the older models may be discounted as the new models appear. I don't know your buying timeframe is, but that's something to consider!

Thanks ChrisA. Do you think it is necessary to get LP140 for me? Will it be much more stable when you play on it than on an X-stand? The X-stand is much cheaper and lighter.
Also, how do you think of the P155? What is its pros/cons in your opinion?

I think two weakness are (1) I don't think the dynamic range goes pas about "f" I can't seem to get those reay loud "fff" sounds but it does p and pp well.

FjJeffrey - I would imagine that when these new models come out they will carry the same price as the current models, given the state of the economy. The YDP-161 seems to have upgrades over the 160 that make its specs almost identical to the CLP-320. It's got the 128 note polyphany but retains its 3-layer sampling, so the P-155 still has an advantage there. As ChrisA has pointed out, with the P-140 stand added, the weight difference between the 160 and 155 becomes less of an issue. I did notice that the 160 can play louder than the 155 (12 watts vs. 40) and it does have the advantage of having three pedals to the 155's one pedal. I can't for the life of me understand why Yamaha never made a 3-pedal stand (or pedal option)for the 155 like they did as an option for the P-85 piano. Not that I use pedals that much in my stage of playing at this point! LOL!

If you go on Yamaha's site you can check out the new models as they have posted some info on all the new models. Conversely, you may want to wait for the new models to come out and snag a discounted 160 or P-155 if it gets a replacement model in the near future. BTW, I bought mine for $1079 using an on-line coupon. I believe ChrisA did likewise! Can you buy online from the US without paying some weird tax? Good Luck and Happy Hunting with your piano shopping. Let us know what you get! And don't be a stranger either!