Here is my criteria: I'm looking for a piano that I can take into small places such as a hospital room, living room, nursing home, etc. It has to have weighted action, built in speakers that would be sufficiant if up to a dozen or so people would want to sing along, it has to be extremely portable, as light as possible, as I don't want to be lugging in 50+ pounds of equipment from the hospital parking lot to the 4th floor. Most of all it has to be cheap. Less than $500 would be great, even less would be better. I would even be open to a six octave keyboard, but not a five octave one. I'm not opposed to buying used. I used to have an NP30 but the action was not tolerable and the sound was also very poor, as was the speaker system. What are your suggestions and why? Thanks.

I think cheap, portable and integrated speakers aren't good combination of features. I really don't like most of the integrated speakers and I'm by no means audiophile or have trained piano ear. If you take one of those three requirements off, you can find something more worthwhile, I think.

I'd look into used, older models. Would think you could get nicer speakers and action that way, at much cheaper price, but the sound may be bit behind, but I personally see sound come after these two, if integrated speakers are indeed to be used. Sound you can get from external sources too, so that's another reason.

What do you want from the action? Are you looking for something very piano-like, or light weight, that may be easier to carry and might mean lower price?

Everyone here will tell you that the choices are the Yamaha P95, the Korg SP-170, and the Casio PX-130. I listed them in the order I happen to prefer them.

Get a used CP33. It rocks when using decent headphones.

If I understand well the OP the main use will be to play in front of small audiences, in different locations. Wiht a CP33 he should add the problem to move with speakers.

A.

Right, CP33 wouldn't be a good choice here, heavy (about 40 lbs) and that doesn't even include speakers, definitely doesn't meet his not-much-to-lug criteria. "extremely portable, as light as possible...Most of all it has to be cheap" and with a piano weighted action pretty much limits it to the three I mentioned, at least among current models.

I've seen the Casio and Korg on-line at $499.99, and I think they both come with a pedal. I believe the Yamaha is a little more and does not include a pedal, so might be closer to $600. These prices don't include a stand, bench, carrying case, etc., so keep in mind that you could go over the $500 budget a bit depending on the accessories. A very basic stand and bench might set you back $60.

As for used, prices depend on where and who you deal with. If you're lucky, you might even be able to step up a model. All I can find on CL is 10-year old technology with asking prices well above the $500-600 brand new entry level DPs. Maybe I'm wrong - maybe something with limited polyphony, older samples, no USB, potentially worn action, and no warranty is worth that much. (Excuse the CL rant.)