Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards CASIO releases 4 new models

Yeah. The PX-350 is kinda awesome. I agree with a lot of your observations. I like the "Classic" and "Dolce" too, and surprising to me, the bright "Rock" piano better than previously.

Wonderful to hear that the new PX-350 is such an improvement. I'd love to read comparisons with the more expensive Kawai and Roland models.

In your store- what is feedback from your customers? - I agree about the "Rock" piano- it is not your typical brittle sound that normally constitutes that variation on various boards

I havent gotten to take my PX-150 out of the box to play it as I've come down with a cold or something. I feel really bad this week, I hate being sick.

You mean since yesterday when the PX-350 arrived? Not much yet, but the upgrades of the PX-350 are obvious to even the non-players in my office.

Compared to the PX-350 how bad are the speakers on the PX-150?

Bad? They aren't just bad, they are mean ...don't let them in your house or they'll burn it down and steal your children.

Don't get over-anxious and nervous waiting. Enjoy your purchase. Even if they were the very best ever for a portable, you should still consider external speakers or quality headphones as part of your investment. That type of small, internal speaker is always limited. Relax, plug it in, and write your own review.

Good question, and quite germane to that thread.

There's a readme associated with the DPBSD MIDI file at the share point that describes the tests, though parts of it are fairly cryptic. The fine print at the bottom of the DPBSD first post also describe the tests (see #3).

It goes like this:
1. Play a key and hold it.
2. Press the damper pedal.
3. Release the key.
4. Play the same key very lightly so that it doesn't actually play and hold it.
5. Release the damper pedal.
6. Release the key.

The note should continue to play all the way to step 6, though most fail at step 5. I imagine it takes a fair amount of book keeping to follow all the steps. That a few DPs & software pianos actually do is rather interesting.

So, I do get and appreciate the subjectivity thing, but how different would you say the PX-150 and PX-350 speakers/amps really are?

Thats what I wanted to know since someone above said that the PX-150 speakers werent that good and then another person said the P-105 was a better keyboard

@Mike Martin: First of all, it's great that you participate in a forum like this. It really improves my perception of the brand Casio significantly. Thanks for the DPBSD also, it really helps!

Previously in this thread somebody mentioned how he wishes piano makers would stop featuring contemporary jazzy pieces in the demos and use something classical that we already know so that we have a frame of reference and we can actually get a feel for the sound.

I would really like to reiterate that sentiment because I really think that the tunes that are being selected to showcase the pianos are unhelpful to the point that it impacts sales negatively.

My town only has a very small instrument shop and I have to order stuff on request. If the demo that you guys made had been something like Nocturne Op 9. 2 by Chopin, had I liked it, you would have made a sale already. As it is, with the demo that was uploaded, I still feel like I know nothing about the piano.

So because you asked specific recommendations, I would say: any classic, slow and nuanced piece that showcases what's going on between key presses, things like sound decay etc. I've noticed some piano makers use very fast classical pieces such as the first part of Fantasie Impromptu to hide the decay, and that isn't cool either.

So I would suggest stuff like:

Nocturne Op 9. 2 - Chopin
Fur Elise - Beethoven
Tristesse - Chopin
Raindrop Prelude - Chopin

But then again I'm a beginner when it comes to digital pianos, I'm sure the audiophiles in the forum can come up with better recommendations to showcase the ability of a piano to perform classical pieces.

+1

I only gave my initial impressions and haven't put much time or thought into how to subjectively describe each. They sound similar to a point but the PX-350 has the extra ingredient that I immediately preferred. I'll have to leave it at that for now.

As for the other, I'm sure the battle will rage on for supremacy at $599. Do you think it is coincidence that they shipped within a week of each other?

There is always another person who will say the opposite of what someone else said. That's why ultimately you have to decide for yourself. You might as well be choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream based on what someone online said.

I ask because, as I understand it, the sound technology is the same between models, and the main speakers and amps have the same specs:

PX-350 : [13cm × 6cm (rectangular)] × 2 + φ 5cm × 2 (Output: 8.0W + 8.0W)

PX-150 : [13cm × 6cm (rectangular)] × 2 (Output 8W + 8W)

The PX-350 has 2" tweeters, which could make something of a difference I suppose, but with the main speakers this physically small the woofers can likely do full-range pretty well, perhaps with some beaminess and intermodulation at higher frequencies. I'm assuming the woofer enclosures are the same for both models but I don't know that (both DPs have the same external dimensions and likely share many of the same cast parts).

So could this "extra ingredient that [you] immediately preferred" be simply the addition of tweeters?

If so, it would be interesting if the PX-150 has the internal molded mounts for the tweeters, to facilitate retrofitting by inveterate tinkerers like me. Maybe a couple of cheap tweeters and non-polar caps could bring the PX-150 piano sound up to that of the PX-350.

What about the other sounds? How's the organ and hapsichord?

My guess is there is better dispersion of the sound with the two additional speakers with the highs and mid range going into the tweeters instead of everything being handled by the woofers. Of course it depends on what kind of crossover might be being used as well.

And the quality of the driver. Anyone with a spanking new PX-350 feel like cracking it open, voiding the warranty, and taking a few nekid pichures for the cause?

Your first request...

PX-350 Chopin Nocturne Op 9. 2

Note that this was not performed by me. This was done using a public domain MIDI file and the PX-350's Mellow Grand Piano preset.

Mike, you're starting to scare me - but it's a good kind of scared.