Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kurzweil CUP2 vs Yamaha CLP440

In fact, I did compare the CLP-430 to the HP-503 and I slightly preferred the cleaner sound of the Yamaha. The Roland sounded a bit boomy (?) in the low tones. I understand that the sound can be tweaked on the Roland, so for me they were both basically equally good.

I know that the 505 is a significant upgrade from the 503 (more so than the 440 is from the 430 I think), but I wanted to limit my budget. Otherwise, the Kawai CA65 becomes a very tempting alternative.

Also within budget is a 1y old HP 307 (see older thread), which, as far as I can tell, has all the bells and whistles of the current 505.

So, if I can make up my mind and convince my wife that an hugly furniture is the way to go (), I might still end up with a Roland...

Fiatlux, I tried out Kurzweil CUP2 some time ago in a local shop. I didn't like the action, subjectively it felt unpleasantly heavy. As for the sound, it sounded sort of like Steinway, but rather very filtered.

More importantly, according to this table, CUP2 doesn't support half-pedaling. That would be a huge drawback even if you used a software piano.

If I may ask, have you also considered Kawai CA65 or the older CA63?
I could try only CA63, but it had a beautiful wooden action and a stylish cabinet.
I also preferred the sound both to Yamaha CLP440 and Roland (I tried only FP7F).
CA65 costs 2260 Euro on the Thomann webpage (which is almost the same as Roland HP505).
I would definitely suggest trying it somewhere out, if you can.
Also, the older CA63 could be somewhere on sale...

(I found out that you mention CA65 just in the previous post right after posting it, so I edited my post and removed the part about CA65. Because you replied about that part, I returned it into this post again...)

Well, not as much in the end. It is mainly some brightness or some reverb, or the damper, cabinet, and string resonance behaviours. But the allover sound character will not change, it will always and clearly stay the Roland sound.
For example: playing with headphones I have reverb and brightness shut off, playing with the speaker system (HP-505) I have reverb on 1 (1 - 10 is possible) and brightness on 10 ( -10 to 10 is possible). Like this I hear the same sound, the typical Roland sound (which I love), different from the much brighter Yamaha sound.
The resonance settings in the function menu color this sound in a much more subtle way, making it fuller or clearer in the one or other situation, or sustaining with more body in the highs or lows. But it does not change the general color of the sound. Some of this resonance settings can be imagined like adding some body or reverb to certain notes in certain situations, while the global reverb and brightness setting are, well, global and general.

Yes I did (the CA65), and liked it as well. I could not do an AB comparison with the Yamaha and Roland (same store but different level), but I subjectively preferred it.

I ruled it out because it was out of my initial budget (<2000€, I'm trying to stick to it, otherwise you never know what could happen ;-), and then focused on stage and stylish pianos to try finding something that would better fit our modern home interior.

Having just identified a possible place to install the piano where it would remain discrete, a regular home piano may be re-considered, though.

I did also briefly look for a CA63. Thomann still had the "cherry" finish one on sale, but by the time we discussed whether we could stand the color, it was gone.

I thought that it had some sort of equalizer. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere someone who used this to attenuate a bit the lower frequencies.

My HP-505 does not have any equalizer settings, only a global brightness adjustment. The 507, RP700NX and other models which have the "Piano Designer" should have it, as far as I remember. The Piano Designer summarizes parameters from the Function menu (as the 503/5 have such Function menu as well) in a kind of quick access menu for specially adressing the sound settings out of the many functions, and then also adds some extra parameters for especially this. As far as I remember, the EQ settings are such extra parameters available in the Piano Designer.

The Kawai CS9, Roland LX15, and Yamaha NU1 are equally, if not more stylish and in the same form, which seems to be one of your criteria. More expensive yes, but then their sounds and action are all better than the KCUP2. At least that's IMHO having play tested them all.

Just a quick update on the topic.

I passed by the store selling the CUP2. The guy demoed some Roland HPs, and when I asked about the CUP2, the seller told me "I ordered two without prior listening. They are heavily discounted, for a reason" and did not even suggest playing on it. Pretty honest from the dealer... Not sure how he's going to get rid of them, thouh. Open doors day lottery?

I did not insist, especially as I found some of the details of the piano to look flimsy.

The CUP2 is a great option for many people. Most of the negative comments on this thread are being made by people who have not specifically played this model. It's wise for us all (myself included!) to restrain from commenting publicly on a particular model unless we have direct experience. I have played the CUP2 many, many times and find it a very good piano. The Fatar wood key action has a very solid feel and will appeal to piano purists. Regarding sounds, Kurzweil sounds are awesome! I can't believe a couple of the comments made on this thread regarding Kurzweil sounds...The Kurzweil sound engineers (based in Boston) hand-picked the sounds on the CUP2 from the legendary PC3 Pro keyboard. Across the board, pianos, electric pianos, organs, strings, you name it - ALL the sounds are awesome. A customer looking for a beautiful slim-upright cabinet, realistic piano touch, and a palette of 1st-class sounds at a decent price - I think the CUP2 is a good option.

Certainly there are lots of other options & opinions and I encourage people to put as much weight in the advice as they're paying for it!

amazing reply .. that's what I'd exactly use the newly released CUP1

crazy Necro there lol