Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai CN 24, Yamaha P 155, Privia PX 850 ?

I would like to ask you, which of the bellow mentioned pianos do you find as the best choice for the inter-mediate pianist to play and for 8 years child to learn and practise in terms of the:

1) realistic hammer-key technology,
2) solid handling for long term usage,
3) realistic piano sound.

The compared pianos, sorted in order of my preferences:

1 - 2) Kawai CN 24,
1 - 2) Yamaha P 155,
3) Casio PX 850.

All these models have almost the same price ( Kawai 1150E, Yamaha 1200E, Casio 1000E)...

Yamaha sounds somewhat worse compared to Kawai... However there are several posts, where key issuses for CN 23 and CN 33 are mentioned. There Yamaha's GH may be a more reliable choice... Yamaha is also clearer to handle, has more features and an adjustable sensitivity of the key response (is it important for a child?).

But the sound of CN 24 is really impressive and uncomparable...

Is a mechanical construction of the Casio piano solid compared to the tradional brands as Yamaha, Kawai or Roland? Casio products seem to be a little bit ligter and "more plastic" than comparable models (11 kg, Privia PX 350 vs. 18 kg, Yamaha P-155)...

Thanks for your help and comments.

I am going to buy my first digital piano after the selling my very old accoustic piano...

None of these pianos have noticeable build construction issues. I don't think that should be a deciding factor at all. This forum sometimes gets people reporting a problem with their Kawai piano mainly because one of our members works for Kawai. But overall they don't have build quality or quality control issues. Also, Kawai and Yamaha are very good about replacing/fixing any issues that come up with their pianos. I don't know about Casio, but I suspect it's the same.

As for ease of use, that's a legitimate concern. Although in practice, what I observe is that basically everyone uses only one (maybe two) of their piano voices and very seldom changes any other settings. My MP8 is very complicated to use and there are tons of settings I don't use or don't understand. Doesn't bother me when I'm playing.

If you like the Kawai's sound best, I think you should buy it.

-Note: The Yamaha P95/P105's are more in line with the Casio weight. The action on the 95/105 is lighter than that on the P-155. P-155 gets more weight from a semi-larger footprint and more powerful speakers.

I'm inclined to agree with the previous post:

. . . If one sounds noticeably better to you, buy it.

It's _you_ that has to be happy with the choice, not us. The market is quite competitive.

This may not be directly on-topic, but I find something strange:

. . The Casio PX-850 (a "cabinet piano") shares a lot
. . of features
. . with the Casio PX-150 (a "stage piano" or "slab piano").

It has some configurable damping parameters that the PX-150 lacks. And it has better speakers and amplifiers.

But it doesn't have the extended voice set (something around 300 voices), or the "arranger" features (auto-harmony, auto-accompaniment, rhythms) that you can get in the PX-350 (stage piano) for several hundred dollars less (before adding a stand for the PX-350).

Rather than setting up a simple hierarchy -- from "most limited" to "least limited, best sound", the manufacturers have fragmented the market. It's like picking a breakfast cereal -- too many choices, and not enough comparison data.

I sympathize with everyone trying to navigate these waters!

. Charles

PS -- how does the Kawai EP3 (which is a competitor to the Yamaha P155) compare to the CN24 ?

EP3: AHA IV-F keyboard action, Harmonic Imaging sound, 96 note polyphony, portable.

CN24: RH2 keyboard action, PHI sound (88-key sampling), 192 note polyphony, console.

Both instruments are produced by Kawai, but that's pretty much the only thing they share in common.

Cheers,
James
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