Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Lack of Access is a Real Issue for Many

After a comprehensive search of the music stores in my areas, I was able to find a couple of +$5000 Yamaha console DPs (out of my range), a P105 and a Casio Privia PX150 to try out, and that's it. There are NO Kawai dealers around...

... A lot of the posts here seem to be similar, insofar as someone asks: Which is better, x or y?, and invariably that person will get advice along the lines of: Sound and key action are subjective, and you will need to play them first to find what works best for you on your budget, etc...

...This is, of course, true, but especially in terms of the stage pianos (and ANY Kawai DPs) this doesn't appear to be a realistic option, so I may have to end up buying a DP online, sight unseen, in order to upgrade. I suspect many are in the same boat. Just the way it is.

So to anyone who owns or has played on a CP4, VPC1 or ES7, ANY thoughts on the build & key action are always appreciated.

I'm also interested in knowing: How may here end up buying a DP without trying it first? Thanks, & Merry Xmas.

I'm extremely limited in what I can try out. Much like you.

I bought my VPC without trying it out. Even trying out the same action. I did think I would be a little disappointed in the keys and action. But what can I do? It was just the opposite. I couldn't be happier with the whole keyboard in every way. My Ivory software works better with it. Sounds better. Everything fits together and works together... May I create a new word here? Instead of ergonomics...lets call it soundonomics.
I think Kawai works hard to create a good realistic simulator. They got it with this one.
I don't think you'll go wrong if you buy a VPC. Just have a good computer and sound system for it.
You will always be able to play with and upgrade the software.

I bought my last piano sight unseen for this reason. Kind of stinks.

The DP piano market is structurally kind of sick. Piano retailers have very low and decreasing volume so they have to mark things up a lot and they can't carry a lot of options. So it's optimal in many cases for consumers to try it out at the store then buy it cheaper online. But that means volume in the brick and mortar stores goes down even more and it becomes harder to find one in real life as they go out of business.

Manufacturers try to fight the trend by disallowing the sales of lots of their pianos online and we try and keep an ethos here supporting brick and mortars, but you can't fight economic forces indefinitely. Not sure where this trend will end, actually.

The metro areas are better served. Places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are likely brimming with offerings.

I bought a piano when I lived in South Florida. The Miami metro area has a population of over 1 million, as does my local Ft. Lauderdale area. Likewise the Palm Beach area to our north.

There were plenty of low-priced pianos on show at Sam Ash and Guitar Center. But I was looking for a high-end unit. I found a Yamaha piano dealer (over 20 miles away) and I bought a Clav. (It was not until months later that I discovered a Kawai dealer just blocks away from that Yamaha store. Had I known I might be playing a Kawai now.)

But smaller markets suffer. Piano sales volumes just aren't big enough to support many stores.

I guess I have the opposite problem. Within 30 miles I have probably over 12 shops, and many of which I`ve never been to in places like Bolton, Bury and most of Lancashire where I live. So everything`s covered. The result? Can`t make up my mind, so I sorts out my priorities on a piano. Gets easier then at least for me . . .

All things being equal, (which they`re not) like, if you want the better action, you go for a Kawai in the price range you`ve set yourself. Sounds OK, you could live with it or even really like it . . the official videos of all manufacturers can be a tad misleading. Perhaps members here, or private recordings on Youtube might help you decide.

Happy fishing!

Do you suppose manufacturers might be able to follow the Apple model? Apple always had trouble selling in retail until they started opening their own stores. Now one can buy from the Apple store or on line and it doesn't matter. Could the future be Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai retail outlets that are focused on promoting their brand rather than just sales made at that location? Don't know if it could work since Apple obviously sells a lot of product at each of their retail outlets.

Yes, it's probably not reasonable to compare the phone market (with many tens of millions of units sold each year) to the piano market (with only a few tens of thousands sold).

It would be neat if they could do that, but based on what I've seen these manufacturers have very small marketing budgets. Certainly nothing in the same universe as the tech giants. Probably they can't afford to have a bunch of stores like that open.

I tend to think it will just continue until there are a handful of retailers, mostly in big cities, and a bunch of internet sales to people basing decisions on forum recommendations and other word of mouth.

Where I live, there's a huge Yamaha store that sells nothing but Yamaha - including acoustics and drum kits. Roland, Kawai, Casio et al rely on DP stores that stock their range, often quite a limited one.

If there wasn't a V-Piano at the DP store I visited (which also stocks Nord, Korg, etc as well as Roland - but no Yamaha or Kawai), I'd have ended up buying a different DP....and been looking to upgrade long before now. There's no way I'd buy any DP without having played it first.

But I bought my first computer twelve months ago, a MacBook Pro, online via Amazon - sight unseen, based purely on recommendations in a consumer (not computer) magazine which has no advertising (called Which?). I didn't even know that there's an Apple store just 15 miles away, until I came across it recently. The staff there give free advice and practical help to anyone having difficulty using Apple products, and it was very crowded. Thanks to them, I saw the photos from an expedition I took part in ten years ago, for the first time (which our leader put on floppy discs (anyone here knows/remembers what they are? ) and posted to all the team members afterwards) - and transferred them to my computer.....

I agree 100%; I did buy my SP280 without trying it out (but I did try the same action on the Krome88) as it was awhile before it was here.
It would be nice to know if there is a dealer in South NJ/Philadelphia that carried the ES100 for example.

I bought my first DP sight unseen and it was fine.

Digitals are definitely consistent enough that word of mouth is enough to make the decision.

I mean, everyone agrees that Yamaha's GHS is mushy . . . and, yeah, it is. That's going to be 9 out of 10 people's impressions, probably.

I think the generalizations about DPs are useful enough, and that's a good thing. It just isn't practical for the manufacturers to have their own stores.

I am the 1 out of 10 lol. - I agree GH is stronger, this was one area where I purchased I did try, but was making somewhat of a compromise (wanted portable #1).

I would agree though that while anyone can download samples,demos to know how a piano sounds, touch is only via trying it out first.