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Hi! What is the difference between the "Roland PHA IV Premium action" (can be found in HP504) and the "Roland PHA IV Concert action (HP506)"?

That still is a big question.
Tell us if you have found out for sure.

There is a thread discussing this topic somewhere. Cant find it right now.

Difference in trim. PHA-4 Concert - white keys - two layer ivory feel construction on stable wood like basis, black keys - wooden like moisture absorbing coating. Premium - one layer ivory feel construction and just matte black keys.

This guy seems to think that there is a difference between the two, beyond the trim, that is noticeable:

The best key action, which is in the HP506 & HP508, is called Concert Keyboard (an appropriate name actually). The key action in the HP504 is called Premium Keyboard. The difference between the two is that the Concert Keyboard in the HP506 & HP508 feels even more like a grand piano to me and the Premium Keyboard action in the HP504 (below left pic) is just slightly less like a grand piano compared to the Concert Key Action, but still very enjoyable to play and much better than most other brands in its price range.

No idea if he is right though; I could only find examples of the Concert when I was in the market recently.

Ahh, Tim Praskins. The salesman who pretends to be the purveyor of independent advice.

All the Roland PHA-IV actions will be mechanically and structurally the same. Only differences will be appearance (side of the keys to give the appearance of wood) or key surface. At the moment they use 'premium' and 'concert' nomenclature. It used to be 'standard' and 'deluxe'. It's just words. They are the same actions.

This may be true for the top two verions: Premium & Concert (can't remember which is supposed to be better).

However, now that ALL Roland's actions are subsumed under the PHAIV name, I'm not sure your evaluation includes the other one: PHAIV Standard. This is a redesign (and reputedly a significant improvement) of Ivory G Feel (and not PHAIII) and therefore, probably markedly different from the other two PHAIV types.

Yes I accept there will be a cheaper/lighter Roland action. And whatever it is they keep renaming it!

If they are using 'PHA-IV Standard' for that it could certainly be misleading. Because 'PHA-III Standard' was just like any other PHA-III except for the fact the white keys were all one colour and therefore didn't simulate the appearance of wood along the sides.

I'll put money on 'PHA-IV Premium' and 'PHA-IV Concert' being mechanically identical.

That's what I'd have thought - somewhat similar to the HP302/305/307 some years back which had the similar-feeling PHAII or PHAIII. But I'm sure someone a little while back posted here that the HP 506 & 508 PHAIV Concert) were much better than the HP504 (PHAIV Premium*). So it goes on - we never seem quite to get to the bottom of this.

*seems anyway that the premium action from Roland now is 'Concert' since they put 'Premium' on the cheapest of their main HP range, thus implying that it is premium in name only.

Yes I suspect that the basic architecture of the top end Roland actions (and indeed Yamaha GH(3) types) have remained unchanged for a number of years now. There have been small changes in appearance and key surface and of course sensor implementation. But the main changes have been the ridiculous name changes! The PHA-IV "innovation" seems to be that it is quieter. No doubt achieved by a thicker strip of felt. How radical!

Pretty accurate right there.

I don't feel any appreciable difference between the premium and concert variants as the underlying mechanics are the same.

Jay

The measures taken to reduce the key noise on the newer PHA-4 is actually quite ingenious...

Far more than a "strip of felt"

I'm on vacation. We'll discuss this further in the future.

Jay

Intriguing!

Look forward to further detail Jay. I played the RD-800 briefly a couple of weeks ago. Action was very good indeed. I think Roland has developed the basic plastic/metal DP type action (where the hammer assembly is largely underneath the key) to the ultimate. I really think it's the best of its type.

As far as the quietness issue I'm glad they've found an engineered solution. Too much felt gives a squishy feel that I don't think is very piano-like.

I have tried almost all competitors, and in my opinion RD-800 keyboard(PHA-IV concert grand) is the best you can find. the only i havent tried , is MP-11 - but its too heavy instrument, wasn't interested in it.

Hm, okay thanks for all the answers! I definitely look forward to more detailed information from Jay in the future!