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Hi,

Eventually I decided to get one from Bestbuy.ca as it was quite a good deal.

However, after spending the whole afternoon today assembling the piano and on trying the keys, there were two keys when hit hard they made a strange sound, sort of like something vibrating (very clear with the piano off, audible with piano on).

If I don't really want to bother to return the whole piano, what would be my option? (In-home repair in Canada?)

Question 1:

. . . So the sound isn't electronically-produced -- it's _mechanical_ ?
. . . That is, it'll happen even if you have the DP unplugged?

Question 2:

. . . When you say "hit hard", do you mean "at a normal FF playing level",
. . . or do you mean "when I pound on them" ?

This reminds me of the "rattle" or "buzz" that some people complained about in PX-350's, during early production.

Wild guess:

If the answer to the first question is "yes, it happens when the DP is unplugged", there's something loose (or rattling) inside the case.

Suggestion:

If the answer to the second question is "when I pound on them":

. . . Don't do that.

. Charles

Thanks a lot for your reply,

Yes, the noise was made when the DP is turned off, so it is mechanical but not the speaker which might have problem.

Secondly, sorry for the confusion, it didn't have to hit very hard, as I can easily hear it even pressing using my baby finger.
And there are only 3 keys having this issue, I contacted Casio and will be recording the noise for them to check if a technician can be sent to fix it.

This is interesting. I recently purchased a PX 850 which I believe is to be the same keyboard as the ap450.


I had issues w it from the getgo. I had two keys in the second octave above middle c make a rattling? /loose sound that when let go. It was way bothering when I played something slow and soft and I had to hit those keys. Also there was another register where whenever I played anything above mf let say some chords, the underneath would make an 'impacting cracking' sound. It wasnt due to anything loosely assembled ( i checked that over and plus it was coming from the keyboard itself , whcih does not need assembling ; it comes as a whole).


I had to go through the warranty (store I bought it is too far away to deal with them and told me to contact casio )

and casio sent me a PX860. the 860 is also in the process of being swapped bc:

the lower F below middle c has a sound like it is hitting some loose plastic bits inside the keyboard cavity. It is too bothersome. I shook the keyboard, did whatever, it never went away.
The upper half of the keyboard had a sound like the keys were 'clacking against bare wood' and the bottom half was proper, it sounded like nothing even when I played forte there.
basically i believe there is some supportive material in the lower half but it is offset? or misplaced in the upper half...giving to the clacking against bare wood sound of the keys.


Casio makes a good performing product but is very highly unreliable in my experience. Good luck.

I guess I am sharing a similar issue, with something loose inside a few keys. As they appeared only over a few keys and have similar symptoms, I considered that to be a quality control issue of the keyboards.

Otherwise it is a very nice piano with good sound.

In fact, if I am very picky over the product, comparing it to my Yamaha P-105B, which I found the sound to be a bit dull to me (really a personal preference), P-105B has a better keyboard in terms of finishing (the gap between all the keys were much more even), and none of its keys were making a similar noise to what I found with the Casio.

Hope the tech will come soon and have it fixed. Replacing is really something I wanted to avoid, after assembling it single-handedly for an afternoon (I still can hardly believe I safely made it)

oh yeah. I hear you on the assembly. It was a chore to put it together (cabinetry) ...im sure yours was tougher due to the more robust cabinetry details.

I was saying that as well about my comparison to yamaha to casio (to my wife) ...I was all up about Casio past few months and how much better to perform it is than on the yamahas I have played on (P155 95 and 35) but I had nothing much to go off of than by my limited experience w casio in noisy guitar centers or piano stores for a few minutes. (and I cant really full on practice on those as well)..

Take one home and realize IMMEDIATELY upon actually practicing on them. They cant hang with Yamaha in terms of build quality and like you say the quality control.

I noticed the same things too: the brand new 860 I received had inconsistent spacing between the keys as well. I noticed that right away. They wiggle of the black keys is too FEEBLE. yes. if you strike the blakc keys at an angle at a good enough force (sometimes happens or frequently during practice) you may end up w a bad black key after a short period i suppose.

Yamahas are built like a tank. The p155s that are at the valley college I go to (they have a piano lab full of these old p155s and they take a beating semester after semester) ARE ALL consistently strong, stable, keys are solidly stable , everything.
I cant suppose that no one maintained them, but i have never seen a yamaha rep every be there before . and i am there all the time. and there are over 20 of them. So that says something when none of the 20 I have never seen a tech working on one. and none were replaced. I can tell by the cup stains and smudges from previous weeks and semseters on them).


anyways. I m with you on the commentary. I cant return this casio, bc of my purchase negotiation w the store, so I wil lget my replacement and just use the heck out of it, and when in a few years I need to replace...I will just buy a yamaha digital.

As I was asked (by Casio) to record the sound as a reference of the problem,
here is the youtube link to the concerning noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Nc8knrhi4

As a comparison to the other 2 keys tested (which made perfectly normal hammering sound), the lowest note seemed to create a strange sound when pressed, and my iPad agreed with me. (as you can hear).
Though this one is seldom used, it makes the loudest noise, there are a few others having a similar noise but not as serious.

Hope they will consider fixing it at the end.

I just watched the the video, and I can't hear any difference between the first two keys, and the last (lowest) key.

I have a suggestion:

. . . Turn on the DP,
. . . set the volume level about 2/3 up (which is about right for
. . . "live" playing.

Can you hear the difference in the way the keys sound, when the piano is producing sound (as an acoustic piano would) ?

If you can't hear anything different, the action is OK.

. . . If it ain't broke, don't fix it.


. Charles

I can hear a clear additional noise on the lowest key. Sounds like a little bit of plastic is catching on something as you press down.

It was softer than real life as it was recorded by an iPad, but if you turn up the volume a bit, and use an earphone, it is very clear.

If I turn the dp to 2/3, that certainly is not very obvious, but unfortunately that's not my use case here; I usually use headphone to not disturb my housemates, and with my sennheiser hd600, even with max volume I can still here the click.

There is a difference with the third ( last key ) in that video, like a little click not present in the other two keys as far as I can hear.

I can assure the OP mine does it too on some keys, pretty much from the beginning when I got it, and a few more developed that slight click over the year I owned it, but I don't feel it affects anything in terms of playing it, so I don't worry about it.

On mine at least, the keys that click a little seem to return normally at the same speed as do all the others, and are no harder to put down either, basically it works fine for me as far as I can tell.

OP, If you go into a shop and press a few keys on the demo models of various makes, not just Casios, I noticed some of them make slightly different noises on various keys too from time to time.

If you think the action is compromised, the key is stiffer and slower to return, then personally I'd want it looking at, but if you worry about the sort of things I hear in that video, and provided the key basically works fine, you could possibly be on a long road of calling repair people and returns, I suspect the possibility of them saying nothing is wrong is likely, but I could be wrong. Even if a repair man got rid of the click on one or more keys, I suspect some other keys producing that same sound down the line is likely.

In the end, does it feel okay to play the keys you suspect as broken, as Charless says, if ain't broke don't fix it, and enjoy your piano.

There is no denying that Casio is just an overall noisy action, never bothered me playing it though. I use open back sennheisers too, they let in a lot of noise by virtue of being openback, you could get some close back phones with a better seal if it annoys that much, they will block that key noise entirely.

I don't find it a problem personally, when I play softly the keys are less noisy anyway, and when I press the keys harder, the piano becomes loud enough to not let it get in the way actually enjoying playing the thing.

Something else important I meant to add, the sennheiser 600 HD will not be driven well at all by the Casio headphone output which is weak, basically it is such a high impedance and low sensitive headphone that needs a headphone amp to do it justice, that even at 2/3 output volume on the headphone output on the Celviano AP-450, it hasn't enough juice by some margin, that is way too low to represent a realistic volume for piano playing .... IMHO.

Not that I have an acoustic in my room to compare to, but all the same where I imagine the volume levels should be based on measurements.

With low impedance phones I own, typically in the sort of 30 - 40 Ohms region, quite sensitive I find the Casio headphone out volume needs to be in the 1/2 to 2/3 region already. I own a HD 598 as well, which is much lower impedance around 50 - 60 Ohm IIRC, and much easier to drive than the HD 600. On half volume I'd say the key noise, for sure you know it is there, but it's not at a level it is intrusive enough for me to say, what a pest

Thanks a lot for your input, it has been very insightful.

I kind of understand it's my own itchy when it comes to new electronics (unfortunately it's DP ) I always want to make sure it works perfectly.

For Casio, they are nice enough to already agree sending a tech to check and repair. Although this is a minor thing, I would like to see how this maybe fix if they didn't mind helping.

For the earphone, I sort of understand I need a headphone amp, however it sounds pretty good already without that and after this piano my wallet has been fully flattened, I should consider that later

How is it comparing with the Yamaha?

As noted in my signature, I am an beginner to piano, so I am afraid my comment won't be accurate.

I was playing a Yamaha P-105B, which is actually owned by my housemates who was kind enough to lend me. It's a very nice piano given its portability. A few things I noted:

The action is stiffer on the Casio, and if Casio was described as light with its weighted action, then the P-105B should be even lighter. The key press on P-105B is not having a scaled feeling, on pressing a particular key, the force applied is more or less even throughout the drop of it, regardless of the depth you have reached. On Casio I can feel that the deeper it goes, the stiffer it becomes. Can't really content on it as I never played a grand piano.

The sound on the Yamaha was a bit dull to me, it is more of a personal preference (didn't mean to say which one is better). A similar comparison can be found here:
https://youtu.be/JQvX9lB1S4k
So it seems to me it's the style between the two brands, at least for this range of price.

Got to play more before I can understand the difference further.