Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha CLP 535 Clavinova - any reviews?

As piano salesmen like to say there is no such thing as a bad choice when you pay good money for it lol.

For us our choice to spend a little more ( 2000 ) on the Roland HP605 was for many reasons. Liked the action better, liked the sound better, liked the piano modelling behaviour over sampled sound, etc. The Yamaha 545 was something we tried to like because we could get one rather cheaply from a dealer but the more different brands we tried, the less the value for money it seemed to offer.

Could have gone for a Kawai with the GFII action or the RMIII Grand II but our house goes from cold and bone dry to hot and humid many times a year and all wooden action did not seem wise, plus again the modelled behaviour attracted more than the sampled sound.

Bargaining wise you got to mentally turn things round - its not that you want the piano, its that they want your money
If they think they can take all of yours they will, the trick is to offer them a little less than what you want to spend and give them some room to move back up, and end up still lower than what they wanted initially. A good opening is to say well I can see the sticker price on this, but what do you usually sell them for ^^ or something like that..
As that dog guy on tv says calm assertive energy be the leader of the pack ^^
(also usually suck at bargaining here, but one slowly learns over time its either let them take all your money or don't ^^)

I will practise Thanks for your replies, they are really helpful

Goss brings up a good point.I would add that you don't have to think of this as "bargaining". Instead think of it as "making an offer". Pick your price, make the offer, and see what happens.

If the offer is rejected, you can just walk away because you're mentally prepared. "I DO NOT HAVE TO BUY A PIANO TODAY."

I think that the static weight means nothing if the dynamic weight (inertia) is not given too. When I tried the PHA-50 in a shop near several acoustic pianos I felt it lighter than a real piano, so I preferred to avoid it. The only "folded" action which gave me the same "total weight" of acoustic piano was the indeed the GH3 and I purchased a CLP 535 (which should have 85 gram static weight).

I'm not so satisfied with it, because emulating inertia with static weight is not ideal, but at least I can say that the CLP 535 has the same "overall weight" of my teacher grand and my upright (no producer would be so stupid to sell an action which is overall heavier than an average acoustic piano).

So, if you want a digital piano with low static weight and high dynamic inertia (like an acoustic piano) you should spend 300-500 euro more and look at a Yamaha / Kawai with wooden action, which have more inertia (but still not enough).

I would suggest the CLP 535 only if you need a piano for preparing exams. For fun, you may not like its static weight.

What do you exactly mean by saying I may not like its static weight? And why is it good for exam preparations then? I'm actually going to take at least two piano exams next year... so... I will appreciate any advice

http://www.pianofinders.com/educational/touchweight.htm long story ^^

I believe there all three of the models I mentioned have a lot to offer in this price range. The CN37 is the most recent model, and therefore has the strongest specifications. However, which one is 'better' ultimately depends on the individual playing, therefore it's important to play-test each model for yourself.

Best of luck!

Kind regards,
James
x

Better is rather subjective unfortunately as it largely falls down to sound and action.

However it's probably worth noting that yamaha 'hold back' more features than kawai and roland do. In the latter two the top actions and sound generation are found in the higher mid range priced pianos, as you go up further than that you're largely paying for better speakers and amplifiers and possibly a shinier cabinet.

With the clp line you don't find the best sound generation until the 575 and the best action is only in the 585.

The second thing is that yamaha's line up is the oldest of the three and most here seem to be expecting new models in the coming months.

+1 for Bamber's concise description - my feelings exactly.

Has Yamaha already announced a new line?

Nope - just word of mouth from dealers either deploying the same logic as Bambers expressed or having enjoyed some news from Yamaha directly..

I'm happy to hold no opinion on the matter, just reporting what the general feel is.

Just for balance the flip side of waiting for new models is that you can never stop waiting!

Ok,I've read it... i can't claim I know everything now, but...:it was useful Still...why should the CLP 535 be good for exam preparations?

If you read the text again with this in mind - very often piano teachers will have their students play heavy actions believing this improves their strength and this strength will help them with control on lighter actions

Yeah, so actually, I should probably go for Kawai CA17, as this one has a pretty heavy action. That's why I'm wondering why the 535 is good for exams too, its action is not that heavy... but yeah, I get the point.

I did not feel it heavy as such really - quite even and pleasant. The Grand Feel II which is the top of the line action from Kawai, just one step up from the RMIII Grand II, is perhaps a little easier. Both are excellent value for money

What the Kawai action has is more consistency I think. The mechanics are much simpler so much less friction issues possible. I dare your teacher to find fault with it

There's two elements to the 'heaviness' which confuses this slightly. The static element, which is (apparently) quite high on the 535 will mostly be felt during soft playing.

The second element is the overall inertia in the keys which is largely determined by the mass of the system. This is felt more during loud playing.

Real acoustic pianos, particularly grands are higher in the second element and relatively light in the first (counterweights are often used to this end), ~55g is a sort of settled upon standard for static weight in acoustics in the middle of the keyboard now (this will actually rise about 20g or so halfway through the key travel as the damper lever is engaged).

If your upright is older you might find it's somewhat light compared to modern uprights and grands

Generally lower priced DP actions will tend to be lighter and thus lacking in the second element and so may compensate somewhat by upping the first.

Kawai's wooden series of actions (rm3 & GF) tend to be much closer to a modern grand piano in terms of the second element (hence the VPC1 & mp11 being heavy to the point that some people consider the 'portable' nature of them to be stretching it a little) and therefore have a lighter static weight, but may still have a 'heavy' feel.

I get it. Thank you everyone! You really helped Good luck with your playing!