Hi all, Im new here and was just wondering if I could get some input.

I have a 4'7" pearl river piano right now and Im not really happy with sound or feel ATM. what would you do in my situation?

is it worth while to get a digital piano? should I try looking for a used acoustic?

I like the idea of not having to get my piano tuned twice a year.

I think my dealer will put the cost of my piano towards the purchase of another.

Well, I have a digital that cost $900 online.
I use it to work on the most difficult
classical repertoire, and it serves fine
for that purpose. It has never needed any
kind of tuning, maintenance, or repair.
If I move, I can more it myself. With the
volume control on it, I can play at
3 A.M. and not disturb the neighbors. Everything
I learn on it will transfer intact to any
acoustic piano. I believe it is superior
for technique development over any acoustic
piano. All weighted-key digital pianos,
even those in the $400-500 price range, have
their sound and action modeled after a top-of-
the-line concert grand piano, so they'd
be better than any baby grand piano. What
are you waiting for? We are living in
the digital piano age. There are hundreds
of good digital pianos readily available online
at prices that can fit any budget.

While there have been many great advancements in digital piano technology, this statement is....a bit far reaching. [kindof in the same way that my preceding sentence was a 'bit' of an understatement ]

You can spend a couple thousand dollars on one that will sound like a cheap toy (particularly in the bass) Or you can spend half that and get something quite good.

I would talk to your dealer though, and perhaps give him a chance to have a technician look the piano over to see what improvements can be made. For instance, I assume you liked the sound at some point since you did buy it, right? Has the piano itself changed in that time, or are you saying your playing has advanced to the point where a very small baby grand such as that is no longer satisfactory? btw, there is no reason that the actual feel of the action should be unsatisfactory... it sounds as though your piano could benefit from some regulation as well.

Good luck

ya his statement did seem quite far reaching lol but I get his points.

as you can see a 4'7" piano thats made in china isnt going to have the bass. at the time I purchased it I was in "acoustic only" mode and wasnt even considering a digital as a possibility.

I see your a piano restorer CTPianotech. any chance you know "personally" the pearl river line of pianos?

sry for 2 posts as I didnt understand the symbols to get to edit,

yes I did like the sound of a pearl river at the time I was shopping.

In this price range, it was blowing away the competition(feel of action, and sound)

as I understand, the digitals have come along way to even include a real action of a grand piano! and sound amazingly like the real thing. (well at least better than mine lol)

My piano is in need of a tune badly and I know that Im tired of its tone.(toylike) but Im thinking I might be needing a downgrade anyway as I will be leaving my parents house in the near future ( I hope) so maybe a digital would better suit me.

also I like the fact that you can change voices once in a while and explore your creativity.

I haven't been practicing in a while and would also consider myself pretty amateurish.

so I would like something for 4k or less that has a realistic action and sounds the closest to the real thing. CLP280??? or is this too old?

I will go to my dealer and see the yamahas they have in stock and try them out.

People here tend to agree the yamaha digitals have the best sound over the kawai. and the kawai has "a little" better action?? its tuff deciding which one is better to get

just tried out the privia px320 today and liked the feel somewhat. the thing that got me was the sound. it didnt sound great at all. speakers are too tiny for anything special. but if I had a good speaker system hooked up to it maybe it would be different story. i thought it was easy to play though and felt natural, maybe even light on the touch compared to my baby grand pearl river. still wanna try out the clp series though.

I think Digital Pianos and Acoustic Pianos will each have their devotees for eternity, just like the Acoustic and Electric guitar. I have an Acoustic Classical Guitar recently valued at £3500 ($7000)but the first valuer I contacted said he had no knowledge of Acoustic Guitars only Electric.

ya you are probably right in saying that. I, for one, am not so much of a devotee of acoustic. I am open to new ideas. and from what I "have heard" about digitals these days has been very good. that and the fact if I move out soon I need something a little more portable. Not so small like the privias though. but if there are some setups you guys have of say the px320 that you think sound as good as the clp or cvp series let me check em out. and let us know which products you use to achieve that sound.

The built-in speakers of the PX-320 doesn't give justice at all to the piano samples that Casio packed into its AIF sound source. This is what I first noticed when I bought my PX-320. I thought the built-in speakers are good enough for practising purposes but for performing...you'd need to hook it up to an AMP to fully appreciate the piano sound.

If you don't have a PA system (powered speakers) or a dedicated keyboard AMP then the least you can do to try to test if the PX-320 really has good piano sampling is hooking it up to a simple stereo component system (via AUX input using the Privia's LINE OUT L and R channel output). Then TURN OFF all possible preset equalizer settings (i.e. classical, pop etc.) on the component system as well as any surround effects (i.e. Dolby digital etc.) and any Bass-enhancing presets so you'd get a fairly accurate sound reproduction of the piano sampled sound from the PRIVIAs...then start playing the lower registers, the higher registers and the middle registers.

Also, it is quite important to note the AMP that you're hooking up your DP to. Some AMPs produce more "treble" sound while the bass sounds take a back seat. Based on various reviews, you'd have to choose a fairly balanced pair of powered speakers to really appreciate a keyboard/DPs sounds...a good number seem to favor Roland keyboard AMPs more than, say, the cheaper Behringer AMPs.

If you can get the salesman in a music store to hook up the PX-320 (or any other digital piano you may want to try out) to an available PA system (or keyboard AMP) that they may also be selling in that music store, then you would know for sure if you like or dislike the piano samples of that particular digital piano.

For personal use in my simple home studio, I hook up my PX-320 to my stereo component system (as I described above). It is in this setup that I was able to fully appreciate the piano sample of the PX-320...NOT when using it with the cheesy built-in speakers or certain headphones that may not give you an "accurate" sound output. You can hear the rich bass sound on the lower registers and the delicate sound of the higher registers...in fact, you can also hear, if you listen closely, how a note seem to naturally decay if you press a particular key.

thanks for the detailed response! so I take it your a proud owner of the px320? thats great.

ya finding the right speaker system will be the biggest challenge if I go the px320 route instead of the clp or cvp series.

since you own a px320 tell me what you think of the clp or cvp series and whether they are worth the money.

The clavinovas whether the CLP or CVP series are great digital pianos. I'd say these are durable and great-sounding DPs.

Comparing the CLP/CVP series to Casio Privia DPs
is not "apples to apples" comparison. Simply because the Privias are portable DPs. I didn't know you were looking for "cabinet-type" DPs though.
If you need to compare the CLP/CVP clavinovas to Casio, you might want to take a look at these other DPs from CASIO:

CASIO cabinet-type DPs

Of those cabinet-type DPs, the AP-500 uses the same sound source (i.e. AIF) that the Privia PX-320/120/720/800 uses.

But if you must choose between the CLP and CVP, I like the feel of the CVP keys better though. And I always go for a good set of features.

Your budget AND your specific needs (whether you'd be using the DP primarily at home or using it for gigs or playing with a band) would determine which type of digital piano you could get. The CVPs have certain advantages over features. Personally if I weren't using my DP at all for gigging and don't mind bulky designs and some budget limitation I've personally set not to exceed, I'd take the CVP over the CLP in a heartbeat.

Here are also some of my thoughts and/or suggestions that may somehow help you decide and cause to reflect on:

In music there are endless possibilities. Given the right level of creativity, some skills, imagination and motivation (heck, even inspiration) you'd never know how much you'd develop and to what extent you could even create or arrange music...

Given these possibilities, you'd never know when you would be needing extra features like additional instrument patches, a good set of rhythms that might help you feel the "groove" while arranging or composing, a sequencer in creating or arranging complex/lush music (e.g. piano in track 1, bass in track 2, custom made drum sequence in track 3, a saxophone patch solo in track 4, and some light back ground strings on track 5). Perhaps, you may even venture later on into interfacing your DP with your PC and start on the world of MIDI and AUDIO music sequencing/arranging or even simple tasks as
creating "soundtracks" for your family's home videos or a friend's wedding etc.

In other words, if and when you need these additional features, it would help much and would be convenient if your DP had these features in the first-place. If you have a good budget, go for the CVP series (what model would depend on how much your budget is willing to accomodate).

On the other hand, if you have a limited budget and can live without the other features that the CVP series offer (i.e. additional polyphonies, more instrument patches, 16-track sequencers) or you're just simply serious about playing classical piano music and nothing else and therefore don't really need the extra set of features...You still won't go wrong with the CLPs...again, what particular model would depend on how much your budget would permit...among the CLPs take a look at the CLP 240PE, even better the CLP280 series.

Good luck and I hope you find the right DP for you.

thankyou for that rundown of models for me. I havent yet tried the clp or cvp series yet. I dont think I would get into compositions like you were saying, but then again, that would be a fun thing to have around. maybe if im feeling a little bit creative. but as far as touch/sound i heard there is little/no difference between the clp cvp series. In fact, isnt it the same keyboard mechanisms?

Some of the CLP series already use the GH3 mechanism while other model use GH mechanisms. Supposedly, the GH3 should give a slightly improved "true-piano" touch. But to me, these piano touch is subjective. What might be light to you, may be heavy to others. What might be light to me, may be heavy to you.

hehe its almost like we are in a chat room the way we are responding to each other lol.

thankyou for you help. and yes your right about the "piano touch" with mine...probably could only get lighter. I dont know maybe steinway is heavier than mine:P