Hello there!

It's the first time i post on this board, although i've been reading some threads for some weeks especially the ones regarding differences between Yamaha and Roland DPs.

I have already read the following posts:
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/6/3140.html
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/6/3379.html
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/6/3839.html
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/6/3848.html
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/6/3888.html

What i could get from those threads, is that Roland HPs are slightly better than Yamaha CLPs (regarding the sound and kb feel).

On the other hand, CLP 240 appears to have 80w speakers, and HP 203 only 30w (and lots of extra feats).

So, i have 3 Questions.

QUESTION 1) I know that in the end it's all up to personal taste. I really appreciate *any* help, but it would be great if anyone gave me some tecnical opinion about it (maybe someone who is a professional piano player, or someone with good experience in DPs).


QUESTION 2) What are exactly the differences (tecnically speaking) between Roland's PH2/escapment vs. Yamaha's GH3? I want to stick to the one that has a piano feel as close to real as possible.
Which one should give me an easier "transition" if i choose to go to a real piano later?

QUESTION 3) Finally, comes the "cost and benefit" dilemma:

These are the lowest prices i could get where i live:

Yamaha CLP 240 - US$ 2690,6
Roland HP 203 - US$ 3392,6

(grrr..Roland DPs are so expensive here. =/)

With only these two options, which one should you take ? Does the US$ 702 difference still makes it worth taking the HP203?

---------------------------------------------

ps.: I could also get a HP201 for US$ 2889,5.

But comparing HP201 to CLP 240 at glance, it doesn't seem a good idea - i would miss the "escapment" on Hp203's PH2, and many features.(right?)


Thanks for your attention!

Just a small comment:

I know that you probably wouldn't pay 2,6k for a CLP240 as you wouldn't pay 3.3k for a HP203.

The prices seems high, because it IS high where i live, and i cannot do anthing about it.

I've converted it into US$ to make it easier for you to compare. Try to focus on the price difference only (also remember to consider it proportionally).

Thanks guys!

I would go for the CLP240 in that case.

Hi Catus

No doubt that you're going to get many opinions on your question and many referrals to previous posts (you may even see 1 or 2 of mine). For what it's worth, here are my thoughts>=.

I started my love affair with the piano at the tender age of 8 and I am now 59 and apart from a few enforced breaks have been playing for that length of time. I am fortunate enough to have had close associations lasting many years with 3 piano dealers with the result that there are not many of the "better" makes that I have notplayed. Five years ago circumstances, ie divorce, found me living in an apartment where of course an acoustic piano was out of the question.

Thanks to one of my dealer friends I obtained a second hand, excellent condition CLP. It served its purpose in that it kept me playing but I'm afraid it was not long before I came to detest the sound of it (as I do Yamaha acoustics).

About 6 months ago I decided enough was enough and went shopping. There really was no contest for me, I bought a new Roland HP204 and, to use a cliche, have never looked back. The technicalities of the thing I'm just not bothered about: the touch is excellent, the sound is as good as I could want (with or without headphones), it looks good and just exudes excellent build quality.

I accept that my preferences may not be yours but at the very least give Roland serious consideration. By the way I only chose the 204 over the 203 because I am lucky enough to be able to afford it so I just indulged myself!!

And NO!! I do not work for Roland.

Have fun shopping

Hmm...interesting. Thanks for your opinion David!

It really seems that "acoustic piano" players tend to prefer more roland DPs(Is there any exception to this rule here?).

The funny fact is that Yamaha has already some expertise on making acoustic pianos, so it let us think: "If it knows how to make acoustic pianos, probably it has more know-how to make a Digital piano feel and sound like an acoustic one than other DP manufacters (Eletronics and Keyboard-only manufacters)". But things are not like that.

Even though Mr. David said he didn't like Yamaha's acoustic ones either, he's like, the 5th person (experienced piano player) to tell me that was "weird" playing on a Clavinova. (all about personal taste, again...)

Yesterday i read a thread here on this forum, in which somebody was saying that GH3 system (presented on clavinovas) does not have that "initial resistance" when you just start pressing the keys.

So, i went to the store today to try it out, and it really seemed like that!

I tried even on CLP 280 (that has wooden keys), but the keys just went down with nothing of this "initial resistance" thing.

The salesman told me that this GH3 wooden keyboard was the same used on Yamaha's "real" pianos, and that confused me a little, again. :rolleyes:

Is there any experienced piano player that has anything to say about that?

I must admit that i am stating to become more inclined to Roland ones, since what i need is something that best reproduces (or at least tries to) the keyboard response of a real piano.

If you like the Roland feel/action/sounds better than the Yamaha, but feel it is too expensive, you might want to consider the Roland DP-990, which has the same PHA-II with escapement. It should be significantly less expensive.

I recently faced the same decision and decided for the HP203: to me both keyboard and sound are better. I really like the sound! I am very happy with the HP203. In addition, the following comparisons may be of interest:

CLP240 HP203
Sampled Keys 30 88
String Resonance No Yes
Voices 14 41
Polyphony 64 128
GM voices No Yes (306)
Escapement No Yes
Speakers 2x40W 2x30W
(The difference in Watt is not critical. It depends on the soiund system. I think that both are about equally good)
Fortunately, in Germany both DPs have a about the same price, i.e. 1700-1800€.

Catus the CLP-240 has 2x 40 Watt and 2x 16cm + 2x 5cm speakers (not 80 Watt).
The Roland HP 203 has 2x 20 Watt and 1 pair of smaller 12 cm speakers.

In Belgium (Europe) the CLP-240 is about the same price or sometimes until 200 US$ cheaper than the HP-203! (around 2700 US$)
There is also a HP-204 in Europe with 2x 60 Watt and also 4 speakers like the Yamaha but at a price of 3300 US$ !

I should not go for the HP-201 because the action is PHA in stead of PHA II, not in the first place because of the lacking of the escape function which is not so important as the adverts want you to believe, but because the action is a bit lighter and less realistic.

I am very pleased with my CLP-240. I am not a pro, i have started playing again after many years and i can say now after 6 months playing 1 to 2 hours a day, and every week a 1 hour pianolesson with a very skilled teacher on a Kawai RX-3 Grand piano, that the GH3 action is very good! I do not have the feeling that i "miss" a lot if i play the big KAWAI: yes the "real" action is of course still better, you have still some more "contact" with key and string (difficult to explain), and i'm sure that a professional player can still put more nuances in his playing, but that player will say just the same thing compared with the Roland.
I can hardly feel a slight difference about "escapement" between the accoustic grand and my DP and only if i press a key very slowly, but to me this slightly less "resistance" or "soft click" just before the key reaches the bottom, doesn't make an important difference. (Maybe it does more for a skilled professional? I've also read on the internet about the escapement of the Rolands beeing to much and so a bit arteficial). Of course the KAWAI Grand sounds wonderfull and the Yamaha sounds good to very good with it's dynamic 3 layer samples, and excellent through my fantastic Sennheiser HD 595 headphones.

About digital action: A lot of people still find the KAWAI AWA PRO II with all wooden keys, the very best action. You can find it on the highend CA-series but also on the less expensive CE-200 (less than 1800 US$ in Europe), but on the other hand not everybody is pleased with the KAWAI sound.

So i think you can't make a wrong choice here, both are very good piano's. Try to test them for touch and sound. As for your question about "transition" to a real accoustic later i don't think it matters here and a difference of almost 700$ more is really much for the extra features:
About 300 more sounds, stringresonance, escapement, 3 track recorder in stead of 2 track, all notes sampled, 128 polyphony in stead of 64, but you have less amplification and fewer and smaller speakers.

So make your decision, tell about it here in the forum and enjoy ... !

Some interesting meanings about 'escapement' in this topic:


http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/6/2930.html

Look at the bottom of the page for the opinion of Bachmaniac and Digitallist.

Catus, i would opt for HP203. Yamaha CLP240 is good but is overpriced IMO. I also understand Yamaha has less interest in making a perfect DP unless very expensive so that they still can sell many of their acoustics. :-)

Thanks for your comments folks!

After a looooooong time thinking, reading and researching a lot... finally chose Roland HP 203! =]

(DP-990 hasn't come to my country yet. If it had came, i'd have chosen that one)

I went to the music store on saturday(AGAIN), and this time i went with 2 pianist fellows, just to hear from them what i personally already thought: "PH2 is more realistic than GH3".

Another important fact that influenced a lot on my option, was the fact that Yamaha had a very realistic model that was discontinued (God knows why?). To me, this sounded like Yamaha is not making a big effort to make their clavinovas as realistic as acoustic pianos because they still want to sell their acoustic ones (i'm talking about "low end" acoustic pianos, of course).

Time to make some sound! =]