I have no ideas about piano but want to buy a piano for my son to practice. He is already on grade 4. I am thinking to buy a digital piano and not sure if it is a good idea. I have my choices narrowed down to the Roland HP-7 and the Yamaha CLP-170. Both appear to have similar touch response and technologies. They are also both similarly priced. Can anyone comment on these two products in a head to head comparison and give their reasons for choosing one product over the other? Or should I chose a traditional piano at all? My burget is around £2000, of course the cheaper the better.

Thank you very much for your help. I am looking forward to your comments.

Sing

I have no ideas about piano but want to buy a piano for my son to practice. He is already on grade 4. [/b]

If you can, buy him an acoustic...

I am thinking to buy a digital piano and not sure if it is a good idea. I have my choices narrowed down to the Roland HP-7 and the Yamaha CLP-170. Both appear to have similar touch response and technologies. They are also both similarly priced. Can anyone comment on these two products in a head to head comparison and give their reasons for choosing one product over the other? Or should I chose a traditional piano at all? My burget is around £2000, of course the cheaper the better.[/b]

No, the cheaper the worse...
IMHO the action of the Yamaha is better.
For the rest : the Yamaha has a higher polyphony (128 vs. 64 of the Roland) and a nice sound system called iAFC which makes it sound very realistic.
Roland is known for very nice piano sounds, you should take your time to compare them.
The "plasticy feel" which you may or may not like can only be put right by a wooden keyboard.

Succes!

Rgds,
Michiel

Not every model from a manufacturer compares favorably with it's competition. But I actually prefer the action on the higher-end Roland keyboards over those from Yamaha, Kawai or Korg.

The feel of a great acoustic piano is achieved by a complex set of variables. Don't be fooled by the manufacturers into believing that wooden keys (alone) on a digital equals realism. It's just not that simple.

Well said!

Because of differences in the sampling methods, the polyphony is actually the same. Yamahas stereo sampling method actually uses two notes of polyphony per note played, so in actuality, the true polyphony would be 64 voices. Roland's sampling uses method uses one note of polyphony per note played. Hence, they advertise 64 voice polyphony instead of advertising 128 note polyphony.

Aaaaaaaarrghhhh
I was not fooled by manufacturers
I tried digitals for more than 5 hours (in two stores, one salesman offered me headphones because he was trying to sell a piano to some other people in the store, I'm glad I could buy in the other store ).
The CLP 170 had the GH3 keyboard, OK, very realistic, but I just couldn't play very fast passages on the "too light" keyboard. I tried the lower CLP's with the GH keyboard, not all that much different, good action too, but again too light. I tried the CLP 990, GH (!)[/b] keyboard, so the action is as good as the CLP 150 and lower models, and it's heavier and the wooden keys just feel[/b] better, feel[/b] this little more realistic. I certainly agree that if I'd put wooden keys in my ten year old Roland it would not have made it a better piano
Deal with this info as you want. I've done my duty :p

Michiel