My wife and I have had a Kawai CX-4 acoustic piano (41" upright) for close to 20 years. We live in an NYC apartment and would like to be able to play at all hours without disturbing our neighbors or each other. In our weekend house we have a Korg digital (the model no. escapes me)which I have been enjoying for many years using the rhythm accompaniments, composing aspects, etc. My wife plays mainly classical and never uses the "bells and whistles" that I do. In replacing the Kawai, we have looked at several digitals and have been steered by the local piano shop towards the Roland KR 5 which seems to have features that we can both enjoy and is close to our budget (around $5,000). Are there any other pianos that we should be considering? Also, what is a good discount off list for a piano whose MSR is around $6,000.

Hi there,
KR 5 has lots of bells and whistles. It is intended for songs playing(accompaniment feature is a big plus). Consider Roland HP series..
HP7 seems very decent and has very high quality real instrument sounds only. I saw it once and it is quite an impressive instrument. I am sure it will be around 3000. Hope this help.

Thanks Kenpcola for the info. However, I really like arranging songs and that is why the bells and wistles appeal to me. I will, however, take a look at the HP7. Thanks again.

Hi there,
In that case KR5 seem to be a good choice.It is always fun to play(the instrument) and make songs by yourself.
HP5/7 is more digital piano type thing.
I guess you need to shop around a little bit.
20%off(in your case) is considered "regular price" in musical instrument industry. See if you can nagotiate the price. See other KR series for price and feature comparison too. KR7 has more realistic piano simulation and more polyphony.(could be more expensive though)
Hope it helps.

At this budget point I'd consider the Yamaha Clavinova series as well. I've owned both the Roland KR and Yamaha CVP series and on balance prefer the Yamaha for keyboard feel (highly subjective, YMMV) and interface (the touch screen looks sexy but is quite cumbersome to navigate). I thought the piano sound was about a toss-up, but I use a soft sampler connected to the piano for those so that wasn't a big consideration. There is a very good non-affiliated user group for the Yamaha instruments at www.cvpug.com, I never could find anything similar for Roland.

Both are good instruments.

Hi Pianobear,

I'm on somewhat the same quest, but more trying to find the best sound/key action for playing classical, while still keeping a few of the bells and whistles.

So far it's a choice between the Yamaha P250 and the Kawai ES3, and I'm currently leaning towards the Kawai. Try light staccato passages on all the units you test: the Kawai's has much less clunking, something I found distracting on the P250. Also, the P250 key action had more vibration from those metal rod weight thingeys; the Kawai's action seemed to be more discrete.

Not as many bells and whistles on the Kawai; no rhythm accompaniement eg., but some percussive effects available on one of the Bass sounds. Only 21 sounds but I was surprised at the range that could be achieved through layering dual and split functions. It's not the 500+ of the P250 though.

Thank you all for your help. After much ado, we've decided to go with the KR5. I'll let you know how it works out.

BTW, I got it for a little more than 25% off list.

Pianobear,
What was the list price of the KR5