A local dealer (I assume most dealers) are closing out the CVP-301s in stock. I know this is the entry level for this series and many here have suggested to steer away from it. However, the dealer has two in stock and is pricing them at $2995. They had a $3500 for $3995 but sold that just before I got there. The dealer says he can probably do $300 better if I am willing to pay him by check or cash rather than credit card.

I understand this DP doesn't have the best action but it felt OK to me. But what do I know as I am a newbie to the DP world. I don't have any notions of one day owning a $50K grand so I am not sure that not having the best action is going to be that big of a deal. I assume if my wife and I learn to play on this DP we will adjust to the keyboard. It sounded great to me and had more features than I can imagine ever needing for my goals.

I did spend a day at GC and liked the Roland RD700SX quite a bit. However, when I look at the price I am being quoted for the 301 there is only about $300-$400 difference and the 301 just looks like a lot more machine.

I have read the posts here about the 301 but they are usually in comparison to the upper 300 series or the upper 200 series.

Priced considered, does this 301 seem like a reasonable way to go?

Shop around before making your decision.

$2700 for a CLP-301 sounds pretty good. It has a GH keyboard which seems to be very well liked.

Do you want all the extra features the Ensemble Pianos offers? It does give you a lot of features for the money, if you feel you may use them.

Well, the ROLAND RD 700 SX isn't a bad choice either. It's a stage piano, however, that's why it was designed to be somewhat portable (it's still a tad heavy to move around but considerably lighter than the cabinet-type DP like the Clavinova you're intending to buy).

I say this because while the RD-700 SX doesn't have the "cabinet-type" (or "furniture-like") built of the clavinovas, it has an advantage in terms of expandability...you can plug-in extra SRX sound boards if you so ever get tired of its built-in intsrument patches (e.g. if you want more strings instrument patches, you can get a stereo-sampled symphonic strings SRX expansion board and plug-in to any of the 2 available SRX expansion slots).

Have you asked about the newer and better version of the RD-700 SX, check this out:
ROLAND RD-700 GX

As reference for price of the RD 700 GX:
Relatively cheaper than the CVP 301

Have you also considered/checked-out Roland's upright home digital piano (cabinet-type):

ROLAND KR-107

Of course, the only downside with the ROLAND RD-700 SX/GX would be the need to buy a good pair of external speakers (i.e. monitor speakers) or a dedicated keyboard AMP...unless you're content and you don't mind using headphones all the time. Or if you don't want to buy or spend on a keyboard AMP or pair of monitor speakers, you can always hook up the RD-700 SX/GX temporarily to a stereo component system via the AUX input.

If you must go the keyboard AMP way however, bear in mind some of these may amplify more either the treble sound or the bass sound...it'll sound rather thin and "more on the highs" if the AMP favors the treble or any higher frequencies more or it may sound rather "muddy" if it favors lower frequencies more. So you must choose a rather balanced keyboard AMP...

Many people immediately dismiss one brand of DP just because when they try it out and have it plugged-in to a not-so-good AMP it sounds thin or too muddy...not knowing its actually the poor quality of the AMP that maybe the culprit and not the DP itself...a good case in point would be the Casio Privias. These DPs have slim speakers that hardly give justice to the piano sound sampled. However, hooking 'em up with a good pair of balanced studio/monitor speakers or a good dedicated keyboard AMP actually makes a whole lot of difference than merely listening on headphones or from the built-in speakers of the DP. Same is true with the ROLAND RD series.

No matter how well-sampled piano patches/sounds are, it's not going to sound as well as it should if you plug it into a so-so keyboard AMP or a sub-par pair of monitor/studio speakers. This is the aspect where studio digital pianos without built-in speakers or digital pianos with smaller built-in speakers that need amplification often lose-out and get dismissed by other people.

As an example of this point, could you imagine some salesmen, hooking up a DP to a guitar AMP? A keyboard AMP and guitar AMP aren't exactly the same in the respective output frequencies that they try to amplify. Or some of them plugging the DP into a cheap AMP just so you could hear the instrument sounds louder...not knowing that because the AMP is not really good the details of the instrument a customer would hear won't be satisfactory either.