Argh! I've just bought a Yamaha P250 and just started to notice a buzzing on one of the keys. It gets louder as the volume is increased although it doesn't seem to be coming from the speakers. Could this be fixed without having to send it back to Yamaha? Anyone experienced the same problem? I've heard people say that there are lots of loose screws inside the P series pianos but I'm afraid if I open it up and take a look it may affect the warranty. cheers.

maybe you could contact Yamaha service about it. it seems like a defect and you should have your warrenty for repairing it.

If this is a new unit, you are better off working with a Yamaha support technician, over the phone.

I have opened up my unit countless times, but I also have experience with electronic components, and I wear a grounding strap to make sure that I don't fry the chips via static discharge. You also need to be very careful, when you swing open the lid - your P-250 should be close to a wall so the open lid has a solid surface to support it.

Can you tell me what version of firmware is in your unit? Here's the procedure -

With the unit powered off - press and hold these three keys [C#2] [F2] [G#2] and power on the unit. The display will read Test P250. Then Press the [MIDI OUT] button and your firmware version will be displayed. Recycle power to get back to normal mode.

This procedure also works for the CLV170/175. You press the metronome's [Start/Stop] button to get the readout for these units.

-neil

I had this exact problem with my p250. The yamaha warranty tech came out once, tightened everything, and it appeared to be fixed, but the problem reappeared almost immediately. He came out again and we realized that there was no buzzing when the case was open. When the case was closed and screwed down the problem reappeared. The case is hinged on one side and screws hold it closed on the other, so we left the screws off until he could come back and spend more time with it. With the screws off I had no problem for 2 months. Well, the tech never did come back and ignored my phone messages. I think he didn't want to waste any more time on trying to fix a problem that he was having a hard time fixing. So I put the screws back on myself, but this time I didn't tighten them very much, and my p250 has worked fine ever since.

However, if I had an easy way to return it within the usual 30 day return period, I would have taken advantage of that.

No more Samurai honor!? This tech should be decapitated with a Hanzo sword and his house burnt to the ground in front of his family and Yamaha executives!!!

Heh, agreed!

He wasn't actually a yamaha employee, just a freelancer who would bill yamaha for his time. Unfortunately he is the only one I can use since the p250 won't fit in my car and nobody else will travel to the house.

I read these posts last week before buying a p250. I thought "well, the piano is great, letīs hope I donīt get one with the buzzing problem"...and....surprise!, I won the lottery, my new P250 has the buzzing!!!!.

It only happens playing the C Flat and E keys, itīs an annoying shake of the metal case of the piano. I am going to take it back to the store. In case they donīt fix it at the first try, I will return the piano and get another one.

I have had several weighted 88 key digital pianos from different makers. They all buzz at some point or at some age. It is inherently difficult for a plastic case and thin sheet metal not to respond to the dynamic and harmonic rich piano sound. Acoustic pianos have mute felt all over the place and they still tend to buzz! It's not possible to apply them abundantly in digitals and the best one can do is to tighten or loosen ( by trial and error ) certain screws. This alters the tension in various parts of the case and changes the resonant frequencies or mechanical damping and hopefully the buzzing would go away. The keyboards without speakers don't have to deal with this problem and I suspect that often it's a business decision not to put speakers in the case.

My physics may be a little rusty, but this seems to be case of the inner components of the P250 responding to certain resonant frequencies. The specific frequencies trigger the excessive motion of the components which are probably making contact with the inside of the case. This would explain why the sound does not come from the speaker directly. It also explains why the buzzing sound goes away when the case is open or when the screws are loose.

To prove to yourself that it is the audio frequency causing the problem, reset the transposition setting to say a fifth higher and play the keys that formerly caused the buzzing. The buzzing should go away. You should find that if you play the fifth key instead, the buzzing reappears.

You probably need something to pad the case from the vibration. Perhaps Yamaha can fix this once you confirm the problem.

Iīve owned a P150 for 8 years and had no buzzing at all. Maybe it is difficult for yamaha to avoid it totally, but I am sure my piano has a defect because the buzzing loudness reaches unbearable levels.

dbm, I've got news for you: My PF500 buzzes when I play very low bass organ or wood bass notes at high volume, but only when the separate subwoofer is on. The subwoofer is about 2 feet from the piano. Without the sub, no buzzing, because those very low frequencies aren't reproduced by the built-in speakers. The sub volume is matched to the built-ins, by the way, so it's not a case of over-exciting the buzzing parts. If I push on the offending area (usually the sheet metal cover), it stops. So just having no speakers inside the case won't prevent buzzing, it's a problem generic to all sound producing devices, which is why loudspeaker enclosures are so strongly built and heavily braced. My hifi machine causes certain parts of the house (windows, picture frames, just about anything made of relatively thin materials) to buzz at times when playing music, and yes, my wife's acoustic Chickering baby grand did that at times also. Pure musical sound is a pretty rare commodity in the real world. But I agree that Yamaha should at least ensure that their instruments don't buzz with their own speaker systems.

If you're handy with a screw driver, buy a roll of electrical tape or thin weather strips. Line it between parts that are buzzing. I do this on my aging cars whose plastic interior panels have come loose or bent out of shape through years of temperature recycling.

"Electrical tape or thin weather strips"? Everyone knows real handmen use duct tape for everything! Why couldn't Yamaha (and others also) do a little of that kind of thing in the first place? $1000-$3000 should buy a little care in product development and manufacture. Are you dealers and other Yamaha et al. employees reading this thread?

All major manufacturers already took pains to place felt like materials in areas that's likely to buzz. The problem is that sound is a wave and it permeates through every part of the keyboard. Even the parts are 100% dimensionally accurate, the slight variation of pressure on the parts may lead to buzzing. If it's new out of box I'd let the store fix or exchange it --- one of the reasons to buy keyboards with speakers locally like other "acoustic" instruments. If it's beyond the store's responsibility then all one can do is to patch it oneself with tapes and a screw driver. It's not a major repair. Maybe one can treat it as "maintenance" like tuning a piano. The fact is that even the most precision mechanical construction can't totally eliminate buzzing over a long period of time. A lot of P series Yamaha's are still made in Japan who is known for their very tight mechanical tolerance in manufacturing.

Ah. This is what I'm experiencing. If anyone could provide more details on opening the case, I'd really appreciate it!

This is definitely a problem on my unit. Buzzing on the right side of the case on specific notes was fixed by tightening some screws on the right side of the case.

Buzzing on the left side was resolved by wedging some sponge between the wood and metal of the underside of the case.

There's still a slight vibration on the Bb above middle C but it's barely noticeable. Unfortunately, pressure on the case doesn't seem to help so it's likely something internal.

If I were to do it over again, I probably wouldn't get a unit with speakers integrated. I like feeling the vibrations through the keys, but this is getting to be a hassle.