Hi, We are new to the forum and found this to be very helpful, and would like to get some advice on purchasing our firt piano.
Our daughters have been taking piano lessons for several months now and we are ready to purchase an upright, our price range is ~$5k. We went looking at a local dealer and are deciding between a Yamaha or Kawai. For the price range, we can get either a Kawai K25 (mahagony floor model) for $4200, or K3 for another $500 more or a Yamaha U1 for $5400.
Are these good prices? K3 has the millenium III technology, is it worth $500 more than the K25?
We were told that Yamaha U1 is the most popular upright sold these days. Is it better than the Kawai K3? Is it worth $700 more than K3? What about $1200 more than the K25?

We are very new at this and would like some help in choosing the right piano. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Best Regards,
Leert

Was.

There's tons of pianos on the market today giving the U1 a run for the money.

The Kawais are, IMHO at least musically speaking the better buy.

From my own experience they have both more body [depth] in tone and bigger dynamic range.

Note: personal preference is something which is also always important in making a decision.

Good luck!

Norbert

Personally, I prefer the Kawai to the Yamaha, but that is my personal preference, and should be of no importance to you. Both pianos have fine reputations, and IMO neither is a bad buy, especially the models you are considering.

But I have to ask why you are limiting yourself to Yamaha and Kawai. They are (or were, according to Norbert) the most popular, but that does not necessarily mean they are the best buys in your price range. My advice is to shop around a bit, and not limit yourself.

At $5400, you are close to the price of a Charles Walter, and maybe a Weinbach. Bohemia also is not too far from this price range, depending on the size you are looking for.

If you feel that you are not yet ready to make the decision, consider either renting a piano or purchasing a cheaper digital piano until you become more acquainted with what suits you.

Good luck.

I had that same question a year ago, and got neither.

I ended up with a Knabe WKV 121. I fell in love with it, but some practical reasons were that the keys were alot heavier than the Yamahas and Kawai's, so your daughter can build up quite a bit of strength early on (i played an electric piano for 9 years...the change was dramatic and wonderful).

It was about $6300 though...it might be worth an investigation imho! ^_^

good luck for you and your daughter.

I had that same question a year ago, and got neither.

I ended up with a Knabe WKV 121. I fell in love with it, but some practical reasons were that the keys were alot heavier than the Yamahas and Kawai's, so your daughter can build up quite a bit of strength early on (i played an electric piano for 9 years...the change was dramatic and wonderful). And it has a great sound, especially with the top opened. There's also the convenient option of a muter, a little handle on the underside that dulls the sound considerably, which is fun if you just want to bang around, but not have a full piano barragement.

It was about $6300 though...it might be worth an investigation imho! ^_^

good luck for you and your daughter.

I don't think you should figure that the extra money over the K25 gets you anything better. Its just a matter if the bright sound of the U1 is worth it to you to pay that much more. Pianos tend to get even brighter as the hammers are pounded. Getting a discontinued model like the K25 could be a bargain.

leert,
was seaching thread on the new k series when i stumble upon this thread. have you bought your piano. wrote quite a lengthy comment but when i posted, an error message on parentheses ...came up and everything disappeared!
so here goes a short summary, conclusion is entirely mine, no offence intended.

i've personally tried a few models and i've to include k50 as the price is equiv to u1 in s'pore.

1. brightness
k50 k3 sounds bright like k25! u1 seems ok to me

2. action
k50 < k3 < u1 < k25
action on k50 is better than millenium III.
am i missing something here?

3. tone
k50 < u1 < k3 < k25

4. keytouch
k50 < u1 < k3 < k25
k50 have more natural and better grip for heavier action utilisation

5. cost
k25 < k3 < u1=k3

indeed k25 is value for $ among the 4 here.
but k25/k3 is different class and price from u1/k50

appreciate some more comments as i'm also scouting around kawai/yamaha pianos.

darn,

something happened again..


please add (some words went missing)
1. brightness
k50 < u1 < k3=k25
k3 sounds bright like k25! u1 seems ok to me

correction.. arrows pointing wrongly
2. action
k50 > k3 > u1 > k25
action on k50 is better than millenium III.
am i missing something here?

correction.. same thing here
3. tone
k50 > u1 > k3 > k25
....
4. keytouch
k50 > u1 > k3 > k25
k50 have more natural and better grip for heavier action utilisation

that's what happened when rushing to type!

It seems you feel k3 is better than k25. Have you tried k5? I wonder if it is also better than k50.

indeed k3 feels better, at an additional USD500 more.

k5 hasn't reach singapore shore yet. they have only k3 and k8. k8 is superb.......

funny now that kawai cost more than yamaha here.
yamaha has lowered their u5 and yus5 recently by about USD1300 compare to k8. kawai clearly is pricing themselves out of the market here by declaring as the world's most advanced piano!

i'm very interested too on the k5 as it has tone moderator, duplex scaling. will feedback once i lay my hands on one.

I had the same question between Yamaha and Kawai about two years ago, I have the K25 and am very happy with it. The Yamaha, as others have mentioned, was way too bright for me. I love the sound of the Kawai. You should go with whichever one you like the best though. Knabe was not an option here.