Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Too many digital pianos to choose from, please help...

Ok, here is my situation, my son is 8 years old and a beginner he loves to play the piano. I want to buy him a 88 key digital piano with weighted keys. I would like one with a stand and must have the 3 pedals to go with it. I am not sure on the price I want to spend but around $900 or less. Any ideas?

I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure of the price, however the Casio PX-730 would certainly be worth considering.

Cheers,
James
x

Assuming that you want a console piano (as opposed to a stage piano) the Casio AP200 can be had for $800, while the AP400 is a little above your price range at $1000. If you like the style, the PX800 is $900. Yamaha's YDPS31 is similarly styled and priced. The lowest priced Yamaha console is the YDP140 at $1050.

You can also consider getting a stage style piano and a stand, with an optional three pedal unit, if you prefer the portability.

There are some other brands in that price range as well. I've played the Williams a bit and don't care for it. I think the touch is strange and it's very hard to get any dynamics out of it.

Maybe you should consider if he is targeted on piano or if he wants to play anything mostly for fun. A piano-only DP has only about 10 instruments/voices, but a combined "piano-synth" (is there a technical name?) has about 100 instruments. For example:

Piano-only DP: Yamaha P-85, Casio PX-730
Piano-synth DP: Yamaha DGX-630, Casio CDP-200R

Rumors have it that piano-synths in the lower price range have a little weaker sound, even if the keyboards are of the same quality. I think any of these above can have three pedals, possible at an additional cost of about $50, but ask the dealer before you buy.

If the simpler DPs are lacking a stand in their basic box, you can probably buy a stand for an additional $100 - $150.

I like the console pianos especially the ones that have a keyboard cover, not just a dust cover. Is Yamaha or Casio better?

In the price range we are talking about (after having waded through +100 replies on the subject) my feeling is that Casio and Yamaha are even.


And I would add one DP too, to the list:

Piano-only DP: Korg SP-250

There's also the Korg LP-350, which is essentially the same as the SP-250 but in a console version. It does stretch your budget a little at ~$1000 though.

I would say it is more a matter of personal preference than one being better than the other.

So everyone will have their own opinion and this is mine; i think yamaha is better. But of course you'll pay more for that increase in quality. You can get a Casio PX 130 for $499 (maybe 400 if you get a sale) but you'd pay $1200 for a yamaha P155 (or about $1000 if you get a sale) Alot of people see little difference between the 2 in sound but if you start to look the Yamaha sounds a tad better in the main piano sound and quite a bit better in the extra sounds like strings, harpsichord etc. The build quality of the yamaha is also better but may not be so apparent at first sight. The yamaha has a 3 year warranty, the casio a 1 year. It's maybe like the difference between Folger's coffee and Whole Foods coffee, but some people are happy with the folger's.