Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Buying an Kurzweil Mark 12 digital piano?

I have a chance to buy a Mark 12 digital piano from Kurzweil that is 7 years old. I don't know if it's a smart thing to do, even though I know it's a great piano. Our church has one, so I'm familiar with it.

But....is a 7 year old digital piano (even a Kurzweil) as good sound quality wise as a newer digital? How far have digital pianos come in the last few years?

Also, it has a floppy disk drive, which no one has anymore...including our computer. Can you get upgrades for the Mark 12 still today?

They paid a fortune for this--over 7 grand. They hope to get 2-3000 for it....I know these days you can get a digital piano new for alot less. I assume that's because electronics don't cost as much as they used to?

If I can get a Mark 12 for a good deal, should I? Would I be better off spending the same amount (say $1500) on a new digital from another maker?

Dee

If you open up any digital piano, all you'll
see inside is a few computer chips and
other electrical components connected to
the keyboard and speakers with wires, that
is, a digital piano is essentially a computer
with a keyboard and speakers. And like
used pc's they lose value fast. How much
would a loaded pc that cost $7000 in
2002 be worth today? Less than $1000.

So a 7 yr. old dp is going to be worth
less than $1000, no matter how much it
cost originally or how many features it
has. So $2000-$3000 is way too much,
unless you want to help the sellers out.

Moreover, you can get good, new dp's today
with full warranty for $500-$900.

Is there anything to the idea that Kurzweil is/was a great quality piano? Are there any brands around today that rival them?

Dee

Since they are so much like computers,
dp's can be easily assembled, like pc's,
from snap-together type components:
computer chips, electrical components,
weighted keyboard, speakers, etc. Thus,
any small company can buy the necessary
components and assemble a good dp. You
see these selling under names like: Adagio,
Hemingway, Diginova, Galileo, Winchester,
etc. These can be just as good as the
big-name brands--like the no-name brand
pc's assembled by a neighborhood computer
store can be just as good as a Dell or HP.

Kurzweil is a well-known name and was
one of the earliest brands of dp's,
but now digital piano technology is
so well-established and widespread, that
today there many other brands that are just as
good.

The technology has changed significantly and you can get a lot for $1500. Remember, the modern day scientific calculator has just as much power as the initial computers that put NASA on the moon. A $1500 DP today should be just as good as if not better than a DP from 7+ years ago.

I used to have a DP ~ 10 years ago and am astounded by the differences with today's equipment.

I'm guessing that everyone agrees, then, that it is not a good buy--even if they were to take $1500 for it--which I doubt.

Thanks!

Dee

I have a Kurzweil Mk 10 which is similar that I got in 1998. Even though it still sounds OK, the keyboard has become very noisy, it sqeaks and clunks and generally makes a racket to the point that I rarely play it any more. I'm looking at a new DP , maybe the Roland FP-7. I'm looking for information on it here.

I'd pass on the Kurzweil in my opinion.

Sorry to revive an old thread. I'm trying to sell a Kurzweil Mark 12 for my church. We've had it probably for close to 15 years. I'm trying to gauge how much these are worth these days. Is it even worth selling? I want to be fair with the price so the buyer isn't getting ripped off but also want it to be worth my time. It's in overall really nice condition and works well.

If in good cosmetic condition and full working order, i.e., no issues at all, I reckon you could ask maybe $300 - no more because it is such an old model and Kurzweils of that vintage can be very troublesome - once they break they're not worth fixing.

Good luck!

Thank you for the reply, EssBrace. I'll change the price accordingly.

I'm reviving this old thread because I saw an ad online for a Kurzwieil Mark 12 for $200. It is nice looking. I'm familiar with Kurzweil pro keyboards, but not their home pianos. I can't find out when these pianos were made, but it appears late 1990s? That would be a contemporary of the K2500 pro synth, which is a nice-sounding synth even though the samples are small by today's standards. Can anybody tell me when the Mark 12 was made? Does it share samples with any K-2xxx model? Does it have any hidden cool features? Does it have an audio in - that you can play other instruments through its sound system? Any answers would be much obliged.