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I don't believe anyone here will tell you that the LX17 has the best action in its class. You will need to look elsewhere for that, mainly at the hybrid pianos from Yamaha (Avant Grand N2 or N3) or Kawai (Novus). But is it really a fair comparison when those pianos cost nearly twice as much?

Now, do consider the LX17 if you are looking for an overall well-rounded digital piano:

- A very good action with escapement feature. If you're used to an acoustical grand, obviously the escapement won't be so noticeable but it's definitely there.
- Amazing sound system for its console size that produces great bass, treble and volume that really envelopes the player and the listeners in the room -- really close to a larger acoustical grand.
- Limitless polyphony - compare with 256 tones of polyphony even on more expensive pianos.
- Bluetooth technology with Midi in/out and music sheet turning - many DP's still don't offer this.
- A vast number of sound adjustments to customize to your liking
- attractive minimalist design, and many more smaller fun features
- No maintenance whatsoever compared to a hybrid or let alone an acoustical. Depending where in the world you live, this can become a decisive reason to go with a a high-performance DP like the LX17.

It's the sum of all these that make the LX17 a strong contender in the choice of best digital pianos if you are in the market for one.

@Chris Pringle. The LX7 is almost half the price of the LX17, so if you are mainly on headphones or find the speakers adequate enough for your room, then it is an even better bargain. And you forgot to mention the 10 year warrantee, which was an issue with me bearing in mind the problems I and others had with a certain other manufacturer.

But having said that, I sure people will take issue with you over the sound being close to a larger acoustical grand, and the number of adjustable sounds design, etc.

In the end you have to find one that suits your style of playing and enables you to get the most out of your instrument - within your budget.

That's confusing.

With regard to Yamaha, I haven't played the 685 yet, but I really, *really* disliked the 585. I've not spend a lot of time researching actions, with regards to pivots before I bought the LX-17. Somewhere (maybe in this thread even, can't remember) the 585 action was described as having a very high inertia, and then 'it just goes'. That's how I felt as well. The dynamics were very hard to control.

Don't know if the LX-17 will come close to a grand sitting in the same room. Never had a chance to test something like that. What I can say with confidence is that it comes close to a large upright, namely a Kawai K-6 which sat beside it in the store.

What's confusing about it?

The GranTouch was a range of complete pianos from the 1990s. The GrandTouch is a DP action from 2017.

Ah, the action is called "GrandTouch", while the piano's were "GranTouch". I thought they were both called "GranTouch", and that Yamaha had used the GranTouch action in the Clavinova's. I don't know if the GranTouch action is an actual grand action, or a close implementation. I never played one of those piano's.

It's an actual grand action, same as the AGs that followed. Keys were a bit shorter though and no key buttons over the pivots.

And yes the naming of all this can get a bit silly but there's a limited number of ways you can stick words like grand, feel, touch, hammer etc together

As far as performance and overall build quality goes, there’s not much of a difference between the Grantouch and the AvantGrand in terms of action. Personally, I’d prefer a Grantouch DGT7 over an N3. The former uses a real baby grand cabinet, and would probably suit Pianoteq better because it uses a conventional stereo system. The N3’s multi-channel system is optimal for the outdated sample on board, but not for an incoming stereo signal.

Well, I'm very confused indeed. GranTouch > GrandTouch looks like a mistake, or if not a mistake, a cunning piece of obscurantism.

What is confusing is whether these two 'different' trade marks are related. And if they are related, is it an ancestral relationship, a familial one or a kind of joint venture?

Bambers excuses Yamaha by conceding that:

there's a limited number of ways you can stick words like grand, feel, touch, hammer etc together

But is it beyond the wit of their marketing department to think of another three words out of the half billion or so available ones?

Authentic Action
Real Feel
Traditional Touch
Pivot Paradise
Harmony Heaven
I'm alright Jack
Arboreal Immersion

It's amazing how silly sounding names soon become second nature to say. And I'm sure others can do better if Yamaha need the help.

ARBOREAL IMMERSION! Excellent!

While we're at it ... how about claiming that the keysticks are made from wood taken from sustainable-growth tree farms (even if they came from old-growth forests laid bare by over-harvesting)?

And what about everything these days being described as "inspired by X", where X is something or someone well-thought of ... when in fact X played no role in the product whatsoever.

It's just more hogwash. They talk about 'marketing genius' and it sometimes happens, but it's very rare. Mostly it's hackneyed, tired old ideas, churned out without a thought. And this one you mention, 'by' such and such, is just more of the same old barnyard manure. Trying to pretend an individual, or big name, came up with the idea when it's just more mass production.

There was a TV advert back in the 1970s which did almost completely the opposite: it was for a line of Fiat (Uno?) which was 100% built by a production line of robots. And the commercial wallowed in the fact of there not being a human being in sight - just waltzing machines (with a famous Italian tenor aria as soundtrack). Seems they'll sell any old crap and we will buy any old crap.....so long as it keeps moving, noone notices.

I am comparing LX-17 to others in its price range such as Kawai CA-98 and Yamaha CLP-675/685 (and maybe N1 if one gets a good deal) - not to AvantGrand N2/N3 or Novus. They are comparable in price points. I think CA-98 and N1 have better actions - and LX-17 has better speaker/amps. The built-in Piano sounds are very different also (modelled vs. sampled etc.) I am sure there are several other differences as well - but these are the ones that matter the most to me personally.


Not just the pivot length - but how the whole action is constructed, the 'model' of it so to speak. We don't always have this information (e.g. Yamaha CLP-685) and I find it useful.

Osho

Are you really confused? Or are you 'confused' in order to illustrate your point? If you're telling me you are (or were) unclear about the difference between an ancient Yamaha hybrid piano and a brand new Clavinova key action I'd be rather surprised to be honest.

OK - I do have an idea that the two actions are quite different but only because you told me so. When I first saw the name GrandTouch, of course I was wondering what its connection, if any, was with the same manufacturer's GranTouch from a previous high in the market piano.

It is extremely confusing, don't you think?

No. I think it could fairly be described as very very slightly confusing. For a moment or two until reasoning kicks in. The time lapse between the products; the different spelling of the term; the knowledge that the GranTouch piano had a real piano action in and was the predecessor to the AvantGrand and the absolute certainty that Yamaha would not equip a Clavinova with an action that would be the same as or extremely similar to the AG.

So, on the whole, not really confusing! Not to me anyway.

Well, I'm truly sorted out on the subject now. But, as you suggested, I was also making a point. And my point is this:

Why the blazes couldn't they have come up with a different, clearly distinct name for what is a clearly different system, rather than changing the name by one letter!? Then nobody - not even the slow witted - need have been confused.

Honestly...I think it's because nobody remembers the GranTouch (outside of niche forums like this one).

At least they are spelling 'Grand' properly now. I suppose that's progress. Maybe in the name's next incarnation it might have a space between the two words, like this: Grand Touch

Then we'll have reached the promised land.

I've added some hard numbers here that may help (or simply exacerbate) the discussion.

But honestly, assuming the PHA-50 is really 22cm, is there a huge difference between 22 and 24.1cm? Maybe. But while the "pivot length" is an easy one to quantify, there's so much more to the feel of a keyboard than solely pivot length, so I hope we can start exploring some of these.

Bring back Dewster! And get him to tally and track all the specs, including the keystick lengths and pivot lengths and hammer weights and everything else.

Ok, that seems far fetched. In which case we won't have much data.
And that brings us back to the traditional way of evaluating a piano: Try it for yourself!
Regardless of the numbers/measures, your likes and dislikes are what matter.