Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Tim Praskins Casio pianos

HaHa I used to love that catalog - not to order from, but to laugh at!

http://e-piano-tests.de/

No, not seriously.

That's actually a site that only "reviews" pianos that happen to be sold by Musikhaus Kirstein. And all the reviewed pianos happen to be just fine and decent and worth buying. And Kirstein just happens to have an ad on the site.

I don't think the connection is made really clear anywhere. (Not that I have really looked carefully and not that I really understand German well. )

Makes Tim Praskins look like a saint.

I think everybody has had their say on this now.

You all are just jealous that Praskins does reviews that are better and more in-depth than anything this sight has to offer. This forum was kind of fun at first but has become sort of a joke.

I also just ordered my MP7SE through Tim and found him knowledgeable, professional, courteous and easy to work with. Looking forward to the arrival of my MP7SE.

To add a thought, I am already educated on the specs of the instruments I was considering had done my due diligence by playing several instruments, so when it came to working with Tim, the process was easy, and his pricing is best I’ve seen anywhere.

Let me add words of praise for Tim Praskins.

I called him, interested in buying a piano he had not yet reviewed (Korg G1 Air). He did not try to steer me to one of his favorites, or even inquire about my budget, but just politely refused since he hadn't played the model. I consider that as honorable as, or moreso than, one usually finds or can expect.

Over the past 3 years, I have talked to and had email exchanges with Tim and based on his reviews, I purchased a Roland. I did not notice any bias in my dealings with him. If he is a Casio dealer I did not detect signs that he was pushing me in that direction. Yes, at some point in the conversation he's said he he could get me a great deal. But the fact remains that I feel I got way more useful advice from Tim than I have many other sources out there.

Tim recommended to me in a short email query a piano he doesn't sell over a piano he does sell. Even though his reviews are generally a little too complimentary towards all the big manufacturers, there is still some valuable information to be gleaned.

I like his reviews, in one place you can read a lot about different pianos, there is no perfect review anywhere nor absolutely objective. What objective mean anyway when people give their reviews and wrote (in the end) their subjective opinions ? If he also sell what he knows, so what ? Everyone in any business do that. Do I need to mention that lots of manufactures pay for (objective ?) reviews ? This is not important for me. For me is important what I want and if he can please me correctly I will do that again. Simple as any store. So, I will read as many reviews as I can and make my subjective opinion and if I can I will try dp directly. Conclusion: I don`t know why all the fuss about Tim Praskins anyway ?

The only people complaining in this thread are those who have never done business with Tim. However, he seems to have a 100% satisfaction rating from those who have. The consistent experience for those who have done business with Tim is that they received the best price available on the internet and the best customer service they could have hoped for.

God bless,
David

I can vouch yet again. I worked with Tim on my MP7SE and gave him deposit last Tuesday, and the MP7SE should arrive this Tuesday via FedEx. The transaction was smooth, he was easy to work with as well as knowledgeable, and I saved quite a bit of money. Plus I’ll be buying the GFP-3 through his as soon as it is available to purchase. I give him 5 stars.

I've never dealt with Tim, but I've heard two distinct impressions: people who have not interacted with him but bash his reviews on some claim of bias, and people who have worked with him on a purchase and applaud his forthrightness, integrity, and pricing. From that, I have a good idea of whether I'd work with him if I was in the market for a new DP.

As far as I remember, the major issue was unfortunate wording in a review, stating one of the Rolands is "out of tune". He has explained it in long what exactly he meant, however if you did not read it thoroughly you could easily misunderstand due to unfortunate wording. As he has some financial interests in selling, even this kind of misleading negative ad is problematic, so I think there is some well grounded criticism for one of his reviews.
Otherwise, there are some peiple telling that some texts on his website falsely suggest that he is independent of vendors, however looking at his site as a whole never had the impression that he is independent even for a second...

As far as Casio Privias......Px-150 and PX-160 are fine examples of the lightest, best feeling action you can get. Maybe not the top level samples, but very good, considering the price point. I LOVE the textured keytops and usually use it as a controller for Ravenscroft.

I've yet to read a review of any product that does not reflect the opinion of someone with an agenda of some sort. Full stop.

Having said that, over the years I've found Tim's reviews to be extremely valuable when I've evaluated DP models in the context of my own needs.

I'll also disclose that I've had two direct interactions with Tim over these years... One in which I did not wind up making a purchase through him, and another in which I did.

Both interactions were productively fruitful in their own way.

In short, I would highly recommend to anyone looking to evaluate and/or purchase a DP to check out Tim's site and to contact him directly with any follow-up questions.

I look forward to contacting him again in the future if the occasion arises.

- OneWatt

Actually, the reviews from the end users in this forum do not typically have any agenda other than to provide a review. Those are the ones I pay attention to most.

Osho

Osho -

With all due respect, while I enjoy reading and offering reviews on this forum, I see "agendas" in each and every one ... including my own biases reflected in my views. These views are worth considering, but I would caution you against believing they're agenda-free :-)

- OneWatt

Praskin’s reviews are excellent, they try to put into a complete perspective each instruments characteristic. Forums, like this, provide a podium which typically trends towards, ‘recommending what one likes’. Like; the VPC1 and Pianoteq really seem like a constant solution and recommendation that fits all-compared to the more informative approached reflected in Praskin’s reviews.
I might not be completely fair but just my two cents.

Except that anyone who has just bought an expensive item will tend to have a bias towards it, since it's natural to want to justify your actions.

Otherwise, if the thing they have bought is so bad and disappointing, they will do the opposite and give a critical, probably overly negative account. Very rarely is a buyer imparcial - they (we) as owners are stakeholders, after all.

The most imparcial reviews come from musicians new to digital pianos who arrive at a shop with a good range of instruments and write up an account of what they found.

I agree that the buyers tend to provide very positive reviews of the products that they own. But that doesn't mean that they are biased or have hidden agenda of justifying their purchase decisions. They don't give positive reviews because they are buyers. It is other way around. They are buyers because they had positive review when they tried it in the first place.

For example, the folks in the Novus NV10 hands on thread gave excellent reviews and details of NV10 - better than from any other source on the internet that I have found (e.g. Bonners' or other dealer's video NAMM videos e or Kawai's official videos).

Osho