Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Clavinova CLP-220 or Casio AP-45?

I am the confused father of a 8 year-old student. This piano will be used mainly by him + occasionally by few other members of the family during the family meetings.

question is, do you want to buy a digital piano that is made by a piano company or one that is made by an electronics company. go with the Yamaha!

Years ago when I bought my Yamaha someone remarked that why would I want to buy a musical instrument from a motorcycle company. These days most instruments are made in China and the quality from one brand to the other there is not much of a difference. Your choice would be whether you like the sound or the feel or more importantly the price. I have a Casio Privia for over two years now. It has been played at least an hour everyday since it was bought. No problems. Many people are biased against Casio. My friend who gigs spray painted over the Casio name on his WK3500 for the fear that the crowd may have different ideas about the Casio Brand although according to him it sounded comparable to keyboards costing a lot more. He had it about three years now gigging every weekend and taking the bumps of transportation. Again no problem reported.

People used to make the same arguments about digital cameras. Do you want to buy a camera from a camera company or an electronics company? Of course now the electronics companies make some of the best cameras.

Technically Roland does not make pianos either so how far we can take that argument?

I have not seen nor played the Casio so I admit I have nothing concrete to add to the discussion.

In addition to an acoustic piano, I have 2 digital pianos, a Yamaha CLP175, and a Casio AP-45. I enjoy playing all three.

I'm not a professional salesman, and I'm not technically savvy, so I can offer nothing in the way of technical nuts and bolts (chips & wires?) comparison/advice. I also probably paid more for my Yamaha CLP175 because, well, let's just say salesmen love me.

I can tell you that I really enjoy playing the Casio AP-45. It has a nice touch, the sound is quite pleasant to me (far better than an older Yamaha digital that I gave away), and I can and often do play it for hours at a time.

It would make no difference to me if my Casio digital keyboard was made by the Ford Motor Company. It is a good product, and I've always felt it was a good value.

In your case, the best things you can do (since you don't play) is:

a) have the salesperson play each one for you so that you can choose which sounds better to your ear

b) ask your kid's music teacher to come with you and try playing each one

Doing (b) is better - I wish that I had done that when I bought my first starting piano because my ideas -then- about what made a good piano have matured since. Digitals are cheaper, though, so it's not as big a financial risk.

Yamaha was a musical instrument company LONG before they ventured into the directions they have in past years

Which means that if someone is shopping for a motorcycle he should not buy Yamaha because he/she will be buying a motorcycle made by a musical instrument company. This is the logic I get from you. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Definitely Yamaha, not Casio. I own a 2005 Yamaha YDP-223 (nearly identical with CLP-230 except that YDP-223 has the GH keys whereas CLP-230 has the better GH3 keys). When I needed a second digital piano, I bought a mid-to-high-end Casio Privia but returned it soon after. It's like a toy comparing to my Yamaha.

If you don't care about GH3 keys, go with YDP-223 ($1,600). Otherwise, go with CLP-230 ($1,800-2K). CLP-220 has the worst of the two worlds.

After a lot of research and shopping for a good entry level Digital Piano that sounded and felt good, I ended up with the Kawai CN2.

The more I play it the more impressed I am with it. It can be bought for about $1000 US.

The salesperson and I both agreed the Grand Piano sound was better on the CN2 then the CN3.

I would recommend the CN2 over the CLP-220 and it is cheaper.

The CLP-230 is a different story but more expensive.

That's correct!

Yamaha History


Best regards,

/Richard

If you cannot buy an acoustic, get the Casio.

Do not go with the Yamaha, in my opinion Yamaha digitals have the worst piano sound and action and is like a toy compared to the digitals from other brands.(Casio, Kawai, Roland)

What an odd comment.

I own a Yamaha P70 and a Casio PX-700. I got two because I had two separate places where I wanted to be able to practice via headphones. (I also have a Casio CPD-100, but that is hardly in the same league -- it has nice action but sounds awful.)

I like the Yamaha quite a bit. It has a nice sound and the action/feel is pretty darn good. The Casio is arguably better on both points. The Casio actions are very well done for a low-end digital. Nonetheless, I can see some people thinking they are too "stiff" (and I've played some nice acoustics that were "easier" to play than the Casio). Those people might prefer the Yamaha, which is a little lighter to the touch, I think.

On the sound, they are just different. The Yamaha has a slightly mellower tone, I think. (I don't have them in the same place to compare side by side, but that's my impression.) The Casio benefits from a cabinet, though, where the P70 is more like a stage piano setup, with small speakers on the top. So the Casio would have an "unfair advantage" in a direct tone comparison. Still, I like the Yamaha quite a lot, even with the stock setup.

Both are very decent keyboards. I realize we are talking here about different models, but the yare not that different, and the above comment was more generalized.

You are just weird man. You are putting people off arguably the finest digital piano range that currently exists-Clavinova. Theres no way its the worst products available, yamaha know what they are doing because they make real pianos themselves, Roland/Casio dont, so explain to me how on earth they would get it right more so than an actual piano manufacturer, dont talk rubbish please, you obviously dont know anything about pianos for a kick off.

The current 200 series is acclaimed across the globe, and has won numerous awards-note the others have not won anything to my knowledge. Plus Casio are friggin famous for making calculators not pianos, so why would they have any advantage over Yamaha, fool.

I've experienced the same thing as you, just the other way around. I originally bought the Roland HP-101 because the sound was good in the store, especially when using headphones. I thought that the CLP-230 sounded too bright and too harsh. When I got home and started to play I was pleased in the beginning, though I didn't like the mellow sound in the middle octaves. But when I walked over to church and played on the Yamaha grand I was very confused. They are very different in both touch and sound. And I realized that the bright sound of the CLP was what I wanted to have because the Yamaha grand has a similar sound. I returned the Roland to the store and brought home the CLP-230 instead. The CLP is very similar to the acoustic Yamaha grand in both sound and touch. I have no problem to move between the two instruments.

As I stated before my opinion is that the HP series despite they are sampled from a Steinway grand is more like an upright in both touch and sound. (I've played the HP-101 and the HP-107). They both have the same sample, just more power, better keyboard and more functions on the HP-107. Among all the digital pianos I’ve tried is the Casio PX 110 and I think it is a good instrument when using headphones, I wasn’t fond of the supplied speakers though.

Your CLP-240 is a very popular model and has a great resale value, try something else and see if you can change to an instrument you like. They are many good digital pianos available today!


Best regards,

/Richard

I did compare and tried both AP-45 ($1000) vs. CLP-220 ($1300). Both sound great but I decided to go for the 220 as it has a heavier touch and feel. Also Yamaha offers 5 years warranty (both labour and parts) and Casio only has 1 year.

If you break a Casio, try getting it fixed, or an AC adapter, even. Good luck. Yamaha's network of Clavinova dealers is extremely service oriented and generally chosen for their expertise. You might think long term.