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Hi guys

This keyboard is available for about £1100 here in the UK at the moment. I am VERY tempted. I can't get a chance to try it out in my local shops as it has been discontinued. What do you think? Is it worth a punt at that price? For what it's worth I have a P155 and I think the action and (piano) sound are okay. The looping does distract me compared with the RD300NX I had in the past.

Any opinions gratefully received. To me this seems a lot of board for the money.

Thanks

£1100 for a brand new CP5 is a good deal, I think.

Very good acoustic piano and EP sounds, and a very playable (if not very piano-like) action.

Definitely worth a punt!



I'm curious why you downgraded from the RD300NX to the P155...

Cheers,
James
x

Ha!

I wanted built in speakers! Also, the problem with the RD300NX was that the piano sound was so superb and detailed through headphones (albeit a little heavy in the bass), that I found all attempts to amplify it somewhat disappointing. I tried everything; nearfield monitors, hi-fi speakers, "keyboard" amps, but was never satisfied with the result...

I suspect that you will have the same amplification problems with the CP5 that you had with the Roland -- it also doesn't have speakers, and it's hard to get a monitoring system that does justice to the samples. (That's the main reason I eventually sold my Korg SV-1. Though I loved the acoustic pianos at home through monitors or headphones, they were incredibly frustrating on stage.)

Have you tried a Kawai ES7? It's got speakers that sound quite good, nice action, no noticeable looping.

No -- I had a heck of a time getting my Roland 700NX amplified. Something about the heavy bass OP noted in the headphones, and there's a dip around 4-5kHz to my ear. No problems amplifying my CP5 Yamaha out of the box.

You're playing the CP5 through the same amp you were using for the Roland? And you liked both the 700NX and the CP5 in headphones, but only the CP5 through the amp?

The local Sam Ash gets a good sound from its Roland RD800 by using (a) one keyboard amp in combination with the Yamaha MP5's or (b) using two keyboard amps or (c) using two keyboard amps combined with the MP5's. Not a small set-up, and I do not know what EQ'ing and slit freq's they use, but these combinations seem to work.