Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Yamaha Clavinova CLP-700 Series

For the sake of completeness, what would the weights be for C.Bechstein Academy 124 without the pedal engaged?

Sorry, that should have read 48 grams at C8.

I use the pedals a lot when playing - I see zero value in having the weight of the keys increase every time I take my foot off the pedal.

Indeed they could now motorize the damper on acoustics so that the damper doesn't add any weight to the keys.

I just came back from testing the CLP-745. As I wasn't impressed with "new" GrandTouch on the CLP-775 I'm happy to say that the GrandTouch S is one realy nice feeling key action. I curently have the NWX witch I realy adore. I read that some of you here felt that the key action is light. It's amazing how different experience we can have To me it felt slightly heavier then NWX, but in a good way. I It just felt like improved version od the GrandTouch and I amazes me that the lower end model has the better action (at least to me) then the more expencive CLP-775.

Man if the action is really that nice, I might actually save a hefty sum of money. There is close to a 1000$ CAD if I include taxes between 745 and 775.

I'm also playing on a NWX (P515) and I was planning on upgrading to the 775. But if the key action is really that heavy on the 775, I'm probably going to have a harder time justifying the investment. Then there is the speaker upgrade. This was the other obvious reason to upgrade. I'm not all that impressed by the speakers on the P515. I know what a decent Bosie patch sounds like and it is NOT the P515. I'm a sucker for good sounding pianos and I wanted to invest in a very good sounding DP. The 745 would have to be amazing with its upgraded speakers to win me.

I guess I'll just have to wait for the stores to get their units so I can make my own idea.

The reason you feel the GrandTouch-S is heavier than your NWX is probably due to prolonged usage causing the key action to become lighter.

I rechecked 745 again, after reading Burkie's measurement that it's heavier than CA79, and I agree. My previous observation was relative to Yamaha uprights & grand, and wasn't an objective measure. I tried to now pay attention to the key start weight, and feeling for the weight following the start. playing fast chords helped feel for momentum as well. Yamaha upright U1 with no pedal feels slightly heavier than 745, and surely got lighter with pedaling to match 745. Yamaha baby grand & C2X had similar weights which felt slightly lighter than 745 with no pedaling. 775 785 obviously stuck out sorely with the extra weight, which is a pity because I really liked the 785 speaker system and sound projection, it was better than CA79/99 but the weight is punishing.

745 had a palpable excess in bass. having two 6.5" speakers, it's a pity it was balanced this way. somewhere below G2 downwards, it starts to get obvious the lower you go. It's not as heavy as CA99 bass but CA99 has a clear-sounding bass, though very heavy. affects all voices since it's a balance/clarity issue, not the sampling. 745's bass does not irritate with a buzz when it resonates but does not sound natural compared to both uprights and grands. bass heaviness makes it sound a little mic'ed up. CA99's very heavy bass makes it sound very mic'ed up in a very pleasing way for listeners standing a distance away, but not for the person playing. it buzzes the cabinet a great deal for the player (CA99 forums mention a buzz a lot, likely this) which feels irritating when you feel it as you play - the buzz transmits down to the keys even, if you observe. CA79 doesn't have this problem.

Interestingly, 745's excess base isn't noticed when you play the demo songs. And I tried to recreate the bass of the demo songs by playing the same voicing along with the demo bass notes, but I couldn't somehow. The notes I played had the heaviness (also, therefore an associated murkiness) that the demo didn't have. If the demo used the same samples, it's funny how it avoided the strong bass, couldn't figure it out. But no matter which voicing and which demo track I tried, all the demos sound good in the bass, but it wasn't reproduceable when i tried. I even tried playing some settings like full lid, half lid, closed lid - closing the lid dampened the sound overall, and helped some, but the treble gets a bit lost. i'm thinking if i have the 745 i'd have to mostly play lid closed to reduce the bass. i think it doesn't have equalizer, couldn't find it on the panel. would have helped - there's some model with an equaliser built in but now i can't find which (3 band).

the key action seems to have some mild level of noise - the attached video quoted above. there is the usual noise when hitting keybed, a little more obvious than other higher end models (785, CA79), but there's also a little noise on key release. so each key gives u a CLUNK-clunk, one for down and one for rebound up. 785 action is softer, and the rebound has minimal noise. i recall CA79 may have less noise, have to recheck. i'm surviving now on an ancient DP that has degraded and this noise is extreme, and have a little fear as the DP ages and the felts get compressed, it gradually increases in loudness. my ancient DP has utterly compressed felt, i opened it up and jury-rigged some cushioning so that it's still tolerable until i get a new DP.

realised i didn't spend enough time with 735 - it's plastic keys appear to have slightly lower weight than 745. but the speakers are a similar 6.5", just having no mid-range 3", so i suspect the bass may have the same problem - to be fair i'll have to retest.

i haven't fully compared the headphone effect but it seems the binaural yamaha 2 sounds on headphone may have better spatial rendering than kawai headphone sounds. and certainly headphone sounds do not have any problems related to speakers & resonances mentioned above - the CFX etc all sound just as good as your headphones are, clear crisp bass as low as your headphones reproduce them. but headphones aren't a substitute for the frontal sounds from speakers which is the likely a primary criterion of most buyers.

Did you also try playing the 775 keys far up vs 745? I think the 775 keys are supposed to be longer (farther away pivot) thus easier to play up high?

OT did you try the workaround suggested elsewhere, to change the touch to light, lightest. Appaarently it opens up access to different timbres to the Bosie due to the change in velocity curve.

I did try the suggestions, and while it did sound better, I couldn't make it sound good enough that I'd see myself using it regularly. I have hope for the CLP 700 to fix my issues with the Bosendorfer

The Yamahas are all about the CFX; the Bösendorfer is there for bragging rights. Of course, this is great for marketing because, after all, you’re getting “two pianos for the price of one”. It’s so much so, that only recently did the Bösendorfer get ‘binaural’. So, akin to the new-old Chopin piano, the Bösendorfer is a bit of a gimmick; therefore, don’t expect it to sound great. (At least not for another few years).

Did not like the Bösendorfer voice on the CLP-675, loving it to bits on the N1X

Yeah, I might have to skip the Clavs altogether. I’m starting to believe that Yamaha leaves the truly ‘special sauce’ for the AvantGrand. Granted, they don’t outright tell us this, but this is why the little NU1X kicked the 685’s ass, and I have a strong feeling that it’ll wipe the floor with the 785!

Granted, I will wait for the N1X-mkII because why be happy now when I can be happier later.


Disclaimer: Pete14 is poor; he can’t even afford the 745, so he is not really in the market for a new piano; however, he is avidly playing the lottery, and with some luck, things could change for Pete!

Might it be possible that they'll update the Bösendorfer voice on the 700 series with the one from N1X? Really looking forward to playing with the Bösendorfer voice.

It may have something to do with the Spatial Acoustic Sampling and Spatial Acoustic Speaker System not done and found in Clavinovas.

I'll try to repeat the question.

With which keyboard is it better to start learning and training for a beginner adult? CLP 745 or CLP 775. Light or heavy.

DGX 660 owned. Graded Hammer Standard Keyboard. But I don't like the feel of the plastic keys.

Either is fine for honing your skills so just take whichever you feel more comfortable with.

The CFX and Bösendorfer sound samples are brand new for the 700 series. They are not using the same sample from the 600 series. And, has been mentioned, both have binaural samples. These, too, are brand new.

First post! (Long-time lurker)

I had some time with a CLP-745 at a store last week, and I thought I’d share some thoughts. They also had the 635, 645, and other older models for me to compare. Huge caveat: I don’t have much experience with digital pianos. I learned on an upright and also played a baby grand quite a lot. But now I'm in the market for a DP!

THOUGHTS

First: the GrandTouch-S key action on the 745 is way better than the 635 and 645 (GH3X and NWX actions, respectively). The 745 is just much lighter, and to me it's a big improvement. The difference was immediately noticeable, and I’m so glad I tried out this myself. The 635 and 645 were heavier and firmer to press, and the release was also stronger and bounced back harder. I’m far from an expert, but to my untrained fingers the key action on the 745 was far closer to a grand piano. I had read that some people here felt it was almost too light, so I was looking out for this, but I really didn’t think it was too light at all. Maybe that's personal preference, but the 745 is still objectively much lighter than 635/645.

I haven’t tried GrandTouch (non-S) on the higher-end 600 (or 700) series, so I can’t compare GrandTouch vs. GrandTouch-S. But of all the digital pianos in the store, I truly liked the 745 the most and thought it was the closest to a grand (aside from the AvantGrands).

Another significant difference between 645 and 745 was the speaker/sound system. The 745 sounded richer, fuller, and more engrossing at the same volume level (I tried the CFX and Bosendorfer voices). The 645, while good, felt like the sound was more on the surface. Not sure how much of this is purely due to the greater 745 speaker wattage (200 W total, versus 100 W in 645) or the new samplings or some combination of the two.

I don’t really care about the new fortepiano voices (Mozart and Chopin piano sounds). They seem fun, but gimmicky.

PRICING and AVAILABILITY

According to the store workers, there are extremely few 700 series pianos available in the entire country (USA). They said the supplies are critically short, due to COVID-19 messing up the supply and distribution chains. The store had one 745 to purchase (the floor model I tried) and that’s it. They had no idea when more will be available. They were told end of November, but they seriously doubt it. If you pay a deposit, you’re on a priority list when they do start to trickle into the country, but they still don't even know when that will be (they guessed November at the earliest).

Given the scarcity and the fact that no one has any actual pianos to sell to you, they would not budge on pricing. I tried to negotiate, but they wouldn’t move at all.

MY DILEMMA

I’m deciding between the 735 ($2699) and the 745 ($3499). As far as I can tell, the $800 more for the 745 gets you 4 things:

1. Wooden white keys (same keytops, same black keys)
2. Speakers: 735 has 60 W total (2 x 30 W), 745 has 200 W total (2 x (25 W + 25 W))
3. Built-in bluetooth
4. Page holders: plastic in 735, metal in 745

I couldn’t care less about the page holders; the plastic ones (on the 635 in the store) seemed perfectly fine and solid, not flimsy or cheap. Bluetooth is great, but all you have to do is plug a Bluetooth MIDI adaptor ($55 here) into the 735, and you’ve got it. Better speakers are great too, but I’d be using headphones almost all of the time.

So that means the main difference (for me) is the wooden keys. Is that worth $800?! Like I said, they wouldn’t budge on price, and they have no reason to, since there is almost no supply of pianos right now anyway. I tried to compare plastic vs. wood on the 635 (G3HX) and the 645 (NWX), and the difference to me was almost imperceptible. But the wood looks really nice…

Any thoughts? Save $800 for the 735? Or splurge for the 745 to get those 4 things that don’t matter all that much?

Anyone have any luck on negotiating pricing for the 700 series?

No more than $3,000 for the 745!

Yes ideally... But how?? With supplies so short/nonexistent, there isn't any incentive for them to come down on price. It's not like a normal situation where I can just try buying one elsewhere, causing them to miss a sale. They don't even have any pianos to sell!