Do you think the Casio Privia PX 150 is a good digital piano?

[mat7]

Would you say the Casio Privia PX 150 is good for a beginner?

Or would you recommend anything better?

[hfmadopter]

Just depends what you are looking for in a piano. I've never been a fan of Casio's action personally but plenty of other people like them. The PX150 has an upgraded sound engine. I've got to get my hands on one and give it a try, however without having don't that my top suggestion still remains to be the Yamaha P105 to people who want a portable type piano on the low end of the price scale. That I have played and I found the action to be acceptable. on board sound is decent and it has a lot of connectivity for the money. Not all low end priced pianos do.

I know a guy ( actually a church pastor) who has the PX130 at home and in his church he has a Korg Concert Grand series 3500 digital piano. He has been to my house and played on my grand piano and he has led singing on my Kawai digital. He says both are heavier feeling than his pianos. I played some on the Korg in his church and the action is not bad on it. The sound engine leaves a lot to be desired but I'm working on computer programming for that. But more to the point, my Kawai is a bit heavy, that's true, my grand is pretty standard weight at about 52-55 grams of down weight around the middle C area. He did love the resonance of the grand, picked right up on it. But being used to digital with volume control he went way over board on sound with the grand. You know acoustic grands, they have no volume control, you are the volume control !!

There in is one of my peeves about digital pianos for a beginning student actually. That volume control. The inclination is to turn them down. On my digital I have my sound pretty well turned up and the dynamic range dialed in to simulate my grand for that reason. But how many early students will do that ? When the pastor played my digital we turned it down for him and that really doesn't catch a true piano experience.

[aslak]

I have owned a px 150. I would not say that it is a bad piano. For the price you pay for it, it is absolutely decent. But it is a beginner model that you maybe soon could wish were better. The sound is okay as long as you use headphones. Quite bright and realistic sound, but a bit short decay. When you play slow pieces, the notes  fades out faster then they do on an acoustic piano. The internal speakers are not good at all. If you will connect other speakers to the instrument you have to use the headphone jack placed in front of the instrument. It has also a very light action. Many players want a heavier action, at least if they are used to play on acoustics. (Unfortunately most digitals seems to have light action unless they cost a fortune.)

I had my px 150 for some months, but upgraded to a three times more expensive Kawai quite soon. It is way more fun to play and I use it much more. It has better sound, better keys and many other adjustments that the casio didn't have. It is to say that I also have an acoustic piano and that colours my expectations to how a digital piano should sound and feel.

It depends of how picky you are. You may be happy for a long time with the casio. It is worth the money. But if you spend a little more you will have piano that feels and sounds better. And you maybe don't want to trade it for another too soon.

Aslak

[larrys]

For the money it is a fantastic piece of kit, I nearly went for one myself after trying one out. Mind you if you pay out a bit extra you can get the PX350 which has bigger speakers and a USB port for a dongle.

[aslak]

It is a  very good point with the speakers. As I remember has px 350 a rythm section also. But the decay is the same. And the action too. I haven't tried it myself, but Kawai has come with a new model, ES 100. Think it cost about the same as px 350. Maybe worth a try?

[1piano4joe]

Hi mat7,

I like Casio. I care less for Korg, Kawai and Yamaha.

I find the Casio has more room between the black keys. They all seem to go clackety clack. However, I have played them turned off. The Casio makes the least percussive drumming sound when turned off.

There is a new Casio model CDP-230r at Costco for $439.00 U.S. It comes with a stand and bench.

Check out the reviews at AZPianonews, Joe.

P.S. Welcome to Pianostreet!