Kawai K200 Vs k300

[botticelli]

Hello!

Just been to a dealer and got an offer for the kawai k200, with a piano stool, moving and service included for 5500 dollars.But i see i can get the K300 for a little under 7000 dollars new. Now im wonderng whats the main difference between them is other than size? size makes better sound, but are the mechanics inside alike, so they feel alike to play? I have real amibitions about becoming a good classical pianist, so it would be not ideal to buy a piano when i could get a better one for a little more. The problem is i can barely afford the 5500, so it would take me along getting the extra 1500 dollars. What i use now is a weighted 88 keyboard, so that works OK for now.  Hope you guys understod

Thanks for all the help!

[huaidongxi]

if your budget is a serious concern, have you exhausted all the options in your market in used pianos ?  whatever piano you choose, with your expressed serious aspirations, be sure you're not putting substantial $$ into an instrument you might out grow.  there are some very well executed studio size uprights (the size of the K200) but you need to compare them yourself to the next size up to know if if it suits your future as a player.

[indianajo]

I looked up a picture, a K200 is apparently a 44" vertical piano.
If you're paying in dollars, you are spending money for oriental craftmanship when the US is drowning in superior used vertical pianos most of which go to the dump.  
Kawai are competent pianos, I 've played one at church. I've also heard some of the grands around and they also have a decent tone.
Taller models like the K300 are great for dancing schools, school auditoriums, and spaces containing 50-800 seats where the piano is not to be amplified.  The extra height is not usually useful in a home, where excessive volume can be a problem.  Don't audition anything shorter than 39", the spinets are slow. But I preferred the tone of my 39" Sohmer to 44" Everett & Steinway models for sale in 1983 when I bought new.  Overtone bass can sound better than fundament bass, IMHO, until you get to 8' grands.    
But the main problem with the forgotten US made brands is there is not a handsome salesmen dressed in amazing clothes to tell you what an excellent purchase you are making.  
I'm being offered a 40" console for free, with superior tone especially the top two octaves, because the case need refinishing.  York is a totally forgotten brand.  For $600 you can usually get something superior from a flipper who has tuned it and housed it in a flea market somewhere.  No I'm not talking a ****y sounding ****aha.  Those go for $3000-6000 as do short life Bostons and Pearl Rivers.  
Superior 50-s 60's piano brands were Baldwin, especially the Acrosonic line, Hamilton by Baldwin, Sohmer, high end Wurlitzer (no short scale models), Mason & Hamlin, Chickering, Everett, Gulbransen, Grinell Bros of Detroit, Steinway. I put the s-brand last because they are usually worn out by schools or teachers. 80's or later products bearing those brand names are usually globalized ****.  In Australia or Singapore used British brands may be the thing to check out.  Lots of people in Europe like the German & Czech brands, which we don't see here.  In any case the bargains are found on electronic market places like craigslist in USA or gumtree in UK.  E-bay hides the location, which is important to piano purchase, so I wouldn't use it.  
Pianos do not age much unless subjected to moisture, but they do wear out in 10000-50000 hours.  There are so many verticals for sale around here it is not worth paying anybody to restore one. Minor repairs like one broken treble string or one sticky action or one damper not quite damping, or  pedal rods damaged in a move, they are worth repairing as those are simple jobs.   See this thread for how to inspect the mechanism of a used piano yourself and screen out the pounded to death music school veterans before thinking about involving a tuner:  https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=58857.0
Most pianos were bought as furniture, and usually the owner's kid stopped lessons at book II and the piano has about 50 hours on it.  Other than Steinway's.  
Don't forget to listen to other brands.  If your ears are not blown out by stupid hobbies, you can hear superior highs & lows yourself.  I'd never heard of the York until a church I volunteer at accepted one as a donation, and love the tone.  There is another church in the next county that had a great sounding Coronado 9' grand donated in 2014. I never heard of that brand, but the tone is so much better than all these horrid *****aha baby grands the old ladies are buying for all the churches around here from that salesman with the "beautiful green eyes".  Most pianos are bought with the eyes, not the ears, same as successful concert pianists are better looking than the talented starving artists.
If you haven't heard a great piano live, listen to George Winston "December" CD on headphones, not speakers.  Wonderful highs on that Bosendoerfer.  The utube track of those pieces is a vile imitation, showing the brand of the piano clearly but recorded with a cam-corder and sounding like ****.  
Happy shopping.  

[botticelli]

Those are very good points. Its not good buying a new piano when im on a budget. I have to buy used from a piano store. But used k200 or k300, or other used kawai are pretty hard to come by? I do very much prefer black pianos, not brown

[dogperson]

 There are several undefined  statements in your two posts.    First, why do you have to buy from a piano store?    There are many good used pianos, depending on where you live, from private sellers. The only caveat is that once you have found one that you like, you pay to have it inspected by an independent technician   As an adult, I have bought two uprights and one grand,  all from
private sellers.  I have not regretted the purchase of any of them. ...  at a fraction of the budget that you have.    I did take the advice I'm offering you: have what you like inspected, so there are no surprises

Secondly, why are you limiting your search to a Kawai upright only?   You should get out and play a lot of pianos, as each piano, even from  the same brand, will be different .   You might be surprised at what you end up liking when you're not relying on the name on the fallboard.

[indianajo]

Those are very good points. Its not good buying a new piano when im on a budget. I have to buy used from a piano store. But used k200 or k300, or other used kawai are pretty hard to come by? I do very much prefer black pianos, not brown

Getting a piano refinished is a $700 to $1000 operation in my area.  One doesn't have to use a piano technician to do this, as regular furniture refinishers probably have more experience.  Possibly less cost in low labor rate countries.  
Piano stores mark up used ones higher than owners that want Grandma's relic out of the way quickly before the carpet man comes to spruce up the room.  Stores also tend to concentrate on currently fashionable brands for used stock which includes boring sounding ****aha and fast wearout ***ton in my area.  (****aha 9' grands are fine, the 6' ones are durable but sound *****y IMHO)
If you'll read my post in the link above, you'll learn to test and sort out bad pianos yourself, without relying on the opinion of the handsome man in the fashion clothes in the showroom. Once you find something good, you can spend $80 on an evaluation by a technician. Or if the piano is under $200, you buy now and discard later if you change your mind.   You'll get better opinions from a mousy looking technician anyway, than from the handsome man paid to show off pianos in a showroom.  
If you live in a coastal area that floods a lot, like Singapore, I understand the reluctance to buy used.  Humidity is hard on pianos, and a roof failure or flood will usually warp one badly.  This hazard can eliminate the stock of good used pianos that are so prevalent in the US midwest where I live.
As I said many suprising brands like York or Coronado can have great tone and be quite fast and consistent at lowest volume.  Bad pianos not worth driving out to see, Lester, Winter, Betsy Ross, Lion Head (no logo) Kimball.   Lion Head  and post 1945 Kimballs sound okay when new but the actions wear out very fast.    

[botticelli]

Im not limiting myself to kawai only, out of all the pianos ive tried i prefer that brand. Also i am buying from a store, cause i get 10 year waranty, free moving and such. I live in on second floor of a house, with curvy stairs, so its a lot work getting it in

[botticelli]

Also, how would the kawai k50 or k3 compare to these? i see them at similar price