Casio PX830 Privia Digital Piano, Black
Product Details
- Product Dimensions: 58 x 15 x 15 inches ; 80 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 88.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
- Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
- ASIN: B0037W3IRU
- Item model number: PX830 BK
List Price :
Product Description
The Casio PX830 BK Privia Digital Piano is focused on pure piano playing. That starts with the refined matt keys (ivory touch) with a pleasing playing action. The hammer and repeating action on the keys is just as luxurious as the 128-tone AiF sound source with Linear Morphing for dynamic sound behavior. The minimalist design provides a perfect counterpoint to the extraordinary wealth of sound. The “Black Polish” variant provides the PX-830 with an especially refined look.
Casio PX830 Privia Digital Piano, Black
Product Features
- New Linear Morphing AiF sound source with 16 tones
- New 3-sensor hammer action
- New 2 x 20 watt speaker system
- USB terminal, Line out, Pitch Bend Wheel
Customer Reviews
I bought this for my daughter who's learning piano and yearning for a "real" one. This sounds and feels like a grand. The parts were packaged and padded securely. It arrived safe and sound even though there was a rip and a hole in the box.
Took me a while to put everything together. The instructions were detailed enough, but it was not in the first page of the manual, so you have to look for it, and read everything first before you start. During assembly, I found that most screws on the piano body were not sufficiently fastened, a few were almost ready to fall out! That didn't incite any confidence in its assembly work. And, the unit did not have a sticker with serial number, nor was one on the box! Can't explain why.
But overall, it plays well, sounds good. And let's hope it doesn't break down! If not for the issues above I would have given it a five stars.
A couple more things. The black wood was faux wood particle board, and looked cheap. I couldn't tell from the photos, and had expected gloss black (like a real piano). Also, even with the lid/cover down, the keys are still exposed on the front side. Instead of having a narrow folding board to cover the front side (again, like many real pianos), it gives you a little stopper to put in the middle so the cover board won't warp. I have to say, this can only make it look "cheap". Not sure if I was expecting too much.
My wife has an upright piano that she bought new many years ago. It is seriously out of tune and is not worth the expense of hiring a tuner. A few years ago, I bought her an electronic keyboard, but it does not have 88 keys and it is a small portable and she really wanted something to replace her "real" piano.
So, after a lot of online research, she had picked out a Roland and a Yamaha that were in the $1200 price range. Since good sound is a somewhat subjective thing, I suggested that she might want to actually try out the pianos in person. Of course, there are many more variables to consider, such as keyboard touch, availability of service and more. We went to Best Buy where they had the Roland, Yamaha and this Casio set up so they could be played. She tried the first two, but only looked at the Casio. Then, we went next door to the Guitar Center where she actually tried the Casio. For reasons I still don't completely fathom, she eventually settled on the Casio.
As you probably already know, the Casio wouldn't typically be the odds-on favorite of folks knowledgeable in this area for a number of reasons, most having to do with the feel of the keyboard, quality of digital samples and questionable availability of service. Finally, a number of reviewers had complained of problems with the keyboard, shipping damage and quality of the cabinet materials.
First, let me address the most important part - the keyboard and electronics. The keyboard is designed to give both the feel of the touch and the response of the keys as you would expect from a real piano. I do not play piano, but I "played around" on my grandparents grand piano many times and this piano responds just as I remember the Steinway. Push the keys hard and you get a very different result than when you push them softly, for example. Of course, the piano comes with the three pedals that you would find on a "real" piano.
Next, let's address the quality of the sound. First, it sounds as good as the Roland and Yamaha to my relatively untrained ear, either of which would have been good choices. But, the point is, the Casio sounds very good. One reason is the 20 watt per channel amplification with decent speakers which are under the keyboard and fire downwards - a critical point for some users. However, the speakers also have grilles on top of the keyboard so not all the sound is aimed at the floor. After you listen to it (I auditioned all 60 built-in pieces of music) for a while, you sense that you are listening to a conventional piano.
One of the impressive features of the Casio are the digital samples themselves. They have been taken from a grand of some sort, as I understand it (like the Roland and Yamaha), and the samples include the sympathetic resonance from the other strings. This is something you'd find in a real piano, but not typically in an electronic keyboard. And, this characteristic is adjustable, as are the "brightness" and other qualities like temperament. Of course, the piano features other "voices", too, such as a jazz piano and others. All of them sound very good to my ear.
Now, let's discuss the "furniture aspect" - the cabinet. Yes, it's true, the cabinet is about as minimalist as you could get. It is made (I read) of some type of hollow particle board or similar with a satin black textured finish. The cabinet can also be purchased in a shiny "piano black" finish, which is very pretty but retails for an additional $300. When we were chasing down prices, we never saw that particular piano discounted below the $1500 range. More on price in a minute.
Back to the cabinet. Although less expensive in construction, the cabinet was not damaged when delivered and went together easily enough, although I can imagine folks that don't normally do this type of handyman thing experiencing a little frustration with it. But here's the thing, it looks fine when together and takes up a very minimum of room. What you may not realize at first is that although it is of lessor quality, perhaps (the cabinet), the piano itself (PX830) is identical to the one used in the more expensive models (PX330 is different). So, what that means is that you can have all the sound and features of a much more expensive piano for a relatively miserly price.
So, okay, back to the actual selling price. We bought this unit just before Christmas. We checked online stores, eBay and actual stores for the best price. In the end, the best price was on Amazon. It was $839.99. Well, that was substantially less than anyplace else, but then they had a temporary special 15% promotional discount on top of that. Final price was $713.99. That was roughly 35-40% less than the price everywhere else.
So, in the end, we got what is proving to be a very high quality piano at a great price. If you're in the market, definitely consider this PX830. Shop the prices and watch the YouTube videos of the various demonstrations. Then, get to a store if you can and actually compare this to other brands and models.
As for service, happily none was needed as the piano came out of the box (but my wife says she thinks "a couple of the keys are out of tune"). I can only guess what we might have to deal with if we need to actually have it serviced. I did read a lot of reviews, however - many overseas - and this piano is enjoyed by many people including those with considerable musical training.
UPDATE 3-13-12: My wife reports that everything is working fine. She practices a little every day. She still maintains, however, that some of the keys are not truly in tune if she is using the piano voice. However, she says, the organ voice is fine (which she prefers). It should be noted that she has lost all hearing in one ear and we do not know how this affects her tone perception. Other than that, the unit seems to be holding up well.
Casio PX830 Privia Digital Piano, Black
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