The CVP's have always trailed the Tyros line by quite a bit. I doubt very much the 509 will be a complete substitute for a T4. Might have a FEW T4 voices, but if it is an equivalent, it will be the first time Yamaha has done this.

And, it STILL doesn't address the 76 size, which is the preferred size for MANY arranger players and keyboard players in general all over the world. Even Yamaha offer all their WS lines at a 76 size. Roland have already shown that a full 76 WITH speakers and a decent keybed can be made at well under the weight of even a 61 T4, in fact barely a couple of pounds heavier than an S910!

And, I'm sorry, but a keyboard is a keyboard is a keyboard. There is no intrinsic reason why an arranger has to be any different in size (as Yamaha's CVP's show - you can't have it BOTH ways!) from any other keyboard. Sure, you bottleneck yourself into an arbitrary decision on how you can and cannot use an 'arranger', and you can get by with a restricted choice of notes. But ask yourself this... You CAN just about get by playing piano on a wooden 76. Most pre-Beethoven fits, and most pop could easily be done on it. But would you WANT to? Even if that was the only size Yamaha (or Steinway, in your case!) offered?

You'll see many good arranger and general keyboard players (many of us, contrary to what you might think, play arranger AND band gigs) playing 76 note arrangers when the option is offered. It's just SO easy to dismiss an option you don't even have. But, were Yamaha to do what everyone else does, and offer the damn plastic 76, I guarantee you would find the decision MUCH harder to make...

The robust sales of 76 plastics in the WS world shows that things are not as cut and dried as you would like them to be. There is a VERY legitimate size option in the 76 plastic, offering MANY advantages over both 61 and 88 woods. It's just sad that Yamaha users are denied the opportunity to make the same decision that other manufacturers allow us.