I recently visitted the guitar center in Concord and tried out all the arrangers under the $800.

Yamaha PSR550 is still the best out there.

Casio WK1800 is also good although far less in the number of sounds.

Anyone else have comments ?

Of course, there are used excellent arranger keyboard for about that price range.

FYI: I bought the Yammy PSR550 at Guitar Center for $469.99 plus tax.

It's actually more expensive than music123.com by the amount of tax since music123.com does not have to pay tax. I figure it's allright and worthwhile to pay the tax since Guitar Center has better support and an authorized dealer for Yamaha.

If I had a ceiling of about 800 dollars ( give or take a few ) and I needed an arranger, I'd probably try to find a used PSR2000. If I wasn't able to find one at that price and I didn't need a harmonizer, I'd try to find a PSR1000. The 740 was also a decent board for the money, although I think that most who have it or have used it would probably say that the harmonizer wasn't particularly good in it. It also lacks the voice editing features and sequencing capabilities of the 1000 / 2000, if it matters. They can be found, however, for a lot less than 800 dollars these days.

If "new" is the priority, then I would have to agree that the 550 might be the way to go at that rate. Another board selling "new" ( it is an older model now ) at less than $ 800 is the Casio MZ2000 ( someone had it "new" recently for $699, but I cannot recall who or where that was ) . Other than the lack of customer support offered by Casio, I think it is a good value at that price if one does not need a harmonizer. If they get any cheaper, I might pick one up again too.



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 09-23-2002).]

I agree with Bluezplayer... One good board for that price range would be the PSR-1000.. It has better voice quality than the PSR-550, way better sequencing for both songs and patterns, very nice screen, better speakers (with tweeters that actually work!).. Overall it's a good buy for the money.. The PSR-550 falls in the $469-$500 category.. The PSR-2000 is above that in price and features, but well worth it.. If I had the $800 I would by the PSR-1000.. Now like Bluezplayer said there is also the PSR-740... This keyboard is better in several areas than the PSR-1000 and can be bought for less... However, there are a few things that differ from them.. The PSR-1000 has way better sequencing, it has voice editing, and a better screen. The PSR-740 will give you drawbars, modulation wheel, vocal harmony, and a few other things.. Keep in mind that the PSR-740 is the model prior to the PSR-2000... So it's features will match more closely to it.. The PSR-1000 is the upgrade from the PSR-640... You can get the PSR-740 for like $699 now, which is a steal for what it does.. Again remember that the 740 doesn't have the sequencing and the voice editing of the the PSR-1000 and PSR-2000

Squeak

Thanks for all the replies. All I care about are the sounds of the voices and styles. Also ability to save settings(voice, style, transpose) into registration memory for easy recalls during performance. Voice harmonizer would be nice but not a must for me.

Taking into account the above, pls help to answer the following improtant questions:

Is Yamaha PSR740 better than PSR550 ?

Is Yamaha PSR740 better than PSR-1000 or vice versa ?

Thanks

I have played the 740 and 550 and IMHO the 550 is better in the sound department, but the 550 does not have organ flutes. The 740 is older so I think the sounds are improved on the newer 550. The 550 has a sweet flute that the 740 does not, but the 740 has a classic flute that is nice. As mentioned before, the 550 replaces the 540. The 740 was a more expensive unit, so it's in a different category.
Not sure about the styles.
Kevin

Starkeeper,
I have to disagree with you on that one.. Although the 550 sounds good, it only has 8mbs to the sound.. The PSR-740 has 12mbs.. That makes a pretty big difference in sound quality... Also the 740 has way better speakers and tweeters that actually work so naturally the sound is going to be more crisp and natural.. If I remember correctly the sweetflute was also on the 740.. From what I understand voices like the sweet flute and sweet trumpet were taken from the PSR-8000 and added to the 740's voice set. The 740 may be older but as for sound quality and features the 740 is a great deal better than the 550.. I've owned the 540 and now the 550.. I've played both the 640 and 740 numerous times, and even the 640's voices are more crisp than the 550 because of the speaker set up... Again every one has a different ear for sound....

Squeak

about Mb and quality of sounds, it is not as clear as it seems...
More Mb don't make always better sounds, it depends also of quantity of sounds, and Mbs for each sound.
For example, piano voices on PSR2000 and PSR1000 like the same (at the fact, both demos are the same, and sound exactly the same with an external amplifier), but 2000 has 16 Mb and 1000 has 8. But 2000 has more sounds.
Perhaps I don't say well, and piano voice on PSR2000 is better than PSR1000. ¿What do you think? For my ears, piano voice from 740 is the same that 2000, also.

Bluebird,
You're right about the mb's... Sometimes it really doesn't make a difference and depends on how many voices there are to the mb's... However, the keyboards speakers themselves can make a world of difference... Even though the PSR-550/640/740 all have 6 watt speaker systems, the 640 and 740 had much better speakers.. Plus the tweeters on the 640 and 740 worked where as the ones on the PSR-550 are just for show and are inactive. If I remember the 640 had 8mbs and a few more voices than the 550, but the 640's voices were stronger due to the better quality speakers....

Squeak