I've always thought this is the department Yamaha always ends up falling short on.. They make such nice keyboards, and the sounds are amazing, and they have a lot of features... However, this comes at at price. They give you all those great sounds and features, but cheese you on the actually construction quality of the keyboard. Take my PSR-550... For the price all one can say is WOW what a nice keyboard, but when you get your hands on it seems hard to put that great sound together with such a cheaply built keyboard. Yes Yamaha's keys are smaller.. They're not really true full size keys. Hell even the Casio's have better keyfeel than the Yamaha.. Also anyone ever use the pitchbend on the 540 or 550???? I swear they must have used the spring from a ball point pen to get it to spring back.. It's sooooo flimsy... I'm just waiting for the day that thing breaks. I was quite pleased with the construction of the PSR-740 (minus the painted buttons).. I felt the wheels, and overall construction was pretty good. I haven't played a 2000 so I cannot comment on the construction on that keyboard. Even for the short time I owned the Casio MZ-2000 I was very pleased with the cosmetics and construction of that keyboard.. It had good key feel, the pitchbend and modulation wheels felt great, and I wasn't afraid of breaking anything on it... Yamaha could improve the build and key feel a little though....

Squeak

[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 04-11-2003).]

I agree with the key feel thing for the 740 / 2000. It is probably the worst I've ever played on too, maybe even worse than that horrible Silvertone organ I had back in the early 70's. It's always a compromise though no matter what I do. The PA80 has a better key feel, and better organ sounds ( for this player anyway ), but sometimes those fill ins... they don't match up well to the main variations. That there are only 2 fills for 4 variation styles doesn't help either. Other than that I still like the PA80 a lot. Still, I wish I had the knowledge and ability to build my own system...

AJ

Your right AJ. I should add the Ekco to my list of possible competitors to the Yamaha PSR2100.
Starkeeper

I don't think the PSR2000 is that bad. I play on it every day, doing close to 600 gigs a year. I own two PSR2000s. I have never had any problem with the keys breaking. Here is a list of the problems I have had:

1. Style control buttons wearing out (requiring greater pressure until they cease to work). This has occurred with both keyboards on practically every style control button. Since it was too time consuming to go to a Yamaha tech every time, I had a friend fix this. He has fixed this problem about four times for about $100.

2. A blown internal amp. This took close to three weeks to fix even though I paid $25 for rush repair. Delay was Yamaha's fault.

3. A blown speaker - distorting at high volumes. After this problem was diagnosed, I took the keyboard home with me while they waited for the replacement speaker. It took over two months for the speaker to arrive.

4. Now the speaker that was just repaired rattles at high volumes. I might have my friend look at this as my authorized repair center is 45 minutes away, while I can just drop the keyboard off around the corner for my friend to look at.

5. Once someone who was transporting my keyboard put a large folding table on top of it. This broke a modulation wheel. I haven't had this looked at yet.

Keep in mind that I put a lot of hours in on these keyboards. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that a keyboard made for professionals would probably have less problems.

Playing professionally and owning two of these keyboards, the flimsiness and repair problems isn't that bad. I am seriously considering that when the PSR2100 comes out I will buy two of them and sell only one of my PSR2000s. This way, I will always have a backup keyboard even when one is getting repaired.

I love the harmonizer on the PSR2000. What other keyboard has a really good harmonizer? The Solton. But Soltons also have a bad reputation for shoddy workmanship and weird glitches. And the Tyros. I need the onboard speakers - and it is a bit expensive for me.

I think the PSR2000 is a fantastic keyboard, and there isn't another keyboard that compares in it's price class.

Beakybird

I have both the pa80 and the PSR2000. I prefer the key feel of the PSR2000. Yes it's soft and mushy, but I like playing it.
I've mentioned this before, and maybe I am the only one in the world with this situation. On my pa80, there is a rough edge to some of the keys. It seems to have occurred in the pressing of the plastic during manufacture. It is along the very front edge. Rather that feeling smooth, certain keys feel rough. I've been tempted to take some fine-gauge sandpaper to these keys. It's quite annoying.

Tom G.

I'll have to add my two cents to this thread. Thank God, my PSR2K has not failed me yet. True, the keys do feel flimsier (?) than many other higher end keyboards. But, I look at it this way: when I play a piano (or a higher-end synth), I need to perform a certain way; when I play my PSR2K, I need to adapt my style and feel, therefore changing the way I play. It's like going from one instrument to another. Each one needs to be played differently. It's just too bad that you'd have to classify a PSR2K and some other keyboard as two totally different instruments. But, IMHO, the sounds are well worth adapting to the feel. (Plus, I baby the H*** out of it!)

Angelo

Well, as some of you might know, I've just purchased a PA60 (Korg) a few weeks ago, I also compared it to the PSR-2000, IMHO the sounds are better on the Korg, So are the styles.
But the Yamaha has more features, Easier user interface.
The Korg is a lot more complicated, Has better keyfeel, better sounds & styles (IMO), But less features.
Also the Ketron XD9 is a fantastic machine with some of the greatest sounds and styles I've ever heard, But here in Holland, The Ketron is pricier, About $400 more than the PSR-2000 and PA60.
That was my POV.

Greetz ,
Marcel

you know, technics is coming out this July with the KN2600- it's the little brother of the kn7000. It has the Sd card and nx sounds, just does not look as cool. It should list for about 1500 or so. Check it out.

Thank you all for replying. So to summarize:
Korg PA60
Ketron XD9
Technics KN2600.
The Ekco will probably be out of this price range.
Starkeeper

benthepianoboy,
Where can I get some info on this new Technics keyboard? I haven't heard anything about this one until your post..

Squeak