Are any of you folks familar with this organ and if so, maybe I could get a few answers.

Does it do decent theatre organ?

How good are the styles?

How might it compare with the following

Yamaha AR-100 or El 90
Roland AT 90 or At 80

Is $2000 a reasonable price for a used one.

Any comments fully welcome

Jerry


[This message has been edited by Mainer (edited 03-16-2004).]

Hi Jerry,
I think this is the finest home organ ever built. I has 10 famous organs that were sampled in near perfect environments. These include the Wurlitzer (theater version), the classic european church organ and two drawbar organs including the B3. Anyone new to the instrument can simply sit down, select an organ and have nine balanced registrations ready to go.

This organ is fully open ended. Hundreds of new registrations and styles have been programed for the instrument and if you are familiar with the Yamaha DX 7 synthesis technique, you can design your own sounds. The Composer feature allows you to modify the styles or design your own.

The orchestral side of the organ is just as versatile as the organ side with truly beautiful voices at you finger tips, and hundreds more available to edit.

While the AR-100 has some very nice organ voices, they are limited and the orchestral sounds are cheesy. I haven heard the EL 90 for some time but I do remember the styles were very limiting. The AT 90 is much more competition for the Technics. I think it is more limited with regard to both styles and sounds, but it is a very good organ.

The down side for the Technics is that the instrument is no longer made and parts will only be available for seven years. I think the disk drive is the most vulnerable part and I plan to keep a spare. In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I have a F-100.

Here in California $2,000 is a very good price for a clean organ.

Frank

Hi Frank,

Will parts for the KN7000 also be available for 7 years?

If so, will Panasonic make them for that long?

Thanks,

Larry G

Frank

Thank you for the fine comparisons. I've never played a Technics organ so this was a total gamble. I've hunted for a decent used Roland At-90,AT-80 or a Yamaha AR 100, the 100's are scarce and moderatly expensive and the Rolands are cost prohibitive so I thought I would gamble on the Technics. The price I felt was very reasonable, I will have to travel a bit to get it if I can't find a moving company that specializes in organ piano moving.

How much difference is there between the FA-100 and the FA-1? (just curious)

I have a Yamaha US-1 organ and like it pretty well but the styles are dated and it is limited what you can do with the voices. I will give it credit it still sounds great but I get organ fever every 4 years or so.

I do like the idea of being able to upgrade stlyes and registrations

Again thank you for the feedback

Jerry Riddle

Jerry,
The F100 ia just a newer version of the FA1. The OS and all the sounds are the same, however the styles are different, with an emphasis on more classic organ styles. The cabinet looks a bit more like a small theater organ. The major difference is the sound system. While the FA1 is wonderful to hear the F-100 is thrilling to hear. BEWARE all loose objects tend to fall to the floor when the full power of the
F-100 is expressed.
Frank

Hello

The FA-1 is pretty much the same as the KN portable and the digital piano that were out at the same time.

Technics would basically make one computer brain for their current models and used it in their portable, digital piano, and organ. They just charged different amounts for them.

I knew of Technics dealers that kept their portables hidden in the back room or would not even stock them, because it was kind of hard to explain why the KN would be a few thousand dollars and the same thing in the organ could retail around $50,000.

Scott

Frank thanks again.

I have put a deposit on the organ and am now making plans to go get it or having it deliverd. I know the FA100 will come apart for moving I'm wondering if the same is true for the FA1.

Scott

Thanks for the imput. I had the KN 7000 and liked it fine but chose to sell it and keep my Genesys. The organs are much more fun to
play and if fact easier and more Versatile to play in my book. The down side is they aren't to portable. LOL
You are absolutly right about the high cost and thats why I buy USED for nickles on the dollar. The organs are usually more convienent for general operation, access to presets and use of two manuals. I have ads to sell my Yamaha US-1 organ because I get trade fever every now and then.The US-1 is also a hell of a rig it makes a great rig to add modules to especially Kurzweils.
I could ramble on but it's time to make the donuts.
Jerry





[This message has been edited by Mainer (edited 03-19-2004).]

Yes Jerry, the FA1 has three parts.