Toey

I'll second the Yamaha HS7s. Pair very nicely with my Kawai MP11.

I think that Dave has previously suggested that either emailing him directly; WeiserSound or via the Kurzweil SP6 Facebook group is a better option for contacting him.

I've just packed mine up to go to practice and it stands up fine, with a slight lean.

Hi Frank Its a bit apples and oranges when comparing the two. The MP11 completely outclasses the SP6 as a stage piano but its twice the price and three times heavier. The action is buttery smooth and is generally considered the best action available on a stage piano. Its got great sounding APs and EPs with plenty of scope for tweaking and personalising. The other sounds are good but limited in their breadth and you can't layer strings and pads together because they're in the same section. They're there to supplement the pianos. There's no organ on the MP11. I got the MP11 because I haven't got the space for an upright piano at home and I use it primarily as a piano. I sometimes use a split for left hand bass and occasionally layer some strings but that's it. The MP11 is set up for home playing and is staying there. I got the SP6 for gigging. It seems to tick all the boxes for me: light, good price, massive sound potential, and a reasonable weighted action. I think the keyboard provides a reasonable compromise given the price and weight; the MP11 has full length wooden keys with ivory feel and is very quiet; the SP6 is all plastic, quite noisy and a little heavier. However, that said, it doesn't take me long to adjust to the different feel. As for sounds, there's the whole of Kurzweil's Forte Se and PC3 sound sets to choose from, as well as other third party sound sets, e.g. Dave Weiser. It's a much broader and deeper soundscape than the MP11. I've not looked into the MIDI implementation yet but I'm confident that it will provide the flexibility I think I'm going to need further down the line. If you're looking for a digital piano then I think the MP11's as good as you can get it that format but trust me you think twice before moving it. If you're looking for a portable keyboard with a weighted action and an excellent sound palette then I think the SP6 is as good as you can get at the price range. I hope this helps.

I've got the same Gator gig bag as jpkeys and he's spot on about the fit and it stands on its back perfectly well.

I'm not sure that I can provide meaningful comment on the Brass and Synth sounds compared to anything else because this is my first board with Brass and Synth sounds. Well I have the Arturia but I've spend even less time with that than the SP6. At the moment I'm as happy as a pig in slop but when it comes to 'slop', I'm pretty ignorant. The Kurzweil site has lots of audio demos for all of its boards so as well as the on on the SP6 you can install ones from the PC3 and Forte SE. Kurzweil SP6 Audio

Yes I got mine through BAX who offer the extended 2 month trial. As Aidan says you've otherwise got 30 days. At the time BAX were the only supplier that had immediate delivery, that was early Dec. I agree with Aidan on the trial, I wanted the extended time so that I would not need to make a hasty decision. I've just googled prices and BAX is currently showing the best price but its not in stock. Its over £100 cheaper now that what I paid in Dec. I knew that I was paying a premium for early delivery. Gear4Music currently have 2 in stock but at a £30 premium over the others.

I took the view that I wasn't going to be able try out a SP6 locally so I found an online supplier that offers 2 months trial and free return (most only offer 1 month, although that would have been enough). Given that the SP6 seemed to tick all the boxes it wasn't a difficult decision to give it a go. The thing that really attracted me to the SP6 over other similar boards is the availability of the Kurzweil sound sets. Currently, I'm a very happy camper.

I've only had a brief time with a PX-5S, I'm assuming its the same action as the PX-350, and it was before I got the SP6 but I don't think that there's a significant difference between them. From memory, I would say that the PX-5S is the better piano action of the two but I don't think that there's much in it. I can only really compare the SP6 with my MP11, which is a little unfair considering the price and weight difference between the two. The MP11 has a lovely light, even action that feels smooth and linear on both press and return. By comparison the SP6 feels heavier and less linear. The initial push requires slightly more pressure and end of the return gives more push under the fingers, the SP6 has a springier feel. So compared to the MP11 I don't feel like I have the quite the same fine control, especially with the pianos which is pretty much all I play on the MP11. Having said that, within a few minutes of sitting down at the SP6 the last thing on my mind is the weight and feel of the keys; I'm finding it an easy adjustment. The other thing that might make a difference is the different velocity curves that are available. So far, I've not tried playing around with them. As with much else in my life: time, energy and ability are in severely limited quantities. Overall, I'm very pleased with the SP6.

So, having gone from being a lurker to a member I thought I should introduced myself. After a lifetime of wanting to be able to play the piano I decided 8 years ago that I should take the plunge get a piano and have lessons. As a child I wanted to but never got the opportunity; I had a brief dabble in my early 20's but it took 2nd fiddle to other things in my life and fell away. So having passed the milestone of 50, and no longer burdened with the upbringing of my children, I found an excellent teacher and I have weekly lessons. I'm currently around ABRSM grade 6. I'm not taking any exams but I do pieces from the curriculum as well as other stuff that I fancy or my teacher suggests. I'm currently doing a couple of Bach Inventions (4, just starting & 13, just finishing) and also Joplin's Solace. I don't have room in my house for an acoustic, so its always been a digital. My first piano was a Yamaha P140 which was perfectly adequate for a beginner. I've since upgraded to a Kawai MP11 and I have too say that I love playing it. At the same time as starting the piano I also picked up the bass and started playing in a band, mostly classic rock covers, which over the last few years has spluttered between being quite active to completely comatose. Now having an absolute beginner on any instrument might seem like a bit of a handicap but as none of us was much beyond the rudimentary and being as the bass can be as simple as you want to make it, and yes I do keep it simple, I've scraped by. We have improved, a little bit, over the years. The band members have never pestered me too much about bringing keys into the band but when it came up I always said yes when I'm ready. So a year or so ago I decided that I ought to start getting ready by researching gear and set up, which among other things brought me to this forum. One of the things I was unsure about regarding gear was should I go down the laptop/vst route or hardware. I'm a software engineer by profession so playing around with computers and software isn't exactly alien to me. What I did know was that I don't want to be breaking my weak and feeble body lugging around keyboards that need a fork lift truck to move; the MP11 being a prime example. I also knew that to start with an non-weight action would probably be too much to adjust to. I decided that the hardware route would be the safest just on a 'keep it simple' basis. So my initial line of thought was that a Casio PX-5S would be the way to go: cheap, light, good action, decent sounds, good controller capability. Then Yamaha announced the MX88 and that piqued my interest for a while but then Kurzweil announced the SP6 and that seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I got myself the SP6 just before Xmas and having decided that I'm happy with the action and the sounds/functionality I'm keeping it. The potential of the board is huge so I can see its going to take a while to get to grips with it. I've also bought a used Arturia Keylab 49 with the intention of looking at a laptop/vst configuration with the SP6. I've have just started taking it to band practise so we can start working out how to fit it in to the current set and and decide what new stuff we'd like to cover. So far they're loving the Kurzweil sounds. I'm sure they'd be even more impressed if it was being played by someone with ability and knowledge but hey I'm having fun. So hello all. I've learnt many things from the forum already and hope to continue to do so.