Yamaha YDP143R Arius Series Console Digital Piano with Bench, Dark Rosewood

Just received this piano last night and set it up. From the moment I opened the box I was very impressed. First of it is packaged in a very thoughtful and efficient manner. The package is very dense much like how you find expensive china or crystal packaged. Not much wasted space and minimal Styrofoam. Each piece is wrapped and positioned in a manner that prevents scratching both in transit and when taking it out of the box. The box feels like one solid piece when it arrives. If i could give one tip it would be to have an extra set of hands when moving the box. It says 66 kilos on it but its every bit of 200 pounds in my opinion. I moved it and assembled it myself and now my back is screaming.On to the appearance. The piano itself looks and feels very nice. Once assembled it looks as if it cost much more than it does. Its pressed particle board of course but the finish is clean and even. There are no rough edges dings, dents, or areas that are unfinished or uneven. I cant see how anyone would have issue with this piano being displayed in their home. We got what I think they call black walnut but its just a deep basic black.Very nice to look at.Assembly was straight forward. The instructions are on the top of the box so don't throw it out or rip it when opening. It basically comes down to 8 support screws that hold the stand an main unit together and a combination of 6 other screws that attach the decorative back. All the support screw holes are metal inserts so no need to torque them too tight for them to hold.The wood screws that hols the back on are all pre-drilled so as long as you line everything up properly there's no drama there either. We got the optional Yamaha headphones (which i do not recommend) so there's a headphone hangar that needs to be installed as well. Its just two screws on the bottom, goes on very easy. As long as you have help lifting the main unit on to the stand to install it shouldn't take more than an hour to put together. Once its done it feels very sturdy. I saw a review that said the seat that comes with it wasn't very sturdy. Either they changed it or that person got a lemon. The seat we got with ours is rock solid.Lastly is how it functions. I'm not a musician so you may want to take this part with a grain of salt. I have compared this unit with a real piano and I cant tell the difference. Granted I haven't done a side by side but I'm guessing only someone with a trained ear would be able to tell. There is no detectable telltale sign of synthesized reproduction like with a Casio or other type keyboard. To me it sounds like a real piano. The keys also feel like the ones on a real piano. You get the sensation that you are moving something inside the unit when you press them. There is resistance and subtle feedback like with mechanical keys on an acoustic. I found myself pressing them over and over wondering "how did they do that". I haven't gone through any of the functions or connected my I-pad to the unit yet but the player function is nice. I could imagine using it for pleasant background music during dinner parties or something.I'll probably add a little more detail to this review once my daughter has used this piano for a while but my initial impression is very positive. I feel that I got every penny's worth in terms of quality and look forward to my kid learning to play.

This exceeded expectations. Easy to assemble and packaged well. Feel of the keys was like that of an acoustic grand piano. I was blown over how well the weighted keys felt and responded. They even look like authentic ivory. The quality of the wood finish was equal to the finest furniture you will find. I chose the rosewood for this very reason. The sound is amazing and the damper pedals feel taut and solid. The key cover is so well designed and smoothly glides into the main unit. I don't have a thing I dislike with this piano. This piece of furniture is very heavy and two people are required to lift the main unit onto the base during assembly. The assembly pre-cut holes and the plum fit of the parts make this piano look and feel as though it was delivered in one solid piece. Extremely well engineered from the outside in.My only suggestion is due to the weight of this console piano, there should have been casters installed on the feet so moving the piano would be easy. The only defect (and this was minor) was with the threaded holes at the base of the pedal assembly. Apparently the center hole is the one used to hold the "adjuster" screw. This is a screw with a knob at the end. This is supposed to fit firm on the floor as a center support by turning the knob until the knob rests firm on the floor. The hole was drilled at an angle so the adjuster screw did not sit flush to the floor. I simply removed the screw and used one of two other holes provided at each end. Both were drilled correctly. This was a minor issue. The bench is solid and the construction is heavy duty. I love this piano and it will remain my finest musical instrument and piece of furniture to date. This is a $2,000 retail instrument so saving $500 is a perk in itself. You will love this precision crafted and precision sounding gem.

UPDATE Jan/2018: The problem was real but it managed to go away right before I was going to take it to the licensed repair shop for warranty. I still don't know if it was mechanical or electronic. The one thing I did do proximal to the problem going away was I connected my IPAD to the console and used the Arius controller app (in AppStore) that can be used to config most of the keyboard controls that can otherwise be set using the analog button combinations (voice, sensitivities,etc.) Perhaps this connection triggered some reset in the system, or perhaps it was coincidentalEither way I've upgrade my initial 2-star rating to 4-star as, when it's working, it sounds and plays extremely well.Original:If it hadn't broken I might give 5 stars. If it can be easily fixed them I'm downgrading to one star. I've had my Arius 143 for 3 months. At first it sounded great and no problems at all; assembly easy and teaching my kids to use it also easy. But then it started the weird behavior. When I press certain pairs of keys a third key plays (VERY LOUDLY) as I had had played that key. If, while holding down first two keys, try to play that 3rd key, nothing happens; as if I'm already holding that 3rd key down. I have to arrange service and take it apart. I hope this goes well because it looks and sounds very nice _when it's working_.Will also contact Amazon but they may have a limited replacement for items like this. The "RETURN ITEM" button is not showing on my order list.