Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Help! Kurzweil Mark 10 Ensemble Grand Digital Piano

Hello! I'm brand new here and have been searching around for my first digital piano (which is how I found this place!) I grew up playing a Steinway baby grand but since leaving for college 8 years ago I've been without a piano to play and now in a new apartment, I'm looking to buy a second hand digital piano so I can play without disturbing the neighbors.

I recently found a Kurzweil Mark 10 on craigslist for a few hundred dollars. The guy selling said he bought it new in 2001 and I haven't been able to find much information on the model with a google search. Does anybody have one that can share their thoughts on the feels/sound/quality? Any suggestions on the things I need to be looking for when I go test it out tomorrow? I don't need this to be the perfect piano with all the bells and whistles as my budget is low and it's only to tide me over until I buy a house in the new year or two.

I'm just so new to the digital world and any help about this piano or other digital pianos in general would be great!

Thanks!

Alison

Check out the action. The actions on those vintage were noisy and broken notes were common. If you can pick it up for a couple of hundred bucks, you'll do ok. Good luck.

Brand new entry level digital pianos start at about $500. So as long as you are paying half or less than that, a ten year old DP is worth it. Just don't pay anything near the price of a new piano for a used piano.

Welcome to the forum, Alison; ChrisA is right - but if I remember rightly, this particular model has a very good sound system (worth quite a bit by itself), and even with 10 year old samples should sound pretty good. As Stephen Lacefield pointed out, the action should be checked carefully, and if it is to your liking, you may wish to consider it a strong contender. Obviously, you should try out the current range of new DP offerings in the $500 range also. Good luck, and let us know what you decide,

Jonathan

Thank you for all of the replies and for the warm welcome! I've been playing all my life but have been out of the loop for so long and it's great to find such a large community here!

I will definitely test it out and see how it feels. Out of curiosity what are a few examples of $500 new dp's out there today? That is quite tempting if the quality and sound has a huge difference.

I had this model for several years and it was a love hate relationship.

The sounds and recording procedures are excellent, The rhythms and accompaniments were great. I loved and miss that. The recording I made and shared with friends sound wonderful.

The sound system is good but doesn't sound as good as an external system.


the weak point is the keyboard and panel switch buttons, I got so I could replace the buttons pretty easy but the keyboard got so loud and clattery (is that a word?) that I didn't like playing it much anymore. Maybe Kurzweil can fix it, I don't know.

I finally donated it to a local church that connected it to their excellent sound system and it sounds like they have a concert grand. They usually play it loud enough that the noisy keyboard is not noticeable.

I really needed something more portable anyway so it's all good.