Topic: The Genos 2

[BogdanH]

Bogdan, I worked at high levels in corporate America, and never once saw 'fast profit and greed' being a driver.
...

I believe you. I can't strictly tell for US companies, but my observation in general is, those (good!) companies that weren't profit motivated enough, ceased to exist. For many that still exist (pick any US consumer electronic brand), the only solution was, to buy asian products and rebrand them. I have nothing against chinese products (far from that!). The problem is, that many times, when we buy such rebranded product, it's usually the cheapest chinese product they could get -to make max profit.
Medeli AK10 keyboard is an example of solid product for the price asked. It's an rare exception that chinese company decided to market the product directly. What do you think, how much would it cost, if it would be rebranded by i.e. Electro Voice?

...I can confim, PA700/1000 keys feel a lot like PSRe keys...

-thank you for confirming, Mark . Ok, PSR keybed (when new) actually isn't bad -the problem is how it degrades over short period of time.

Sometimes I think, that I maybe just expect too much... I mean, there's a reason why PSR isn't ranked as TOTL keyboard. And because I can't afford better, I think I need to learn to accept the reality.

Bogdan

[Jeff Hollande]

Hey Bogdan :

A nice second hand high end arranger might be a very good solution.
A new one will cost a customer at least US$ 5,500 - 6,000,--. 
A lot of money in these uncertain times.

Best wishes, JH

[mikf]

My observation from working with Chinese’s companies is that they are capable of producing high quality if you and they are both committed to it. The onus is on companies like Yamaha to invest the effort into working with their Chinese suppliers to achieve this, so they get best of both worlds, lower costs and high quality.
I had a close friend who had a small business in the USA supplying Chinese equipment to oil companies. The prices were great but quality was poor. He dedicated almost 3 years of his life, traveling to China, working with not just his supplier, but their suppliers, to get the quality up. It finally paid huge dividends when he was able to match Western quality at lower prices. He became incredibly wealthy in the next few years when demand for his products rocketed. Savvy business sense, not greed.
Mike

[BogdanH]

hi Jeff,
I have nothing against buying used keyboard. But the thing is, even used TOTL keyboards are quite expensive -way above new midrange keyboard (unless it's 10+ years old). In short, if I can only afford new midrange keyboard, then that means I can only buy another midrange keyboard (new or used). Let me explain: once TOTL Tyros4 was a great keyboard, still I wouldn't trade my SX700 for it -and if my thinking is wrong, so be it.

Price difference (new or used) between TOTL and midrange is just to big for many. But I'm not whining about being glued to midrange class: technically, these keyboards cover all my needs and playing skills. I just hate being disappointed by bad quality. And at the end, no matter what we have, we always wish for better 

Bogdan

[Jeff Hollande]

This is what worries me now that the quality of the Genos build has gone down.

Yamaha's reaction ?
A production defect ?
Guarantee ?

JH

[EileenL]

My Genos still looks good after five years. All I do is wipe it over with a damp cloth and dry off with micro fibre cloth once a week. It has been gigged with and then had a lot of home use.

[Lee Batchelor]

My Genos still looks good after five years. All I do is wipe it over with a damp cloth and dry off with micro fibre cloth once a week. It has been gigged with and then had a lot of home use.

Good to hear, Eileen. Sadly, your experience is not shared by all. I think there are as many ways people handle and treat their Genos keyboards as there stars above. Previous arrangers by Yamaha all seemed to hold up very well. I can tell you the Genos is NOT as robust as its predecessors. I'm doing nothing different to my Genos that I hadn't done to all my previous Yamaha keyboards, and yet this one is not holding up like the others. Between my current issue with registrations and the poor build quality, I may look at other makes when the time comes.

[Toril S]

It is prone to marks on the black finish, but has no other issues.

[pjd]

My observation from working with Chinese’s companies is that they are capable of producing high quality if you and they are both committed to it. The onus is on companies like Yamaha to invest the effort into working with their Chinese suppliers to achieve this, so they get best of both worlds, lower costs and high quality.
Mike

Gotta agree with Mike WRT Yamaha in particular.

Even though many people are aware of Yamaha's golf club business (and laugh about it), most people don't know that Yamaha manufacturers its own printed circuit board (PCB) assembly equipment and sell it to others.

I can just about guarantee that where Yamaha build, own and operate a factory, they are using their own equipment and processes. That includes factories outside Japan. They don't just make manufacturing arrangements/plans willy-nilly.

All the best -- pj