UK Piano Page Piano Forum

I recently purchased a Winchester WPS1200 from the iMusician website (Part of the Dawson music store group). Winchester pianos are only sold through the Dawson group in the UK. I chose this over the Yamaha CLP320 because the cabinet quality looked superior. However, when assembling it I soon noticed lots of white opaque marks/blooms all over the surface of the cabinet. I contacted iMusician and they assured me that this was a one-off and that all the other Winchester pianos were fine. They sent me a replacement but when I opened the box that too had the same marks on the cabinet, which could not be removed. I contacted iMusician again and agreed to have the Winchester replaced with a Yamaha with a small discount of £25 due to the inconvenience caused. However after agreeing this they then called me back to say that they would not be able to give me any discount on a replacement Yamaha so I requested a refund.

I was very disappointed with the build quality of the Winchester, not mention the poor treatment received from iMusician/Dawsons, and I could not therefore recommend either. The other things I did not like about the Winchester were:

- Poor speakers/hissing noise when turned up to higher volumes
- Headphone sockets are at the rear of the piano which means that you have to keep pulling it away from the wall and fumbling around at the back in order to plug your headphones in.
- Sound too stark/loud when keys played with more emphasis.

With digital pianos, you get what you pay for every time. I'm sorry you had this experience. You will enjoy a Yamaha Clavinova rest assured.