First, all Yamaha keybaords except the PSR3000 and Tyros2 have a two year warranty here in the USA if you buy it from a retail music store and get the survival kit. The normal factory warranty for all Yamaha keyboards is 1 year. There is no survival kit with the PSR1500, PSR3000 and Tyros2. These are now in their own catagory and only come with the factory warranty.
Next, having only a PSR3000 and not the PSR2000 to compare with, the Korg PA800 speakers have a lot more bass with no distortion which makes them sound much louder to me than the yamaha's. How much louder? I can't put a number on it but they are louder.
The sequencer issue is a little more difficult to explain. In Yamaha's world of the Clavinova vs the Tyros and PSR3000's, the sequencer that was used in the clavinova became Yamaha's choice. Not the kind being used in Motif's and the older SY series. When you record on the Yamaha, you actually are turning on 15 of the 16 available tracks for recording and each of the 15 tracks is defaulting to a particular part on the keyboard. This is really cool for the musicians who like to record everything at once, including multi pads, layers, splits and going from full piano only to adding style play when you want. But, when you want to go and add more tracks, you have to assign each of the tracks you haven't recorded on yet to a different part then it is defaulted to. This would mean as an example:
You want to go to track 5 and record a flute sound. You would have to arm the track, then see that it has defaulted to be a multi pad and change it to say R1 (right hand, first sound). Now, you can record this track and it will play back the flute. If you don't do this, you will think you are recording, but on playback nothing will be heard because it was thinking you would be hitting the multi pad and you didn't! Do you understand? It took me quite some time to understand this but I do understand Yamaha's thinking coming from the hobbyiest Clavianova player who's never used a sequencer in a non arranger keybaord or computer. Also, to do editing one has to push other buttons on the keyboard and find through the use of "tabs" the page where you wish to change things and although you can pretty much enter, delete, copy, etc. it doesn't seem as easy as some to do.
Now, Korg has been using the same sequencer since the M1 days. Simply, you see on the screen 8 tracks and then push one button and you see the other 8. You can select any track, pick a sound and record! BUT, if you like the idea of the push one record button and be able to record the entire style and the sounds on the right hand, Korg calls this a backing sequencer and you can do it this way. Then, when you are finished, the unused tracks are available to you just by selecting one and choosing a sound to record. It is quicker, easier and more intuitive for most. Also, all editing is done at this display level just by pushing the menu button and finding what you want to do. If you know the Mi, Tseries, Tinity series, Triton series, then you know how to use the PA800 Sequencer.
Wow! I hope I said this clearly enough. My brain is on overload right now!


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com