I, too, have recently discovered keyboards and have read with interest the discussions and model comparisons and advise offered here and in other forums. Back in the early 80s, I purchased a Lowrey Holiday Organ. It wasn't the organ I liked so much, as the ability to have a whole band at your fingertips. (When I was a teenager, I played the accordion in a small band of my own, but gave music up and pursued other career interests.) I thought that the organ would be a fun, albeit extravagant, purchase since I could play with my right hand and only needed a finger on my left hand to set off all that accompaniment. Yeah, right. I soon learned, of course, that to really enjoy the music I had to learn two hands -- and two feet! I played happily for many years, but eventually, I got involved in other interests my job demanded more of my time, so my organ sat, more or less, unused for the past decade or so.

I recently got interested in it again, and, seeing that the organ needed some repair, I started looking for an organ repairman and discovered that Lowrey, and, indeed, electronic organs in general, seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth! I soon discovered why when I entered a piano showroom and saw what a new digital "ensemble" piano (Technics) could do. It blew me away; I couldn't wait to get my hands on one of these things. But this particular dealer, and this instrument, were pretty expensive; I figured there must be competitors. So my search started.

I soon discovered that Yamaha had the Clavinova, which was, indeed, a competitive product. I liked the Clavinova, but the model I liked, was $5,000 - a bit much considering I just married off two daughters this year. A friend, however, when I told him about the great things this digital piano could do, said, "Oh, yeah, my keyboard does that ... and that ... and that." His keyboard (the Yamaha 8000) seemed to do EVERYTHING that the Clavinova could and it cost him just under $1,900. Of, course, it did not "feel" like a piano since it was a keyboard, but I already have a piano in the house and I had played the organ anyway, so the feel of a piano was not a driving factor.

The PSR8000 was now replaced by the newer PSR 9000. It's specs did even more than the best Clavinova could do, and it was available from one of the dealers in this area for a bit over $2,000. But that was still a lot of money and comments in this forum suggested the 740, might be perfectly fine. So I started reviewing those instruments, and spent quite a bit of time comparing the 540, 640, and 740 models (with prices of roughly $500, $800, $1000). I tried to determine what, exactly, one got for the extra money and made quite a few comparison charts of the features. It looked like the PSR740 had just about all the features of the PSR8000 and cost almost half what the PSR8000 had sold for. I was leaning toward that model, though none of the stores here seemed to have it in stock. But a series of messages on the predecessor of this discussion group suggested the PSR540, hooked up to external speakers, would be a better investment than the 740, so I thought I should take a closer look at that model.

Although there was no 740 model to try, I tried my friend's PSR8000 a bit, then I went to the store and spent an hour or more playing the 540 and trying the various voices. I, finally, decided the PSR540 was "good enough" and brought it home with me that day (to show my wife what a wonderful Christmas present she had just given me!).

The factors that most influenced my decision:
a) While these instruments might sound great in the demos, an ordinary person can't make them sound great unless one can actually play the instrument.
b) Playing the instrument meant not only being agile on the keyboard, but also understanding the workings and operation of the keyboard itself -- when to use a split keyboard, when to use multiple voices, how to select styles, etc.
c) Learning to "play" also meant understanding the basic functions of loading and saving songs/styles, being able to record performances, edit songs, learning what a sequencer could do, etc.
d) Since these are, in fact, computers, whatever I bought would be worth a lot less (half?) in a year or two, so if I bought a $2,000 instrument, it might cost me $1,000 to play it for a couple years, the PSR740 would only cost me $500, and the "low-end" PSR540 would only cost me a few hundred dollars to learn on.
d) The PSR540 has fewer panel voices and styles than the 740, had better speakers, and had vocal harmony. BUT the basic engine, that is the floppy, the 16-tracks, the load/save features, etc were identical on all these models (540/640/740). Hooked up to my stereo, the quality of the internal speakers didn't matter either. And, as I auditioned the voices it did have, including trying out a lot of the XG voices, I concluded that they all sounded a lot better than I had experienced on my old Lowrey.

So,I opted to go "cheap" and can say I am still perfectly delighted with my selection. The instrument sounds great, I am working through my old music books (songs and exercises) trying to rebuild my finger power and dexterity and learning all about the various features included in this keyboard. Understanding the capabilities (and limitations) will allow me to make a much more informed decision when I am ready to go up to a better model. By then, I am sure the PSR10000 (and it's competitors) will be showing even more astounding capabilities.