Esh wrote "But for Yamaha to listen to American consumers about anything is such a stretch... "

A friend of mine who works for a Japaneese car manufacture agrees with you. He says that they really do not care much for American opinions.

We Americans like to think of the US as the "center of the universe" for many thinks, including our keyboards. My guess is that Yamaha does not think so and they look at their market research data and prior sales trends to determine future products. That's not to say that they don't survey and interview people in the US. I know that George Kaye said Yamaha reps from Japan came to his store for input. Ultimately, we can dream and pontificate all we want but I don't think our posts have much sway in Japan. I hope I am 76 keys wrong.