Hey - this sucker packs quite a whallop! I've had two Kn5000's in the past and neither one lit my fire, but the 6500 is much more "refined" (for lack of a better word). I had the experience of playing one in my home for a few days, and I'll tell ya -If the one finger chord recognition worked in a musical way instead of a "totaly unrelated to theory" way - I'd have one. The sounds are better than my old X1 and respond more expressivly to aftertouch and mod wheel. The leslie sim is better than average, the styles are as good as they always were (pretty darn good, in fact) - it's not too big, or too heavy. It's quite nice. The keyboard action is better than the Kn5000, and like the 5000.... the speakers kick serious butt.(66 watts, with a sub)
I play alot of left hand bass, so I never learned to finger chords well with my left hand. This is why the "baby method" works best for me when I use the arranger (20% or so)The Kn series uses a goofed up - UNmusical approach to major/minor chords in the one finger play. It should be able to recognize the root and the third, and build a chord from there, but NO! They have a weird system of "any black key to the left" makes a minor, and "any white key to the left" makes a 7th. Even if you finger an octave. I've been playing too long to relearn a fingering method, and I can't see me learning a more "legit" full chord style either. I want to use one or two fingers - PERIOD..... and I don't want to think.
But enough about my problems - most players will find this board a delight to play and listen to. There are many sounds, styles and controller options. It's logical in it's layout and the PC "to host" port works like a charm with a laptop. You can play a sequence from a PC - and change transpose, volume, mute etc - all from the keyboard itself! There are 16 buttons across the face of the unit, so finding the right part or track is a breeze.
I'v already brought the unit to a prospective buyer, so I'm not excited about it for me... but I wanted to sling a little praise in the direction of you Technics people. This one could be a winner for alot of you. I think beats the Yamaha 9000's, but not by a whole lot. The solo sounds on it are more believable than the Yammy - especially in the expressive controll. I'm not starting a debate about any of this - just a few candid opinions. I don't have it with me anymore, so I can't answer too many questions either, but anyone who is searching for a top end arranger - needs to look at the KN6500.
The biggest drawbacks are:
1)no "search while playing" in SMF
2)drawbars "click" when you open and close them during play. Very annoying to legit organ style playing.
3)No published prices, and hard to find at MI stores