The question this comparison answers
The CLP-845 and the CLP-875 sit next to each other in Yamaha's Clavinova CLP-800 series, and the CLP-875 costs noticeably more. If you are weighing the two, the real question is simple: what exactly does the extra money buy, and is it something you will notice when you play?
A note on method: this is a spec-based comparison. We have not played the two side by side. We put Yamaha's published specifications for both models next to each other and went through them line by line. Where the numbers settle a question, we say so plainly; where they cannot, we say that too.
The short answer: on paper, the step up buys two things, a different keyboard action and a larger speaker system in a taller, heavier cabinet. The sound engine, voices, polyphony, connections and features are the same.
Keyboard: GrandTouch-S versus GrandTouch
This is the difference most buyers care about, and it is also the one most often misdescribed.
- The CLP-845 uses Yamaha's GrandTouch-S action. Its white keys are wooden, with synthetic ivory and ebony key tops and escapement.
- The CLP-875 uses the GrandTouch action, also with wooden white keys, synthetic ivory and ebony key tops and escapement.
So the step up is not a move from plastic to wooden keys. Both pianos already have wooden white keys. In this series, wood arrives with the CLP-845, while the CLP-825 and CLP-835 below it use GrandTouch-S without wooden white keys. What changes between the 845 and the 875 is the action itself: GrandTouch-S becomes GrandTouch.
The CLP-875's keyboard is also the one Yamaha fits to the CLP-885 and CLP-895GP above it. Looking at the published specifications across the series, the step in touch sits between the CLP-845 and the CLP-875. Above the CLP-875, the more expensive models change amplifier power, cabinet and voice count, not the keyboard. In our own key-action grading, GrandTouch-S scores 8 and GrandTouch 9 on a 1 to 10 scale, a one-step difference that feeds into the touch score on each product page.
What the specification tables do not tell you is how that difference feels. They name the two actions but give no key weights or other measurements that would let us describe it. Some players will feel it immediately; others will find the two close. This is the one part of the decision a spec sheet cannot settle, and the reason to try both in a shop if you possibly can.
Speakers and cabinet: more power, more weight
The second difference is the sound system.
- CLP-845: 180 W of amplification driving four speakers.
- CLP-875: 220 W driving six speakers.
That is 40 W and two speakers more. Yamaha gives the CLP-875's amplification as (45 + 25 + 40) W × 2. More power and more speakers mean more headroom when you play loudly, and a sound that fills a larger room more easily. How much that matters depends on the room and on how loudly you play: the extra headroom counts mainly at high volume and in bigger spaces. We cannot tell you how the two sound in your room, and the wattage alone cannot either.
This difference disappears completely when you practise on headphones. Both models have the same two headphone jacks and the same headphone optimisation, so if you play mostly on headphones, this half of the upgrade gives you nothing. The same applies if you plan to use an external amplifier: both have a line output.
The bigger system comes in a bigger cabinet:
- Weight: 60 kg vs 71 kg (11 kg more)
- Height: 927 mm vs 967 mm
- Depth: 460 mm vs 465 mm
- Width: 1,450 mm on both
The footprint is essentially the same; the CLP-875 is 4 cm taller and noticeably heavier. That matters for an upstairs room, a floor you are unsure about, or a future move.
What the extra money does not buy
On the specifications, the two models are identical in everything else:
- The same sound: Yamaha CFX and Bösendorfer Imperial samples with VRM, and 256-note polyphony
- The same 38 voices
- Bluetooth audio and MIDI, USB MIDI and app support
- A line output, two headphone jacks and headphone optimisation
- Recording, metronome, transpose, layer and split, and lesson functions with 303 built-in songs
- Stand and pedal included
If you read that the CLP-875 has more voices, more polyphony or a different piano sample, that is not supported by Yamaha's specifications. Behind the headphone output, the sound engine is the same on both.
Who should stop at the CLP-845
- You practise mostly on headphones. Half of what the step up buys, the speaker system, then sits idle.
- The piano goes in a small or medium room, and you rarely play at full volume.
- Weight or height is a constraint: the 845 is 11 kg lighter and 4 cm lower.
- You have tried both actions and cannot tell them apart, or you cannot try them and do not want to pay for a difference you have not felt. You still get wooden white keys, the same sound engine and the same features.
Who should step up to the CLP-875
- Touch is your priority, and you feel a difference in the GrandTouch action when you try it. The keyboard is the part of the step up you use every time you play, and it is the same keyboard as on the models above.
- You play on the speakers, loudly or in a larger room, or you often play for family and guests. Six speakers and 220 W are there for exactly that.
- You want the keyboard of the top models without paying for the top models. Since the CLP-885 and CLP-895GP share this action, the CLP-875 is the lowest-priced way into it in the series.
Other directions
If you would like a grand-shaped cabinet, Yamaha places the CLP-865GP, which also uses GrandTouch-S, at essentially the CLP-845 level. To look beyond Yamaha, Kawai CA-401 vs Yamaha CLP-845 sets the 845 against a Kawai rival, and Kawai CA-701 vs Yamaha CLP-875 does the same at the 875 level. If you are looking further up, CLP-885 vs NU1XA compares the model above the CLP-875 with Yamaha's hybrid piano.
In short
The CLP-875 is a CLP-845 with GrandTouch in place of GrandTouch-S, 220 W and six speakers in place of 180 W and four, and a cabinet that is 4 cm taller and 11 kg heavier. The sound engine, voices and features do not change. If you play mostly on headphones or in an ordinary-sized room, the CLP-845 covers what matters and keeps the wooden white keys. If touch is what you are paying for, the decision rests on the one thing a spec sheet cannot judge: how the GrandTouch action feels under your own hands.