Kawai Digital Piano Review

hi everybody and welcome to another
piano review video here at Marion pianos
my name is Stu Harrison and in this
video we’re giving you an overview of
every single Kauai digital piano that’s
currently available in the market in
2019 we’re going to go series by series
describing exactly what the major
components and characteristics of each
series are and who it’s intended for and
I really hope that this helps a lot I
know that when you’re shopping and
you’re on manufacturer websites the
product descriptions sometimes contain
code language and you’re trying to
figure out whether this is for
professionals or amateurs hopefully this
straightens it out we’re gonna cover the
see a Series C n series KD PE s and M P
so thanks very much for joining us we’re
going to get started right away
you
so now let’s talk about kawaii see a
series now this actually stands for
concert Artist Series and honestly the
name says it all this is a set of
digital pianos which Kauai has designed
for professionals for teaching studios
really
users that are looking for the premium
digital piano experience in kind of a
mid price range
they all have elements in common and
quite frankly when you look at the
cabinetry when you’re talking about the
sound circuitry and the actions this is
the very best that Kauai makes with the
exception of the Nova’s 10 and that kind
of sits in its very own category and of
course we deal with the Nova’s 10 in a
totally separate video so what are the
aspects of the CA series which are all
in common well for one they all use
highs premium cabinetry so this means
that you’re talking about really
high-quality hardwoods and fiber boards
for the cabinet this makes it very
durable not just for home use but if
this is going to sit in a church or a
school or a teaching studio these are
instruments that are going to really
stand the test of time not just in terms
of their musical components but the
furniture itself another thing they all
have in common is they all use wooden
actions however there is a difference
between the top two and the bottom two
the CA 98 and the ca 78 use the actions
which have those full-length keys and
look and operate a lot more like a grand
piano action versus a digital piano
action so we’ve got the seventy eight
ninety eight with those full-length keys
really like the best touch that you can
get in this type of the price range and
then the 48 and the fifty eight are
using those keys which are a little bit
shorter talking about now
the tone generators on the CA series
every single one of all four models has
Onkyo processing onboard now this is a
totally separate and distinct company
from Kauai but it’s also a Japanese
based supplier who makes really high-end
audio equipment they’ve been doing
amplifiers and signal processing for
wide variety of vendors for many
and this partnership between Kauai nan
Keo has just raised the bar on what’s
possible for piano tone out of a digital
instrument without getting into tens of
thousands of dollars worth of
expenditure so all four of these have
discrete headphone amplifiers with
spatial processing this is a beautiful
feature for anyone who does have to use
headphones at any point in the day or
maybe most of the time you’re having to
use headphones but the onkyo processing
is processing is also on the main boards
that feed the speakers and on all see a
series it also uses Onkyo amplifiers and
speakers so you essentially have a HiFi
stereo system built-in to every one of
the CA series
so why spend more on the CA 98 se versus
the CA 48
well here is the major differences as
you step from the top down the CA 98
uses a real soundboard we’ll make sure
that we get a quick b-roll shot of that
soundboard so you can see exactly what
we’re talking about it’s the only one in
the series that has this and so in
addition to the main speakers and the
tweeters you actually have a spruce
soundboard on the back of this machine
which is magnetically activated and
contributes to the resonance of the
instrument it really creates a nice
acoustic effect and it makes a kind of a
dramatically different playing
experience than the rest of the series
now the CA 78 is virtually exactly the
same as CA 98 except for that soundboard
so if you’re somebody that’s going to be
using the instrument almost entirely
with headphones and occasional speaker
use then you don’t have to worry about
the CA 98 you can go straight to the ca
78 and you’re going to experience
exactly the same action all the same
levels of Technology and
interconnectivity the third thing that
the 98 and the 78 both have is of course
that beautiful color touchscreen panels
on the left side and that replaces all
of the buttons right across the rest of
what used to be the CA series used to
have this big long strip of buttons with
all the functionality now
it’s been relegated to this really nice
easy to use touchpad control when you
get down into the CA 58 and 48 we lose
the touchpad but it’s still a relatively
easy interface to operate within and of
course the CA 58 still coming with
tweeters and main speakers no soundboard
just like the CA 78 and then when we
drop down to the CA 48 it’s an even more
simplified control panel more simplified
speakers but of course we still have
that wood action so it’s really slowly
adding and improving the actions that
you get improving the control panel
options that you’re getting and the
power and the I guess really the
fidelity of the sound that you’re
getting but regardless of what you’re
choosing within the CA series you’re
getting an instrument where the
objective has been to deliver the very
best touch and piano tones for the price
that you’re going to find anywhere
within the market now we’re into kauai z
CN series now the CN series sits just
below quite CA series and as you can see
it is a home based instrument this is
not something that is particularly
portable you want to be taking apart and
throwing into the car for gigs or
rehearsals but for people who are
looking for a stationary digital piano
and they’re trying to keep the budget
within a nice reasonable range I think
of the kauai CN series as being their
prosumer grade digital piano and people
who are used to shopping for cameras or
maybe television or audio equipment will
know this term pro sir mu kind of
bridges that gap between really super
high-end pro level stuff where the price
points tend to jump but it’s definitely
better than entry-level every aspect of
the CN series screams that it is not an
entry-level instrument but they’ve
contained and kept costs lower where
they can so that they can continue to
deliver a really great piano experience
for people who are looking for something
that is just simply more impressive than
the entry point into the market and
that’s where the CN series really kind
of takes its stand and has
incredibly well in North America over
the last particularly five years the
series has been out long before then but
I’ve really seen a jump in popularity
first with the CN 29 or 27 and 37 and
then more recently with their
replacements that have been with us for
about a year or so the CN 29 and the CN
39 now just like the C a series that we
also cover in this video the CN series
are the first instruments in Co Weis
lineup as you’re going from bottom to
top that have some Onkyo processing on
board that’s dramatically improving just
the structure of the tone and just how
dynamic and well well-crafted
you know the piano tone is they’re both
using the S ke X sample sets for their
main and primary acoustic piano and so
really what are the differences between
the CN n 29 in the CN 39 because they do
have the same action and that’s the rh 3
action that everybody’s been reading so
much about but there is definitely a
difference in the speaker quantity the
wattage quantity of the amplifiers and a
huge difference in the onboard sound and
features so the CN 29 is really for me
one of the absolute best values and Kwas
lineup if all you’re looking for is a
fantastic action to play on that you are
gonna use a hobbyist level it’s not
gonna get you know three four hours of
use a day but let’s say you’re using it
30 minutes 60 minutes a day and it’s
just for your own personal use the CN 29
is not going to disappoint it’s just one
of the absolute most authentic most
interesting most satisfying acoustic
piano sounds that you’re gonna find in
the market in and around that $2,000
price range just exceptional but that’s
about the only thing that the CN 29 guys
it’s pretty lightweight in terms of the
amount of tones that it’s a got on board
it does have all of your basics covered
you can count on things like a few
string patches and pads and harpsichords
and vibes and some electric pianos but I
think the total number of sounds is
somewhere
two dozen so enough selection that there
is some versatility there but relatively
limited compared to some of the pianos
on the market the polyphony is very high
I think it’s 192 on the CN 29 and I
think 256 on the CN 39 so plenty of
cliff aney there but really its intent
is to replace a used acoustic piano it
does very well so what do you get when
you get up to the CN 39 well now you’re
talking about four speakers instead of
two speakers the wattage dramatically
jumps I think you go up to about a
hundred watts on the CN 39 or it’s
somewhere in that range someone can
correct me on comments and it’s less
than half of that on the CN 29 and the
big big jump is you get almost 300
sounds or I should say over 300 sounds
on the CN 39 whereas you’ve just got a
few dozen on the CN 29 so the CN 39 is
kind of the institutional commercial
used version of the CN 29 so if you’ve
got somebody who really likes that
action but they’re gonna be using it
let’s say for some sequencing or there’s
a bit of a professional application or
maybe it’s a larger space you need that
extra weight and the in the amplifier
wattage there CN 39 is going to be
absolutely perfect so just to sum up
Kauai CN series sits just below the CA
series and it’s right in that sweet spot
what I tend to call the prosumer range
of the digital pianos now I’m in front
of Kai’s KDP series now like the CN
series the KDP series consists of two
models at the KDP 70 and the KDP 110 and
those two instruments are what
constitutes Kai’s entry level now it is
worth noting that even though this is
entry level for kauai it probably sits
in about the mid range for several other
manufacturers for example
Cassio’s range which starts in and
around the $500 range and goes up to
about 2000 some of their best
instruments would be competitors with
the KDP even though this is at the
bottom so for people who are looking at
the kauai lineup as part of your
shopping process and you’re thinking
well i don’t want a entry-level
instrument just because kauai is
referring
this – as an entry-level instrument
doesn’t mean that in the grand scheme of
things it actually sits at the bottom of
the industry it’s actually more like
about a third up from the bottom of the
industry the KDP series this is how I
like to think of it and so this might be
helpful for you out there the KDP 110
the KDP 70 in a lot of ways represents
where the CN series was about five years
ago so if you buy a KDP 110 today or kvp
70 today you’re getting about the same
quality of instrument as you would have
if you’d spent about twice that amount
of money four or five years ago
so quite does a really nice job of
continuing to shift really good
technology down the price points as they
advance their lines and so this is
what’s exactly happened with the KDP 70
in the kt 110 so what are the
differences between the KDP 110 and the
KDP 70 well really it’s two things the
speaker size or wattage as you will see
it on the spec sheet and the Bluetooth
radio so this is the KDP 70 has no
bluetooth smaller speakers less powerful
amplifier the KDP 110 substantially more
powerful amplifier and it’s got the
Bluetooth radio so for that few hundred
dollar difference if you can see
yourself making good use of the
Bluetooth MIDI connection or it’s gonna
be in a larger space and you just want
that extra oomph that the wattage will
give you k DB 110 is a fantastic buy if
you know for sure that you’re gonna be
using this either in a relatively small
space or the majority of time you’re
going to be using it with headphones
then the KDP 70 might be a fantastic
choice for you as I said the KDP series
sits below the CN series and two levels
below the ca series but it is very
similar in the price points that you get
with the es series which is quite
portable personal instruments and we are
going to touch on those as well
now qui makes two portable series of
digital pianos one of them is called the
es series and the other one is called
the MP series so let’s talk about the es
series first there are two models in the
es series one of them is
the es 110 and the other is called the
es 8 now of course we’re shooting this
in 2019 so this is always subject to
change Kauai is constantly evolving in
and coming out with new models and we’ll
try and keep these videos as up-to-date
as possible but at this moment es H and
the es 110 now the easiest way to think
about the es 110 is that it is an ultra
portable version of their KDP 110 it is
no accident that they both use 110 in
the name because they share many of the
same components even though the KDP 110
is slightly more up to date than the ES
110 has a second generation of the
action whereas the es 110 has the first
generation of that hammer compact action
now
the es 110 is known for a couple of
things in the industry one of them is
just how super portable and lightweight
that instrument is so we have a lot of
people who use the es 110 professionally
for rehearsals for gigging simply
because it is so light it’s easy to just
throw under one arm hop on a subway hop
in an uber whatever your needs are and
you’re on your way you can walk blocks
with this thing
without killing your shoulder which is
great and almost never heard of in the
digital piano world now the es 8 is
quite a different beast even though they
are both portable and they both start
with es really its two very different
customers for these instruments in two
very different price points the es 8
being more than twice the price of the
es 110 has a totally different action
the rh 3 action has a completely
different speaker system has onboard
intelligent accompaniment and has USB
digital audio recording capability so
the es 8 is really an all-in-one unit
designed to compete with models like the
Roland FP 60 or FP 90 or the yamaha p-51
5 whereas the ES 110 is designed to
compete more with Roland’s FP 30 or the
Yamaha P 125 that’s what it’s called
P 125
so that’s the es series really more
focused towards a professional user or
if not a professional users someone who
requires that portability and is willing
to deal without without having the
triple pedals or the furniture to go
along with it now let’s talk about the
MP series the MP series is a much more
focused much less generalized product
set there’s two of them we’ve got the
mp7 SC in the MP 11 se I believe the SE
probably stands for second edition
because there was an MP 7 and MP 11
before this point now these instruments
are designed exclusively for
professional use this is not an
instrument that you really have to
bother checking out if you’re somebody
who’s thinking about home use or
thinking about portability but more just
at a hobbyist level the mp7 and MP 11
are staged instruments these are
instruments that are primarily designed
to be used in live performance settings
where live studio settings so certainly
we do have some hobbyist
users who really love audio they have
some home setups and they and they enjoy
just having that level of control and
that high high fidelity in terms of its
sound production but otherwise these are
instruments that are exclusively built
and marketed to professional musicians
now the MP 11 is more of a piano centric
instrument it actually has the the same
extended wood key length with an actual
hammer in it as some of the CA series
whereas the mp7 is actually using the RH
3 action but it’s set up more like a
stage piano ala a Roland Rd 2000 or
Yamaha CP 4 so those are the 2 MP series
and of course those are the 2 es series
the es 110 and the es 8 and that makes
up a wise entire portable lineup so
thank you very much for watching our
video on kauai digital pianos I hope
it’s been helpful and I hope you have a
better understanding of exactly what
series fits into what price point and
who it’s been made for if it’s your
first video that you
seen on our channel we really appreciate
if you did subscribe and of course we
hope to see you back for future videos
and do leave a comment we do our very
best to reply to each and every one once
again this has been Marion pianos my
name is Stu Harrison and we’ll see you
back next time