#kawai k-800

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Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 | Upright Piano Review & Comparison | Boston Built By Kawai

When it comes to Japanese upright pianos, there’s no question that the Kawai K-300 and Yamaha U1 absolutely dominate the conversation. That said, Boston has a very nice lineup of Japanese-built pianos as well, and Kawai has other great options available as well beyond the vaunted K-Series.

In today's article and companion video, we’ll be comparing and contrasting two of the top Japanese-made uprights available today with the Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 professional upright pianos. These are both full-size, 52” upright pianos, and it's an especially interesting comparison because both pianos are actually made by Kawai in the same factory.

Their designs however are quite different, with the Boston UP132 having been designed by Steinway & Sons, while the K-800 is a Kawai product through and through. Kawai also implements a number of special features into the K-800 as their flagship upright.

We’re going to cover exactly how these two pianos compare musically as well as the critical design differences, and what that means for the pianist at the end of the day. It’s not every day we have two of these pianos side-by-side in one of our showrooms so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 - Background

The Kawai K-800 and the Boston UP132 are the largest examples of upright pianos from both of these respective brands. As a result of being built by the same company in the same factory and even on the same production line in Japan, there is a ton of mixed heritage between these two acoustic pianos.

Steinway & Sons have designed the entire Boston series, so if you come across the sentiment that a Boston is really just a Kawai with a different logo, you can immediately discard that claim as false. While there are certainly a lot of shared components, and complete sharing of the labor force, these are distinct pianos from one another.

On the other hand, if you hear the common claim that Boston’s are built in an entirely different part of the factory by different employees, this too can immediately be dismissed as false. The Kawai K-800 upright piano is technically a 53” piano, while the Boston UP132 is 52” in height, but they are both approximately the same height and positioned against one another in the market in terms of price.

Commonalities

Starting with what's in common between these two pianos, both use mahogany core double felted hammers (Royal George hammer felt on the K-800, unspecified on the UP132), and have duplex scales, which is somewhat unusual for an upright piano. Both pianos feature tapered solid spruce soundboards.

They both use the same gauge treble wire, and there is not a great deal of difference in the scale tension at the upper end of the range, though there does appear to be some difference in scale tension at the bottom.

Both pianos have soft fall fallboards and heavy-duty casters and ship with a height-adjustable bench.

Key Differences Kawai K-800 Keyslips and Keybeds

Moving over to the differences and these are much more numerous. For one, we’re looking at very different back post construction for these two instruments, and this can have a big effect on the sense of overall cabinet resonance.

The bridging system is very different with the K-800 having an enlarged section of the treble bridge as it transitions into the bass bridge which is designed like this to increase resonance in this section of the piano. The K-800 also has a full complement of agraffes which ensures ideal string spacing and is generally reserved solely for high-end uprights.

Perhaps the biggest difference is with regard to touch. The K-800 uses extended-length key sticks, whereas the Boston uses a standard upright key stick length. This results in a significant difference in the sense of weight and keybed depth between these two pianos. The K-800 feels like you're playing a grand piano with a wider dynamic range at your disposal due to an increased level of control.

There are pros and cons of extending the keys when you do this on an upright piano, especially with a hammer shank. The increased control results in a slightly degraded repetition speed, and we have noticed that the K-800 has a slightly slower repetition speed than that of the Boston UP132. So really, the question here comes down to whether you want to prioritize control and a greater dynamic range or speed.

Both pianos come standard with soft, muffler and damper pedals, however, the K-800 is available with an optional true sostenuto pedal in place of the muffler pedal by special order. The K-800 incorporates a steel-reinforced keyslip which can aid in minimizing the odds of sticky keys from the piano getting bumped.

In terms of aesthetic differences, the K-800 comes with a New England grand-style hard finish music rack, while the UP132 has a more conventionally sized music desk.

One other key difference for some - the Kawai warranty is transferable to future owners within the warranty period, while the Boston warranty is not. If resale value matters to you, keep this important fact in mind.

Let’s move on to a discussion of sound.

Upright Piano Sound K-800 Upright Piano Soundboard

The tone is quite different between these two pianos, and the differences are similar to the differences between the Kawai GX-2 and Boston GP-178.

Ironically, the GX-2 was actually reminiscent of a New York Steinway-esque tone, with a little more mid-range power and warmth. Over on the Boston GP-178, the tone is brighter with some higher overtones.

This general description is also apt for the K-800 vs UP132 comparison. Let’s move through the ranges one by one.

Bass Register

The bass register really opens up on the K-800 at a low B or C, and you’ll notice some great resonance down here.

The bass is considerably bigger on the K-800, but the UP132 has a nice bass register of its own that happens to be a little bit warmer.

Tenor Register

Getting into the lower tenor range, the UP132 has certain localized areas where you can really hear the cabinet activate, and then other points where the cabinet is not really resonating at all.

The K-800 is pretty consistently resonant across this range.

Treble Register

As we move into the treble section, the differences between these two pianos start to fade away. In the top two octaves especially,

The overall character is very similar, and this makes sense because we know that there's no difference in string gauge, hammers, and duplex scale.

Overall Thoughts on the Sound Differences

The biggest differences between these two pianos are in the mid-sections. There is a brighter sound on the UP132, though at the same time it’s very nicely blended.

The K-800 takes on more of a New York Steinway tone with lots of mid-range partials, and the sound comes at the player in quite a direct way. Generally speaking, there are more guts and power out of everything on the K-800, and this is due in some parts to the extended key lengths.

Piano Action K-800 Millennium III Action

Beyond the difference in the keystick lengths, there’s a pretty considerable difference in terms of the action designs themselves. The UP132 uses a Steinway-designed maple action.

The K-800 alternatively uses the Millennium III Upright Action with ABS-Carbon fiber composites like all Kawai K Series uprights. Kawai uses this same action concept in their handmade Shigeru Kawai grand pianos, and it’s known for its excellent durability and resistance to changes in humidity and temperature.

Ultimately, both actions are well-built and reliable, though the use of ABS composites in the K-800 is certainly enticing to certain people due to the superior strength and durability of ABS to wood.

As we said earlier, however, the difference from a playing experience is that the K-800 offers a greater degree of control and wider dynamic palette, while the UP132 offers a slightly faster repetition speed.

Both pianos have their own versions of synthetic ebony and ivory key surfaces with Kawai referring to theirs as Neotex.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks so much for checking out this comparison of the Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132. Both of these big uprights would be a great alternative to a baby grand piano and even work very nicely in an intimate performance setting.

The post Kawai K-800 vs Boston UP-132 | Upright Piano Review & Comparison | Boston Built By Kawai first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Kawai K 500 Upright Piano

Introduction:

The Kawai K500 upright may be a professional 51″ acoustic piano that's a neighborhood of the K-series of Upright Pianos, and one among the foremost popular models of latest pianos from Kawai  are several similar between the 2, the K500 does bring a singular sound and power that the K300 simply isn’t capable of, and has been giving the Yamaha U3 a series run its money since its release in 2013.

In the review, Stu Harrison goes to be talking about the sound, also because the design features that directly contribute thereto tone specific tone. He also will cover the K-500’s action – the famous Millennium III action that introduces carbon fibre to the action parts of the piano, with extended keystick lengths, Neotex keytops , double-felted mahogany core hammers (sometimes called underfelted), and usually an equivalent responsiveness in the least velocities and dynamic ranges that became characteristic of all of the larger K-Series uprights. We’ll even be discussing its sound; this isn’t simply a cookie-cutter piano designed to fill a price point for Kawai. The K500 genuinely delivers a rare combination of power, dynamic range and tonal richness. Stu are going to be sharing some thoughts on who he thinks this is often perhaps a perfect instrument for.

In the above video, we’ve recorded the K500 with a pair of AKG C414 microphones, and there's no EQ or reverb applied thereto whatsoever.

Background:

The K-500 is a component of a category of instruments which fall under a stimulating grey zone. which grey zone is this: its one among the primary professional uprights that delivers an identical musical experience to a baby grand piano of an identical price. So purchasing a K500 must be for reasons beyond budget.

Well, within the case of the K-500, which sits right round the low teens in terms of its price point. And, of course, meaning on the Kawai side that would be putting you into quite a GL-10 range, on the Yamaha side, you'll be watching a GB1K, there’s a couple of products from the Samick company, you know, in their Knabe line that you simply might be watching for that price range too. So, you know, why consider something like this and what are you giving up? Well, first of all, during a lot of cases, with a 52-inch upright Right Here, you’re actually getting a string length that’s even longer than what you’re getting into your typical 5-foot baby grant. So, from a clarity standpoint, from a tonal standpoint, there’s actually some benefits to going with a taller piano like that. And so, for people and for teachers especially, who are recommending these sorts of instruments, and always talking about how the longest string possible is gonna deliver that clarity within the base, well, this is often actually not much of a compromise. this is often actually a very strong option and it’s how to truly get a extended string, well, without having to extend the budget.

Of course, an enormous a part of the value of a grand|parlor grand|parlor grand piano|parlour grand|parlour grand piano|grand piano|grand">baby grand piano or any grand piano is really constructing that thick, kind of rounded body that surrounds the piano. So, if you don’t need that additional construction cost, which during this price range really is essentially aesthetic, it doesn’t really actually serve much of a musical purpose until you get into the upper price ranges. This you'll argue may be a more efficient, less expensive higher value sort of a sale. In my musical opinion, honestly, the sole run into going with this sort of thing dollar for dollar is that you simply do perhaps miss out thereon aesthetic satisfaction that a baby grand piano could be ready to offer you. But musically speaking, especially if you’re ready to play with the lid up or in some cases, even with the front panel completely off, you’re getting the maximum amount sound and during a lot of cases a rather clearer sound than what you’re gonna get out of a 5-foot baby grand piano for therein $10,000 range.

Drilling into the small print of where the K-500 originated from, it belongs to Kawai’ K-series professional upright pianos, which again has been call at its current incarnation for about five years. This was an update that saw variety of technical improvements to the instruments. The previous generation was made from the K2, K3, K5, K6, K8 and now, of course, we’ve got the Kawai K-200, K-300, and K-400 which was a replacement addition, K-500, and K-800. And so, what are those changes? Well, within the K-500, what we've is additional key length, duplex scale, energy-absorbing key rest material, improved scale design, tapered soundboards, the addition of Neotex key tops to soak up the hand’s natural oils…in otherwords, tons of improvements.

All of these improvements contribute major improvements in tone, touch, dynamic range, and overall aesthetic look and feel.

[a-mig]

As informações sobre ele são esparsas, mas tudo indica que nasceu na década de 80 e tem sua origem na França, mais precisamente na antiga cidade de Aix-En-Provence, terra natal de Cézanne e provável pista de pouso extraterrestre. Poucas fotografias e dados constando, talvez ele seja apenas fruto da sua imaginação, ou da imaginação de alguém. Turista com visto permanente, já visitou mais de 170 países sem nunca ter tido um passaporte. Esse set é baseado nas músicas que farão parte do seu primeiro álbum, "Pequenas Cartografias", composto distante do computador, com um korg poly-800 e um kawai k-1, uma bateria eletrônica, um sequenciador monofônico e dois pedais.

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Đàn Piano Đứng(Piano Upright) là gì? Đàn Mới Cũ giá bán bao nhiêu 2019

Với thời đại phát triển như ngày nay nhu cầu thưởng thức âm nhạc của con người ngày càng được nâng cao. Bởi vậy nhạc cụ là một trong những thành phần không thể thiếu để góp phần làm nên một nền âm nhạc phát triển. Trong đó đàn piano đứng được không ít người sử dụng với nhiều mục đích khác nhau như học tập, giải trí, biểu diễn chuyên nghiệp hoặc đưa vào dạy học… Bạn cũng đang muốn sở hữu một model này? Vậy thì pianofingers.vn sẽ cung cấp bảng giá Đàn Piano Đứng (Piano Upright) Mới Cũ để bạn tham khảo.

Đàn piano đứng là gì?

Đàn piano đứng hay còn gọi là đàn piano upright có hình dáng giống như một chiếc hộp chữ nhật đứng với phong cách khá sang trọng, gọn gàng cho ra chất lượng âm thanh tuyệt vời. Piano đứng là dòng đàn thuộc đàn piano cơ, dây đàn được lắp theo chiều dọc và búa đàn tác động vào dây từ phía bên cạnh của cây đàn.

Đàn piano upright có chiều cao dao động khoảng từ 90 đến 132 cm, chiều ngan được thiết kế theo một kích thước cố định. Đàn piano Upright phù hợp với những không gian nhỏ hẹp nên được nhiều người lựa chọn hơn đàn piano 3 chân để phù hợp với không gian hộ gia đình. Tuy nhiên một số gia đình có không gian rộng vẫn lựa chọn đàn piano đứng vì nó mang một số ưu điểm khiến họ thích thú.

Bảng giá đàn Đàn Piano Đứng (Piano Upright)

Đàn piano Upright Kawai ND-21 giá 75,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-300 giá 148,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-400 giá 178,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-800 giá 232,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-500 giá 191,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-600 giá 210,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-700 giá 211,000,000 VNĐ.

Đàn piano Upright Kawai K-800 M/PEP giá 232,000,000 VNĐ

Đàn piano Upright Kawai AS M/PEP giá 244,000,000 VNĐ.

Cấu tạo của đàn piano upright

Cũng tương tự như đàn piano 3 chân, đàn piano đứng cũng có những bộ phận chính góp phần làm nên giá trị cho cây đàn. Bạn nên tìm hiểu những bộ phận đó để nhận định được đâu là cây đàn tốt khi mua nhé.

Khung đàn piano upright

Thường thì khung của đàn được làm bằng gang, có tấm khóa lên dây nằm ở rìa trước của khung. Rìa trước của khung thường được bố trí nhiều chốt pin lên dây, còn ở rìa sau gắn thanh chốt dây để cài chặt một đầu dây đàn. Được biết độ căng của dây đàn được cân chỉnh bằng cách vặn các chốt lên dây và những chốt lên dây được quấn quanh các đầu dây đàn.

Bảng cộng hưởng

Bảng cộng hưởng của đàn piano đứng được làm bằng gỗ vân sam mỏng và cứng đặt ở sau lớp dây đàn. Bảng cộng hưởng này có tác dụng làm tăng âm bằng rung động cộng hưởng.

Dây đàn

Dây đàn của piano upright được làm từ dây thép, có độ dài và độ dày tăng dần lên theo độ giảm dần. Trong đó, 2 hoặc 3 dây đàn kết hợp được thiết kế có độ cao như nhau và được sử dụng cho nốt âm cao. Những nốt nào có âm thấp thì dùng 1 dây và được thiết kế có kích thước lớn và nặng hơn.

Bộ cơ

Bộ cơ của đàn piano đứng  gồm các bộ phận đầu búa chuyển động chạm tới dây đàn. Các phím đàn trắng được làm từ chất liệu nhựa hoặc ngà voi, còn phím đen thì được làm bằng nhựa hoặc gỗ mun.

Bộ pedals

Bộ pedals hay còn được gọi là bàn đạp gồm có pedal vang âm có nhiệm vụ giữ bàn phím chặt âm tách khỏi dây đàn và cho phép dây đàn rung lâu hơn. Chúng có khả  năng tạo ra âm vang cho dù tay đã buông khỏi phím đàn.  Bên cạnh đó, còn có pedal nhả bàn phím và pedal dùng để giảm tiếng khi chơi ban đêm.

Hộp đàn

Hộp đàn chính là phần tạo nên hình dáng của đàn, nó cũng là cơ sở để phân biệt đàn piano grand và piano upright. Đàn dòng grand được thiết kế với nhiều kích thước khác nhau thì piano upright lại thiết kế nhỏ gọn với ít kích thước hơn.

Ưu nhược điểm của đàn piano đứng

–  Đàn piano đứng có ưu điểm là giá bán thường thấp hơn so với đàn piano grand. Chất lượng đàn cũ cũng không có gì quá khác biệt so với đàn mới về chất lượng cũng như giá cả thị trường.

–  Về nhược điểm, đàn piano upright thường có xu hướng bị mất giá nhanh hơn so với đàn piano grand. Đồng thời đàn có các bộ phận nhạy cảm, có nhiệt độ dao động và vị trí thùng đàn khá nhạy cảm.

Bạn nên xem ngay: Nên mua đàn piano điện nào tốt

Nên mua đàn piano upright ở đâu tốt nhất?

Nếu bạn muốn sở hữu cho mình model piano upright thì cửa hàng nhạc cụ Piano Fingers là lựa chọn tốt nhất dành cho bạn. Tại đây bán những cây đàn piano đứng đa dạng thể loại, chất lượng tốt, thiết kế sang trọng, tinh tế khiến cho không gian nhà bạn thêm đẳng cấp hơn. Đàn khá gọn gàng nên thích hợp cho cả những ngôi nhà có diện tích không quá rộng.

Sản phẩm của Piano Fingers không riêng đàn piano upright mà các nhạc cụ khác đều là hàng chính hãng, đảm bảo chất lượng tốt. Cửa hàng thường đưa ra các chương trình giảm giá đàn để khách hàng thoải mái hơn trong việc mua sắm đàn. Đồng thời nhân viên có thái độ bán hàng rất vui vẻ, niềm nở nên đây sẽ là địa chỉ lý tưởng nếu bạn muốn mua bất kì nhạc cụ nào.

Ngoài nên xem thêm bài viết: Tư vấn nên mua đàn organ nào

Vậy sau khi theo dõi bài viết bạn đã biết được bảng giá Đàn Piano Đứng (Piano Upright) mới cũ và một số thông tin liên quan khác. Hy vọng những thông tin, kiến thức trên hữu ích và khiến các bạn hài lòng. Xin cảm ơn sự quan tâm theo dõi và hẹn gặp lại trong những chủ đề tiếp theo của pianofingers.vn.

  The post Đàn Piano Đứng(Piano Upright) là gì? Đàn Mới Cũ giá bán bao nhiêu 2019 appeared first on Nào Tốt Nhất.

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Đàn Piano Kawai cũ giá rẻ

Đàn piano kawai là một thương hiệu Piano của Nhật Bản nổi tiếng thế giới và Việt Nam. Đàn piano kawai cũ giá rẻ ở Việt Nam cũng rất được ưa chuộng hơn các thương hiệu khác từ chất lượng đến mẫu mã, từ đàn Piano điện đến đàn Piano cơ

Đàn Piano kawai hiện tại nổi bật với các dòng:

Grand Piano với các seri: EX, GX, GL, GM, GE, CR40A

Upright Piano với đại diện là seri K

Digital Piano với các seri: CP, CA, CN, CS, MP, CE/KDP/KCP/CL, ES.

Bạn có thể tham khảo thêm tại trang chủ của Piano kawai: kawaius.com

Trước khi nói về đàn Piano Kawai cũ giá rẻ chúng ta cũng điểm qua những dòng, series Piano Kawai nổi bật trước

Hai dòng sản phẩm nổi bật nhất của Piano kawai

Đàn Piano Kawai K series

K-2: Hệ tiếng trong, vang, thích hợp cho người mới học piano cổ điển và biểu diễn dòng nhạc Romance

K-3: Vẻ đẹp hiện đại, kích thước chuẩn

K-5 Đáp ứng cho cả âm nhạc cổ điển và hiện đại

K-6: Dành cho người học đàn piano chuyên sâu, trường nhạc chuyên nghiệp

K-8: Với thiết kế đặc biệt của soundboards cho ra ra hệ âm thanh quang phổ, đây là một phát minh tiên phong của Kawai còn là cuộc cách mạng đối với dòng Upright piano.

K-200: Có giai điện nổi bật làm hài lòng từ những người mới bắt đầu cho đến những nghệ sĩ chuyên nghiệp.

K-300: Là cây đàn nổi bật trong dòng series K cho bạn một đẳng cấp về chất lượng âm thanh và đem đến cho bạn sự trình diễn chuyên nghiệp sánh ngang với những cây đàn piano Grand.

K-400: Vẻ đẹp trong một phong cách mới, sang trọng, có giá để nhạc giống đàn Grand.

K-500: Thiết kế với kích thước chuẩn, phù hợp với nhiều studio.

K-600: Có giai điệu âm thanh tuyệt vời với độ nhạy cảm ứng cao, là model mới trong năm 2015 của hãng Kawai.

K-700: Có thiết kế lớn hơn và mang đậm nét đặc trưng của thương hiệu Kawai.

K-800: Có âm thanh chuyên nghiệp, kiểu dáng thanh lịch phù hợp trong việc biểu diễn, giảng dạy.

Đàn Piano Kawai RX series

Đàn piano Kawai RX-1: Đó là một sự lựa chọn hoàn hảo cho khởi đầu của thiên tài âm nhạc!

Đàn piano Kawai RX-2: Nó là sự kết hợp hoà quyện những nét tinh tế cổ điển và hiện đại.

Đàn piano Kawai RX-3: Có thể nói đây là dòng model được xem là thành công của hãng Kawai về tính thương mại, nó được biết đến là dòng sản phẩm bán chạy nhất của hãng Kawai. Nó chuyên được dùng trong nhà thờ, phòng thu, hội trường biểu diễn.

Đàn piano Kawai RX-5 : Thiết kế cân đối phù hợp trong phòng khách biệt thự sang trọng, cổ kính.

Đàn piano Kawai RX-6: Được dành cho nhà hát vũ kịch, hội trường lớn và phòng thu chuyên nghiệp.

Đàn piano Kawai RX-7: RX-7 được xem là “người anh cả” trong gia đình RX của Kawai và hoàn toàn xứng danh “ Semi Concert Grand”, ba lần liên tiếp (2003, 2004, 2005 ) dòng sản phẩm RX series của Kawai nhận giải thưởng “ ACOUSTIC PIANO LINE OF THE YEAR”.

Hai dòng đàn Piano kawai cũ ưa chuộng nhất hiện nay        

Piano Kawai KU

Đây là dòng Piano kawai phù hợp cho việc học tập lâu dài và giải trí. Ưu điểm của nó là chuất lượng và chất lượng vì thế mà nó được sử dụng ở rất nhiều quốc gia trên thế giới. Đối đàn Piano Kawai cũ thì điển hình nhất là Malaysia, với piano mới tất nhiên là các nước châu Âu và Mỹ.

Piano Kawai BL

Chưa phải là đàn Piano Kawai cũ phổ biến ở Việt Nam, nhưng nguồn gốc nhập khẩu và sử dụng của nó thực sự rất tốt đối với đàn Piano cũ.

Điểm nổi bật thuộc dòng Kawai BL là mẫu mã đa dạng, hiện đại; những sản phẩm này được mua lại từ các trung tâm, trường đào tạo âm nhạc của Nhật Bản.

Mua đàn Piano Kawai cũ giá rẻ

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Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review & Demo - Kawai K Series

Introduction

The Kawai K800 Upright Grand Piano is one of the few “true” upright grands to come out of Asia.  Built in Japan entirely by Kawai, the K800 has full sostenuto, premium hand-selected spruce soundboards, premium double-felted mahogany hammers, oversized music desk, and grand-like key sticks for a super high level of accuracy and speed.

Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review Video Transcription

Thanks for being here. In this article, we're going to be looking at Kawai's 53-inch K-800, the best professional upright piano that Kawai is building, and one of the very best upright pianos in its class, and certainly at the very top of what's currently coming out of Japan. Its elegant form and exceptional tone will fulfill the needs of any professional teaching studio or intimate performance setting. The height-adjustable bench on all K Series models is ideal for teaching studios with many students and for families with more than one player. We'll be covering the action parts and the piano's tone, as well as looking at some really unique features about that instrument that I find to be of extraordinarily high value.

Background:

The K800 is a 53-inch upright piano, which actually makes it one of the larger upright pianos available on the market regardless of what price point you're looking at, and regardless of country of origin as the typical maximum size uprights from most manufacturer's are often 52 inches. The K-800 sits at the top of Kawai's K-series of professional upright pianos, and it starts right at the K-200, goes through the K-300, K-400, K-500, and finally the K800 (with a K-600 and K-700 available in Europe and Asia but not North America.) We often try to have one on our showroom floor, but it's made in such limited quantities that it can be difficult to showcase it year-round.

By every definition of the word, this qualifies to be called an upright grand piano. Not only is it well over 600 pounds, which means it's heavier than quite a few of the baby grands that are on the market, but the string length, particularly in the bass, puts it in a longer bass string category than most baby grand pianos. It's actually closer to a mid-5-foot grand in terms of the clarity that you get out of the bass. There's also a grand piano-style music desk, which is great for composers who still prefer to work with pencil and manuscript paper as opposed to a laptop when composing.

The soundboard surface area is also larger than the vast majority of 5-foot class grand pianos. As a result of these various factors, it does put the price point well above what you would typically be thinking about for a Japanese upright piano. This gets right up into the mid-range German upright price point. If we're in Canadian dollars, we're talking about a price that exceeds the $20,000. Keep on reading to find out why you should consider this piano if your budget is around $20,000 CAD for an upright piano.

Piano Tone:

The K-800 has a thick, powerful tone. A key reason why has to do with the presence of duplex scale. On a grand piano, when you create a duplex scale, you actually put another fulcrum on the other side of the bridge, so there's this extra speaking length which is kind of just free to resonate sympathetically when the instrument is being played. This thickens the tone and creates all of these subtle harmonics that add to the color of the treble. Duplex scale is not common in upright pianos. The K-500 has it in the top section, while the K-800 has in the top two ranges of the keys on both the front of the string length, as well as on the back of the string length. The addition of duplex scale here in the K-800 results in all kind of extra color coming off of the treble range.

The K-800 also has full agraffes, which ensures greater uniformity of string alignment and smoother tuning over a long period of time, also not overly common among uprights The overall thickness and projection of the tone reminds me of the Kawai GX grands, such as a GX-1 or a GX-2. If you're looking for a nice upright because you don't have space for a grand, getting some of the harmonic qualities that normally grands have, in the form of an upright is a pretty strong selling feature. It's worth mentioning.

Another tone related feature we should highlight is the presence of Royal George Hammer felt. What is Royal George felt? Royal George are a third-party company that supplies high-end felt for hammer manufacturers. Kawai has decided to include this special felt in the K-800 as an extra premium feature. I can't profess to be able to hear the difference between the Royal George felt and the premium Kawai felt that they put on the rest of the K-series piano, but I imagine this might show up more in how well the hammer could be voiced, or quite possibly, the overall longevity of the hammer. The K-800 also features mahogany core hammers, and with better felt, we know that that felt doesn't distort even when you really punch it.

Due to the large tapered, solid spruce soundboard surface area, there is a huge amount of volume coming off of this piano. Behind the grand style, hard finish music rack are tone holes, which allows some tone to escape through the front.  There is also 6 back posts and 12 ribs attached to the soundboard, giving a strong responsive sound to the whole piano.

Going past the overall tonal power, there's also a level of control you get when you're playing quietly, and even without the quiet pedal that is very good. Most large upright pianos are notorious for being a little more difficult to control in the really quiet dynamic ranges, much more so than what you have on a grand piano. This is one of the reasons why traditionally, teachers and performers generally have preferred to be in front of a grand when they get to a high level of playing because the level of control doesn't really seem to get sacrificed as you get further down into the dynamic range as you're pianissimo or you're triple pianissimo. Kawai has clearly regulated and set the geometry of the action up so that everything is speaking regardless of what dynamic range you're playing in, so you're not having to do a lot of compensating with the soft pedal for more control in the lower ranges.

From a tonal character standpoint, the K-800 is super different from a German piano. This is ultimately a good thing because it gives people a clear choice in the kind of sound they're looking for. What are these differences? For close to the same price as the K-800 you can get into a 47 or 48" in German piano, most of which are going to be generating a very clear bell tone, but possibly less colorful overall. That may make a German upright more appealing to some styles of playing, whereas the colorful sound of the K-800 might appeal to those playing romantic classical music or possibly jazz.

Overall. I would describe the K-800's tone as colorful, with a rich lush palette of overtones. It really is quite different than what you would get if you were sitting behind say a Bechstein or a Steingraeber with laser-like clarity on every single note. Ultimately, whether you prefer the tone of the K-800 or a German upright is going to be pretty subjective.

Piano Action:

Like the rest of the K-Series uprights and many Kawai pianos, the K-800 features the Kawai Millennium III upright action. This action uses a combination of natural materials as well as abs-carbon fiber-reinforced synthetic materials. The exclusive NEOTEX key surface resists cracking and fading over the years of use and is used for both the sharps and the naturals for a consistent feel across the entire keyboard.

This is a very fast action. I wouldn't describe it as a light action, but it's super-fluid, quite effortless to play. We know that due to the presence of abs-carbon composites definitely there are some arguments to be made that this will be a lower maintenance action than some of the all-wood actions out there. I would say this will be more pronounced if you're in a climate where there are frequent variations in the humidity levels. You'd notice it less if you were in a climate with more stable humidity levels, but there's still an argument for greater longevity with an action built with composite materials.

Another cool thing we need to mention, and this is directly related to the action, would be that the K-800 has the full sostenuto. Sostenuto is, just like the full-duplex scale we mentioned earlier, is another feature usually found exclusively on grand pianos. The true sostenuto pedal, for those who don't know what that is, is essentially a selective sustain pedal. If I want a B flat to sustain, but only the B flat to sustain, I'd press the B flat, and then press the middle pedal. The B flat will sustain, but nothing around it will. regardless of what other notes you play. Whereas if I was using the normal sustain pedal, everything I play would sustain.

This is not common to find this on a Kawai upright. There are other uprights out there with sostenuto, and obviously, most high-end models can be special ordered with a sostenuto, but it's really nice to have this as kind of a standard feature, at least here in Canada. The middle pedal, as some viewers might know, on an upright is usually the mute pedal. Since the middle pedal here is a sostenuto, there's a lever underneath the left side that acts as the mute pedal, so you're not sacrificing that function with the addition of a sostenuto.

Other Observations:

From a construction standpoint, the K-800 is an absolute tank. The thickness and the quantity of the back posts on the instrument makes the case that K-800 could almost fall into a Shigeru Kawai category in terms of the quality of the build and in terms of the attention that this instrument receives. The steel-reinforced keybed and keyslip are also critical in supporting the long term stability of this piano. It really is in a class of its own in terms of the Kawai K-Series lineup.

Conclusions:

So there you have it. The K-800 sits at the top of Kawai's upright lineup, and an absolutely beautiful instrument to play. The K-800 serves as a very interesting alternative to the German instruments that have this similar price point, and it gives an option for a more colorful sound. If you're in the $20,000 price range, I would say even if you're thinking about a baby grand for musical reasons and not aesthetic reasons, this would also be a really interesting piano to consider.

The post Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review & Demo - Kawai K Series - Tips, Questions to Ask, and What to Look For first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Kawai K-500 Upright Piano Review & Demo by Merriam Pianos

Introduction

The Kawai K500 Upright Piano is a professional 51" acoustic piano that is a part of the K-series of Upright Pianos, and one of the most popular models of new pianos from Kawai generally - eclipsed in sales only by the Kawai K300. Although there are several similarities between the two, the K500 does bring a unique sound and power that the K300 simply isn't capable of, and has been giving the Yamaha U3 a series run for its money since its release in 2013.

In the review, Stu Harrison is going to be talking about the sound, as well as the design features that directly contribute to that tone specific tone. He will also cover the K-500's piano action - the famous Millennium III action that introduces carbon fibre to the action parts of the piano, with extended keystick lengths, Neotex keytops , double-felted mahogany core hammers (sometimes called underfelted), and generally the same responsiveness at all velocities and dynamic ranges that have become characteristic of all of the larger K-Series uprights. We'll also be discussing its sound; this isn't simply a cookie-cutter piano designed to fill a price point for Kawai. The K500 genuinely delivers a rare combination of power, dynamic range and tonal richness. Stu will be sharing some thoughts on who he thinks this is perhaps an ideal instrument for.

In the above video, we've recorded the K500 with a pair of AKG C414 microphones, and there is no EQ or reverb applied to it whatsoever.

The Kawai K-500 Upright Piano Review - Video Transcription

Background

The K-500 is part of a class of instruments which fall into an interesting grey zone. And that grey zone is this: its one of the first professional uprights that delivers a similar musical experience to a baby grand of a similar price. So purchasing a K500 needs to be for reasons beyond budget.

Well, in the case of the K-500, which sits right around the low teens in terms of its price point. And, of course, that means on the Kawai side that could be putting you into kind of a GL-10 range, on the Yamaha side, you could be looking at a GB1K, there's a few products from the Samick company, you know, in their Knabe line that you could be looking at for that price range too. So, you know, why consider something like this and what are you giving up? Well, first of all, in a lot of cases, with a 52-inch upright, you're actually getting a string length that's even longer than what you're getting in your typical 5-foot baby grant. So, from a clarity standpoint, from a tonal standpoint, there's actually some benefits to going with a taller piano like that. And so, for people and for teachers in particular, who are recommending these types of instruments, and always talking about how the longest string possible is gonna deliver that clarity in the base, well, this is actually not much of a compromise. This is actually a really strong option and it's a way to actually get a longer string, well, without having to increase the budget.

Of course, a huge part of the cost of a baby grand or any grand piano is actually constructing that thick, sort of rounded body that surrounds the piano. So, if you don't need that additional construction cost, which in this price range really is largely aesthetic, it doesn't really actually serve much of a musical purpose until you get into the higher price ranges. This you could argue is a more efficient, more cost-effective higher value type of a purchase. In my musical opinion, honestly, the only knock against going with this type of thing dollar for dollar is that you do perhaps miss out on that aesthetic satisfaction that a baby grand might be able to give you. But musically speaking, especially if you're able to play with the lid up or in some cases, even with the front panel completely off, you're getting as much sound and in a lot of cases a slightly clearer sound than what you're gonna get out of a 5-foot baby grand for in that $10,000 range.

Drilling into the details of where the K-500 originated from, it belongs to Kawai' K-series professional upright pianos, which again has been out in its current incarnation for about five years. This was an update that saw a number of technical improvements to the instruments. The previous generation was made up of the K2, K3, K5, K6, K8 and now, of course, we've got the Kawai K-200, K-300, and K-400 which was a new addition, K-500, and K-800. And so, what are those changes? Well, in the K-500, what we have is additional key length, duplex scale, energy-absorbing key rest material, improved scale design, tapered soundboards, the addition of Neotex key tops to absorb the hand's natural oils...in otherwords, a lot of improvements.

All of those improvements contribute major improvements in tone, touch, dynamic range, and overall aesthetic look and feel.

Piano Action

Let's talk about the Millennium III Upright Action with ABS-Carbon. This is the same action 'philosophy' that is now found in their GL, GX, and Shigeru Kawai grand pianos, and is made up of ABS-Carbon Composites to strengthen key components, and eliminate extra mass out of the mechanism. Its been measured to have the fastest repetition speed of any piano model in the world, and the addition of the energy-absorbing foam on the rest rail has only increased that speed and added greater control.

Piano Tone

The second thing that they have done with the K500, which was a really unique addition of duplex scaling. For anybody who's been researching grand pianos, you might know what a duplex scale is. That is essentially you're adding a second length of string that is allowed to essentially resonate sympathetically and give more colour to the treble range. And it creates some extra harmonics, and it thickens and strengthens the treble tone out of the piano. Most grands from about the $20,000 range up will have that duplexing, but virtually no uprights. It's actually an innovation that Steinway brought to the market well over 100 years ago, but it's pretty rare to find it on an upright.

So starting from the bottom of the piano, the K500 features a longer bass string than an average 52" (and specifically vs. what Yamaha offers), which gives a more pronounced that we talked about going to give you a bit of a grand feel, the treble is also now giving you that thickened strengthened tone that you would again expect normally out of the baby grand. And through the mid-range, agraffes give precise termination and nicely controlled overtones.

Moving to the top of the range, there's a lot more colour up there than you typically get in an upright where normally it can certainly be clear and in tune, but feel shallow and glassy - not so with the K500.

Other Major Features

In addition to the longer bass strings, duplex scale and the double-felted mahogany hammers, the K500 features a tapered solid spruce soundboard that certainly contributes to an improved sustain and a huge dynamic range. The back posts give structural strength to assist in tuning stability but also increasing the sympathetic resonance of the frame.

There's also been an update to the cabinetry as well, it's something that you're gonna notice and it's certainly for the better. The K-series generally got a very nice aesthetic spruce up when they did the whole series; they went to the full panel opening on the top, which I really liked, they've changed the lines and overall style on the gables and toe blocks, as well as the fallboard and hardware.

The music stand is actually wide enough to hold five full sheets completely spread out. Anybody who's ever had to be in a rehearsal or at home tackling one of these gigantic pieces of sheet music that just seemed to go on and on and on, are gonna get a lot of use out of this extra-wide music stand. When you compare it to what's on most upright pianos, it's pretty remarkable how additionally wide this actually is. It's probably close to 10-inches bigger than what you're going to find on a typical 48-inch Asian built piano, Japanese, Indonesian, or Korean piano.

Summary

So, all in all, the K500 from Kawai is a very capable instrument. Who is the ideal customer? I think the K-500 is really an ideal instrument for up-and-coming students who are in need of a very reliable, very consistent instrument that can deliver a big range of tone and dynamics. And quite frankly, there just isn't the space in the house to accommodate it. Musically speaking, I would say that the K-500 is going to deliver a broader musical experience than a typical $10,000 baby grand piano, and I'd prefer it to a GL10 in many settings.

And of course, institutions who need an instrument that's going to accommodate higher level players, whether that be students or professionals are also gonna get a ton of use under the K-500. Thank you so much again for joining us for a discussion and review of what we've got here on the K-500 Kawai piano. We've got the Kawai K-500 upright piano in both locations at our showrooms in Oakville and Vaughan all the time. So, please if you're in the area, come and visit us. Otherwise good luck with your shopping. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you back for another review shortly.

The post Kawai K-500 Upright Piano Review & Demo by Merriam Pianos first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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