I am an adult student with 3 years invested in my new hobby. I started with a Casio Privia as a starter keyboard for several reasons. The size was compact, price was very reasonable and the reviews were very good. It has served my needs well. I looked at a KAWAI CA-63 and was amazed at the sound and feel. It was offered at $3,000.00. Does anyone have any reviews, information about this model or recommendations of other digitals that I may also want to consider? Thank you.

Kim

I bought a Kawai CA-51 several months ago, and I am delighted with it. James from Kawai can fill you in on the differences between the 63 and my 51--but I cannot imagine you being disappointed. I have never regretted my decision, and the more I play, the happier I am with my Kawai. If you like it, buy it! You may find something cheaper, but why save 20cents a day (over the cost of the instrument's life), and settle for second best.

Jaydee

Hello Kim,

I'm glad to hear that you like the touch and tone of the new CA63. This model - along with the higher specification CA93 - has only been on the market for a few weeks in the US, however there are a handful of European CA63 owners here, so I am hopeful that they will offer their feedback shortly.

As Jaydee notes, I would be more than happy to provide a detailed list of the improvements found in the CA63, however it's not really my intention to promote KAWAI instruments in this way, and this kind of information can usually be ascertained by comparing specification tables in the product brochures. What I will say, however, is that the touch and tone of the new models is significantly improved over the previous CA51/CA71/CA91 generation.

Within the $3000 or so that the dealer has quoted for the CA63, you may also like to consider the Roland HP-305 and Yamaha CLP-370. The Roland models are also relatively new, and have received a considerable amount of praise from a number of folks of this forum. The Yamahas have been on the market for a little while, and there's speculation (to be taken with a pinch of salt, obviously...) that we will see a new generation of '400' series Clavinova instruments towards the end of the year.

I hope this helps - good luck with your search!

Kind regards,
James
x

Check out this thread for more comparison information and to share your shopping experiences:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1363086/The

Hi Kim,
I also have a CA63 and am really pleased with it. It took me approximately 6 months of trying different dps, including Rolands and Yamahas until I went for the Kawai. Here are some other threads that relate to the CA63:

Reviews:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1391874/1.html
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1376269/1.html

Discussion about the new CA63 and Ca93 models
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1366355/1.html

A problem that occurs on CA63 and CA93s that have <=v1.04 of the firmware:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1387510/1.html
- it can be fixed by downloading the newest firmware from the Kawai website.

All the best,
Andy T

The CA63 ran the DPBSD gauntlet a while back: Link

You can download and listen to the DPBSD MP3 here: Link

What was the judgement on the CA63 from your perspective?

That would be awesome!!!

Actually, I just did a re-review of it: Link.

Is there a significant price difference in the Kawai CA63 and CA93? The local dealer here is only offering the CA63. I have been unable to find anyone that has the CA93 available at this time.

In Europe the CA63 seems to be offered at around 2100 euros and the CA93 at around 2900 euros, including and depending on the country specific value added tax of upwards of 19%.

It seems bizarre that Kawai promotes the RM3 keyboard action as a "Grand" action, yet offers the escapement function only on the CA93 model. The only other two material things that the CA93 has going for it are 20 additional rather mediocre voices and a soundboard attached to a transducer to vibrate with the sound as a kind of poor man's Yamaha AvantGrand but without the 4 channel approach or oomph of a enough power to make it noticeable. So, you are paying for this wooden "soundboard" and are thus required to spend an additional 800 euros if you just want to have the grand(like) keyboard action (required by definition in today's market to be including escapement) that Kawai implies is available in both instruments. For those who spend a lot of time on headphones and/or who want to practice on a keyboard that is as close as possible to a grand keyboard without having to spend $10000 on an AvantGrand, this makes the Kawai a more expensive choice than the top of the line alternative Roland HP-307 which can be had for around 2500 euros. The Roland has the additional benefits of its Super Natural Piano sound with a longer and more natural sounding decay, much more tweakable sound through its piano designer, better and much more alternative voices, a 3 track vs 2 track recorder, etc.

As with most things in life, choices for these kind of purchases are also a matter of taste. In the past I have found the Kawai sound lacking, but find the Roland sound at times lush but at the cost of being pushed, overprocessed and as artificial sounding as the Kawai but for different reasons. You really need to audition them personally yourself, probably more than once (preferably side to side and compared against the very solid Yamaha Clavinova line and perhaps the more affordable Casio line).

I have exactly this choice to make at the moment, i.e. between the Roland HP307 and Kawai CA93.

I have already tried the Roland and was very impressed. It was (to me) far better than any of the Clavinovas in the same shop (by the way, I am not anti-Yamaha and have almost bought one in the past).

I liked the action of the Roland very good, though it didn't feel quite right when playing glissandos. I can live with the texture of the keys. I thought the sound was very good indeed, particularly the resonance modelling and change on tone on decay.

I hear good things about the Kawai action but have yet to try one myself. I hope to do so at the weekend.

Listening the DP BSD mp3s the Roland wins (for me) on the realism of sound so far, so I think the Kawai would have to have a significantly better action to win me over. However, I do want to give it a chance as I hear good things about it.

This is not too important but of interest. The last poster mentioned:



Can you explain this a little further? I know what a transducer is, but what is its role in this piano? Does it detect the soundboard's vibrations (caused from sound from the speakers) and cause some other effect (e.g. cause vibration of the keys) or does it actually cause vibration of the soundboard in the absence of sound from the speakers, for example when listening with headphones? In other words, is it an actuator or a sensor?

I'd be interested to know more about this if anyone has more info.

Soundboard Speaker System
The CA93 is equipped with a unique Soundboard Speaker System. Embracing the rich, harmonic qualities of wood, sound energy is channelled onto a spruce soundboard to faithfully reproduce the unmistakable warmth and ambience of an acoustic piano. While the sound produced by normal ‘cone’ speakers typically resonates in circles from a central point, instruments such as guitars, violins and pianos, harness the acoustic properties of wooden boards, vibrating with the resonances of each tone for greater uniformity of expression. The Soundboard Speaker System adopts similar principles in order to enhance the sound reproduced by conventional speakers.


Speakers 7 cm x 4 + 1.9 cm x 2, Soundboard Speaker System
Output Power 50 W x 2 + 35 W transducer
http://www.kawai.de/ca93_en.htm

Hi Kim. In the New England area (north east U.S.), the CA93 can be had for $3,600 cash or check. I was pleasant yet negotiated hard. The owner was very pleasant too. I think we hit it off discussing DPs and his Kawai Grands. He was willing to do that but said because margin of profit is low, pay him $100 or so more if paid by credit cards to cover credit card fees. If you’re in the U.S., add another $700-$800 to your CA63 quote is reasonable. I went for the HP-307 instead though, same price range, for personal tastes.

Here, the CA63 price is inline with the CLP-340 & HP-305. The CLP-370 would bring you up to around the CA93 and HP-307 ballpark. The CLP-380, price wise, is way up there all by itself.

Best of luck!

When I did this I was laughing at how I really dislike the feel of the Clavinova too much to hear the sound difference. And the fact that 6 months ago it was the Clavinova that I was definitly going to buy after reading all the marketing speil.

To me the feel is at least as important as the sound. The Kawai keys have no annoying sound when hitting the keys as per this thread:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1331496/1.html

- this is something that really put me of Rolands and Clavinovas.

AndyT, I agree with the thread you referred to. The RM3 is a very quite keyboard and far better than keyboard actions from Roland and Yamaha (reference: PHAII/PHAIII, GHS/GH/GH3/NaturalWood). It is perfect if you don't want to disturb your environment.

/Andrée

Here's a link to an in-depth review of the Kawai CA93 and custom settings:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthrea...tml#Post1448603