Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai CN-33 Arrived !

Congrats!
And, extra brownie points (literally) for choosing the mahogany finish too!

That second shot is really rather stylish, by the way!

Cheers,
James
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Congrats Fran_Z, nice photography too. The mahogany does look rather nice.

Well both really. The principle effect is to change the level at which soft/loud is produced, but in so doing the tone (I think it's called attack) is bought on stronger/weaker/quicker/slower. At least that's my perception. This is just a side effect I would say and there's nothing built in as such to alter the tone with the touch setting.

Hello,

pardon me for bringing in a technical "issue" to this thread, actually I wanted to upload some pics of my brand new Kawai CN-33 which arrived yesterday. I'm more than happy with the touch, sound and the overall finish of this beautiful piano, but one small detail is driving me crazy -- for which would really appreciate your opinion.

The issue is a faint static noise from the speakers. It turns on about 3-4 seconds after switching on the power, and stays on. It does not depend on the master volume level, and it disappears with the headphones. So it must be something with the amplifier setting. One can easily hear this noise by lowering one's head under the cabinet! I have a sensitive hearing, and in the night when the surrounding is quiet this is really starting to annoy me.

Do others also have this static noise from the speakers, and this is something I have to live with? I tried moving away all the other electrical appliances and AC/DC converters from near the piano, with no effect. It is futile to try to record this noise for this forum as I don't have a good microphone, but I hope you understand the issue. Please let me know if this is something that should not be there and I should contact the Kawai service people.

Hello kmbmoll,

Does your piano stand near a electrical device?
If yes, it may be the electro-magnetic field of the device near your piano, that cause the noise. When my old keyboard stood next to the television, I had the same noise.

Look at your user manual, the first pages what they say.

http://www.kawai.de/service/cn33_en.pdf

Have a look at page 6.

Good luck.

Nashwan

Hi Nashwan,

Thank you for your reply, unfortunately, nothing of that sort as I tried to make clear in my post. There was a CD player which I removed, and a lamp with AC/DC adapter which I unplugged. Nothing else in the room which has an electromagnet, yet the noise remains unchanged.

Re: Static noise from CN-33 speakers

One detail I forgot to mention: currently the piano sits in a small room, 3m x 4m max. Can this be the reason for an enhanced perception of this sound?

kmbmoll, I recommend you contact the dealer from where the instrument was purchased to explain the situation. They may decide to send a technician to investigate the problem.

Kind regards,
James
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All right, doing that. Thanks for your response.

One additional detail I noticed: the sound is actually different in the two speakers, with the bulk of the noise coming from the right one. That may be the indication that it is something specific to the instrument I bought.

Hello kmbmoll. I have a CN33 in a fairly small room too. If I listen closely I can hear a faint transformer hum from it above the keyboard. It is diminished almost totally by closing the keyboard cover and a bit covering the instrument panel (which is how I normally play to avoid visual cues). It is hardly perceptible below the keyboard and NOT coming from the speakers. I cannot hear it sitting 2 meters way or so, but my ears are over 50 years old!

Edit to ask do you have anything else plugged in to the line in or midi? I got a dreadful ground loop buzz through the speakers when I connected a PC out to line in.

Spanishbuddha,

Is this with all the Kawai's CN-33 so?

Regards,

Nashwan

Nashwan the difficulty of a buzz introduced by a ground loop when plugging in a PC audio out has been mentioned before by others. It is easily solved using a hum destroyer from Behringer for example.

Thanks for the reply spanishbuddha,

The only thing is: I'm new in this forum and don't know anything about a hum destroyer, Behringer or ground loop. :P

Is it very important to know?

Nashwan

You can get ground loops, and then audio hum, or video interference when connecting different audio and video items together since usually they have separate power supplies and sources. Just look up ground loop on Wikipedia.

The potential of this being a problem is not unique to the CN33, and also not everyone will experience a problem. It all depends on your set up, electric supply and type so on. The Behringer hum destroyer is one example of a solution, some may say a kludge, but it has worked for a couple of CN33 users. It's available from Amazon, but there are other products that do the same thing. You would only need it if you connect audio out from a PC or some other device to the line in of the CN33 in order to use the CN33 speakers from that other device.

Hello spanishbuddha, thanks for your reply. Now that you mention it, I DO distinguish two different sources of noise: one is a faint hum above the keyboard, and the other is a more cracking sort of faint noise from the speakers under. I cannot understand what on earth may cause a hum just under the keys, but it does change slightly with moving the lid. However, this becomes less severe while sitting upright away from the keyboard, just as you mentioned, and I can live with it.

The other noise mostly from the right speaker underneath has got to be an issue with my piano itself, and I am waiting for a visit by the Kawai service people. I actually discovered that a bookshelf wall right next to the piano was amplifying the noise and bringing it upwards (a cramped study is no place for this grand instrument!), so after moving that shelf the upper area has now become quieter. I have nothing plugged in for the line in or midi or such.

Hi amigaoneit,

I see that there is no bench, or, chair, in front of your piano, in the picture.

Did you get one with the piano, or, are you going to use something else?

pv88

Hello guys,

Is it true that the CN-33 has a usb-port. So can you record music on the piano and transfer it to your computer by usb?

Cheers,

Nashwan

Nashwan, yes the CN33 allows MIDI files to be loaded and saved from/to USB devices. The higher specification CN43, CA93/CA63, and MP6/MP10 also allow songs to be recorded as MP3 or WAV files.

For more information, please refer to the brochures on this page.

Kind regards,
James
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What is the recommended method of cleaning the surface of the keys?

kmbmoll, a damp cloth should be sufficient.

James
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