Hi All,
The subject line distills my question succinctly, but a little background. I'm new to this forum and am an (almost) absolute beginner. I came close to purchasing a CN43 until I tried the RM3 action on another DP and realized I greatly prefer Kawai's RM3 action over their RH action.

Neither of the above two DPs are inexpensive, but the authorized dealer I've been negotiating with can sell me the CP139 for about $1500 more than the CA63. Yes, that's an awful lot of money but I'm fortunate enough at this moment that I can manage the difference. (Still, I cringe at the price).

My question to you is this: is the CP139 absolute overkill for a beginner? The greatest appeal it has to me besides the various instruments and the different types of pianos is the wonderful percussion features that can be used as accompaniment. (I'm a former percussionist). I know the CA63 has percussion accompaniment, but not of the sophistication offered by the CP139. Yet, I still can't get over the fact that for the price of the CP139 I can easily purchase a beautiful Kawai K2 acoustic upright.

I'd be grateful for your thoughts and any insight you could provide. Thank you kindly.

I just recently received my Kawai CA63 and have been playing it for a couple of days now (I'm about to post some pictures and a review once I have a good feel of the instrument). I'm somewhat of a beginner, been playing for a couple of years now, and according to my current impression the CA63 will be the last digital upgrade I will ever have to make.

It's hard to give you any solid advice knowing so little about you. If your goal is to some day be a proficient acoustic piano player, you will most likely end up using the default piano voice of your instrument 95-99% of the time. In the CA63 this voice can be tweaked quite a bit and currently I'm very happy with the way I've managed to make it sound. I have yet to try out the percussion accompaniment on CA63, so I cannot comment on that. However, I doubt the percussion on the CP139 are so good that you couldn't get a lot better as software with $1500. It may not be as easy to use as the accompaniments on your DP, but look at it this way: you're an absolute beginner now, so it will probably take you some time before you are at a level where you out-grow what the CA63 has to offer. And maybe at that point you wouldn't be satisfied with the CP139 accompaniments anyways.

Edit: Apparently they don't sell the CP 139 in Europe and that's why I had never heard of it. Since they share the same action and probably the same samples the touch and tone isn't an issue here. But still I'd like to say that in the end all the extras will matter way less than you would imagine at the time of purchase (also you may find out they weren't quite as good as you thought they would be). I know I tended to over-estimate my needs in the beginning (not saying I don't anymore :P).

Kawai CA63 has not percussion, except preconfigured rythms. Perhaps you can buy a rythm box or another sound module and connect to MIDI port. 1500 is a great difference.

The keyboard actions are the same, however the CA63 features the superior UPHI piano sound technology.

I would recommend spending some time using the accompaniment features of the CP136 to get a feel for the available styles and operation etc.

As you say, $1500 is quite a considerable amount of money, and you may find the money is better spent investing in a modern PC or Mac with accompaniment software packages such as 'Band in a Box' etc.

Kind regards,
James
x

I have owned a CP139 as well as the CP179 and the CP series of ensemble accompliment is super easy to use and taylor to your needs. I started playing on the CP139 as a beginner and never really got to the point of using the accompliment features that much. I traded in the CP139 for the superior "let-off" action of the CP179 which also had a real cherry wood cabinet that produced a richer sound IMHO. But again I didn't use much of the awesome features. I traded it in when I bought a Lowrey Sterling Organ and quickly found serious piano envy still existed. That brings me to the CA's The CA63 is a great piano for all whom have not played the "let-off" action of the CP179 or the CA93. The CA93 also gives more back to you than the ears can hear, due to the transducer on the spruce sound board. This is more percussive than you will find in any other Kawai digital IMO; all though the wonderful CP209 grand has a large spruce sound board and does indeed produce a certain feel. It's really now about the same price off set for the CA93 to the CA63 as for the CP139 to the CA63. If you like to feel more connected to your instrument then you really might want to put the CA93 in the mix of choices. I really love mine and it alone has had a very good affect on my playing and the UPHI that James mentioned is quite disquinshable.
I forgot to mention play the CA93 before the final decision and make sure to do so without headphones HA! You will then know the answer to this tough question.

Thank you all for the valuable guidance. Moreover, thank you for sharing your experiences, too. I just committed to the CA63 and it should be arriving in a week or so. And James, I had no idea I could throw a program like "Band In A Box" into the mix, so I'm glad you told me about it. My Macbook is less than a year old so I think it should be good enough for when I want to add some software. I'll be sure to keep you all apprised as to when my new DP arrives.