Hi Everybody!

Just purchased Kawai CA 65 black.
My name is Fabio. I am new at this forum. I am Italian, so please forgive some English language mistakes. I have read a lot of comments about DP and this site war "really" helpful to guide me in the purchase of the piano, so thank to anyone who contributed and will contribute to this great site! I posted this review two days ago, but I made a mistake with the forum (I posted it in the upright forum).

Just a piece of information about me: I have an upright acoustic and I have studied music for 5 years at the music academy taking the solfeggio diploma. Some years ago I had to move for work to another city, so it became difficult to play the piano regularly. After a stop of nearly 7 years I decided to re-start playing.
I tried side by side the the ca63, the ca93, the new ca65 and some other DP. Here there are my considerations:

KAWAI CA 63/93
Touch very good. Sound too. The ca 93 has a more rich sound diffusion emphasizing the bass when you play without headphones, but for me the two piano, except the assembly design and the speakers, are quite the same. With headphones I heard no differences in sound between the two DPs.

KAWAI CA 65
I was a bit worried, because I have read some not good revisions in this forum, so the first time I tried it seemed not so good as the 63, but probably I was just worried about the new piano and this affected my playing. Furthermore the sounds settings were really different from the 63 (one bright the other mellow).
I come back again 2 days later at the shop and I re-tried for about 5 hours (mainly classical music) just the two models (ca 63 and ca 65) with almost the same settings and the same volume oriented to have a brighter sound and a touch heavier.
For me the sound of the 65 is superior, more rich and powerful. For me the touch is not lighter at all than the 63! It is just "different", a bit easier to play and it gave me a superior feeling especially playing hard. I noticed more width black keys. I had a look on the keys texture too. I think that the material is the same, but the texture is slightly different in roughness, but when you have become used playing it the feel is really good. Please take into account that also If I have a certain experience in playing my Petrof upright I am not a pianist, so maybe a pianist might have a different idea. This is just a personal and subjective review and these are just my opinions.

The touch is, of course, different from an upright acoustic, but frankly I think that is a wrong way to search something that simulates entirely an upright. I was searching an instrument to re-start playing regularly and If this happen, in the future I will buy another acoustic piano (I tried also the acoustic upright Kawai k3 ATX).
Just something wrong, but I am not sure about it. It regards a key sound. With headphones it is ok, but with the speakers it seems to have a more metallic sound especially when I play it hard. But I have to verify that, maybe it is normal and it is only my ear which emphasizes this difference. (Anyway If Kawai James or anyone can tell me if it is possible that there is a problem with a key sound with speakers and not with the headphones I will be glad to hear his suggestions).

The furniture is really solid too, also if I would advice Kawai to do also a polished black with, of course, an extra cost because the DP would look more as an acoustic.

I still have to try a lot of functions like settings, midi and usb devices, so I will keep you well informed about that. I will be really glad to hear also your suggestions, questions and comments.
This is my first (good) impression about the CA 65. As soon as possible I will post some recordings and images of the piano, but, I tell it in advance, please be kind and forgive some notes mistakes (I have not played "seriously" the piano since 2006 more or less so I am really "rusty"...).

Thanks really again to this forum and its participants for the helpful contribution they have given to me...:)

Fabio
kawai ca 65

Great review, Fabio. Thanks for sharing with us. There has been a lot of curiosity about this model, so it's great to have some reviews from new owners rolling in.

One of you guys might also consider submitting a DPBSD file to dewster's thread. The fact that the sound is different from the previous generation means there could be something to be learned by having it retested.

Thanks for the brilliant review Fabio. You say, "I am Italian, so please forgive some English language mistakes." Believe me, your English is impeccable and certainly much better than many born and bred English people. I only wish I could speak and write Italian as good as you are with English.

Good morning Fabio, thank you for posting your review of the CA65. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the piano again after a brief hiatus.

If you believe that the instrument has a slightly metallic tonal quality, please try using the various 'Virtual Technician' controls to adjust the character of acoustic piano sounds. The 'Voicing' parameter will be useful here, as will EQ-ing, and selecting an alternative voice such as 'Mellow Grand'.

I hope this helps, and as AshwayGap notes, your English is very good - had you not indicated your nationality, I would have simply assumed you were a native speaker.

Kind regards,
James
x

Hi Everybody!

Thanks really for all your comments and feedbacks. All you are very kind and it is a pleasure to write and read your observations. Thanks also for the compliments about my english, but believe me, my English is not as good as you can think

This site is more than a simple piano forum and I am very happy to be part of this forum.

For Gvfarns: sorry, but it is my first DP, so I don't know what a DPBSD file is, could you tell me something more about it? Yesterday night I had a look on the ca 65 owner manual but I did not find anything...

For Kawai James: the sound is very good both for mellow than for Concert Grand or studio piano. I tried to change the key and song parameters, but I have to say that probably the best sound configuration for me is Concert Grand 1 or Studio Grand without any change to the parameters. I was talking just about one single key which seems to have a metallic sound without headphones (with headphones it is ok!), but probably it is just my impression...(I think it is impossible that a key sound is different with or without headphones?!)

For AshwayGap : thank you so much for your words. If you have any questions about DP please ask.

Here you are some pictures...I will try to upload some song as soon as I can!

http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/KAWAICA65_1.jpg
http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/KAWAICA65_3.jpg
http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/KAWAICA65_4.jpg
http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/KAWAICA65_6.jpg
http://www.pianoworld.com/Uploads/files/KAWAICA65_7.jpg



Thanks!

Fabio

Sorry for not being clear. One of our forum members, dewster, has devised a bunch of tests of the capabilities of our digital pianos. He provides a MIDI file, we run it through our piano and give him the resulting audio file. Then he does his analysis on it and gives us a bunch of info in the dpbsd thread. The letters stand for "Digital Piano Bull S**t Detector."

You can find the midi and more info on the dpbsd thread.

Hi Fabio,

How do like your CA65 now that you've owned/played it for 3 months? Maybe just some pros & cons? You can see by my posts that I am torn between CA65 and ES7. Was at Kawai dealer for over 3 hours today playing both and some CN's -nice; now im leaning towards the CA65 more that the ES7. Both in stock at dealer ready for delivery, but I didn't buy just yet. Thought I would sleep on it tonight and pick it up tomorrow or Mon.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Marko