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I'll have to double check this with the designer, but I'm pretty sure the ES7 chassis is constructed from metal (aluminium and steel) and wood.

Kind regards,
James
x

My fault. It's DM made perhaps (knocking on it sounds woody) along with some plastic and metal. I lost breaks when I said it was plastic made.

Mabraman, I know this sounds like a joke, but I have several pairs of good headphones(ie Sennheiser HD380 and Ultrasone HFI-780) But I choose to simply use the Bose MIE2i Mobile Headset with my ES7. Yes, the same buds I use with my ipod. The sound is fantastic especially on the low notes. Almost seems like my real good headphone are too good for any DP and the cheap Bose is a perfect match. Go get a pair asap. I know it seems ridiculous for a DP but trust me on this one. Only $119 but well worth it (MIE2 under $100 just lacks controller on cord which you don't need for DPs). Worst case, you will have a nice set of headphones for your iPhone,ipda.ipod,droid, tab, mobile anything ;-)

update: dont forget to pick up a 1/4 adapter if you dont already have one. $3 radioshack

Thanks Marko, you gave that same advice to me some time ago, I googled it and found those headphones are to be plugged inside ears. Am I wrong? I prefer not to use that kind, it hurts me (and is not recommended from a healthy point of view). Ears didn't evolve to listen to such a direct sound source(yes, neither to circumaural type).

I'm afraid I don't know what that means.
Nothing to do with the chunky footwear, presumably.



Sorry, 'lost breaks'? I'm afraid I don't understand that either.

Again, I'll have to clarify this with the designer, however I'm pretty sure the ES7 cabinet is made from metal and wood. The volume slider and buttons are plastic.

James
x

DM (medium density) means bind (glued) toghether sawdust or wooden fibers without lignin. Ikea-like furnitures, if you prefer. I thought they were common initials for this material, but the english order of adjectives is different, sorry. Whats the english name for it? Guess MD.
Saying "I lost breaks" I meant "cool it, mabraman".

By the way, I've just been playing for a while and found mellow1 more pleasant. I'll play low level (a bit less than half the power) and figure it's ok.
How do you like that?
Thanks for your patience.

No problem.
I'm waiting for the football to kick-off in the UK...

Cheers,
James
x

@Mabramam,

My thoughts on your story (and Kawai may hate me about this, or not…;-)

At first , the ES7 is a decent product in it's price range offering a nice package in a nice format that does most things pretty well. My remarks are made in context that I originally come from a studio engineering background and am quite perceptive to anomalities in sound quality. This is my first DP with build-in speakers and amp. Before that I always used external HQ audio equipment and studio monitors. Not a fair comparison; that is something to keep in mind ! I also know my ears and mind can play tricks with me , therefore some findings may be subjective and not be an issue with other people.

I too struggled a lot in the beginning with my ES7 because I thought there was some sort of distortion / ringing introduced in the AP piano sound. After many many tests and a lot of email exchanges between myself and several Kawai employees my conclusion was :

1) There is a certain buildup of resonances that is part of the PHI processing and algorithms . It's a matter of taste if you like and not a system fault. I decided to ignore it, once I knew what was going on. Knowing may ears weren't tricking me and nothing was wrong with the ES in this respect was a satisfactory answer to me.

2) There is a certain 'stress' and ringing of the sound when playing loud over the speakers. This happens from roughly 80 ~ 100% volume setting and with forceful playing. If you hit key combinations where the mentioned PHI processing will have peak resonances, the ringing effect will be most audible. Together with some Kawai Technicians we concluded that a piano cabinet like this will always have a slight resonance somewhere when going full-throttle , be it the speakers, the cabinet or both. The 'stress' however may indeed be introduced by the amp/speaker system that falls just slightly short of the ideal power and quality it may need for this kind of purpose (playing very loud). It's good and the loudness is sufficient , but it is not as clean and with same headroom as some 3rd party solutions. Note that the stress/ ringing effects are audible , but only very slightly and most people might not be bothered at all !

3) The headphone output is actually very good with my headphones (Grado / Sennheiser HD250 Linear MKII - both open types). Only at 100% with FFF playing some stress is introduced by the amp, but I normally never play that loud. I'd suggest nobody does , if you want to keep healthy ears for much longer.

4) The audio input signal path is usable , but lacks a correcting EQ for playback over the speakers and the input has no level control. You can overcome most of these shortcomings by keeping the signal path before the input as short as possible , use HQ gear and add a decent volume level controller. Still, there is a little coloring and stress on the sound, but it is within margin when you take the mentioned precautions.

5) The keybed is good. Some units have slight uneven spacing - like mine. But it does not have an effect on the playability - so it's purely cosmetic. E.g. the space between right side of G# and A is slightly bigger on several units I've seen and that I've heard of in another way (PM's etc).

6) Key travel is a little shorter than on previous RH. We measured it together and it's roughly 10 vs 11 mm. Some may find this more convenient , others may have to get used to it. No big deal, just a fact if you wonder that you feel a difference there ; yes you do ;-)

In many cases you may not notice any of these findings on your unit at all, or simply don't bother. This is basically the list of 'things' you 'might' encounter on an ES7. At least knowing these facts, you will not be puzzled by it and can enjoy the ES7 for what it is - instead of waste time looking for answers. It is a very nice piano for a decent price (in most countries) and the things I describe here are all minor details on this overall very wel functioning DP. Some people, like me and Mabramam and a few others may have some thoughts about the AMP/audio signal quality , but it's all within a certain margin and I don't think other DP's on the market with build in speakers will do better in this price range. I never play 100% Volume , so I decided not to be bothered by it either. I think in the cases where you DO need to go very loud, the little stress and ring it introduces are negligible in the surrounding where you are performing, which is I assume a live situation (gig / choir accompanist / playing outside / restaurant,…) However for future updates this could be a component where Kawai techies might make some improvement; it is good, it can be better.

I'm done with fine-tuning and examining my ES7 and prefer to play and enjoy it and take some things for granted. It's a good machine, not 100% perfect, but which DP is ?! Especially considering price. But I also hope Kawai takes notes and can improve their product even further by looking at customer feedback and take into consideration some of us may be overly critical and annoying , but also not crazy and some points pop up too often to be served off as total nonsense.

Kawai , keep up the good work and for all ES7 owners ; enjoy your DP !

JFP, may I ask who is 'we' in this context?

Cheers,
James
x

You are right, JFP, and I've learnt a lot of lessons from your speech. Main is to enjoy more and be more positive (but never unreasonably positive in the way some people tend to justify a purchase). I'm glad, too, now that I know my ears are not the main problem, and that my concerns had at least some objective basement. I can't say anything is going definitely wrong with ES7, but I understand that technicians reached some compromise solutions between sound engine/speakers/amp. It works, and fine by the way for most people, but if your ear is picky or just very sensitive you'd better go and use external improvement. ES7 can't match hifi quality. Again, this is nothing new, as we all read same comments in regards to other brands and models.
Here is interesting to know where you come from and what kind of sound you are expecting to hear.
JFP comes from a pro environment which gave him a high sound quality (and maybe unfair)point of comparison. My point of view is more common, I'm the tipycal grown-picky-listener-used-to-hifi quality who still can't happily accept that a 1240€ device need some extra expense (or even firmware updates) so as to sound properly. Perhaps I'm off-topic, so I'll stop it.
But I wonder (and it's no moan) how can I enjoy more some cheaper general devices such as laptops with average headphones where I listen to mp3 streaming sites? The same ES7 sounds better this way to my ears, therefore I asume I need to strain the sound. Done!
If anybody is in a similar situation, do as others adviced before: set the touch to heavy (so the sound is easier to control), voicings to dynamic (same reason), try different EQ balance and explore the "mellow zone".
ES7 has enough improvement margin (via Virtual Technician) so as to fight again its own weaknesses. I hope.
Now I'm going to play!

Yes, the ES7 isn't perfect - it's not even claiming to be top of the range. It's just amazingly good value for money. I didn't expect the built-in amp/speaker system to be hi-fi standard, but when I was trying it in the showroom I hardly used my headphones, only to check that, as expected, the sound was better through them. Having now played mine for a few weeks - with large gaps because of Christmas/travelling etc, I am now settling in to enjoy playing it with settings that are stabilising. (I am an inveterate tinkerer)

Today for the first time I went back to my RX2......... Well, it's easier to play! I have spent quite some time adjusting to the touch/feel of a DP. Strengths and weaknesses? ES7 strengths: clarity, easy (and satisfying) to record from), facility to have different instruments for different composers; weaknesses: less authentic sound, poor touch more unforgiving than the RX2, eg a quick dab with the little finger on an isolated bass note octaves down the keyboard can come out too loud. RX2 strengths: the sound, the action; weaknesses: at the mercy of room acoustics, tuning and, some may be surprised to hear, a less solid bass than the ES7 - but the bass sound is still more authentic.

As I originally thought and wrote, they are just different beasts.

Just two (so far) concerns/requests for James when he wanders onto this thread. Why can you only reduce the pitch from 440 to 427? A full semitone to A = 415 would get us into genuine baroque pitch territory. Secondly, I have been trying out Pianoteq. Both line in to the ES7 cables I have used have produced a whistling tone, not loud, but clearly audible through speakers and headphones. Maybe there are technical requirements here I am not aware of.

Re Pianoteq. I have only tried it briefly but apart from the Bluethner there isn't a huge difference in sound, ie piano-like quality, compared to the native ES7 sounds. Certainly not worth my time to try and improve on them, except the Bluethner. I quite liked that sound.

Hi , I layer the ES7 with pianoteq from time to time. Works very well if you carefully balance the internal a d externl sound. Kawai has a better attack phase, pianoteq rules in the sustain phase.

The audio-in will produce a distorted tone when simultaneously used with a USB midi connection. Therefore the audio has to be decoupled / ground lifted. There are plenty of ground loop isolator extension cables on the marked. Perhaps that's what you re hearing ?

Also using very good cabling changes a lot. Well shielded and with decent (gold?) contacts.

Third thing is that most laptops / computers / mp3 players have a standard audio out on mini jack that has a changing impedance , depending on what you connect to it and the volume setting. This doesn't go we'll with the ES7 input. Use a decent audio interface with fixed line out levels and impedance. Or , like me, go digital out on your laptop, use an external DA converter and go line level from there into the ES7.

Hope this helps.

Many thanks JFP. Some more work to do at some time - it will be a while before I seriously bolt on Pianoteq, or any other software piano but it's good to know there's a solution.

Now, where's James when you want him. A = 415???

A=415?

Does the ES7 have a transpose function where you can transpose all keys by a given interval? If yes, just use this function to transpose down by a semitone, and then adjust pitch as needed.

New short Kawai ES7 video. You think the sound is straight thru the on-board speakers? I see a lot of wires connected in the back. Just wondering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ggXx9pArmo

That looks like the 2 lineouts and the damper hookups.

He is running the sound through external speakers and he does not have the 3-pedal attachment.

Thanks maurus. Yes,it does, I found it eventually!

Can someone explain what WALL EQ actually does ?

My ES7 is positioned with its' back about 1.5 feet from a wall.

I have tried WALL EQ Off and on and do not really notice anything different.

I also don't know how it works. Mine is closer than yours to a wall, just a ¿palm?¿handspan? from a bare wall.The rest of the room is well dressed in wood and books. When I turn Wall EQ on it seems to have a slight effect on the sound which I couldn't describe with words, perhaps less reverberation and more warmth. Honestly, built-in speakers are not very precise so it's hard to tell.
But there are so many ways to modify sound signals that I don't know what is it working on.
As far as I've read, the most typical effect related to rooms is the echo. Sound waves, rebounding and then coming from walls, give some spaciality to the sound, which is desirable within a given margin. If the wave reaches you ear in 50ms. or less it won't be perceived as "negative" or "delayed". Our brain will fit it into the overall sound and this echo will make sense.
If you room is well dressed with furnitures or bookshells and carpets, you probably won't hear the difference (I'm asuming that you test it trough speakers).The echo will be absorbed.
But with regards to which frequency range is being modified by this EQ...I just don´t know.

Wall-EQ; haven't played a lot with it. Might be some adjustments in the low range specifically I guess, because of wall reflections. Reflections can also cause phase reversal , but I doubt the Wall-EQ will do some phase tricks as well , but again ; you never know.

I'm afraid it'll be trial and error to see if the Wall-EQ brings anything good for you when positioned at a wall. A little more info from Kawai wouldn't hurt...(assumed wall distance, what the EQ does, etc)