Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES7 Studio Grand vs Concert Grand

Please could any ES7 or non ES7 owner chime in with a description of the differences in sound?

Its not that I don't hear the difference I just don't know how to describe it and as I don't play yet I cant really appreciate the difference, All I know is for some reason I prefer the studio and I am talking about through its own speakers.

I have only had a quick tinkle on it since it arrived as the stand was delayed and I didn't want anything to happen to it but I will be assembling the stand and pedal unit in the morning once my little 5 year old girl is out the way at school.....can't wait

Compared to the "Concert Grand", ES7's "Studio Grand" is brighter and livelier through its built-in speakers.

Besides the 4 main piano samples (concert, studio, mellow, modern), you can toy around with the voicing options found under the "Virtual Technician" menu. The different options are Normal, Bright1, Bright2, Dynamic, Mellow1 and Mellow2.

I now set the piano sample to "Concert Grand" and the voice to "Mellow1". With these settings, I no longer miss my headphones when playing my ES7 through the built-in speakers (which are pretty decent speakers to begin with).

BTW, glad that your ES7 has arrived. Hope you have a great time exploring and learning on it!

Studio Grand is way brighter and metallic than the other voices, but it's up to your taste how useful it could be.

Here are some of my thoughts:

-It can be too bright through headphones on default settings.
-Its tone is nasal, and it wont change no matter which voicing you choose.
-This may vary due to the accoustics of the room, the more space you give to it, the better it sounds.
-It has more punch than the other voices, too, and is very expressive. Good for jazz.
-In my unit, there are two notes that sound twangy (F and #F in the central octave). This is more evident through headphones and wont change. Some people can't perceive this nuances, or perhaps is something that don't happen in every unit, which would be strange as it comes from the samples (so I've been told by Kawai Europe).

Concert Grand 1 has more bass and a fatter sound to my ears, and E natural sounds twangy too, in the central octave. It gives you more volume with the same attack.
More balanced than Studio Grand.

I prefer Mellow 1 and a bright voicing, but it's all a matter of taste and the room where you place the piano.
As an example, this summer I moved to a small quiet village
and placed the piano in a larger room (four times larger than usually) with wooden rafters and vaulted ceilings and...the sound of Studio Grand was terrific.
Back in town, I need to set the Wall EQ to "on" and the Speaker Volume to "low" in order to avoid undesired resonances.