Hi all,just got back from the shop with my Kawai CL25 thought i'd write down my thoughts..

Bare in mind i'm pretty much a beginner,only ever had a Roland's F30 (for a week)& F50..Plus i can be pretty fussy!!

Paid £550

Packaging & paperwork : Packed great & secure..Unfortuantley the foot pedal (which should be included)is missing,worth checking before you order,and the leads a 2point plug grrrrrrrrr..Manual is pretty clear,no fuss straight to assembling detail and features..To assemble is very easy..

Appearances: As a modern look with a twist of traditional due to the wooden music stand and curved sides,its very narrow less then a foot..The main feature buttons are at the front left,except power lead and foot pedal which are underneath..

Build quality is good, but not as great as my old Roland,theres a few points that are a tad average (mostly unseen when piano is stood up..Another point where it came up short is bolt covers,not a big thing,but a nice touch with the Roland absent on the Kawai..

Keyboard as the Advanced Hammer Action 4-E with AR technology,the same as on the CN models..The one thing i disliked on the Rolands was how noisy the keys were unplugged..Its still apparent on the Kawai a kind of thud,if you take your finger off the key quickly it thuds when it comes up,i tried a Yamaha in the store which sounded far worse..

Ok i will write again about the sound and speakers when ive played it more!! andy


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Andy, may I ask where in the UK you purchased your CL25 from?

Kind regards,
James
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Hi James i brought it at Sheargold in Cobham,they were one of the few shops that had the model in stock..They did a price match against pro audio store in Denmark street..Shears have 2 dark versions in store i brought a cherry..

I played it a bit last night..It seems louder and more fuller sound compared to the Roland's even so the speakers were the same 2x7 watts,very stable sound even at max...Its wonderful for my small room..

It as very basic features which suits me,i just want to play the piano..

features here > http://www.kawai.de/cl25_en.htm

One feature seems odd called concert magic,you press any key at different speeds to play a song..

As far as i can tell it resets to default settings when turned off,not a problem for me as i prefer the default, but could get annoying if you want to set the keys to different velocity (of which theres 3)..


I love the sound of the grand personally, it seems to sound closer to an acoustic piano then the Roland i had..

In fact for me its perfect except the keys thumping sound (it bugs me more then most!)..That its on the up stroke is easier to control..

Overall i'm very happy,its a great simple compact piano and looks wonderful *..I paid £550 new and thats £300 less then i paid for the Roland F50 a year ago,on a model that as the same key action Advanced Hammer Action 4-E with AR technology,thats on the CN models i'm happy!!

* It looks far nicer in the flesh,the cherry is much fuller more wood like then the web shots