Recently I’ve been going through the rather painful process of choosing a high-end digital piano which, hopefully, will satisfy my requirements for a few years to come, until such time as my circumstances – lack of space! - enable me to get the acoustic grand I really want. Until such time, a digital piano – any digital piano – will always be very much ‘second best’. My main interest is classical piano and I’m striving to be the best pianist I possibly can be insomuch as time – I’m 56 yo – and talent will allow.
The first thing I must say is that, IMO, there is no digital piano out there that can hold a candle to a
quality acoustic - especially grand - piano. I don’t want to go into all the subjective pros and cons again as they’ve already been discussed ad infinitum in these forums, and there will always be conflicting views and opinions.
I narrowed my search down to the Yamaha CLP 280, the Kawai CA91 and the Roland HP 207. I had eagerly awaited the availability of the Roland as I’d read some promising reports about it. Suffice it to say that, regrettably, I discounted this piano very quickly, as neither the keyboard touch nor grand piano sound impressed me at all.
Ok, so it was a choice between the CLP 280 and the CA91.. please remember that everything that follows is, of course, just my personal opinion.
I would like to be able to say that the decision was an easy one but this was not to be! Both pianos have their strengths and certainly their weaknesses. There will be no such compromises to make when I come to chose my acoustic grand piano!
CLP 280
Touch – I was disappointed with the GH3 (with partial wooden white keys) action, finding it to be inferior even in comparison to the action of my lowly P120 ( the piano I’m replacing). The action was ‘springy’ in that the keys did not rebound in the realistic manner I’ve observed and felt in all the acoustics I’ve played (i.e. with a marked 'hesitation' due inherent characteristics such as escapement etc). The other point about the action which suprised me was the limited downward travel range of the white keys, again compared to the acoustics I’ve tried. Dare I say it, but the keyboard felt a little ‘toy-like’ in this regard. Also, the weighting was too light to my taste. I'm fortunate enough to play a Sauter acoustic grand during my weekly lessons and the 280’s keyboard action is nothing remotely like the Sauter’s ( maybe it’s nearer the touch of some other acoustic grands, perhaps Yamaha's own offerings).
Sound – Remember I’m only interested in the grand piano sound. This was actually very pleasing to my ears and did indeed sound similar to the ‘real thing’ except for one important point – difficult to explain, but the sound was, in a sense, too ‘clinical’ and ‘pure’ (others have noted this too) and, curiously, kind of ‘detached’ from the keys producing it.
Appearance – This is where the Yamaha wins hand down, at least in the PE (Polished Ebony) version which, in my opinion, is well worth the extra money.
CA91
Touch – The AWA GRAND PRO II keyboard is the best I've played, by a significant margin. The realism in the action, lacking in the Yamaha for me, was most definitely there – neither too light nor too heavy but requiring a real ‘touch-technique’ from the pianist to play expressively, just as required for the Sauter to which I've referred. The depth of key travel was also greater than the Yamaha’s and felt ‘normal’. I didn't take accurate measurements.
Sound – I tried really hard to ‘like’ the grand piano sound but it was a little too artifical to my ears. I was able to find a more pleasing sound by fiddling with the different options – Grand 1, Grand 2, Mellow 1, 2 etc etc. but the Kawai is, perhaps, lacking in this department. I say ‘perhaps’ because I must also say that there was, unlike with the Yamaha, a ‘rawness’ to the sound which was more reminiscent of a real acoustic. Also, and whilst I wasn’t able to play the Kawai at high volume levels, the wooden soundboard does add a touch of realism in emulating the vibrations felt throughout an acoustic. I get the feeling that the Kawai's sound has to be 'explored' to be fully appreciated.
Appearance – Nothing special in the simulated Rosewood finish which I saw, but the build quality appeared satisfactory (there’s no polished finish available). I did, however, like the fact that the music desk (stand) is positioned quite high compared with all the other digitals I’ve seen, and is similar to a real grand in this regard also.
Conclusion
I’m grateful for all the invaluable advice and insight from other members in helping me make my choice of digital piano to replace the P120. I especially want to thank Pollicio, who has undergone a similar process to me and whose technical analysis of the contending pianos was certainly more, well, ‘analytical’ than mine!
As previously stated, the piano I choose has to last me a few years until my grand ‘comes along’ and, as I want to progress musically and technically as much as possible, I felt that the Kawai CA91 was the only choice I could make, exclusively because of its superior keyboard action. I’m confident that with some ‘fiddling’, the sound can also be made more to my liking and, if not, perhaps I can improve even this by adding extra sounds from my computer. Must admit I'm not very knowledgeable in this regard.
In closing I want to emphasize that the CA91 is probably the best DP available...
for me !
There are far better pianists than me amongst the members (AJB and PoStTeNeBrAsLuX to name but two) who are perfectly happy with their CLP 280s. Most, however, also own fine acoustic grands and use their CLPs mainly for silent practice. Unfortunately I don’t yet have the ‘luxury’ of a real grand and so my decision has been coloured accordingly.
I will add my further impressions of the Kawai after I’ve lived with it for a few weeks. Incidentally, to illustrate just how difficult this decision has been for me, I actually went so far as ordering a CLP 280PE last week from Cherubini in Rome, only to subsequently amend my order after re-appraising the two pianos at length, over the weekend.
Michael
