Kawai’s Digitals: Part 3 – Piano Realism

SPEAKER SYSTEMS

The saying goes, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” You can have an otherwise fantastic digital piano, but if the speaker system is sub-par, it won’t be enjoyable to play. In fact, a bad-sounding piano can be a hinderance to the learning process. Picture someone walking on a rocky shoreline, slowly and carefully placing each foot as to avoid sharp rocks. Now imagine that same person walking that same way down a sidewalk. Aside from looking silly, they would be moving with slow, unnecessary movements. Learning to play piano on a bad-sounding one is like learning to walk on a rocky shore. The repetitive nature of practicing piano is meant to imprint good technique through muscle memory. It stands to reason that practicing on a bad piano will reinforce bad technique over time.

Kawai prides itself on the sound of its digital pianos, creating instruments that anyone can play dynamically on. Their entry-level pianos use full range speakers, meaning that they account for the entire sound of the digital piano. These speakers are matched with drivers ranging from 18W to 40W. I say matched because there needs to be a balance struck between the speaker and the driver so that low frequencies are substantial, high frequencies are clear, and sound won’t distort when played at full volume. Kawai does an excellent job of matching their speakers with drivers and it’s a big reason why they can be played so expressively.

More substantial speaker systems can be found on Kawai’s mid-level digitals. They all have ‘woofers’ which are speakers specifically designed to handle the lower frequencies. They also have speakers dedicated to the mid and high frequencies. Some of them employ 360^o diffusers to widen the distribution of sound, creating a more authentic experience. The DG-30 has 2 unique, soundboard-mounted speakers that emulate the sound projection of a grand piano.

Partnering with Onkyo

Kawai’s high-end digitals and hybrids use special components developed in collaboration with Onkyo, one of Japan’s leading premium audio manufacturers. Cutting edge technologies such as 1-bit processing, dual DAC conversion and Onkyo’s DIRDC filtering help to reproduce acoustic piano sounds with spectacular clarity, richness, and power. These digital pianos also utilize a high performance Discrete SpectraModule™ headphone amplifier to ensure the finest quality listening experience, even when playing in privacy.

TwinDrive Soundboard Speaker System

Featured on the CA-901 and Novus NV-5 is Kawai’s TwinDrive Soundboard Speaker System. This unique audio technology embraces the rich, harmonic qualities of wood by using transducers to channel sound energy onto a large soundboard in order to produce a more natural, organic tone. Long wooden ribs are securely attached to the soundboard to further broaden the frequency range and volume of the resonating sound, resulting in a remarkably authentic playing experience that faithfully reproduces the tonal ambience of an acoustic piano.

The TwinDrive system represents the third generation of Kawai’s soundboard technology, and features an improved primary transducer redesigned to deliver more power and volume. In addition, a secondary transducer, mounted towards the treble end of the instrument, helps to further expand the tonal range produced by the soundboard beyond the existing low frequencies, allowing mid-low and even mid-high ranges to also benefit from the warming, acoustic properties of wood.