LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Kawai K800


I have a preference for the rounded mellow tones of the German pianos. Years ago, I explored buying one. The difference between a German piano and a Japanese piano was stark. The German pianos sounded silky smooth with every note full and rich. Back in those days, the Japanese pianos sounded bright and sharp.

I much preferred the deep, rich and complex tones of the German pianos, but I could not afford one.  So, I settled for the electronic keyboard pianos just to have something to bang tunes out on.

If I had the money, I would buy the $35,000 August Forster piano or even the Steinway. These sound even better. However, I really am not a very good piano player so I decided to buy something I could afford and still sounded nice enough for me to feel good playing it.

The Kawai K800 was a surprising find. It is an upright grand. This means that its strings are longer than a normal upright piano. Thus, the sounds it makes are larger, richer and silkier than a normal upright. I liked that it uses ABS carbon (a synthetic material) in its piano action. Most pianos use wood which makes maintenance in our high humidity more problematic. With its ABS carbon parts, I expect the Kawai K800 would be easier to maintain over the years.

The Yamaha upright grand equivalent of the Kawai K800 is the Yamaha YUS5. I much preferred the sound of the Kawai K800. It was nearer the quality of sound I was hearing from the German makes. I don't know if I am dreaming it but 10 years ago, the German makes sounded better. I remember thinking they sounded like creamy soft serve vanilla ice cream. The Yamahas 10 years ago sounded like lemon sorbet back then. - sharp and crisp sounds.

I just prefer the creamier sounds. Possibly, others prefer the sorbet-like sounds. That is still very much what the Yamaha YUS5 sounds like - sorbet. These days, German pianos seem to sound less creamy and the Kawai K800 sounds MORE creamy. So, I guess I found something creamy enough but not as creamy as I would like.

Still nice... and far more affordable.

The design is ever so cute too. The piano sheet holder can be pulled forwards, towards the pianist and underneath it are 2 sound escapes. So, the sound not only emanates from the back and the top of the Kawai K800, it also emanates from the front panel as well. This makes for a lot of resonance.

I do think I bought a piano that is way too good for my lousy piano playing skills. So, I am trying to practise and practise and practise so that I can deserve the piano I bought. I dread to think what my neighbours think because I literally play it all day. After every compo I mark, I play for 5 minutes just to refresh my senses and help me regain focus enough to mark the next compo well.

It also means that this poor blog has been sorely neglected. For someone who has no real job, I really am quite a busy person, you know. What with my piano and my Le Creuset pots...




4 comments:

Karmeleon said...

hahha - i just always go with gut feel. Have not bought a new piano and no intention to. Hey, you can practise with my youngest son or not? hahhahha - for his accompaniment? I'm really bad at it.

gemini said...

The K800 is priced about $1000 more than the YUS5, and therein lies the dilemma:)

Uri Dj said...

In Spain Yamaha YUS5 costs 12.000, Kawai K800 10.000

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing! How is your K800 doing after these 5 years? Does the carbon really withstand the high humidity in Sg better than the typical wood? I’m looking for an upright piano with a middle sostenuto pedal too & like you, I prefer a creamy, mellow tone. 😊