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FYI: Kawai ES100 is now available for pre-order at Kraft Music starting at $799:


http://www.kraftmusic.com/digital-pianos-and-keyboards/digital-pianos/kawai/es100/

$800. Not bad at all, Kawai. I think we may have a new major contender for a highly recommended piano under $1000 (one of the most frequent requests in the forum).

We need some people to try it out and review it for us, but based on the information we have now it seems like this would compete well with (and probably beat) the P155.

The action is AHA IV-F. It doesn't sound appealing to me.

That's what Im trying to figure out as to where it fits in... Is the ES100 a step up or equal to px150 and p105. Or more inline with P155. I guess we will have to wait for reviews. Im sure a video demo will be out shortly.

I am interested in this dp (or similar) as a travel companion and/or in my office at work for practice during lunch and off hours - not for gigging. Love the simplicity, specs, and weight. Hope sound and action are decent.

Yep, not the best action and only 2x7 watts amp. Anyway, a good contender in that price range. Thanks Casio for breaking the market!

Do you think the action will be better than PX150 and P105? (I dont expect it to be near our ES7)

2x7 watts might not be bad. The P105 sounds pretty good and projects nicely IMO.

Man that kinda stuff always happens to me...I ordered my px-150 yesterday and a new dp gets announced

You shouldn't feel too bad. You bought your PX-150 right after it had a dramatic price decrease. I almost can't believe how cheap it is.

Very few people have ever tried this action, actually. It's present on the EP3 and people who have tried it say it compares favorably with Yamaha's GH. The only reason the EP3 wasn't the major recommended piano at this price point was that it was consistently at least $100 more expensive than the P155. Now this comes in at $200 cheaper than the P155.

In other words, if you are not interested because of AHA IV-F, you are probably not interested in a budget piano, so you would not be interested the Casio's PX-150 or PX-350, nor Yamaha's P105 or P155.

Kawai's actions tend to have a strong family resemblance so I'd be surprised if the difference in feel between this and the ES7 was all that great.

I'm not personally interested in buying it either, but I can see it becoming a staple recommendation. Usually we say Kawai only makes good pianos but they don't compete much at the budget end. Now the latter is kind of not true.

"Kawai's actions tend to have a strong family resemblance so I'd be surprised if the difference in feel between this and the ES7 was all that great."

Then the price difference in North America ($800 vs $1900) between the two units is ludicrous. Lots of of ES7 buyer bought it solely because it doesn't thump hard.

StarvingLion, don't comment on my posts. You know that I can't stand you and that you don't have anything to add to this or any other discussion here.

Though if you only commented on posts of people who could stand you, I suppose you wouldn't post in this forum at all.

I love my thumpless ES7. I wish I paid more.

The 'AHA IV-F' action was/is used in the following instruments:

- EP3, ES6, ES100
- CL25, CL26, CL35
- KDP80, KDP80, KDP90
- CN22, CN32, CN42
- MP5
- CP67, CP116/CP117, CP187 (possibly slightly older revision)

So this is clearly a proven, reliable technology.

Before the ES7 was launched, the ES6 was Kawai's high specification portable piano, and competed very in terms of pricing and features with the Yamaha P155 and Roland FP-7.

The ES100 may not have the same range of sounds and features as the ES6, but it utilises the same keyboard action and 88-key sampling sound technology and a very attractive price.



The 'AHA IV-F' action remains a very good action. It has been used in a wide range of Kawai DPs, and always received strong praise from the industry and customers alike. However, in order to accommodate new features, a new design was required, and that design became the basis for the 'RH' action - which will likely also be used in a wide range of instruments in the future, just as 'AHA IV-F' was.

As good as 'AHA IV-F' is, I believe those who play the 'RH' action will agree that the more modern action is more realistic and therefore superior.

Kind regards,
James
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I owned an ES6 for 2 years, then traded it in for an ES7 earlier this year.

Apples and oranges with regard to feel of these actions; they're very different. (Not saying one is better-feeling action than the other, though most on this forum seem to love the ES7). Neither of them is 'thumpy'. (Used to own a Roland HP 302, so I know thumpy!) I think it's true that the ES6 is more comparable to Yamaha GH in the overall feel.

The only complaint that I had about the feel on the ES6 was that it had clicky/ticky-tacky noise/feel that happened on many keys (right out of the box); got worse over time.

I currently have the ES7 and a Yamaha Arius C71PE. I actually find the action on the Yamaha better for my hands (tendonitis, etc), as it's action is both deeper (longer keystroke going down) and heavier feeling.

I think that the action in the px Casios is way better (and closer to the ES7) than those in lower Yammies or Kawais.

@James

So is it a simplified ES6? I mean, has it the same character?

Yes, the sound technology is the same (HI 88-key sampling).
However, the ES100 utilises updated hardware, so reverb, effects, and the general quality of the sound is improved over the ES6.

Cheers,
James
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OT regarding Casio: I must admit that I was very impressed with the action on the PX-5S (same as PX150 I believe). I was at GS and they had a PX-5S racked on top of a CP33. The action felt superior and a little heavier than the CP33 which I prefer. I would be very happy if the ES100 is somewhere in between.

First demo...

Good find - thank you for posting Marko!

I think Adam provides a nice overview of the ES100's features.

However, one additional point that's worth mentioning is the ability to continue using the onboard speakers while a cable is connected to the headphone jacks. This is quite useful for connecting to amplifiers or a PA system, while using the ES100's onboard speakers for monitoring.

Cheers,
James
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