Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Some questions on the Kawai CA65.

In addressing the problems with my current digital piano, Kawai recently did more than I could have asked or expected to make certain that I was a satisfied customer, and to let me know that the company stands solidly behind its warranty. This has restored my faith in the company.

Kawai's consideration has allowed me to trade up to purchasing the CA65, which will arrive in several weeks. There is no doubt that I will be completely happy with this model for many years to come. However, after a conversation with my dealer I have some questions about the CA65 which hopefully some owners of this model may give some insight on.

Although I've purchased this model new, which means I will be assembling it myself (I will have two friends helping out, one of whom is very technically-oriented), my dealer has said that when his employees assemble the CA65 for his showroom, they adjust the tone for best quality in the Virtual Technician. Obviously, he doesn't feel that the default tone is sufficient, although he didn't tell me which piano tone is adjusted. And so my first question is: Are you satisfied with the default tone of the various piano voices, and if not, precisely what changes did you make?

Secondly, my dealer told me that assembling the sliding key cover properly is difficult with this model, and that it will be a bit frustrating for me. He offered to walk me through it on the phone, but I shouldn't think I would have to do that. If you assembled your CA65, did you have an issue with the key cover, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Finally, I would like to seat the CA65 in a spot where one of my floor heat registers is about 7 inches away from the right side of the piano. My place is properly humidified, but I'm wondering if this might be a problem. For the record, the heat doesn't radiate out to the side and has a gentle flow. In the spot where I would seat the CA65 I currently have an expensive solid oak roll top desk, which hasn't shown the slightest sign of being affected by the heat in the twelve years that it's been sitting there. It would seem okay to seat the CA65 there, then, but please feel free to comment on my thinking if you wish.

Thanks in advance for all opinions and advice.

ADWyatt, I believe adjustments made using the Virtual Technician are rather subjective - one person may prefer a different tonal character to another. However, part of the enjoyment of owning an instrument that allows such adjustments is the experimentation process.

Regarding this point:



I do not wish to contradict the dealer's information, however the sliding key cover does not need to be assembled. As you can see from this illustration below, the 'main body' portion of the CA65 (including the key cover) arrives pre-assembled from the factory.



For more information regarding the CA65 assembly process, please refer to the owner's manual (from p.118) available here:

http://www.kawai.co.jp/worldwide/support/manuals.html

Finally, regarding the floor humidifiers, I do not believe this would be an issue, however I do not live in a region where humidity extremes cause problems generally, so shall defer to other digital piano owners with greater experience.

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
James
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