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my wife an i have the opportunity to buy a less than year old Kawai E7 with delux stand and triple pedal set up and bench for $1,300 as the person has upgraded to a kawai baby grand. my wife plays piano at church but her old spinet at home died and unreparable, would this unit do fine for her practicing her music to be played each week or would the cn25 or ce220 we were origionaly going to buy do a better job and not limit her expanding her musical horizon?

Covfam73, the ES7 features the slightly older 'RHII' keyboard action, compared to the brand new 'RHIII' action found on the CN25. However, despite this, the ES7 remains an excellent portable instrument. When combined with the stand and pedals, the ES7 offers much of the functionality of the larger CN25/CE220 cabinet DPs.

My recommendation would be for your wife to play all of the instruments that you are considering, and opt for the piano that brings her the most enjoyment.

Kind regards,
James
x

James, do you know whether Kawai has in mind an upgrade for the MP7/ES7 where at some stage in the future they will have RHIII instead of RHII? That would make an already awesome machine even more awesome!

Alan

Alan, I'm afraid I cannot comment on models that may/may not be in development.

Kind regards,
James
x

Your wife should definitely test drive any DPs she is considering.

Would she be bringing the ES7 to church at all? That would be the major factor to consider apart from the difference in action. If so, having a portable DP would be better as an option if she likes how it feels.

If not, would you prefer to have a cabinet-style piano? They tend to have a nicer finished look than a slab-style.

Hello,
I'm happy owner of ES7 and I would say if you do have a good deal on it, just buy it. This or another digital in the same league, it does not matter. But well, then I also need to add that if I practice a lot on ES7 and then play on teacher's upright then I somehow produce some bad tones color-wise. Simply speaking, ES7 is playing too nice even if your play is not that nice. Basically speaking you can't get bad forte tone from it and neither if you get too to ppp domain, it still playes, while acoustic would be silent already :-) ES7 provides probably the best keyboards from all pianos I do have available here (AF baby grand from '30, AF upright from '80 and ES7). It's build quality is superb. It sounds kind of artificially but if this is for practice this is still all right, but please make sure your wife also practice on church's piano before mass. Just play nice to adjust to acoustic should be all right. :-)

Karel

I'm in full debate right now between the es7 and the Yamaha p255. Can't make up my mind even though I'm sure I'd be happy with either. Any owners which have played on both with advice would be appreciated. I was curious about when Kawai was planning on upgrading the es7 but that's anyone's guess I guess.

Thanks! And this is my first post!

Hello brianspost, welcome to the forum.

The ES7 and P255 are both very good 'slab-type' digital pianos. I'm obviously a little biased, however I gather that those who play both instruments generally prefer the ES7.

The P255's control panel is relatively basic, although it augments this interface with a nice iPad app.

The best thing to do is play-test both instruments for a few hours (using both speakers and your own headphones) and opt for the model that brings you the most enjoyment.

Kind regards,
James
x

All I can tell you is that I owned a few different digital pianos (including Casio, Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai) over the period of about 3 years until I purchased the ES7. At that point, I had no further need to try something else ... I was completely satisfied by that machine.
Now, I am no longer even tempted by the "fantastic" claims of new digitals ... I know I have a good one.

Hi Brainpost,

I am also a beginner and I had the same difficulty in choices to make, as you do now.

I was considering Kawai ES7, Yamaha P255 and Roland FP80. I eventually went with ES7 for the quality of sound and the quality of touch of the keys. I am quite happy with the choice I have made and asked to choose again, I would choose ES7 once again!

Regards,
AP

Thanks guys!

I was actually able to go today and play both the ES7 and the P255. Sadly they were in different stores so I had to try and remember the sounds and feel.

I'm pretty sold on the ES7 and will be ordering soon. I fell in love with the feel of the keys on the ES7. I forgot I was on a DP after a while. A FANTASTIC piano!

My ONLY concern with the ES7 is that when listening through headphones (I used my own for the tests) around the 6th octave the notes had a slight "shrillness" to them, especially when playing hard. It wasn't very pleasant to the ear in the headphones. Funny enough, I didn't hear the same in the 7th octave.

That literally is my only hesitation, but hopefully I can make it work with some EQ. Is there EQ I can do on the ES7 itself? I skimmed through some of the ES7 user forum and I think someone was referring to this same thing so maybe I'm not alone.

Thanks!

brianspost, the ES7's sound can be adjusted using the instrument's 'Virtual Technician' controls and onboard Equaliser function, which includes a 4-band 'User EQ'.

Kind regards,
James
x

ES7 is a fantastic instrument. I have one and although there are newer pianos by Kawai, I still can't find anything bad in it to make me want another model or brand. Make sure you use the heavy touch though. With the standard normal touch curve, the dynamic response is unrealistic and jumpy and may put you off.

I also can give a vote for the ES-7. As I own a piano shop, I have daily access to several piano model. But I especially like the ES-7 for its sound, feel and very good price.