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Nice,Tom!
Yep, looks the same, which I assume is a good thing I had a failed attempt at an exchange a few months back so I'm glad to hear your replacement came out great.

As you know since I practically wrote a journal about it on this forum, the head of tech support (acoustic and DP) for Kawai in So Cal came out three times and replaced several things. Luckily he was able to experience the issue. (I thought for sure it would be like when you go to the mechanic with a noise in the engine of your car.) They tried everything and finally gave up. My old one will be taken apart to see if they can discover the problem.

Gombessa, I don't remember reading about that. Was the problem fixed without an exchange? We see so many complaints on PW regarding Kawai support. Yet, my experience has been really good.

Yes, I tried your settings and it seems similar to the effect of turning down Brilliance but very subtle. It doesn't fix the issue on my system but thanks for posting them! Both of these settings affect the piano sound as well, at least on my unit I don't see an overall audio filter operation like this being a fix, because it will never remove just the buzz/noise/hiss without affecting the piano sound. I think it is something in the on board audio/speaker system that is distorting, and is triggered by some of the frequency content in the samples, particularly the sampled (imo unwanted in a sample)resonances on some velocities.

Hello Tom, I'm glad to read that the replacement NV10 resolves the strange headphone issue you were experiencing.



This one is actually standing on the floor, and not suspended from the ceiling?

James
x

Yes, and I don't for the life of me understand why this picture is right side up......

Did you perhaps take the previous photo of your first NV10 with the phone upside down?

Kind regards,
James
x

Your phone knew that something is wrong with the previous novus.

Kawai (my local Kawai shop actually) was actually pretty amazing in the service and handling.. My NV10 has a small blemish on the finish, and when I asked about it they suggested simply sending me a full replacement. When the brand new new unit arrived (still sealed in two boxes), as the assemblers were putting it together they noticed the left leg had serious damage to the finish and wood (and the box/packaging were prstine so this must have happened during packaging at the factory, before shipping). We even tried swapping the good leg from my NV10 to the new one, but after all that effort, it turns out the new unit would not power on. Sigh. So we swapped the leg back and I kept the old unit as-is. The original blemish is small anyways, and after an entire morning and afternoon spent dealing with it, I decided I'll just live with it.

That's a shame. The small blemish I get, but I can't imagine a new one that wouldn't power on, and that was shipped with a messed up leg. Perhaps you should be compensated somehow.

Thanks for the thought my dealer offered to bring a "finish technician" out to handle to blemish on the polyester, but I haven't taken them up on it (yet) because I'm not sure if it would really come out spotless. In any case, I think I have a remedy if I want to pursue it, and for now I'd rather focus on playing than stressing any more over the finish!

Finish technician? Make sure he is certified by the Finishing Department of Finishers.

I guess it is my turn now: HISSING NOISE issue on speaker. On headphone, sound is perfect. The noise is even more obvious when set to brilliant tone, light+ touch. On top of that, the velocity of 13 highest key is way too high. It is so high that hurts my ears. I have to touch them very gently in order to avoid it. For missing screws to this, I am pretty upset and have high doubt on how Kawai control quality on this special model. Already call Kawai and they are investigating those.

It is lucky you live close to the distribution center. So I hope you get a good result to the problems you are experiencing.

You can fix this in the Virtual Technician. I too felt that the uppermost octave was too piercing, so I changed it and now it sounds fine (to me). This is done with the "Key volume" setting, using the "User" option. My settings in pianist mode are:
C#7 - E7 : -50
F7 : -35
F#7 : -30
G7 - C8 : -20


To be fair, the missing screws were not Kawai's fault. They weren't actually missing but the person who assembled the piano simply didn't read the instructions properly and did not screw them in (you said he showed you the screws afterwards as leftover). Not really a Kawai quality control issue, that.

I see that option but haven tried yet. I do now. Still, everyone prefer a good default setting. I question myself in the process of sampling, this is so obvious that they know and fix it at the very first.




The mover indeed missed 2 leg screws. But the box actually misses 5 screws for the back panel. The dealer told me he took of his to give me. Ever since, I complained the issues, he haven't replied my 2 email, 3 texts and 2 calls in 2 weeks. I don't know why. I didn't express any frustration toward him. I paid full price at once. Well, that is why I then contact Kawai directly and have them find a solution.

Update: The technician just told me Kawai considers this an unsolved problem, and we're to wait for them to come up with a solution.

Anyone considering a Novus should probably wait for a bit; at least until Kawai resolves some of the known issues.
I remember the ‘noise-gate’ issue with the AvantGrand. It took them some time, but Yamaha eventually corrected this on newer units. Granted, Yamaha never corrected the issue of the volume increasing when sustaining a chord whilst engaging the damper pedal.

I would amend that slightly from "anyone considering a Novus should probably wait" to "anyone considering a Novus should probably consider if he wants to wait".

If that consideration comes out on the side of "I won't wait but want to get it now", then there's really no reason to wait.

It really is a question of personality. With regards to what you are expecting from the piano and how much you are willing to deal with possible teething problems (if there are any in your case). Personally I was aware that as one of the first people in the world to get this new piano, there would be a high chance of me encountering such teething problems. But I was willing to deal with them, if necessary. Fortunately for me, I did not encounter many (and only mild ones, outside of the UI problems that are shared with the CA98/CA78 models and thus are not NV10 specific, and of which I was aware, from CA98/CA78 owners' posts), but I couldn't know that beforehand. Despite that uncertainty, I decided to get one and I am very, very glad that I did. For the pure enjoyment that my NV10 has given me over this last half year, I am happily willing to deal with those small problems. If I would have waited because of them, I would have missed out.
But anyone who is of the personality type who demands a new piece of gear (especially in this price range) to be perfect to a tee, should indeed probably wait. And that's fine too. People are simply different.

Although I can't look into people's heads, I nonetheless get the feeling, that many of the owners in this thread share this mindset of mine. There's certainly not many such long (and long lasting) "proud and happy owners" threads for a new piano model here in the forum. And even though the problematic issues are being discussed here (we're not stupid fanboys that try to hide all problems!) my overall impression is, that the owners here in the thread are, by and large, happy that they did indeed not wait.

Side track: This reminds me of a "my new piano" post over in the acoustic forum, where a new owner of an acoustic grand posted about bis new piano, describing why he likes it so much and that he is really happy with it, but also honestly describing the few issues that he doesn't like and that he thinks could be better. He was (rightfully so, imo) lauded for this last part, which was seen as a refreshingly honest change in comparison to all the other "here's my new piano and it is absolutely perfect!!!" posts that you usually read. I'm getting similar vibes from the owners in this thread, along the lines of "I love this piano, but I see no reason not to talk about issues that could be improved".

JoBert, I also knew when I purchased my NV10 that these were some of the first built. But I couldn't wait even though I already had a "wonderful "CS11 for nine months. I should have been happy with it and not spent another $6500 to buy the NV10. And I am not even a very good player, starting so late in life. Like you said above people are different. Some of the difference is personality. But peoples lifestyles change with age, financial security, and family circumstances. These all influence a persons decisions. Some of these make it practical for me to buy a nice grand piano, and some of these point to a nice upright piano. However, others dictate the need for a silent piano. If circumstances change, and I pray they do not as I love my wife, I would buy a grand. Otherwise sum these up and in my case they point to the NV10 or the older AG.

If you have a list, I would like to see a poll of the NV10 owners on this forum to see if they would buy the NV10 again despite the issues they have experienced. First: I do not think the high octave is too "piercing." Maybe because I reduce the resonance and ambiance as low as possible. And I rarely play up there anyway. Second: For my needs the UI display works fine. I have learned to think of it as two "controllers" in one module. And so I have learned how to set it for the Pianist Mode system, and approach it differently for the Sound Mode. Now granted I don't do a lot of adjusting in VT like some owners do. The only Pianist Mode sounds I have saved are "Classic" and "Jazz". The Sound Mode is set up for EX Concert and SK5. I don't use the older renderings (except for the Upright on rare occasion). Readers of this thread are aware that I had a problem that Kawai couldn't solve. They came out three times and replaced modules to no avail. Finally delivering a new piano. But if they had fixed the "sound off when headphones not connected" problem I would still have the first one and be completely satisfied. (Sorry for the long rant. ) .