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Hi everyone! As they say, better late than never!

After much struggling about buying a CSP-170, and a visit to a Piano Store, I am leaving next week my little Casio PX-160 that motivated me to take piano "seriously" again, and made the passionate-but-not-so-wise-financially choice to acquire the prestigious CA99. I wasn't so sure about it because I was wondering about my motivation, but after hearing me play, the sales rep from the store told me that my piano level was far too high for an instrument of the caliber of the CSP, which was a fine instrument, but wouldn't do me justice. I thought about selling shenanigans at first, but he told me that he didn't have any CA99 in stock and gave me several websites from which to order.

So here I am, eager to put my hands on it and try the very first "serious" melody I played while learning piano in conservator... To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X (being nostalgic and all).

I'll be sure to post my impressions and pictures once I get it!

Hi everyone. At the beginning I apologize for my poor english. I appreciate all your efforts here and valuable informations that I found here. I am new on the forum and also at the beginning of adventure with piano music. I' ve been learning by myself during last two years using quite simple keyboards such as Komplete Control A61, and Alesia keyboard and vst. Now I am going to make another step, start learning with teacher so I am looking for first, more serious and more similar to upright piano instrument. I have already done quite wide research - both: online and by testing many digital and acoustic pianos. I checked Yamaha CLP pianos, Casio, Roland but I was most impressed by Kawai products. I am thinkg about CA78, CA98 or pianos from new series - CA79 and CA99. What I am worrying much is the noise, rattling - resonance sound issue that I experienced the most with CA99, a bit less with CA79 and CA98 and least with CA78. This is something that I hear clearly and I suppose that it would disturbs me a lot especially that I would like to play often without headphones. I will really appreciate for any advices in my choosing process. Do you think that there is a chance to solve the problem with rattling speaker in the nearest time for example by another update of software? Or maybe appropriate changing sound settings can solve the problem sufficiently and eliminate the issue in the satisfactional level? In this point I will be very grateful for any informations from James Kawai. According to rattling sound problem I am thinking about choosing CA78 for now as I didn't noticed this issue in this model. But what about action. Is there a big difference in this ascpect between GFII and GFIII? Is it something that is really worth to go to new series? I am also wonder about lack of soundboard if I take CA78 (or 79) . I can hear that this make a real difference and sound is deeper, more realistic but I don't find it as important as rattling sound issue.

rafalb,
do you hear this rattling sound also in this sample of CA79?
https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...i-ca79-ca99-owners-club.html#Post2992365
Because if you do not - then not every CA79 or CA99 has it. I don't hear any rattling in this sample, and I don't hear any rattling in my own CA99.
So it would be very important to know what you think about that sample.
Because it is not clear to me if some people do not hear what others do, or only some instruments have problems because perhaps some screw became loose during transportation and needs to be tightened up.

So, I finally got to try out the top 2 models of the Kawai CA series - both the current and previous generations (78, 98, 79, 99). The sales rep let me play for as long as I liked and I think I must have played for about 45 minutes at the showroom, including about 5 minutes on a Kawai GX-3.

IMO, the GFII action on the previous models actually felt closer to the GX-3's Millennium III action. I thought the GFIII would feel really similar to the GFII, but they are entirely different to me. The GFIII is lighter and a lot more responsive. It's a truly remarkable keyboard to play on.

Moving on to the speakers of the CA79 and 99, besides playing by myself, I got the sales rep to play it so I can listen from a non-playing perspective. I felt that the depth of the sound coming through both DPs were worlds apart. The CA99 really envelops you. It just sounded so much richer and warmer than its little brother. I would assume that's caused by the soundboard? If so, I really can't understand how anyone could call it just a gimmick.

How to connect a sustain pedal to CA99?
Is there a way to do so?
My two other digital pianos both have three-pedal assemblies, but they both still allow to connect a separate sustain pedal.
Therefore I grew accustomed to playing the sustain pedal located at approximately C6 position.
It is much more comfortable that way, and I feel stable, no danger of falling over to the right.
I am missing that sustain pedal really badly. I do have it, in fact I have several excellent sustain pedals, with half-pedaling and all, but nowhere to connect them.
I think it should be possible to add an improvised socked to CA99, but probably it would affect its warranty.

I wonder if perhaps it is possible to add a sustain pedal via midi in. But it has to work with local instruments.

Console pianos offer no means for connecting a separate pedal.

Perhaps you just need to sit a bit farther left?

Did anyone really called it that? Many people don't care about the soundboard because they are playing on headphones but that's all I read about it, if anyone calls it a gimmick then he/she didn't test it. Soundboard is amazing on those pianos.

The soundboard of CA99 is pretty small, a half-hearted attempt. They could have made it almost double in size. Perhaps that is gimmicky about it.

Still, it makes me worry about the humidity in the room, because I am running air conditioning practically non-stop.

I now have an NV10 at home, and I'm still looking for a piano I can play in my (external) office. In fact, I want to replace the P-515 I've got there, as I don't seem to be able to get used to its (NWX) action.

Some days ago, I went test-playing the NV5, the NU1X and the CA99. I don't know the GFII action at all, but can honestly say that I liked the CA99's GFIII action a lot. I think it's quite similar to a real grand action (well, at least to the NV10's action that I know and like...)... much closer than the P-515's action (in my opinion!).

Had I not come to the conclusion that it'd be great to also learn playing on an upright action, in addition to the NV10's grand action, I'd have bought (or rather: rented) the CA99 on the spot. What I nice feel(ing)!

I have a CA67 (GFII) and a CA79 (GFIII) in my living room right now. The CA67 is sold but not picked up yet.


CA67 (GFII): Heavier (measured with weight), more quiet and mushier/softer when hitting the keybed.

CA79 (GFIII): Lighter (quite a lot), more noisy and harder when hitting the keybed.

(The heaviness of my CA67 (GFII) could be due to wear and tear (5 years of use), and therefore possible to fix. But it is still a lot lighter than the Yamaha 515 NWX.)

I would say that the mushiness of GFII is not a bad thing. It actually make it feel more "exquisite" somehow. If it had the same lightness as GFIII, I probably would prefer it.

The hardness of CA79 (GFIII) gives a very nice feeling of "contact with the instrument" when you hit the keybed. It certainly gives you the illusion of vibration in you fingers.

So:

CA67 gives you a nice mushy "contact with the instrument" feeling when the key goes down, and then it quietly "softens" away as you hit the keybed.

CA79 only gives you a hard "contact with the instrument" feeling when you hit the keybed. But then it adds a very nice "vibration" illusion/sensation to you fingers.

It is not an illusion of vibration but real vibration, certainly with CA99 but probably with CA79 as well. Because I can feel vibration even with Casio PX-330 or even with Korg PA1000 semi-weighted keyboard - but it has quite big onboard speakers.
And there are vibrations going through CA99 pedals as well.

Parkher, to be honest I am not certainly sure right now about CA79. I played many instruments and maybe I judged CA79 too hastily. What I am sure 100% that there was rattle sound issue in CA99 but only during playing lower keys and only at high volume. As many others said it seems the problem with left upper speaker. During discussion about this matter with the shop's dealer he confessed that this new series has that error, and he still believes that another update of firmware will eliminate problem. He even said that in this case it looks like step backward. This is why I am asking for your opinion and consider buying CA78/CA98 or even acoustic piano with silent mode (but this would be much more expensive). And please don't get me wrong. I think that these are great instruments especially comparing to the products of other brands and this is why I decided to buy one, but if you spend this amount of money you expect that there is no issues especially with the sound. This is why I am asking, checking, wondering..

Completely out of the subject here is my first musical and film work (ArchiPaper): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgCm4X4c2zY

Parkher I have just noticed that you were asking about sample pasted here, on forum. No, I can't here any rattling sound in this example so perhaps CA79 is fine. I would love to look at such test using CA99.

Thank you very much for your reply, sir!

Can you check one more thing, while 2 instruments are near you? You said that gf3 action feels much more lighter and that is what many on this forum mentioned before. But than Kawai representative said, that the actual weight of the keys for both keyboards gf2 and gf3 are the same. Can you check somehow the differance of effort needs to put down the key on each keyboard? Did they really made it lighter by cuting down key's weight or it is just the feeling, cause the keyboard is much more "faster", while the keys weight is the same?

For me it is very important to know because I don't want have less physical work for my hands during playing the instrument.

I think you are being reasonable rafalb. I returned my CA99 and replaced it with a p-515 + VST/speakers because of the speaker rattle fault along with a dead pixel and faulty headphone jack. There is a possibility (and in my opinion) that the speaker rattle might be a design flaw with the cabinet rather than a software issue. Maybe at least try the instrument you are buying in-person before committing to the purchase to confirm the problem isn’t present at time of purchase.

CA78 user support/updates for the older model seems to be limited. For example the issue of the LCD screen not fully turning off (right now it just turns black, but the backlight is on full brightness) will never? be fixed on the CA78/79. This was an issue that was addressed and confirmed by Kawai James years ago. They also decided to release this updated model with the same problem.

https://forum.pianoworld.com//ubbthr...and-ca78-digital-pianos.html#Post2756619

https://forum.pianoworld.com//ubbthr...and-ca79-digital-pianos.html#Post2991528

I still think the CA99 is a good instrument over all, but I was not confident with the build quality at all. I would be concerned that other problems may crop up over time like with other kawai products (ES8, older CAs, etc). At least there is a five year warranty, but still...

Just checked with a weight.
It seems to be right that both instruments have about equal key weight. But the CA67 is a bit slower, meaning that it requires a gentle tap on the weight for the key to move down. While on the CA79, using the same weight the key moves down immediately, without any encouragement.

This is absolutely not true. I have CA99 without any rattle. Actually here in this forum some people were complaining about the problem with the left upper speaker of CA79. It seemed only CA79 related, but then the same claim was made also about CA99. But more claims about CA79 than about CA99.
The sound of CA99 is exactly the same - just fine. This posted sample goes for both CA79 and CA99.
Thank you very much for listening to the sample. Because some people began to think that it is a systemic problem with all the CA79/CA99 pianos.
If that sample is OK - then it is not. Because also CA99 sounds the same, without any rattle. Except that the spruce sound board makes it closer to the real thing. I had no opportunity to compare the sound of CA79 with the sound of CA99, but here is what Beowulf writes:
"I felt that the depth of the sound coming through both DPs were worlds apart. The CA99 really envelops you. It just sounded so much richer and warmer than its little brother".
But I cannot make any assurances that if you get CA99 it will not rattle, because it vibrates a lot while playing and if some screw becomes loose while the instrument is being shaken in some delivery truck then that screw needs tightening.
I too had a minor issue with my CA99: the pin in the hinge of the music rest was loose (became loose while transporting the piano?) and its wrong end came out when I opened the rest for the first time. This turned out to be a non-issue, because when I put it back in correctly, it was squeezed in (by design) and it is working fine ever since.

Again, listen to that posted sample. If it sounds OK to you - there is no design flaw.
Yes, it is a sample of CA79, not of CA99, but that issue was reported about CA79 first, by several people. You perhaps were the first (and possibly the only one? - I'm too lazy to read the whole thread again) to report it about CA99.
My CA99 sounds exactly like that posted sample - the same amount (zero?) of rattle or white noise etc.
From the issues you had with your CA99, the phone jack problem seems to be the most serious one. At least some soldering may be required, and it might not be apparent exactly where.
The rattling - probably it was enough to tighten a screw, but also there is a slight possibility that a rib got loose on the soundboard and required gluing back. Even less likely that a crack in the soundboard itself was made during shipping - a crack big enough so that its edges were rattling against each other. Unlikely. And probably easy to see.
As to one dead pixel. Well, that screen is not for watching movies. Actually, it is not for anything because it is more convenient to use a tablet or a phone instead.

Thank you

Parkher I just write what I experienced by playing on one CA99 (because they have just one in the shop) and what I was told by the music shop owner. I don't know if it is systemic problem for this series or not. And I didn't write anything like this (just what I experienced) because I had already chance to play on one CA99 but I experienced this issue and other users too. And for me this is good reason to make investigation, to ask, and check before purchase because I do not want to spend a few thousands euro and buy instrument with such problem that would disturb me a lot. You write that you suppose that on this forum there was just one person reporting this issue but in the same time you say that you didn't check if it is true because of your laziness. Come on....It doesn't sound serious.
I will go again to the shop tomorrow or another day and will make video using my phone. This rattling issue is enough strong so you will be able to notice it even recorded by phone. If you say that your CA99 does not have this problem then this is a great news. Please take a phone and record it (using camera to record also picture, not only sound) but remember to show that you set the volume at maximum . Then play low keys hard. It will take no more than 2 minutes so you should not have any problem to do it and post here. That would be very precious to see if there are CA99 that have not this issue at all. Thanks in advance. Best.

Razorbill thank you for your comment. I really appreciate it! I will try to find in my area another CA99 and test it. Just for now my favourite is CA78 R which I played and the sound was great. I will also try to find another CA79 and check it. I already have keyboard with VST/ speakers so I do not take into consideration anything similar to p-515 (but I believe it is a great keyboard). I would love to continue my learning on instrument similar to acoustic (both by design and action) with no need to connect to laptop, VST, and all this stuff.