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Whittled down to 2. Kawai ES920 or MP7SE. Know the stats of both. Prefer to play with headphones. MP7SE is older Vs newer es920, of which very few reviews. Been playing for one year only.
What would you go for?

P-515!

THE MP7SE would be my choice: hard to get this much instrument at the price. The ES920 is lighter and less well built (plastic instead of metal) : more modern but I prefer the aesthetic of the MP7SE Tbh.

Actions are the same.
A-piano identical
Most of the ES920 sounds are identical to MP7SE. I believe there are some new string samples but IMO, with four parts, hundreds more sounds, the MP7SE is a different beast. If you want amplification, you would need some nice powered monitors eg Focal Alpha 50's.

If you want a better action, the MP11SE is the obvious choice.

Misclick. content intended for another thread.

Here I would mention that there might be some good offer on the ES-8 as well (ex demo etc.) which is discontinued recently.

This comparison might support the decision a bit:

Doug, mp11se, £700 better than mp7se? Only really interested in playing piano sounds.

Hi Cutec,

After spending weeks on Yamaha and Kawai digitals, I bought a MP11SE and I'm very pleased with my decision. I use it mostly for piano and electric pianos and other arrangers and synths for other sounds.

I've owned 8 different digital pianos in the past 20 years and don't see any digitals as my "forever" piano so my justification and decision are kind of based on that.

Depending on where you are, availability may be an issue right now.

I have owned the Kawai ES7, ES8, and MP11SE.

While the MP11SE was a great piano in everyway I could possibly hope for ....

However, even though I play mostly with headphones, I longed for internal speakers for those rare moments when playing into the air.

I also grew weary of the weight and size of the MP11SE .... so I sold it and have the ES920 on order.

So, if any of those things matter to you ... I would suggest staying away from the MP11SE.

If you might miss internal speakers .... the MP7SE would not work either.

My choice would be (and is) the ES920 without trying it out first ..... based on my confidence in the Kawai product.

I have not tried the ES920 but i am guessing it is a lot like the ES8 which i think is a good thing really , the MP7SE is a great piano and more for the price, if you want built in speakers then the ES920 will have them . I still found the MP7SE on the heavy side but the upside is the case is strong . I would probably pick the MP7SE - I have studio speakers and i use head phones a lot , the only reason i would get the ES920 is if i really wanted built in speakers and a light piano to move around more .

MP7SE is geared towards live performance and you're going to pay for that. If you like such features, then MP7SE is a better choice. The better control surface, the more comprehensive voice selection, better chassis and so on

Hi Doug. Silly question. Could I get away with one focal speaker with mp7se? And is it straight forward to connect to piano?

As a relative beginner, you do not need the hassle of hooking external speakers to your piano ..... especially .... since you are wondering about just getting 1 speaker.

Keep things simple .... get a piano with internal speakers.

I would suggest the Kawai ES8 or the Kawai ES920.

Just plug it into the Left (Mono) output of your piano using a TRS (balanced) 1/4" cable. 2 speakers would sound much, much better though.

SK-EX piano sounds are improved on the ES920.
Many other sounds (EPs, organs, strings, bass, harpsichord, etc.) are new...well, from the CA99, but new for the ES, and not found in the MP7SE.
The Pianet sound is only found in the ES920/ES520.

Kind regards,
James
x

Thanks, James. Based on this, then if you need something for home use, I'd pick ES920!

Just a question: in what way the SK-EX samples have been improved James?

Availability in the EEA is awful right now. Major retailers have been on 3-4 week restocks for near 2 months, it just keeps going backwards.

Per Kawai America, the RH3 action in the past had some reliability issues that were resolved by Kawai sourcing different keyswitches. MP7SE's shipped since late 2018 have the update. The ES920 obviously will also. I would not purchase an ES8 without confirming it has this manufacturing update. With the ES920 already in the development pipeline at the time of the update, it seems possible that the ES8 never got the version update.

I noticed on the Kawai web site that the ES920 has additional virtual piano technician parameters. I will speculate that the improvements are some additional post-processing in the domains of these new parameters, and not new samples.

Looks like release time and hammer noise parameters were added to the virtual piano technician component of the ES920 and are not in the MP7SE.

The action on the MP11SE is superior. I think it is easily worth the extra £700. When I purchased the MP7SE, I was put off by the 72lb weight of the MP11SE. The MP11SE is closer to the feel of a grand than the MP7SE, and the MP7SE is closer to the feel of a good quality upright than the MP11SE. I think this is due to the longer keysticks on the MP11SE. £700 is not the correct price difference because the MP11SE comes with a triple pedal unit that is an optional accessory for the ES920 or MP7SE.

Thanks. I'm going to see if I can raise funds to possibly purchase MP11SE. Nowhere has it so I would be ordering blind. Too many people say the action is great. Hopefully the sound is good too?