Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Announcement of new Kawai AURES2 Hybrid Piano

So, here it is. A brand new Kawai Hybrid piano has been announced!

What a load of nonsense.. Take it back! Defective!

Hello,

How sad...

Cheers and happy playing *true* instruments,

HZ

I would also be hesitant to buy an Aures grand, but could be convinced otherwise with more info. 1.5 years ago I was unsure about the choice between a K300 ATX3 and a K300 Aures. One the one hand I didn't really 'need' the Aures functionality but on the other hand I can see that the acoustic sound might be enhanced by blending in the digital sound of a grand. I was hesitant about the transducers being directly mounted on the sound board, and feared that it might negatively affect the acoustic sound, which to me is much more important. I asked around but no one could really confirm or reject this idea. Since I had no read need for the Aures functionality I played safe and went for the ATX3 version.

With a grand piano like this I would say that there is even less need to 'enhance' the acoustic sound. The aures functionality would then only be a plus for people who like to have accompanying violins etc when they play, like in this video. Not my taste but I suspect the market for this may be considerable.

Hello,


Thank you @pianogabe for giving a more balanced view than mine of about an hour ago.

My post was out of general grumpiness, and not really my style, which I regret.

I do usually feel sad though when any electronics at all appear in or on acoustic instruments. I just am all about lovely purity, authenticity, and integrity.

Cheers and happy playing the instrument of one's choice,

HZ

HZPiano,

The new ATX4/AR2 model variations are an addition to the existing upright and grand piano instruments that Kawai already produces.

Pianists that wish to purchase a standard acoustic instrument will still be able to do so. However, those who also require additional features, such as the ability to mute the acoustic sound and practise with headphones, or play without headphones but maintaining the ability to adjust the digital piano sound, may wish to consider the ATX4 or AR2 variants of each model.

Kind regards,
James
x

We’ll I’m not sure that video is going to help drive sales. I’ve posted this link several times but to me remains the only credible demonstration of why you’d buy Aures/Transacoustic.

I played a GL30 Aures2 recently and if I was buying an ATX4 I might have paid the small uplift to get Aures. With Yamaha the uplift is considerably more £500 vs £2000).

Two dealers who I have a lot of time for have suggested the alternative approach of using Anytime/ATX4 plus speakers is a better option. Yamaha for instance on their Disklavier have 2 powered monitors connected on special brackets to the underside of the piano. There’s a video of this being done here: The speakers are Yamaha MSP3’s I believe.

A cheaper option to ATX4/Anytime if you want to layer sounds but don’t want to mute the piano is a third party sensor rail under the keys. This should have no impact on the piano feel.

For those interested, whilst not advertised I’m told Kawai will add ATX4 or Aures to SK’s.

The updates ATX4/Aures2 looks super interesting on the grand pianos because of the new action that is supposed to not affect the regulation from a normal grand. I’m also happy they removed the touchscreen all together from both upright and grand models.

Personally I’d like some control from the panel on the piano, so at least to select sound. I think with Aures everything is from the app unlike the current (now discontinued) Yamaha’s.

Is it really confirmed that Yamahas are discontinued? They are still available in Europe as far as I’m concerned.

I’m as sure as I can be that Yamaha’s production has stopped. Whilst some UK dealers were up for taking an order it was without any guarantee that they could deliver a piano. Others simply wouldn’t accept an order.

Best info is they have stopped due to lack of parts and when they start it will be a newer system.

I’d suspect that any dealer worldwide taking an order is on equally dodgy ground as regards their ability to deliver.

All this was news to some dealers in the UK including Yamaha’s own London store.

My info was confirmed by more than one source !

Interesting… in Sweden they are listed and they increased the prices with about 5% like a week ago. Feel strange that that they would do that if they know they can’t be produced.

I might give them a call to see what they say ☺️

Anyway I’m excited for the new Kawai ATX4 grands… sadly I have to travel to Germany to even try them because no store have Kawai grands in Sweden.

Have you tried Steinway gallery in Stockholm (www.piano.se)? They do sell Kawai. They are a part of Juhl-Sörensen in Denmark who is Scandinavias major dealer for Kawai. They also have a stellar shop in Copenhagen

Yes i have but unfortunately they only stock digital pianos. They did have a GL10 ATX2 for a short time and K300 aures and K500 Aures but nothing more. I have no big hopes they will get the new ATX4/Aures2 anytime soon.

They are actually the authorised Kawai dealer in Sweden also. So its a bit surprising they are not having more Kawai pianos in stock to try.

It’s also from them i rent my K200-ATX3. But pianorent.se is the site but run from the same guys.

Here is more information about the silent system and how they new stop system doesn’t effect the regulation…. Exciting timed indeed

https://www.kawai-global.com/product/ar2/

Yeah that's a problem... Kawai should step up their game in Sweden, Yamaha is way too dominant. Actually it's hard to buy any other brand then Yamaha or Steinway in Sweden if you want a new piano. And there are so many great brands out there.

Agree… if you want to try a C.Bechstein/W.Hoffman you need to travel to Denmark or Norway … we are just to poor people to have the good stuff haha

Thanks Boloulus, for the link. This is highly interesting. I was very much wondering how the new stop system would work, given that I have ATX3 myself. From my understanding of that page, the new system is not fundamentally different in design, but more an improvement of the existing system. The stop bar is closer to the hammer head and possibly sturdier. My guess is that this decreases the variation in 'flexing' between hammers with different mass at the moment of stopping, and thus the variation in exact position that they will maximally reach. If there is less variation, it would be easier to regulate the let-off to a shorter distance without running the risk that a hammer is able to reach a string under some conditions, and is thus not silent.