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That's the thing. They should be outstanding when it comes to quality control and make sure that minimal amount of units need replacing in the first place. Whether or not you can return the piano depends largely on the dealer from which you bought the piano and also on the laws of the country you live in, so not everyone has the "luxury" of being able to repeatedly return pianos until satisfaction.

Good points Hookxs. QC should be a top priority in manufacturing. Yes, living in the US I do have the "luxury" and and I should not take that for granted. We are very fortunate in the US to have product availability, aggressive pricing, and guaranteed customer satisfaction. I apologize if was coming across as arrogant or overconfident. I was just trying to express my complete satisfaction with Kawai: the products, my dealer, James, etc.

I am relatively new here and believe I have no bias for or against Kawai. You are correct that there is the feeling of many more complaints of physical problems with Kawai. In fact, I personally have the distinct impression that you are almost assured of at least a minor problem at some point.

In regards to Roland, the complaints seem limited to visible key wear, possibly due to their ivory coating. I've seen this in person. Yamaha, I have seen only the one complaint about a hum sound, and I'd say that is the brand I researched the most here, since my original piano was Yamaha.

However, we should be careful about these conclusions. Looking at the "prices paid" and the general level of discussion, we can immediately see that Kawai receives the most vocal attention here. Whether this is due to owners of other brands quietly enjoying their pianos or a higher level of Kawai ownership, we do not know. It is well understood that Internet forums will have the most participation from people having problems, rather than those with no problems.

Another F key on my Kawai went bad. This is getting ridiculous. Now two keys click and clap like it was an 200 years church organ. It's the second unit, still waiting for third one to arrive. Looks like Kawai has some serious quality issues with this model.

I really wonder if something is broken or not. There have been a number of pianos with some kind of click in them and all they needed was some more lube. Piano actions seem to be pretty much universally lubed with white grease of some kind. It's really long lasting but it can get too thin in some cases and adding a little solves a multitude of ills that may seem serious.

I'm suggesting you open a brand new piano to do this, of course. Just that it might not be a fundamentally serious issue.

If this problem occurs with third unit, I'll send it back to get it fixed instead of getting a new piano. They said it should be an easy fix (something wrong with hammer mechanism). I don't want to open it by myself because that would void the warranty. But hopefully this unit will be without any defects. I will keep you guys posted

...Despite you returned 3 of them? Man, that's beyond positive thinking.
What happens with kawai is that, in a blind people country, the one-eyed is the king.

It was not my choice to be given a new one every time I returned it. The dealer just handed me a new one both times. I would have been plenty happy if they just repaired the first one. SO yes, that might be the cause of my "beyond positive thinking" with Kawai.

If I bought a Dell or Mac and and it had an issue, they would have repaired it or sent me a refurb. Not give a brand new boxed one every time I have an issue.

Simply stating that Kawai has a no hassle guarantee IMO. If they are taking a big hit on faulty units, still not my problem. Hire a new QC manager.

speaking of less key travel..

this might be cause of less levels of loudness(less travel = less levels of loudness - velocity and stuff).

in another way

maybe quantity of those levels is the same as others, however , its more difficult to catch them, they are more compacted.

this is only my suspects, not facts

Over here in Singapore, Yamaha does it quite differently.

I bought my P155 online from sg.yamaha.com. On the day of delivery, they actually assemble the piano & stand at their warehouse, tested it, then delivery the whole set to me.

I'd expect that they send over the boxes and assemble at my place. But then, if anything were to go wrong, they'd have to bring the piano back and come back another day. So, I guess their way does have some merits.

Greetings,

I've been researching some of the new Kawai DP models, with the intention to upgrade my cn 290. I really like the features of the ES7, but I'm becoming apprehensive about ordering one online considering the QC issues I've been reading about. Any recent purchasers care to share their opinions or stories regarding an ES7?
Thanks!

I just got third unit, but it was damaged by delivery company (CEVA)... I'll post some pictures soon.

EDIT:

pics

https://plus.google.com/photos/1077...90889444574105777?authkey=CN6dg4iIkbqxcQ

Oh that's bad luck. I suppose the keybed is perfect though? Another exchange....?

Keybed isn't damaged. I'm waiting for response from my dealer. I really don't want to have a 2000$ piano with a huge bend on the back.

Not only that, but there are some delicate electronics In DPs. Very well could be more damage than cosmetics. Not so uncommon hearing about shipping damage in this forum.

Ouch, that looks nasty. Fingers crossed the replacement is delivered with a little more care.

James
x

ES7 is an awesome DP. I really love it, even despite some problems with first two units (third one was perfect). If you are hesitant about buying online, send me PM and I can give you name of the store where I bought mine. They'll deal with any problem you have with your DP and ship you a replacement or fix it if needed.

I have had my ES7 for a couple of months now and it is the best DP I have owned. It has a very nice tone and the keybed is great. I recently had one of the keys periodically not sounding a tone when pressed. I called KawaiUS tech support and they are working with a nearby technician to come and service it for me.

...so,did the other DPs, you had before, break even sooner than this one?

I started playing last September, on a 80's Yamaha (pf-80) that had been treated really bad (it served as a goalpost in football beach games, among other stories including liquids).
Keybed was almost in perfect condition, just the speakers were broken (bad contacts, a very cheap repairing btw).
Perhaps this reliability allows Yamaha to not develope its sound as much as others, and still keep at the forefront.
Kawais have a nicer emulation of a real piano for a given price, but...do they last as much as others?

Mine works well, so far (6 months)

Heh I may go drop my CV in at Roland.... I'm considering moving back home in 2014 and Hamamatsu on paper at least is not so far away..... esp as I've read a lot of people state that Roland manuals are crap. Wait you do understand what I write yes?