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To me the CA98 speaker system sounded significantly better than the CA78 with a more natural acoustic signature. I can’t for really say how much that is due to superior speakers and electronics and how much it’s due to the soundboard but I don’t think the later is all gimmick. That said I wish that Kawai or Yamaha had put a full sized soundboard in their upright hybrids, an Aures or Transacoustic vithout strings so to speak. That would have been cool!

I must have misread, when you said 6x series, I was thinking you were trying them against the Yamaha 6xx DPs. Thanks for setting me straight.

@pppianomarc:
Me too have a CN37. If you still have it, I could give you the customized touch curve I currently use to see if with my curve the touch of the CN37 is more similar to that of the NV5. With my customized curve I can easily reach a broader dynamic range (and I can play consistently in the ppp/pp range) so the playing experience is much better than before.

Yes, soundboard speaker on CA98 and NV5 is the main speaker of their audio system. From specification we known that they only have 2X2cm twitters and 4X8cm top speakers for high and mid-high frequency, all mid-low and super bass are coming from soundboard by transducers. This frequency range is rather important for piano sound playback, especially the source of grand piano. Soundboard speaker is an ideal solution for DP than normal subwoofer.
Im also looking forward to Y/K full sized soundboard version as your said.

Both of N3X and N2 has this kind of soundboard resonator, and I think it's not real soundboard speaker (that's why they are named).
They only complement the resonance atmosphere of the sound, but also convey the sense of vibration to player.
The main speakers of low frequency on N3X and N2 are their 2/1 pair(s) of 16cm cone speaker.
But you cannot find them on CA98/NV5 or TA2/Aures.

It's been two weeks now since I got my NV5, so I thought I'd give you a small update and more pictures.

I couldn't be happier. My first impression was fantastic already, and yet I still find myself admiring so many aspects of it every time I sit down.

The regulation turned out to require a small adjustment. It came very tight, which I suppose is better than being too loose, but it was slightly too much so on some of the keys. Those keys, when released slowly, didn't always fully reset. My lazy RH 4 would sometimes trigger that. With the adjustment, all keys reset perfectly. I wish my 4 had such an easy fix too :-)

It was a great opportunity to admire the beautiful mechanism.


Front panel removed:



Keys and mechanism:



Top left speakers:



Mechanism detail (jack, let-off buttons, back-check catchers):



Hammer detail (with a little "wing" on the butt, presumably for the optical sensor):

Wow! Glad you like it. Who did the regulation? Or did you do it yourself?

Thanks for the pictures! Cool!

Amazing! Also curious about who did the adjustments and if official guy from Kawai did it did you have to pay for it?

What kind of regulation did you have to perform? It’s slightly unexpected to have to regulate a hybrid piano since the very beginning.

Cool! Thanks for sharing the pics.
Hope your regulation goes well.
We can see the top 3 speakers on left side, and is there any opportunity to see the transducers of soundboard?
I have seen the pictures of two transducers on Aures, but I dare not open my CA98 to check them.

I've placed the order for a NV5 today. Sadly i have to wait til March 2020 (if all goes wrong) because it's sold everywhere. It seems that many many ppl wanted one.

Wow, that’s an interesting development You went through so many high end pianos: Kawai CA?, CLP-685, NV-10, NU1X, now NV5. Let us know how you find it in comparison to NU1X.

I played the NV5 for 2h in the store and compared the NU1X and NV5 side by side. While the NU1X is virtually in the same league (look, keyboard action, sound system etc.), it doesn't come close to the NV5. The actions are more or less the same but the NV5 is lighter (especially near the fallboard), the sound production of the NV5 is miles ahead compared to the NU1X in terms of sampling and speaker output. The sound is (and i use this term VERY rarely) absolute fantastic on the NV5. It demonstrates that the Yamaha Samples are getting old. Too clean, thin and polished.

The main reason for buying the NV5 is that the action is quieter so my wife won't get annoyed by latenight practice. I'm also thinking of adding insulation material later into the NV5 to further reduce the noise of the mechanic.

How does the sound compare to the NV10?

The soundboard adds a significant layer of realism in the sound image which the NV10 is lacking imho. Idk how a soundboard could be implemented to the NV10 in its current design. Maybe some sort of NV10+ with a similar cabinet like the Yamaha N2 to have enough space for that.

I think it's exactly the same sound engine and samples as in NV10, so it's a bit odd that you find the sound so much better than NU1X and respectively you found NU1X being better than NV10. Maybe it's the soundboard?

Yes. It does a great job here. The soundboard combined with the newer Audio Hardware plays well together. The sound over headphones is the same as i know from the NV10, so there is no difference. I advice everyone to tryout the NV5. I've never expected that it sounds that good.

How does the sound of the NV5 compare to the NU1X when using headphones?

The same as NV10 vs. NU1X. I didn't liked the headphone quality of the Kawai models in the past because it was a bit muffled for whatever reason. On the NU1X the sound is crisp and clean. In every product video on YouTube the recorded sound of the Kawai models is very good, so i think my Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro is fooling me. Who knows...