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It's not that the sales literature should contain more information.
Rather, people should not extrapolate the limited information in the sales brochure.
Don't take limited info to mean more than what it says.
And recognize that what little it does say is seldom meant to inform. It's meant to influence.

Phew, the NV5 is sold everywhere and no one knows when it's in stock again. :<

Today i sold my NU1X for a really good price.

Hope you get your NV5 soon! Looking forward to your review 😊

But of course, price has to be the elephant in the room for many of us. With the recent revelation that the suggested retail price for the NV5 in America will be $9,995 I'm no longer even imagining the idea of putting this unit in my home. Even if price is bargained down to something like $8,000 that's too rich for this old retiree, living on a fixed pension and social security. Having spoken with a Kawai dealer 130 miles away, however, I most certainly can afford to finance the polished ebony CA98, a handsome piano in its own right. I have no doubt that the acoustic upright touch of the NV5 would be nice, but I'm happy enough with the simulated grand feel of my CA65, so the CA98 won't give me any problems. And in those instances when I've been able to play acoustic grands I haven't had any problems adjusting.

And that brings us to tone quality. The fates only know how many times I've viewed YouTube videos boasting about the wonderful sounds of the CA98/78. And with the release of the NV5, all of a sudden they're woefully inferior? I think maybe not. In any event, this may be one of those times when it's wonderful to only be an intermediate-level pianist, rather than a professional. If I'm not sophisticated enough to tell the difference in tonal values, why buy more than I need to make me happy?

Of course if I win $500 million dollars in the Powerball, the NV5 might be something I'd consider.

Sounds like Kawai can't launch a hybrid digital piano without creating some kind of pricing brouhaha

I would say should wait and see what the price actually is when the piano is finally released in the US (or whatever local market is in question).

1. The "retail price" is always a red herring.

2. That $9995 revelation might be a false rumor.

3. Your $8000 guess is perhaps too high. People have reported paying $9000 for the more expensive NV10 ... and one member in LA reported paying only $8128.

In Sweden the NV5 goes for 62990SEK that is equivalent to US $6400.

https://www.digitalpiano.se/kawai-novus-nv5-hybrid-digital-piano.html

The Recommended retail price from Kawai is 63800SEK that is equivalent to US $6700.

https://kawai.se/produkt/kawai-novus-nv5/

Want it so bad! ☺️

Here it's 5.990 € (6624,19$)

MacMacMac, it would be nice if the $9,995 suggested American retail price for the NV5 was indeed a slyly concocted rumor, made just to get a humorous rise out of members here, but at the moment I'm not so sure. One way to verify the rumored retail is simply to contact Mr. Palmer, and I have a feeling that his response would mirror that already given. But in line with your reasoning, that price leaves me scratching my head. Why would Kawai America list this DP at $10,000 when the NV10 is only marginally more expensive? Something seems really odd here, especially when the NV5 is apparently supposed to be the competitor to Yamaha's NU1X, which can be bought here in America for $5,700 after negotiating.

I had assumed that the NV5 could be purchased for $6,500, after the usual wrangling, which would make it about $800 more expensive than the NU1X. Considering the feature set of the NV5, that price would seem to me to be about right. I could manage that by next summer, and it would be much easier if I actually got a part-time job to buy toys. (I will NOT be a people greeter at Wal-Mart. Not in ten thousand ice ages.)

But if I bought this hybrid, my major concern would be with long-term endurance and repairs. I would keep it for at least a decade, assuming I lived that long, and with all those moving parts something is bound to screw up, even though it has no strings. But I suppose it would be no different than an acoustic upright.

I didn't liked the sound production of a CA-98 in the past way before the NV5 was on the horizon.

The first two NV5’s were received in the Kawai USA center and already sold to a dealer/dealers. I have it from a reliable source.
🤗

How stubbornly practical one might be to win $500 million and not purchase one of the best grand pianos in the world for $150k or even a fantastic grand for just $50k or even just a good entry-level baby grand for $10k, but will purchase a NV5 instead?!

Around $6,500 I think is reasonable market price.
Hope you get your NV5 soon.

CyberGene, my statement was just a tongue-in-cheek joke, an exaggeration meant to be humorous.

What I love about the members of this forum is that, while they are very knowledgeable about digital pianos, and most likely excellent musicians, they often have a wicked sense of humor. Especially fun are the posts I read on the first day of April, a number of which I've fallen for without realizing I was being played for a fool.

But to be directly serious about my statement, if I had assets of $500 million dollars I probably wouldn't play the piano. I'd be too busy trying to increase my net worth so I could rub elbows with the ultra-rich; it just wouldn't occur to me to simply enjoy life and smell the roses. I think I'm far happier being a middle-class retiree and enjoying my piano every day than I would be putting on airs. There certainly are wealthy people who understand the value of achieving balance in their lives, but I could never have that level of maturity.

Ohh, you got me 😳

Hey folks,

The USD price $9995 MSRP is what Alan Palmer emailed me. And it didn’t read “expected” price, it read that this is the MSRP. He did add that dealers will price down from there.
Personally, if it’s more than $6500 I am going to have to get the CA98 instead

It's surely not worth $10,000. Nor even $6500.
You can get a decent new upright acoustic for $6500, and a real good one for not much over $10,000.

I think both Yamaha (NU1X) and Kawai (NV5) missed the mark on this one ... at least from my perspective.
If I were to spend big on a digital piano I'd want a grand action. For an upright action ... I wouldn't bother.

It's kind of hard to argue with your logic, at least for me. The only hybrid piano I've played has been the NU1, whose acoustic upright action I found rather pleasing. I can't say if I'd find an acoustic grand action to be more satisfying, as I may not have the experience to properly judge the difference, but this leads me to ask questions.

For those of us with a limited budget who desire a grand action, wouldn't the CA98/78, with its simulated grand feel, be more appealing than the acoustic upright touch of pianos such as the NU1X or Novus NV5? I'm guessing here that the answer can't be made in purely black and white terms. How close does a CA digital piano really come to approximating the feel of an acoustic grand? How superior will the sound coming from a hybrid upright cabinet be compared to the more compact cabinet of a CA piano? How effective will the sustain be in a fully digital as vs. a hybrid unit? And so on and so on.

It appears to me that there are so many questions to answer that simply testing a piano in a store on a one-time basis is not the smartest thing a prospective buyer could do. Three or four visits to a piano store would be needed, I would think. On a personal basis that's not a comfortable reality for me, living in a rural U.S. area. The closest Bonners-style store is probably a good 350 miles away.

CA78 is considerably worse feeling than the NU1X and by extension NV5. GF2 is just a regular digital action despite the wooden keys. And the escapement isn’t even a simulation of escapement. It’s a simulation of the notch feel, so they recreated what’s worse about escapement: the notch resistance, but omitted what’s best: the actual let-off that detaches the hammer and releases the hammer weight and resulting shock from your fingers. Don’t believe marketing material, CA-series are good digital instruments but they don’t feel like an acoustic action, even an upright one. If you can afford it, go for NV5 or NU1X.

I think you're right about this ...
And this is a darn shame ...