Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Kawai ES520 / ES920 Owners Club

OK...I made the decision. While you all had helpful suggestions, I ended up picking the es920 due to mainly the fact that I found a store in-state who had one and could ship it today, his bday is next week, and affordability. It seems like every other option is sold out everywhere.

Also, I can add the optional cabinet stand and triple pedal, when I can finally find one, to give it that piano appearance, but still carry/move it during our trips/moves.

Hopefully, one day I'll be able to get him the acoustic he's dreaming of.

Thank you for your help and I guess we're now a part of the ES920 club

Cool. The included pedal works well and doesn’t skid around the floor too badly. I use my ES8 on a good quality double X stand (I think it was a K&M and it cost around $99) so I can break the setup down and put it in the closet between weeks when I’m using it. It’s quite stable, though a platform stand gives your legs a little more freedom of movement. (It’s slightly heavier and a little less portable, but still easier to disassemble and reassemble than the factory stands.)

Congratulations. I hope he really enjoys it.
I have my 920 with the matching stand and triple pedal unit and it works really well.
If you need to move it, it's very easy and light but I don't find the build quality to be an issue at all.
Enjoy!

I’ve had one of these for about a month now and love it. I don’t have an acoustic to compare it to though for volume - where should the master volume slider be to be comparable to an acoustic?

I only have access to one acoustic piano to compare, but even at full volume my es920 is not as loud as my mother's acoustic piano.

Thanks! I was just going to ask if anyone has the cabinet stand and what they think of it; does it appear to be good quality?

Hi all,
so i finally made the decision to get the es920 for my son, and now I'm debating on stand. My thought had been to use what we have currently until we move and then upgrade to the cabinet stand for it, but he has a simple x style and I'm concerned that may not be enough support. Who has the Kawai stand for it and do you recommend it? Think it's worth the whopping 260? Is it just metal and particle board, or solid wood? I'd like to make our own, as I saw someone else on here has, but not sure how that would turn out since I'm not a carpenter.
Thanks for any feedback

Hi Everyone! I got my ES920 in January 2021. My main instrument is a nice acoustic baby grand. I got the ES920 so I can play scales and Hanon and work through learning pieces without annoying the people I live with. I nearly always play with headphones.

To put my observations in perspective: I've been playing piano for almost 50 years... as a hobbyist. After all these years my playing is still amateurish. Also, in what follows I'm comparing the ES920 to my acoustic baby grand. This is clearly not a fair comparison, but hopefully will be useful to other folks looking for an instrument for silent practice to augment an acoustic piano.

The action of the ES920 is realistic enough that I can work on my technique on the ES920 and any improvements transfer to the acoustic. This is the most important aspect of the ES920 for me, and the ES920 delivers! The ES920 action is bouncier than the action on my acoustic. I usually don't notice but sometimes I do feel the bounciness in my fingers. If I'm playing quietly I can hear the ES920 action through my open backed headphones, but to be fair if I play my acoustic quietly enough I can also hear the action. My wife reports that she can hear the ES920 action from various locations in our house, but she also says it doesn't bother her (especially compared to listening to me play the same three measures 50 times in a row on my acoustic).

I play with the "SK Concert Grand" sound almost exclusively. The sound of the samples is lovely, although it sounds slightly artificial and electronic to me over the headphones or built-in speakers. Not really surprising for an electronic instrument! Some day I hope to hear an SK-EX in person, they must be amazing pianos!

I use the built-in metronome quite a bit. I found the default volume to be too loud and didn't like the default 4 beats per measure setting, but it was easy enough to adjust these settings and then save them. Suggestion for improvement: add a knob that I can twist to set the metronome tempo, rather than the awkward up/down buttons.

I occasionally use bluetooth audio to stream music through the piano that I play along with. I have used this to make my own arrangement of a song I like, something I never did before I got the ES920.

I ordered the ES920 with the HM-5 stand and F-302 pedals. I'm used to my acoustic which is heavy and stable, and I was unable to adjust to the slightly wobbly stand. Playing the keyboard vigorously moved the stand, and pedaling moved it more. I tried adjusting the screw underneath the pedals, and also shimmed the F-302 board for extra support. The shims helped but not enough. Another issue was that with the HM-5/F-302 combo the pedals were closer to me than I'm used to, which I found awkward and uncomfortable.

I exchanged the stand and pedals for an On-Stage KS7350 stand and GFP-3 pedals. The stand is not as stable as my acoustic but it's more stable than the HM-5 and I usually don't notice wobbling. The GFP-3 pedals are great! The damper pedal on the GFP-3 plays more similarly to the damper pedal on my acoustic than the pedal that came with the ES920: the GFP-3 pedal has more resistance and I can rest my foot lightly on the pedal without engaging it. Having a soft pedal is nice as well, and it's good to have sostenuto for the very rare occasions when I use it.

The HM-5 setup looked nicer than what I have now so it's too bad it didn't work for me! If you are considering the HM-5 stand, keep in mind that I'm sensitive to keyboard stability because I'm used to playing my acoustic. I have seen youtube videos of amazing playing on wobbly stands!

I am very happy with the ES920. Playing with headphones is engaging and immersive, and I can play happily for hours. If you have an acoustic piano and are looking for a digital piano for silent practice I highly recommend including the ES920 on your list of digital pianos to consider!

Hello rogerch, welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the ES920.

I'm sure your post will prove useful to other PianoWorld visitors considering this instrument, and other models in a similar price range.

Kind regards,
James
x

If I may recommend another model in ‘a similar price range’, P-515!



Yours truly,
Pete XlV

Hi Caleb's mum,

In april 2021 I got my ES920, and just like you I was looking for a stable stand.
Because I've got also an acoustic piano, the new stand should have to give me the same stability and room for my knees and feet as I have when playing my acoustic piano.

I looked on the internet and tested in a store, and so I skipped the X-stands (too unstable) and double X (too little room for my knees and feet). I was also able to test a Z-stand, but I wasn't able to adjust the height of it well enough to sit comfortably behind it.

Now I have at home the K&M 18820 Omega Pro Black, as stable as you can wish and in a way you can fold it's legs. And when I go with my ES920 to a rehearsal or gig, I take the K&M 18840 Baby Spider Pro Black with me. This "baby" looks a bit unfamiliar for a stand but is indeed also very stable and is very easy to carry around.

Both are quality stands and it looks like they are cheaper than the stand of Kawai itself.

Good luck,
Jelle.

If you are talking about me, I'm no carpenter either.

Go to Home Depot and get a 2*12, get it as straight as possible. (at first I got 1*12, too wobbly)

I ask home depot to cut it for me.

I ask to cut in three pieces: 2 pieces at 22" inch (legs) and one piece at 54 inch (top). You may want the legs cut a lil longer or shorter. I cut the legs at 21.5 inches and the top of the keys is like 27.5 inch from the floor.


I screwed the top part on top of the legs (not in between) with 2" inch screws. A cordless drill with a philips or whatever type screws you use. 2 screws on each side.

Then get two 1*10 and have Home Depot cut it at 54" inches and screw it in the back on the legs (not in between) portion for reinforcement and to make it prettier. I use two screws on each side 1.5" inch long.

I got the idea from this:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/221239400427534093/

But make sure to screw the top part on top of the legs, not in between like they did in the pic above (more stable that way).

I bought black paint from home depot.

I had to put a felt pad on one side of the bottom leg because it was not cut 100% even.

Its not a fancy stand but it is very stable and inexpensive.

Thank you, very helpful!

thank you!

So I found a good price on a used ES920 is there anything I should look out for? The person only had it like a month but seems odd to sell it instead of returning it.

I only have bought one DP, and it was a new one, so i can´t tell you what to look after. But what would make me nervous is to know that he could get full refund but prefer to sell it second hand loosing cash on it. So I would try to know why this, before anything else. Concerning the DP in itself, i am sure other members would give you nice advices.
I would check the speakers, since at full volume with EQ north, it seems that some ES920 have distorsions (left speaker).

Have a look for this:

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...es520-es920-owners-club.html#Post3185257

Another reason to not return it is most dedicated piano stores do not have much, if any, return policy. To buy my ES920 they offered neither discount or any return period, and this was a demo model (in perfect shape however).

With many music stores like Guitar Center offering 30-45 days returns, it's a bit of a shock to have no return window!

Wow that is surprising I am used to when I buy stuff in a store having a return period in most cases (with limited exceptions like close out and clearance stock) good to know could be the case with this....well time to waffle some more....

The thing is, with limited supply, you go where you can buy it. Sometimes it's only piano stores that have some of these piano-centric digitals in stock. This is why I bought from a piano store in southern California, nobody else had the ES920 available.

I've heard many complaints about Guitar Center over the years, but in my book they can't be beat: they try to be competitive, and with a 45 day return window, it's one of the best. And, they have enough brick and mortar stores that if you need to return a board, you don't need to ship it! Huge plus!

By the way, I have my ES110 up for sale in the Oceanside/Carlsbad beach towns in Southern California for $600.