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expired Posted by iconian | Staff • Aug 26, 2022
expired Posted by iconian | Staff • Aug 26, 2022

Kawai CA49 88-Key Grand Feel Compact Digital Piano with Bench $1899 + free s/h

$1,899

$2,899

34% off
Adorama
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deal [adorama.com]

$1899 + free s/h (price drops in cart)

Key Features
  • Motherboard developed in partnership with Onkyo for improved tonal clarity
  • Updated control panel layout with modern OLED graphic display
  • Chopin Walzer (1-19) lesson book
  • Tone Control setting with 8 selectable tone presets
  • Low Volume Balance function for improved touch consistency at reduce volume
  • Modern cabinet design modelled after larger Concert Artist instruments
  • Improved Shigeru Kawai grand piano sounds
  • Enhanced 'Light' Touch Curve setting for young children
What's in the box:
  • CA49 88-Key Grand Feel Compact Digital Piano (Premium Rosewood)
  • Stand (with Assembly Hardware)
  • Matching Bench
  • AC Power Adapter
  • Kawai 5 Year Limited Warranty
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
deal [adorama.com]

$1899 + free s/h (price drops in cart)

Key Features
  • Motherboard developed in partnership with Onkyo for improved tonal clarity
  • Updated control panel layout with modern OLED graphic display
  • Chopin Walzer (1-19) lesson book
  • Tone Control setting with 8 selectable tone presets
  • Low Volume Balance function for improved touch consistency at reduce volume
  • Modern cabinet design modelled after larger Concert Artist instruments
  • Improved Shigeru Kawai grand piano sounds
  • Enhanced 'Light' Touch Curve setting for young children
What's in the box:
  • CA49 88-Key Grand Feel Compact Digital Piano (Premium Rosewood)
  • Stand (with Assembly Hardware)
  • Matching Bench
  • AC Power Adapter
  • Kawai 5 Year Limited Warranty

Community Voting

Deal Score
+7
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Model: Kawai CA49 88-Key Grand Feel Compact Digital Piano with Bench, Premium Rosewood

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19 Comments

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Pro
Aug 27, 2022
7,592 Posts
Joined Mar 2005
Aug 27, 2022
funkmasterta
Pro
Aug 27, 2022
7,592 Posts
The "msrp" price of this model is inflated. It's been $2299 since April and only recently shot up to $2899 - they probably raised it just to offer this "huge discount".

So, you're not really saving $1000 as you SlickDeals are making you believe. The real savings is only $400 or only 18% off. This is also the entry level CA series with entry level (lowest) grade keys in the line up. The models line up like this:

CA49
CA59
CA79
CA99

Since it's the lowest model, Kawai had to differentiate and really skimped out on connectivity. You will get much better connectivity options with Yamaha and Roland for the same price. It doesn't even have Bluetooth Audio, which is an insult to the consumer at this price. Make no mistake, this is very basic. This is the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G model of digital pianos in the $2K+ price group, a product designed so basic to get people to buy the Galaxy Note 20 5G Ultra.

The deal breaker for me is that this doesn't even have basic line out jack. This is like buying a BMW just for the name but having less features than a cheaper Toyota. Go for Yamaha or Roland.

Powell also signaled that the Fed are going to cause pain to households and businesses to tame inflation [marketwatch.com]. We may see even steeper price drops in 6-9 months.

Plus, Black Friday is 2 months away. Retailers are really going to have to sweeten deals because peoples' disposable incomes are going to be razor tight.
Last edited by funkmasterta August 26, 2022 at 10:49 PM.
2
Aug 27, 2022
74 Posts
Joined Jul 2009
Aug 27, 2022
carlosliang
Aug 27, 2022
74 Posts
I have this exact same model, bought at $2299, never seen this low before. The CA series (49/59/79/99) is Kawai's top line digital piano products, you can't go wrong with any of these (49/59/79/99). Remember this is a piano, not a keyboard. You should have the right expectation what a piano can/should and can not do. If you have the budget, go for 79 and 99 (have the best Kawai key action). I am enjoying learning piano together with my 6 yrs old on this 49. This is a not a toy/clothing/electronic, it won't get replaced with a new model in six months. I expect its pricing would be more resisted and don't think the price would drop much. Same I also don't think housing and new cars would have steep price drops. Once the price tag is inflated, it won't go back; but your pay check may get bigger. Just buy it now don't wait for Thanksgiving.
Last edited by carlosliang August 26, 2022 at 11:01 PM.
3
Aug 27, 2022
9,435 Posts
Joined Aug 2013
Aug 27, 2022
xtp
Aug 27, 2022
9,435 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank xtp

Dealer negotiated price is usually around this price, so if you buy it online, yea it was ~2400, but in real world, 1800-1900 was about right.

The kawai wooden actions are not very precise/accurate, this doesn't matter for piano playing, it's only a problem if you use the keybed as a controller for music creation/ work. The reason they have poor repeatability is down to the fact that wood and felt is extremely sensitive to humidity and temperature. This causes the calibration of the action to drift over time.

Acoustic pianos, we accept whatever happens, because we have very little control over them even with proper action regulation by technicians.

With digital systems, what is essentially happening is you're triggering the WRONG samples, as those samples are correlated in a fixed table to certain strike velocities. These full wooden keysticks can easily push +/- 10-20 midi values.

https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=6886 This is discussed indepth at modartt, the Pianoteq forum for enthusiasts.

So, overall, you probably won't notice the unevenness that develops over time if you're an amateur, and even seasoned players might NOT CARE, even if they can obviously tell it's drifting.

There is a calibration software, but it can not account for the nonlinear drift in the multiple components of the action mechanism.

Again, this information is provided for anyone who might attempt to use this action for Work/Serious recordings. Wood based actions with drifted midi outputs are an impediment to music creation workflows where you're trying very hard to control instrument dynamics accurately.

This does not matter much for simple piano playing. In that context, this action is fine.

Plastic based actions, such as roland's pha50 and yamaha nwx only use wood for decoration, the stick's internal spine is all plastic. These are virtually immune to humidity/ temp changes, and will not drift over time.
Last edited by xtp August 27, 2022 at 12:37 AM.
1
Aug 27, 2022
9,435 Posts
Joined Aug 2013
Aug 27, 2022
xtp
Aug 27, 2022
9,435 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank xtp

Quote from funkmasterta :
The deal breaker for me is that this doesn't even have basic line out jack. This is like buying a BMW just for the name but having less features than a cheaper Toyota.
Fully agree with funkmasterta, This is a serious deal breaker.

Line out is really really important, because the on_board speakers are a joke.

AT THE VERY LEAST, you should have line out for a Subwoofer, because built in speakers can barely go below 90hz..

Between key A0 note and F2, is from 27hz to 87hz. That's a whole 21 keys being Very poorly represented sonically. EEK!


I will add that, if you're crafty, you CAN splice the output wire which goes to the Left/Right speakers to an external subwoofer, but this voids the warranty, and it doesn't work with all woofers this way, some woofers really don't like it when you do this, it's also not very clean you can get weird harmonics this way. . Which is why we're back to, Line out is important.
Last edited by xtp August 27, 2022 at 01:02 AM.
1
Pro
Aug 27, 2022
996 Posts
Joined Oct 2017
Aug 27, 2022
rwalle
Pro
Aug 27, 2022
996 Posts
Quote from funkmasterta :
The "msrp" price of this model is inflated. It's been $2299 since April and only recently shot up to $2899 - they probably raised it just to offer this "huge discount".

So, you're not really saving $1000 as you SlickDeals are making you believe. The real savings is only $400 or only 18% off. This is also the entry level CA series with entry level (lowest) grade keys in the line up. The models line up like this:

CA49
CA59
CA79
CA99

Since it's the lowest model, Kawai had to differentiate and really skimped out on connectivity. You will get much better connectivity options with Yamaha and Roland for the same price. It doesn't even have Bluetooth Audio, which is an insult to the consumer at this price. Make no mistake, this is very basic. This is the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G model of digital pianos in the $2K+ price group, a product designed so basic to get people to buy the Galaxy Note 20 5G Ultra.

The deal breaker for me is that this doesn't even have basic line out jack. This is like buying a BMW just for the name but having less features than a cheaper Toyota. Go for Yamaha or Roland.

Powell also signaled that the Fed are going to cause pain to households and businesses to tame inflation [marketwatch.com]. We may see even steeper price drops in 6-9 months.

Plus, Black Friday is 2 months away. Retailers are really going to have to sweeten deals because peoples' disposable incomes are going to be razor tight.
I don't know if you are serious. No real musician uses Bluetooth audio in any situation because the latency destroys everything. You cannot possibly stay in tempo with that amount of delay. And "It doesn't even have Bluetooth Audio, which is an insult to the consumer at this price." is laughable because Yamaha Clavinova CLP series don't have Bluetooth on CLP-735 or below.

(Arguably anyone spends $2000 is not a serious musician yet -- this does not provide features good enough for music production, and lacks the touch and dynamic range of an acoustic piano for jazz/classic.)

Edit: obviously people who don't even remotely understand what I am talking about are coming here to downvote this comment. LOL
Last edited by rwalle August 27, 2022 at 09:35 AM.
5
Aug 27, 2022
42 Posts
Joined Feb 2019
Aug 27, 2022
AL_GORE_666
Aug 27, 2022
42 Posts
Quote from rwalle :
I don't know if you are serious. No real musician uses Bluetooth audio in any situation because the latency destroys everything. You cannot possibly stay in tempo with that amount of delay. And "It doesn't even have Bluetooth Audio, which is an insult to the consumer at this price." is laughable because Yamaha Clavinova CLP series don't have Bluetooth on CLP-735 or below.

(Arguably anyone spends $2000 is not a serious musician yet -- this does not provide features good enough for music production, and lacks the touch and dynamic range of an acoustic piano for jazz/classic.)
Watch out, we've got a real musician on our hands
3
1
2
Aug 27, 2022
74 Posts
Joined Jul 2009
Aug 27, 2022
carlosliang
Aug 27, 2022
74 Posts
Quote from xtp :
Dealer negotiated price is usually around this price, so if you buy it online, yea it was ~2400, but in real world, 1800-1900 was about right.

The kawai wooden actions are not very precise/accurate, this doesn't matter for piano playing, it's only a problem if you use the keybed as a controller for music creation/ work. The reason they have poor repeatability is down to the fact that wood and felt is extremely sensitive to humidity and temperature. This causes the calibration of the action to drift over time.

Acoustic pianos, we accept whatever happens, because we have very little control over them even with proper action regulation by technicians.

With digital systems, what is essentially happening is you're triggering the WRONG samples, as those samples are correlated in a fixed table to certain strike velocities. These full wooden keysticks can easily push +/- 10-20 midi values.

https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=6886 This is discussed indepth at modartt, the Pianoteq forum for enthusiasts.

So, overall, you probably won't notice the unevenness that develops over time if you're an amateur, and even seasoned players might NOT CARE, even if they can obviously tell it's drifting.

There is a calibration software, but it can not account for the nonlinear drift in the multiple components of the action mechanism.

Again, this information is provided for anyone who might attempt to use this action for Work/Serious recordings. Wood based actions with drifted midi outputs are an impediment to music creation workflows where you're trying very hard to control instrument dynamics accurately.

This does not matter much for simple piano playing. In that context, this action is fine.

Plastic based actions, such as roland's pha50 and yamaha nwx only use wood for decoration, the stick's internal spine is all plastic. These are virtually immune to humidity/ temp changes, and will not drift over time.
So all the high-end Kawai wood action models are out of your equation, but the cheaper low end plastic action models suffice.

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Pro
Aug 27, 2022
996 Posts
Joined Oct 2017
Aug 27, 2022
rwalle
Pro
Aug 27, 2022
996 Posts
Quote from AL_GORE_666 :
Watch out, we've got a real musician on our hands
You'd better provide some counterarguments instead of spitting out meaningless words that failed to convey sarcasm.
4