Kawai CA48 Digital Piano

Product Overview

If you’re intrigued by the CA line’s top offerings but turned off by the price tag, the new CA48 may be the piano for you. The CA48 digital piano is the distilled, piano-centric version of Kawai’s premium CA models, for a fraction of the price.

Action

The Kawai CA48 utilizes Kawai’s update to their first Grand Feel action with the Grand Feel Compact – it has a shorter key than the Grand Feel II, but still follows the same principles of a full-length wood key stick, triple sensor, acoustic piano-style part durability, and let-off (escapement) simulation.

Both the white and black keys are covered in a microtexture which gives it a realistic grip when compared with an acoustic, and the repetition speed, dynamic weight, and keybed all feels extremely comfortable and well-balanced. The white keys are nicely rounded, which makes certain classical playing very comfortable and forgiving. The black keys also respond accurately, unlike certain plastic actions where the black keys simply don’t have an accurate dynamic weight.

The pairing of the tone engine and the way they’ve programmed the default touch curve is well-done and gives the sense of great responsiveness.

Sound Engine

The Kawai CA48 digital piano uses its Harmonic Imaging engine to deliver an individually-sampled multi-dimensional piano tone, taken from the SK-EX concert grand piano. It has 192 polyphony, and includes the Virtual Technician features which allow intricate control of the piano tone’s details, such as string resonance, key-off noise etc.

The piano delivers tone through 4 speakers, two mains and two tweeters, all of which benefit from Onkyo amps and speakers, as well as tone processing to ‘normalize’ and process the raw WAV information out of the Kawai tone engine…it’s a beautifully detailed, smooth sonic experience. There is a total of 40 watts of power pushing through all of it.

There are also discrete headphone amplifiers that include some pretty interesting tech, such as the Spatial Headphone Effects which simulate playing the piano in different spaces.

Connectivity

While the CA48 isn’t absolutely loaded with connectivity options like the more expensive CA series products, the CA48 still covers a lot of bases. You’ve got two headphone inputs (1/4 “ and ⅛”), MIDI In, MIDI Out, and USB to host. The CA48 also has Bluetooth MIDI so connection to various apps is super easy.

Notable Features

It bears repeating here just how excellent the Grand Feel Compact Action really is, especially considering the price. In the under $3,000 price category, there isn’t another home digital piano on the market with an action this good, which is the CA48’s main claim to fame.

• Class-leading Grand Feel Compact wooden-key keyboard action
• Ivory Touch key surfaces, triple sensor, let-off, counterweights
• Progressive Harmonic Imaging sound with 88-key sampling
• Shigeru Kawai SK-EX & Kawai EX concert grand piano sounds
• Integrated Bluetooth® MIDI Wireless Technology
• Built-in classical etudes and Alfred lesson books
• Spatial Headphone Sound for enhanced depth and realism
• Attractive, modern cabinet with cheek-block control panel

Conclusion

If you’re thinking about a digital piano and you’re comfortable looking at anything in the $2,000 to $3,000 range, and accuracy of touch and piano tone are your top priorities, the CA48 should be right at the top of your wishlist.

Kawai CA48 Owner’s Manual

• [English] CA48 Owner’s Manual

Kawai CA48 Related Resources

• [VIDEO] Kawai CA48 Digital Piano Review & Demo