The Sound of a Grand Piano
Widely regarded as ‘the premier piano of Japan’, the flagship SK-EX grand piano graces the stages of concert halls and musical institutions around the globe, receiving universal acclaim for its tonal clarity and exceptional dynamic range.
The magnificent tone of the SK-EX is at the heart of the CA501, with this new model featuring the latest SK-EX Competition Grand, capturing the sound of the latest generation SK-EX instruments that in recent years have achieved success at the Chopin, Hamamatsu and Sydney International piano competitions.
This piano sound possesses a brilliant, clear tonal character, with a distinctive thick attack, and is specifically recorded from the pianist’s position for the ultimate performance experience.
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88 Key Sampling
Every single one of the 88-keys of this world-class instrument are painstakingly recorded, meticulously analysed and accurately reproduces as high-fidelity waveforms.
Recording each key individually in this way – as opposed to stretching the same tone over several different notes – preserves the grand pianos’ unique harmonic character. -
Harmonic Imaging
When playing a fine piano, the amount of pressure applied to the keyboard affects not only the volume of the sound produced, but also the unique tonal character of each note.
The CA501 offers a highly detailed acoustic portrait, employing Kawai’s proprietary Progressive Harmonic Imaging sampling technology to ensure smooth tonal transitions across the keyboard and throughout the entire dynamic range.
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Virtual Technician
The knowledge and skill of an experienced piano technician is essential to realise the full potential of a fine acoustic piano. In addition to meticulously tuning each note, the technician also performs numerous regulation and voicing adjustments that allow the instrument to truly sing.
Virtual Technician simulates these refinements digitally, allowing you to shape various aspects of your piano’s character to suit the environment of the piano and your personal preferences.
The Touch of a Grand Piano: Grand Feel Compact wooden key action
The CA501 is the latest Kawai digital piano to utilise the superb Grand Feel Compact wooden-key keyboard action. As its name suggest, the GF Compact action has been designed to reproduce the authentic touch weight characteristics of the industry-leading Grand Feel keyboard actions, within a smaller form factor.
Extra-long key & pivot length
This action retains the long wooden keysticks used for all 88 black and white keys, and the familiar ‘seesaw’ mechanism employed by acoustic grand piano actions for centuries.
However, despite its smaller unit size, GF Compact features an extended key pivot length, providing a more consistent touch weight when playing towards the rear of the keyboard. This crucial detail, along with various other acoustic piano-like characteristics, ensures the CA501 delivers the most realistic playing experience in its class.
Triple sensor key detection
The Grand Feel Compact keyboard action also features an accurate triple-sensor key detection system for enhanced playing realism.
The added third sensor improves responsiveness when playing the same key repeatedly, and unlike conventional two sensor keyboard actions found in many digital pianos, allows the sound of a single note to be gradually ‘layered’ without the previous tone being lost.
In addition, Kawai’s action technology also monitors the speed at which each key is lifted, influencing the release character of piano sounds, and providing a greater range of expression between staccato and legato playing.
Ivory Touch key surfaces
The impressive CA501 features Kawai’s highly regarded Ivory Touch white key surfaces as standard. This finely textured material gently absorbs fingertip perspiration and oils to assist playing control, and possesses a natural, matte finish that is smooth but not slippery.
Furthermore, this moisture is absorbed without dirt or grease permeating the surface, allowing the keytops to be wiped clean easily using just a damp cloth.
Powerful 4-speaker output system
The CA501 boasts a powerful 100W, 4-speaker output system that closely mirrors the sound projection of a grand piano, with lower-range frequencies delivered through the underside of the instrument, and mid to high-range frequencies projected outward via top-mounted speakers.
360° Speaker Diffusers
In addition to utilising high-quality driver units, the CA501’s top-mounted speakers also feature custom-engineered diffuser panels, which help to expand the piano's tonal projection in all directions.
These additional components create a 360° sound field around the instrument, ensuring a natural piano sound for both the player, and those listening elsewhere in the room.
Integrated Bluetooth® connectivity
In addition to a standard USB-MIDI port for connecting to computers, the CA501 also features integrated Bluetooth® MIDI and Audio technologies that allow the instrument to communicate with supported smart devices wirelessly.
Once paired with a phone, tablet, or laptop, CA501 owners can enjoy a wide variety of exciting music-related apps that enhance their learning and playing experience, or stream audio from songs and videos directly through the instrument’s impressive speaker system without the need to connect additional cables.
PianoRemote app
The CA501 is compatible with Kawai’s latest PianoRemote control app for iOS and supported Android devices. This app connects to the piano wirelessly via the Concert Artists’ integrated Bluetooth feature, providing an effortless way to change sounds, adjust settings, or enjoy the vast array of built-in music content from the comfort of an armchair.
Superior Headphone Experience
The CA501’s Spatial Headphone Sound (SHS) technology enhances the depth and realism of the instrument’s sound when listening through headphones or earphones. The player can select one of three different acoustic presets that adjust the spatial positioning of the sound, while also helping to reduce auditory fatigue when using earphones or headphones for extended periods of time.
In addition, the CA501 also allows players to select a variety of headphone types (Open, Semi-open, Closed, In-Ear, Canal, etc.) for an optimised listening experience.
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Flexible USB Connectivity
In addition to wireless functionality, the CA501 is also equipped with USB ports that allow the instrument to be connected directly to a computer for MIDI use, or to load and save data to USB memory devices.
This latter USB to Device functionality allows favourite instrument settings, registrations, and memorable recorder songs stored within internal memory to be safely preserved on USB flash drives, or for standard MIDI files (SMF) downloaded from the internet to be played back and enjoyed using the instrument’s exquisite Harmonic Imaging XL sounds without additional hardware or cables.
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Grand Feel Pedal System
The Grand Feel Pedal feature accurately replicates the position and individual weighting of the damper, soft, and sostenuto pedals of a Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand piano, ensuring that players master the proper pedalling technique required to perform on an acoustic piano.
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Broad Adjustable Music Rest
The CA501’s broad music rest is engineered to accommodate the most ambitious musical works, with smoothly rounded edges, a sturdy base for supporting large score books, and score support pins to hold everything in place.
As with a grand piano, the viewing angle of the instrument’s music rest can be adjusted to suit the performer’s playing position, or laid flat for convenience when notating scores or sketching musical ideas.
