Analogue action, digital world
The AURES AR2 hybrid instruments blend Kawai’s masterful acoustic piano craftsmanship with advanced digital piano technologies. Each piano begins with the solid foundation of Kawai’s award-winning upright pianos, offering class-leading features such as the Millennium III action, considered to be the world’s finest upright and piano actions.
Equipped with Kawai’s most advanced digital and sound technologies, AURES AR2 instruments are also premium digital pianos that can be played silently with headphones or through their acoustic soundboard. Players can complement their performances with a wide selection of digital sounds or layer these sounds with the acoustic piano to create unique combinations. Practice new pieces using the built-in metronome then record their performance, or play along with tracks from a Bluetooth-connected smart device and enjoy a personal ensemble performance.
Millennium III Action
The Millennium III Action features components made of ABS-Carbon, a composite material created by the infusion of carbon fibre into our renowned ABS Styran. ABS-Carbon is incredibly sturdy and rigid, which allows the creation of action parts that are lighter without sacrificing strength. The result is a stronger, faster action that offers more power, better control and greater stability than conventional all-wood actions.
NEOTEX Key Surfaces
Our exclusive NEOTEX key surface material made with cellulose fiber offers the smooth, understated texture of natural ivory and ebony—and a semiporous, silica-filled surface to absorb the hand’s natural oils and perspiration that can cause slipping. NEOTEX resists cracking and fading over years of use and is used for both the sharps and the naturals for a consistent feel across the entire keyboard.
Extended Key Length
Longer keys make playing easier and provide more even response from the front to the back of the playing surface. The benefits to the player are greater control and more power with less effort.
Die-cast Aluminium Action Brackets
Made from a custom mold, die-cast parts are formed exactly the same every time. The K-300 features three aluminium action brackets that are die-cast to provide an added measure of strength, uniformity and stability for accurate touch over time.
Bluetooth Connectivity
Designed to meet the connectivity needs of modern pianists, AURES2 pianos feature standard USB and MIDI jacks for connecting to computers or other instruments, as well as integrated Bluetooth® MIDI and Audio technology that allows wireless communication with supported smart devices.
Once paired to a phone, tablet, or laptop, AURES2 owners can enjoy a wide variety of exciting music-related apps that enhance their studying and playing experiences, or stream high quality, low-latency aptX audio directly through the instruments’ headphones or the AURES2’s Soundboard Speaker System without the need for any cables.
PianoRemote App
The digital features of AURES2 pianos are exclusively controlled via the dedicated Kawai PianoRemote app, available for both iOS and Android devices.
PianoRemote provides a range of functions, including sound selection and customisation via the Virtual Technician feature, performance record and playback with integrated metronome, and a built-in piano music library consisting of hundreds of classical pieces to enjoy – all accessible from an attractive, intuitive user interface.
Tapered Solid Spruce Soundboard
The soundboard is the heart of a piano. Its purpose is to transform the vibrations of the piano’s strings into a rich, resounding tone. Kawai uses only straightgrained, quartersawn solid spruce for K Series soundboards, including the K-500. Each soundboard is strategically tapered to maximize its tone producing capability. Only those that meet or exceed our demanding quality standards are selected for use in our professional upright pianos.
AURES AR2 instruments are also equipped with the latest iteration of Kawai’s advanced Soundboard Speaker System. This innovative technology utilises four high-performance transducers which are strategically placed onto the upright piano’s solid spruce soundboard. These transducers channel the AURES AR2 instrument’s digitally generated sound through the large wooden soundboard, resulting in a naturally acoustic tone that is more expansive than that produced by traditional cone speakers.
Pianists can then enjoy the flexibility and convenience offered by a digital piano, such as the ability to select a broad range of different instrument sounds, record and playback one’s performance, or freely adjust the volume level to avoid disturbing loves ones.
Mahogany wood core & T-stapled, double felted hammers
Mahogany hammer mouldings are lightweight and extremely responsive. Found on only the finest pianos, mahogany is used for the hammer mouldings on the entire line of K Series Professional Upright Pianos. All K Series hammers are T-Stapled to preserve hammer shape and fitted with an added interior layer of underfelt to support the creation of exceptional tone.
Duplex Scaling
The partial (upper) duplex scale on K-500 enhances harmonics in the treble range by increasing the speaking ability of the string between the bridge pin and hitch pin, adding sympathetic overtones and harmonic richness.
Steel-Reinforced Keyslip
The piano’s keyslip is the long, horizontal piece of wood that covers the front faces of the keys. Because it is long, thin and made of wood, a keyslip can warp or bend with changes in humidity, causing keys to stick. To eliminate this problem, a heavy-guage steel angle iron is added to prevent warping and bending in any direction. Keys move more freely with virtually no possibility of rubbing or sticking against the keyslip.
Flagship Sound Engine
AURES2 instruments incorporate Kawai’s latest digital piano sound technologies from the highly regarded Concert Artist and Novus product lines. When playing through headphones or when AURES mode is active, pianists can enjoy the beautiful sound of the flagship Shigeru Kawai SK-EX full concert grand piano, stunningly reproduced using the advanced SK-EX Rendering sound engine.
Rich Sound Selection
Supplementing the beautiful acoustic piano voices, the AURES2 pianos also features an excellent selection of additional instruments, ranging from electric pianos and drawbar or church organs, to strings, human choirs, and synth pads, inviting musicians to add greater variety to their performances.
Furthermore, the Dual playing mode also allows two different sounds, such as grand piano and strings, to be layered together for a richer, more luscious tone, while the Split and Four Hands modes divide the keyboard into two independent sections with separate sounds for each. The volume balances and other settings for each playing mode can also be easily adjusted using the dedicated PianoRemote app.
Soft-fall Fallboard
The ultra-slow, grand-style “Soft Fall” fallboard closing system protects little hands and fingers, as well as the piano’s stunning finish, from the harm that a jarring close might cause.
Keybed and Braces
The piano’s keybed must be strong and stable to support the action assembly and maintain action regulation over years of heavy use. K-500 keybeds are made with sturdy laminated hardwoods and reinforced by rear braces on the iron frame that help to ensure stable placement and add rigidity to prevent energy loss.