Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3 Grand Piano Comparison, Including Features, Benefits, Price & More

 The 5’11” Kawai GX-2 grand piano is among our top-selling instruments here at Merriam Music, but for some folks, the 6’2” GX-3 is worth the extra spend all day.

In this article and companion video, we’ll be comparing the Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3 side by side. This should be helpful as these two instruments often wind up on the finals list for families looking for mid-range, professional-level grand pianos.

Let's start with some background information and context.

Background

There’s a list of commonly asked questions that piano dealers get asked every single day. The most frequent are things like digital or acoustic? Upright or grand? Kawai or Yamaha?

Beyond these staple questions, there are some model match-up questions that we often get as well, questions pertaining to the differences between the Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3 are quite common as well.

For a good number of people, their piano buying journey comes down to these two instruments. The GX line is very popular in the modern marketplace and is often compared to say, the Boston GP series (designed by Steinway but built by Kawai in Japan) and Yamaha’s CX series.

The GX line also sometimes gets positioned against the Yamaha S Series in markets where the Yamaha dealers have been forced to more heavily discount, and sometimes people will consider the GX line against Eastern European options.

Why is the GX Line so Popular?

The GX line is so well regarded among industry critics, musicians and institutions because it’s unanimously considered a very high-performing, high-value series of instruments.

When you look at the spec sheet for the Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3, they both read as though you’re looking at a European concert grand piano. In fact, the GX-2 and GX-3 are essentially factory reproductions of the handmade Shigeru Kawai SK-2 and SK-3 respectively.

Front and rear duplex scaling, vertically laminated bridges, special Konsei Katagi outer and inner rims with blended hard rock maple mahogany hardwoods, tapered solid spruce soundboards, V-Pro plates, steel-reinforced keyslips and keybed, extra wide stretcher bars and the list goes on.

Differences from the RX Line

The GX series came out close to 10 years ago now and were released as slightly larger updates to the hugely successful RX-2 and RX-3. The reason for the additional size was due to a slight thickening in the rims and lengthening of the keysticks as the newest version of Kawai’s Millennium III Carbon Fiber action features extended-length keysticks for better control.

For example, at 5’11” the GX-2 is classic salon grand size-wise, but the action will feel more like a 6’6” piano while the 6’2” GX-3 will feel closer to a 7-footer.

The other main upgrade over the RX series and an overall improved cabinet design and new hard finish that is both better looking and more durable.

Key Differences Between the Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3

Despite very similar-looking specs sheets aside from the 3-inch size difference, the GX-3 lists for a substantial $12,000 USD higher than the GX-2. This is due to the fact that Kawai manufactures many more GX2’s as compared to the GX-3, and as such, the GX-3 simply doesn’t have the economy of scale.

Now, if you actually have a GX-2 and GX-3 side by side and take a close look at them, you’ll notice some beam support differences when you look underneath both pianos. The GX-3 has a slightly more intricate cabinet which delivers a greater degree of cabinet resonance.

Otherwise, the differences between these two pianos are purely musical and result from the size differences since components such as the hammers, pinblock and agraffes are all the same, whereas the larger soundboard, strings, rim etc. result in different musical experiences.

We’ll dive more specifically into the sound now, but be sure to check out the video to hear these differences for yourself.

Sonic Differences

Musically speaking, there are a few things widely observed about the GX series as a whole that definitely apply here.

For example, the sustain on both of these instruments is exceptionally good for factory-produced instruments. The treble on both of these instruments is strong and thick with a very well-defined fundamental and yet lots of color too.

The biggest tonal differences start to emerge as soon as you get below concert A down around middle C. The “break” is a little bit smoother on the GX-3, and there’s greater warmth in the bass register. It’s also fair to say that the sound is slightly more open overall on the GX-3 as well.

Let’s expand on these observations and go register by register.

Bass Register

Interestingly, the GX-2 actually offers slightly better rim activation in that lower octave and while the mics we used for the video probably won’t pick this up, you can definitely hear this in person.

Both bass registers offer a similar level of projection, but we’re hearing more of the fundamental on the GX-3 due to the longer strings.

“Break” Area

One of the most significant differences as we move up through the range is the “break” area as we mentioned above. The “break” on the GX-3 is more controlled than the GX-2, and largely, this is a function of the extra string length.

The longer you can make a string, the cleaner you can make that transition.

Moving to the second octave up from the bottom, and there's a lot more of the third and fourth partial coming from strings on the GX-2 than the GX-3. If you play a good amount of repertoire within that particular range of the piano this could be a significant consideration.

Mid & Treble Ranges

Once we move up into the mid and treble ranges, the GX-3 is a little bit more colourful, although the GX-2 still sounds really great with lots of warmth.

GX-2 through this range offers more of a direct sound with less of a cabinet resonance but a more direct soundboard tone.

At the very top of both pianos, differences are almost indistinguishable from one another, which makes sense as the string length up here is basically the same.

Feel and Response

Millennium III Carbon Fiber Action

Both pianos are receiving the same ABS-Carbon composite action - the Millennium III Carbon Fiber action. Both pianos come very well regulated from the factory, and the voicing is generally very good out of the box as well.

The Millennium III action is without question one of the key selling features for the GX series musical instruments, especially for institutions where whose pianos will be receiving intensive use. Carbon Fiber reinforced plastic is more durable than the wood used in other actions at this price point and less temperamental.

Extended Length Key Sticks

At the same time, the repetition speed is extremely good, as is the responsiveness. The extended-length key sticks we mentioned earlier come into effect by providing the player with a greater level of control than they could normally reasonably expect out of a similarly sized piano.

Both pianos feature Neotex Key Surfaces on both the white and black keys, and this is another composite material that mimics the moisture-absorbing qualities of genuine ivory.

Final Thoughts

Summarizing the Musical Differences

The key musical differences between these the Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3 can be summed up as follows; The GX-3 offers more fundamental tone in the lower registers than the GX-2 and a little bit more power, but the overall character is actually quite similar.

As we move into the second octave, the GX-3 has a smoother “break” area, meaning there are fewer of those metallic harmonics coming through that often appear in this part of a grand piano.

In the third octave, the Kawai GX-2 is actually producing more cabinet resonance, and the treble areas are quite similar. This means that if you happen to play a lot of music that’s confined to the mid and upper registers, you’re not going to be sacrificing anything if you opt for a GX-2 as opposed to a GX-3.

On the other hand, if the extra bass presence, power and projection of the GX-3 are important to you, it’s well worth the premium.

Finishes & Aesthetic Features

Both pianos are most commonly sold in a polished ebony finish, but both are also available in satin ebony. That’s it for the GX-3, but as the bigger seller, the GX-2 is available in a variety of additional finishes including Walnut, Cherry and Oak Satin, as well as Snow White Polish, and Walnut and Sapeli Mahogany.

In terms of other aesthetic considerations, both pianos feature soft fall fallboards, as well as brass pedals and lid props.

Wrap Up

We hope this article has been helpful, whether you’re looking for a new piano and these were on the final list, or if you simply like learning about pianos.

For people who maybe only had a chance to check one model out in a showroom, we hope that this has helped shed some light on whether or not it’s worth exploring the other model.

Thanks for reading!

The post Kawai GX-2 vs GX-3 Grand Piano Comparison, Including Features, Benefits, Price & More first appeared on Merriam Pianos

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Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review & Demo - Kawai K Series

 

Introduction

The Kawai K800 Upright Grand Piano is one of the few “true” upright grands to come out of Asia.  Built in Japan entirely by Kawai, the K800 has full sostenuto, premium hand-selected spruce soundboards, premium double-felted mahogany hammers, oversized music desk, and grand-like key sticks for a super high level of accuracy and speed.

Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review Video Transcription

Thanks for being here. In this article, we're going to be looking at Kawai's 53-inch K-800, the best professional upright piano that Kawai is building, and one of the very best upright pianos in its class, and certainly at the very top of what's currently coming out of Japan. Its elegant form and exceptional tone will fulfill the needs of any professional teaching studio or intimate performance setting. The height-adjustable bench on all K Series models is ideal for teaching studios with many students and for families with more than one player. We'll be covering the action parts and the piano's tone, as well as looking at some really unique features about that instrument that I find to be of extraordinarily high value.

Background:

The K800 is a 53-inch upright piano, which actually makes it one of the larger upright pianos available on the market regardless of what price point you're looking at, and regardless of country of origin as the typical maximum size uprights from most manufacturer's are often 52 inches. The K-800 sits at the top of Kawai's K-series of professional upright pianos, and it starts right at the K-200, goes through the K-300, K-400, K-500, and finally the K800 (with a K-600 and K-700 available in Europe and Asia but not North America.) We often try to have one on our showroom floor, but it's made in such limited quantities that it can be difficult to showcase it year-round.

By every definition of the word, this qualifies to be called an upright grand piano. Not only is it well over 600 pounds, which means it's heavier than quite a few of the baby grands that are on the market, but the string length, particularly in the bass, puts it in a longer bass string category than most baby grand pianos. It's actually closer to a mid-5-foot grand in terms of the clarity that you get out of the bass. There's also a grand piano-style music desk, which is great for composers who still prefer to work with pencil and manuscript paper as opposed to a laptop when composing.

The soundboard surface area is also larger than the vast majority of 5-foot class grand pianos. As a result of these various factors, it does put the price point well above what you would typically be thinking about for a Japanese upright piano. This gets right up into the mid-range German upright price point. If we're in Canadian dollars, we're talking about a price that exceeds the $20,000. Keep on reading to find out why you should consider this piano if your budget is around $20,000 CAD for an upright piano.

Piano Tone:

The K-800 has a thick, powerful tone. A key reason why has to do with the presence of duplex scale. On a grand piano, when you create a duplex scale, you actually put another fulcrum on the other side of the bridge, so there's this extra speaking length which is kind of just free to resonate sympathetically when the instrument is being played. This thickens the tone and creates all of these subtle harmonics that add to the color of the treble. Duplex scale is not common in upright pianos. The K-500 has it in the top section, while the K-800 has in the top two ranges of the keys on both the front of the string length, as well as on the back of the string length. The addition of duplex scale here in the K-800 results in all kind of extra color coming off of the treble range.

The K-800 also has full agraffes, which ensures greater uniformity of string alignment and smoother tuning over a long period of time, also not overly common among uprights The overall thickness and projection of the tone reminds me of the Kawai GX grands, such as a GX-1 or a GX-2. If you're looking for a nice upright because you don't have space for a grand, getting some of the harmonic qualities that normally grands have, in the form of an upright is a pretty strong selling feature. It's worth mentioning.

Another tone related feature we should highlight is the presence of Royal George Hammer felt. What is Royal George felt? Royal George are a third-party company that supplies high-end felt for hammer manufacturers. Kawai has decided to include this special felt in the K-800 as an extra premium feature. I can't profess to be able to hear the difference between the Royal George felt and the premium Kawai felt that they put on the rest of the K-series piano, but I imagine this might show up more in how well the hammer could be voiced, or quite possibly, the overall longevity of the hammer. The K-800 also features mahogany core hammers, and with better felt, we know that that felt doesn't distort even when you really punch it.

Due to the large tapered, solid spruce soundboard surface area, there is a huge amount of volume coming off of this piano. Behind the grand style, hard finish music rack are tone holes, which allows some tone to escape through the front.  There is also 6 back posts and 12 ribs attached to the soundboard, giving a strong responsive sound to the whole piano.

Going past the overall tonal power, there's also a level of control you get when you're playing quietly, and even without the quiet pedal that is very good. Most large upright pianos are notorious for being a little more difficult to control in the really quiet dynamic ranges, much more so than what you have on a grand piano. This is one of the reasons why traditionally, teachers and performers generally have preferred to be in front of a grand when they get to a high level of playing because the level of control doesn't really seem to get sacrificed as you get further down into the dynamic range as you're pianissimo or you're triple pianissimo. Kawai has clearly regulated and set the geometry of the action up so that everything is speaking regardless of what dynamic range you're playing in, so you're not having to do a lot of compensating with the soft pedal for more control in the lower ranges.

From a tonal character standpoint, the K-800 is super different from a German piano. This is ultimately a good thing because it gives people a clear choice in the kind of sound they're looking for. What are these differences? For close to the same price as the K-800 you can get into a 47 or 48" in German piano, most of which are going to be generating a very clear bell tone, but possibly less colorful overall. That may make a German upright more appealing to some styles of playing, whereas the colorful sound of the K-800 might appeal to those playing romantic classical music or possibly jazz.

Overall. I would describe the K-800's tone as colorful, with a rich lush palette of overtones. It really is quite different than what you would get if you were sitting behind say a Bechstein or a Steingraeber with laser-like clarity on every single note. Ultimately, whether you prefer the tone of the K-800 or a German upright is going to be pretty subjective.

Piano Action:

Like the rest of the K-Series uprights and many Kawai pianos, the K-800 features the Kawai Millennium III upright action. This action uses a combination of natural materials as well as abs-carbon fiber-reinforced synthetic materials. The exclusive NEOTEX key surface resists cracking and fading over the years of use and is used for both the sharps and the naturals for a consistent feel across the entire keyboard.

This is a very fast action. I wouldn't describe it as a light action, but it's super-fluid, quite effortless to play. We know that due to the presence of abs-carbon composites definitely there are some arguments to be made that this will be a lower maintenance action than some of the all-wood actions out there. I would say this will be more pronounced if you're in a climate where there are frequent variations in the humidity levels. You'd notice it less if you were in a climate with more stable humidity levels, but there's still an argument for greater longevity with an action built with composite materials.

Another cool thing we need to mention, and this is directly related to the action, would be that the K-800 has the full sostenuto. Sostenuto is, just like the full-duplex scale we mentioned earlier, is another feature usually found exclusively on grand pianos. The true sostenuto pedal, for those who don't know what that is, is essentially a selective sustain pedal. If I want a B flat to sustain, but only the B flat to sustain, I'd press the B flat, and then press the middle pedal. The B flat will sustain, but nothing around it will. regardless of what other notes you play. Whereas if I was using the normal sustain pedal, everything I play would sustain.

This is not common to find this on a Kawai upright. There are other uprights out there with sostenuto, and obviously, most high-end models can be special ordered with a sostenuto, but it's really nice to have this as kind of a standard feature, at least here in Canada. The middle pedal, as some viewers might know, on an upright is usually the mute pedal. Since the middle pedal here is a sostenuto, there's a lever underneath the left side that acts as the mute pedal, so you're not sacrificing that function with the addition of a sostenuto.

Other Observations:

From a construction standpoint, the K-800 is an absolute tank. The thickness and the quantity of the back posts on the instrument makes the case that K-800 could almost fall into a Shigeru Kawai category in terms of the quality of the build and in terms of the attention that this instrument receives. The steel-reinforced keybed and keyslip are also critical in supporting the long term stability of this piano. It really is in a class of its own in terms of the Kawai K-Series lineup.

Conclusions:

So there you have it. The K-800 sits at the top of Kawai's upright lineup, and an absolutely beautiful instrument to play. The K-800 serves as a very interesting alternative to the German instruments that have this similar price point, and it gives an option for a more colorful sound. If you're in the $20,000 price range, I would say even if you're thinking about a baby grand for musical reasons and not aesthetic reasons, this would also be a really interesting piano to consider.

The post Kawai K-800 Upright Piano Review & Demo - Kawai K Series - Tips, Questions to Ask, and What to Look For first appeared on Merriam Pianos

2359 Bristol Cir #200, Oakville, ON L6H 6P8

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(905) 829-2020