The Kawai NV12 and NV6 are here — with wooden soundboards!

navindra · 2025-08-23T06:49:40+00:00

We heard the rumors, but now it's official — the Kawai NV6 and the Kawai NV12 are here. The Kawai NV12 is actually kind of a big deal in my opinion. Not only does it have an outstanding grand piano action, and damper action, it also has a piano soundboard. This is probably as close as any digital piano has ever gotten to the acoustic piano experience both in sound and feel. And it takes up a fraction of the size of a baby grand. And it has a volume knob. That Kawai is pulling off such innovation in the midst of economic uncertainty the piano industry is facing as a whole, is even more remarkable, in my opinion.

WieWaldi

Here is a review of a German site. Lately, this channel has grown into a very remarkable quality. I would say, it is on par with merriam music, if not even better. At merriam, I have the feeling, it is half review, half sales marketing. I have the feeling, these two guys are more honest.

They mentioned, everything you hear is recorded by the binaural microphone in the head.

Summary:

it's an upgrade over the NV10, the action is a bit heavier as in the predecessor and feels closer to a real grand
Khorchi (red shirt) likes the "EX Concert Grand" even more than the "Competition Grand"
Could be too loud for a small room, needs some tweaking in the sound-settings, then. Maybe close the lid, too
You can feel in the fingertips the vibrations of the soundboard
14:55 pianoTeq demo (Shigeru Kawai)
Action is extremely close to an acoustic grand
The sound is for Khorchi (red shirt) still too digital and not yet the original. The sound is too perfect for him; he means too artificial, too studio-like.
but in a live performing situation, he would prefer the NV12 over a real acoustic when it is out of tune
bottom line: it's the best digital piano, you can buy right now

navindra

WieWaldi Wow, thanks so much for the translation/summary!

Very intriguing. Not only did they use a binaural head model for recording the sound, they also demo'ed Pianoteq and other software which I really enjoyed.

Nice channel indeed and great review of the NV12.

pianoloverus

WieWaldi At merriam, I have the feeling, it is half review, half sales marketing. I have the feeling, these two guys are more honest.

I think virtually every so called review at that site is sales marketing. Not only that, I think many of the reviews are of poor quality. I don't like it when someone posts what's called a review but it appears to be really designed to increase sales of what they sell. Has there ever been review on that site where the reviewer praised a piano he doesn't sell more than a piano he sells or gives any negative feedback about a piano he sells?

CrisOliveira

pianoloverus

James Pavel Shawcross should open a piano shop. 😅
"Shawcross Pianos: we sell it, but with brutal honesty."

I'd subscribe to the shop's channel.

WieWaldi

Better than NV5
Feels very similar to a real acoustic upright (with the upright sound)
but the NV12 action gave more control at the tremolos (14:20)

Tog

pianoloverus

Tog I only watched a small part but thought it was very good.

KevinM

Tog Listening to this I can't help but feel that the NV12 is thin at the bass end, whereas the NV6 has a deeper richer sound at the bass end.

Gombessa

The playing is great, and I really love the continuous nature of the presentation for the live audience. But I do feel the recording/output from the pianos has really compressed dynamic range, there's not a lot of difference in volume between pp and ff?

sweelinck

Acquire a windup musicbox mechanism:

https://www.nationalartcraft.com/group.asp

and go to a dealer with an NV12 in stock. Windup the mechanism, and hold a surface of the mechanism against the soundboard.

The soundboard will function as a kind of transducer, turning the vibrations of the musicbox surface into sound emanating from the surface of the soundboard.

The soundboard is not a true transducer because it is converting vibrational energy into vibrational energy. However, that also is true of the soundboard in an acoustic piano. A true transducer converts from one form of energy to another, such as a speaker voice coil with membrane attached to convert electrical energy into vibrational energy, or a phonograph needle and cartridge that converts vibrational energy into electrical energy.

WieWaldi

sweelinck A true transducer converts from one form of energy to another, such as a speaker voice coil with membrane attached to convert electrical energy into vibrational energy,...

But isn't this exactly what th NV12 transducer does? Converting electrical energy into vibrational energy?

sweelinck

WieWaldi
Yes, but I don’t think that is what the soundboard is doing. I have not seen the NV12 or NV6, but I’m assuming that there are conventional cone and voice coil speaker drivers mounted in the soundboard so that the speaker drivers convert electrical energy into vibrational energy, and then the vibrational energy is transferred to the soundboard. The combined component (soundboard plus speaker drivers) would be a true transducer considered as a single, complex component.

Of course, an acoustic piano soundboard is similar— vibrational energy from the bridge is transferred to the soundboard. That also is not a true transducer.

WieWaldi

sweelinck Of course, an acoustic piano soundboard is similar— vibrational energy from the bridge is transferred to the soundboard. That also is not a true transducer.

Of course a soundboard is not a transducer; neither in an acoustic piano, nor in the NV6. The transducer is a transducer.

sweelinck The combined component (soundboard plus speaker drivers) would be a true transducer considered as a single, complex component.

Actually, the speaker drivers (magnet+coil) are the transducer. The soundboard does not belong to the transducer. It belongs to the entire speaker system the same way as the diaphragm (cone) does in a conventional speaker.

sweelinck

WieWaldi
That was what I was saying with the claim that the soundboards in the NV series pianos are not true transducers.

WieWaldi

sweelinck What do you mean with true transducers? Soundboards are not transducers. Not true transducers, not false transducers. A soundboard is not a transducer by any means. But the NV series has transducers. They are driving the soundboard.

transducer ≠ soundboard
transducer + soundboard = speaker

sweelinck

WieWaldi
Lots of people in various roles in the piano industry call soundboards transducers. Rather than dispute what is more the norm than the exception, I use the description of not being true transducers.

WieWaldi

sweelinck Lots of people in various roles in the piano industry call soundboards transducers.

Do they?

The marketing speech I find online, is more like this:

Petradrive uses five transducers to drive a wooden soundboard creating deeper, more grand-like tone and projection

At the heart of the NV12 is the new PentaDrive soundboard system: five precisely placed transducers transfer energy directly to a large wooden soundboard, producing a rich, full-bodied tone that mimics the projection of an acoustic grand piano.

Transducers: The system uses five carefully positioned transducers (vibrators).

Wooden Soundboard: These transducers channel energy onto a large, real wooden soundboard (measuring 135 x 60 cm), which is reinforced with four ribs to optimize resonance.

sweelinck

WieWaldi
Here is an example:

After a key is struck on the piano, the hammer is activated to strike against the strings. The vibration of the strings, in turn transfers the vibration through the bridge to the soundboard. It’s the job of the soundboard to act as a transducer, transforming the vibrations of the strings into audible waves of sound.

https://pianopricepoint.com/researching-pianos-the-soundboard/

Another:

The way a piano makes sound is through vibrations. The felt hammer strikes the piano string making a sound that then goes through the piano’s bridges and into the soundboard which acts as a transducer, transforming the vibrations of the strings into audible waves of sound.

https://www.edelweisspianos.com/what-is-a-good-piano-are-edelweiss-pianos-good/

In any case, we have been in full agreement that this is an abuse of the technical meaning of transducer.

iternabe

Here is a picture of the transducer in Yamaha TransAcoustic. It is essentially a speaker driver without the diaphragm - the soundboard is the giant diaphragm.

Both the transducer and the bridge (in acoustic piano) transmit vibration to the soundboard. One obvious difference is the location of excitement for different frequencies: along the long line of the bridge one location per string, v.s. only 5 locations in NV12.

Another interesting question is what exact vibration should the transducer send? Ideally it should the equivalent of the vibration of the string at the bridge. But, if the sampled sound is recorded using a mic, where was the mic placed, and what kind of transformation would be needed to get the ideal vibration to the transducer that can make the soundboard accurately reproduce the recorded sound sample?

CrisOliveira

I have done some research on where to find transducers and what are the available models (ended up not buying it). All those speaker drivers meant to be attached to a surface are sold as audio transducers. That's what it is as a product sold in the market.

Is science that thorough, to the point of specifying which parts make up the transducers and what parts are simply accessory? Science texts I've found on the internet made me believe any system that changes a form of energy into another is a transducer. And yes, I too have found people saying the soundboard in a piano is a transducer.

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