Kawai K-200 Upright Piano

Product Overview

The Kawai K-200 is the first model in their newly redesigned K-Series line of upright pianos, which hit the global piano market in 2014. The K200 is 45″ tall, and is often described as “a smaller Kawai K300“. It boasts many highly sought after and advanced design/material features such as: the Millennium III Upright Action with ABS-Carbon composites, solid spruce soundboards, premium double felted mahogany core hammers, a soft fall fall-board as well extended key sticks. Kawai proudly manufactures the K-200 (along with the K-15 and ND-21 upright models) in their Indonesian factory, which is like their Japanese factory, very highly regarded for quality control, dependability, and high quality. For those looking at an upright, but with additional interest in digital piano technology and/or silent abilities – check out the Kawai K200 ATX3 model, which is the amazing K200, but with a digital piano interface installed inside of it.

New pianos that compete with the Kawai K200 include: Boston’s 118E model (made by Kawai in their Indonesian factory also, for Steinway and Sons), Yamaha’s B2 as well as the vast majority of Korean and Chinese made instruments. In terms of used pianos, taller options from both Kawai and Yamaha will be available in roughly the 25-year-old range.

Action

Kawai’s K-200 is the first model in their upright piano lineup to feature their acclaimed ‘Millenium III Carbon Fibre Action’ which arguably makes the K200 the only new piano on the market in its price range to be able to satisfy the demands of a performing pianist. The Millennium III Carbon fibre action from Kawai has broken a lot of ground in the piano industry and includes features such as: moving pieces made entirely of carbon fibre material (lighter, stronger, and faster than wood, no shrinking/swelling with humidity changes), micro-cell repetition foam on action rail for a faster hammer reset (better than most uprights) as well as extended key sticks (for better dynamic control).

All of this combined together gives the K200 the most fluid and accurate action in its instrument class, which also happens to be far more durable and requires less regulation than wooden-key actions.

Tone

The K-200 from Kawai produces a complexity of tone that isn’t common in pianos of its size. Its round/full sound is achieved with: extended bass strings (more fundamental tone to work with), high-quality solid spruce soundboards (which get strategically tapered for optimal response and resonance), premium mahogany double felted hammers (for clear articulation) as well as that traditional Kawai tension/scale design which lends itself to a warmer/darker tone quality. The tone of the K-200 is beyond impressive and gives players a wonderful range of colour to make music with

Hammers

Kawai uses the same hammers on their K200 model as on the remainder of the K-Series instruments. They receive a Premium Mahogany Core Hammer which is double felted and T stapled for long-term stability.

Soundboard

The soundboard in the Kawai K-200 Professional Upright Piano is made of high-quality Solid Spruce wood, and gets strategically tapered to maximize the efficiency and resonance potential of the soundboard. Full length ribs are also installed along the board to retain the soundboard’s crown shape, as well as counter bars are installed in the opposite direction to the ribs to funnel soundboard energy back towards the centre of the board (much like the rim does on a grand piano).

Soundboard of this quality is simply unheard of in the K200s instrument class.

Rim/Cabinet

The K-200 as with the rest of the K-Series received a cabinet update from its former incarnation; the K2. Edges on the cabinet have been beveled for a sleeker appearance and double brass casters have been added. On the back of the K-200 there are very large solid spruce back posts overall. piano durability and stability. The K200 also has a convenient extra-long music rack as well as a soft-close fallboard to avoid pinched fingers. K200s are available in: Ebony Polish and Mahogany Polish.