Kawai Japan has recently announced the release of the NV5, the latest addition to Kawai’s premium NOVUS series of hybrid pianos, and the second instrument in the line-up following the award-winning NV10 launched in late 2017. Read our review of the NOVUS NV10 here.
To recap, the NOVUS hybrid pianos utilise complete authentic acoustic piano actions, but then produce their sound digitally via high end Onkyo speakers or headphones. Essentially the NOVUS NV10 is a hybrid piano utilising a full grand piano action, and the newly released NOVUS NV5 is a hybrid piano utilising a full upright piano action. With this new release Kawai are targeting people who love the idea of hybrid piano technology and who either love the feel of an upright piano action or who have less space available than is required for the larger NOVUS NV10.
Here is Kawai's description of the new NOVUS NV5: "This stylish upright model utilises the same Millennium III keyboard action as that of Kawai’s highly-regarded ‘K’ series professional upright pianos, with high-precision optical sensors detecting the movement of each hybrid hammer. As with the first Novus instrument, the NV5 includes a real acoustic piano damper mechanism, preserving the important physical connection between the keyboard and pedals to ensure the most authentic playing experience possible."
Main Features of the NOVUS NV5
- Millennium III Hybrid upright piano keyboard action with optical hammer sensing system - Real upright piano damper mechanism for true key and pedal weighting - SK-EX Rendering sound engine with multi-channel piano sampling - Premium audio processing, amplification, and speaker technologies powered by Onkyo - 3rd generation TwinDrive Soundboard Speaker system featuring Onkyo transducers - Integrated Bluetooth® MIDI and audio for wireless communication with smart devices - Modern 5″ LCD touchscreen display with intuitive swipe operation - Flexible Virtual Technician function with 19 adjustable parameters - Convenient WAV/MP3/MIDI file record and playback via USB memory - Attractive topboard speaker cover crafted by Danish textile house Kvadrat - Stunning ebony polish cabinet design with Soft Fall fallboard system
For more information - see Kawai's announcement of the new NOVUS NV5.