Kawai CN39 Digital Piano | Open Box

Product Overview

The Kawai CN39 Digital Piano is a mid-range digital built for professional or home use, with a rugged cabinet and elegant finish options. It is the top of their CN line-up, which also includes the CN29. Its class-leading, unrivaled Responsive Hammer III keyboard action recreates the supreme touch of an acoustic grand piano, with its realistic movement and rigid, the spring-less design providing a smooth and natural piano playing experience.

Merriam’s experience with the CN series has generally been extremely positive and one of our most successful digital products of all-time. We find them to be an excellent blend of technology in well-built but more simplified cabinets and feature sets, to keep costs down but performance high for the dollar.

The Kawai CN39 Digital Piano provides the voice of the Shigeru Kawai SK Ex Concert Grand piano – a piano that is the preferred option of concert pianists on some of the World’s most prestigious stages, along with over 300 additional sounds. This digital piano is suitable for pianists of all abilities, and ideal instruments for homes, schools, and religious institutions. Whether you are playing music through the powerful 4 speaker system or practicing late at night with headphones, the CN39 is an excellent option for those seeking a suitable alternative to an acoustic piano.

The CN39 is available in 3 finishes; Premium Rosewood, Satin White, and Satin Black.

Action

The CN39 uses Kawai’s Responsive Hammer III keyboard action, one of their most industry-celebrated actions in recent memory. It was developed from the RH2, which first gained attention on models like the ES7 CN25, and MP7. The RH3 has been deployed across most of their mid to upper-mid range digital pianos like the ES8, CN39, and MP7SE. It has a triple sensor that’s highly regarded as one of the most accurate in the industry for midi output, and a physical design including counterweights that simulates the dynamic resistance and realistic movement of an acoustic very well, with a realistic key-bed feel (i.e. there’s some give to it, just like an acoustic key hitting the felt punching under its front rail.)

Just like Roland’s PHA-4 and PHA-50, Kawai uses texture on its black and white keys to help with grip and absorb hand oils and excess moisture. The texture is less obvious than the ivory-simulated texture that Roland’s use, and instead treads closer to Kawai’s acoustic Neotex key surfaces on the white keys. The RH3 also employs an escapement/let-off simulation as well.

The RH3 can also be found on Nord’s new “GRAND” model, a digital piano that is also receiving rave reviews for its excellent touch. Overall, this action delivers a really authentic piano playing experience.

Sound Engine

With 256-note polyphony, the CN39 has Kawai’s latest sound technology with their Progressive Harmonic Imaging engine for its piano sounds. It features their newest Shigeru Kawai SK-EX Concert Grand Piano 88 key sampling set (one of the most popular acoustic selections at international piano competitions), the EX Concert Grand Piano, as well as several other acoustic grand piano sounds and electric piano simulations. There’s a whopping 355 sounds (incl 9 drum kits), which is a real critical differentiator compared to the CN29 which only has 19 sounds.

The virtual technician function allows for control over a plethora of parameters including damper resonance, string resonance, undamped string resonance, cabinet resonance, soft-pedal depth, half-pedal adjust, user key volume, fall-back noise, key-off effect, stretch tuning, minimum touch, damper noise, hammer delay, user temperament, user tuning, topboard and decay time. You can program your customized virtual technician designs with the smart mode, allowing for up to 10 presets.

The CN39 features full-range speakers and an amplification system developed by Japanese audio equipment specialist Onkyo. Despite the same 40 watts of speaker power as its predecessor the CN37, the CN39’s upgraded sound system definitely delivers improved tonal clarity over the CN37. The Lower-range frequencies are sent through the bottom of the piano, while the mid and high frequencies are delivered via top-mounted speakers, closely resembling the sound projection characteristics of an acoustic piano.

You’ve also got Kawai‘s Spatial Headphone Sound which enhances the experience when playing with headphones, creating a surround-sound style experience.

Connectivity

Kawai’s done a great job (as has Roland) in equipping nearly its entire lineup with Bluetooth Midi, and select instruments with Bluetooth Audio. Fortunately, the CN39 is no exception and actually has both Bluetooth options. This allows the piano to be used with Kawai’s virtual technician app as well as their Sound Museum app – essentially a remote-control for the piano. You can also connect the CN39 to a smart device and stream music through your piano.

It also has discrete audio line-ins and line-outs (both 1/4″ L/MONO, R [unbalanced]), which is super convenient for customers who want to send it through a stereo, PA, or recording device, without having the local speakers shut off (which does happen if you plug something into the headphone jacks).

Speaking of Headphone jacks, the CN39 has a discrete headphone amplifier with Onkyo processing, which gives you a much higher standard of audio quality and control for head-phone playing than what previous models could offer. It’s absolutely a more engaging and authentic experience, especially with a decent set of cans in the $100 – 250 range.

It is also possible to split the keyboard at any point to achieve a different voice in the upper and lower keyboard registers because it has the variety of a Digital Piano that compose of Wireless Bluetooth® connectivity, USB audio record/playback, Transpose, Dual, Split, and Four Hands keyboard modes, and a rich assortment of instrumental voices add greater variety to players’ performances tp enjoy popular playing modes like concert magic.

Notable Features

The audio recorder on the CN39 deserves special mention. You can record and overdub up to three songs to be stored within the internal memory for instant playback, with a 2-track recorder. This allows for left and right-hand parts (or two different voices) to be recorded separately. Considering the sheer amount of sounds and drum kits, there’s a ton of potential for hours of fun and creativity here.

• NEW: Motherboard developed in partnership with Onkyo for improved tonal clarity
• NEW: Speaker system developed by Onkyo, delivering superior sound
• NEW: Updated control panel layout with a modern Pixel OLED display
• NEW: Bluetooth Audio functionality for wireless audio playback (Ver. 4.1; GATT compatible)
• NEW: Shigeru Kawai SK-5 grand piano, electric piano, and electric grand sounds
• NEW: Tone Control setting with 8 selectable tones presets
• Progressive Harmonic Imaging Sound Technology w/88-Note piano sampling
• 6 types of Reverb
• Class-leading Responsive Hammer III keyboard action
• Ivory Touch key surfaces, let-off, triple sensor, counterweights
• Updated Virtual Technician “Smart Mode” presets
• Bluetooth® MIDI and Audio (Bluetooth Low Energy MIDI Specification compliant )
• Digital Audio – Play/Rec MP3 and WAV Files
• Built-in classical etudes, Chopin waltzes, Alfred lesson book, Burgmüller, Bach, Beyer, Czerny
• Grand Feel Pedal System with Soft, Sostenuto and Damper
• Modernized key cover appearance
• Convenient metronome function and integrated lessons

Conclusion

Another great entry from Kawai, the CN39 is a true beast, and should strongly be considered by institutions seeking a versatile digital option.

Kawai CN39 Owner’s Manual

• [English] CN39 Owner’s Manual

Kawai CN39 Related Resources

• [VIDEO] Kawai CN29 Digital Piano Review and Demo
• [VIDEO] Kawai CN29 vs CN39 Digital Piano Comparison, Review & Demo
• [BLOG] Kawai CN29 vs CN39 Comparison
• [BLOG] Kawai Digital Piano Series Overview