KawaiMP11SE 88-Key The Pianist's Professional Stage Piano

If you have no room for a Steinway B and need something to get you ready for an acoustic grand piano, this is it. Action and sound both amazing. I have this and a very old MP9500 kawaii. I absolutely love what Kawaii did here. It’s almost like “being there” with a real acoustic piano.

Superb digital piano. Most authentic piano feel and great acoustic piano sound. For home use, it’s perfect. The best. If you plan to gig with it, be aware it’s a beast. 76 lbs. Would have selected Nord Grand for 30 lb lighter portability but compromise on keyboard feel. Highly recommend.

Up until I received this piano after reading many reviews and viewing YouTube comparison videos, I purchased this piano for pandemic-safe piano lessons on our deck with a canopy over us. (Curtains tied at posts to allow for free air flow.) I would not allow my students to learn on anything but a top-notch piano. Honestly I didn't know if any digital would fit the bill, so I had thoughts of returning this piano if it didn't meet expectations.Well, this piano blew me away! I have a 7.5-foot 1908 Bechstiein grand. For those who don't know the name Bechstein, it's one of the top makes and rivals Steinway, which has a better marketing department. I have to say that despite my love for my Bechstein, this digital Kawai enables me to play with even greater sensitivity and I feel I can elicit sophisticated nuance from the music with this instrument that I cannnot even with my superb grand. Even now a couple of months later I am in disbelief that this is a real piano and digital!Only complaint is its weight. Very heavy. I cannot lug it around by myself. Have to have my husband assist me when moving it to and from the deck for the lessons. I'm strong, too, since I strength-train. It's the wood keys that probably comprise most of the extra weight. The keys are authentically wooden keys and this contributes to the excellent feel of the keys. The other thing is the complex mechanism behind the keys that gives them such superb responsiveness. There's an escapement mechanism (fake but it works pretty well) which real pianists will know cannot be duplicated perfectly in anything but an acoustic grand piano. Most digitals don't even attempt a fake escapement.I really recommend this for any type of music, including classical music which is my specialty. NOTE: there are no internal speakers for this piano. To get any sound out of it at all, you MUST buy an amplifier. I went with a Behringer k900fx but these are hard to find these days. My next bet, based on going to a big music store (Sam Ash) and trying them out, would be the Roland 400. The sound of the Roland wasn't as round and warm as the sound from the Behringer that I bought online, but it was still wonderful. You don't want to skimp on the amp to go with this piano. If you get a cheap amp, it will change the sound and all the money you spent on this exquisite piano will go to waste.The piano's easy to set up and use. Make sure you turn on the amp first, then the piano, and in reverse when turning them off. I'm told by people who play lots of band gigs that the piano volume should never be set higher than "5" (out of 10) or you could blow out the electronics within the piano. Instead, if you need extra volume beyond the "5" setting, turn up the amplifier volume.A case is hard to find for this piano because the piano's so large. I ultimately went with the Gator GTSA-KEY88D TSA ATA Deep 88-Note Keyboard Case with Wheels after doing lots of research (again!) and talking with the people at Gator and the people at Kawai. Technically, this case shouldn't accommodate the piano since the piano's 7.5 inches deep and the case interior's 7 inches deep. However, it actually fits well with no problem. The Kawai people told me it would work and that they repair pianos that performing artists use (this same piano model) and they bring it in this case and everything's fine. The Gator people told me it might not work and that I should get the Kawai people to create a case for this piano. But they didn't seem interested. I think they know there's a case out there already that works. This one works just fine and has wheels to roll it on. HOWEVER, the case is 35 lbs., making the case + piano almost 100 lbs. altogether. With the length of the case/instrument, you're dragging 100 lbs. at a very gradual pitch and it's a lot of work to drag it with just the case on wheels. Then you need to lug the amplifier if you go out to play a gig, and the stand for the piano and a bench upon which to sit.So I bought also a dolly that converts to a hand truck. The Vergo Industrial AS7A, sold here at Amazon. It's been fantastic. All the others, too small. My husband and I are so glad we got the dolly. It makes all the difference in the world.I've saved you a ton of research by telling you about all these other things to get with the piano if you want to take it out and about. If it's just to sit in your home and be played, you will absolutely love this piano and its heft and size will be no inconvenience to you at all. I suggest a sturdy stand. I got a "Z"-stand that came recommended to me by a piano teacher colleague. I'm generally happy with it, but if I play a Chopin scherzo or Rachmaninoff, the stand and piano still wiggle a bit. I think a new stand should be created for the piano. It's not going to fall down or anything, but the piano deserves a solid stand for the virtuosic pianist who enjoys playing "showy" music.This is an incredible piano whose praises I cannot sing enough of. I'm a professional classical pianist who gigs and teaches, have an M.M. from a well-regarded music conservatory, and am just stunned that digital pianos have come so far. The price is high, but you will not believe the quality you get for it. So thankful to be able to offer my students pandemic-safe piano instruction outside with this excellent learning tool. They were beginning to "droop" with over a year of online instruction both from me and from their school districts. They have brightened and their love of piano lessons has returned. We just had a pandemic-safe recital on Sunday. Both students and guests were very happy with everything!