UPDATED REVIEW – April 4, 2014 – The Kohler KD5 piano is NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE. If you would like to know about alternative pianos that are available, please contact me.
Previous review – I recommend Kohler KD5 digital Baby Grand Piano with built-in CD player/recorder at its lower
price (see price info below). This model is a limited edition piano and
is only available in the US. I played this full size 5′ deep
digital baby grand about five years ago when it first came out and just
recently again and was quite impressed with it…except for its
original price at almost $7000. As of December 1st, I will be able to show you how to acquire one of these beautiful pianos for only $3999 in either polished ebony until when quantities are gone. This new lower price makes the KD5 more competitive in the lower price digital
grand piano market, particularly because of its larger 5′ baby grand cabinet and 360 watt 3 channel built in stereo speaker system.
The Kohler KD5 is from the Kohler/Samick acoustic piano company (left pic), a well known
acoustic piano manufacturer out of South Korea. Their US
headquarters is based out of Nashville, TN and the Kohler piano brand is over 100 years old and is owned entirely by Samick. The KD5 has authentic baby grand cabinet specs unlike the other brands of digital grand cabinets under $5000 which are “hybrid” cabinets.
A very unique aspect of this piano is that it has a built-in CD player/recorder. However, the keys on the piano DO NOT move up & down automatically from the CD because this model does not have a moving key “player system” built into it. Originally the KD5 was supposed to have the more expensive moving key system in it but Kohler decided to put that in a different model called a KD7 (which I have also reviewed on this blog). Otherwise the KD5 & KD7 are very similar. The KD5 CD player does allow you to play your favorite CD’s through the piano’s impressive sound system for listening entertainment or playalong with the piano, and you can even record your performance on the CD system and play it back, which is very cool. The CD player/recorder gives the KD5 that extra edge other piano don’t have, including regular acoustic pianos. The player system also comes with a remote control unit for easy operation.
The KD5 incorporates 30 digital instrument sounds
(including a good selection of impressive acoustic pianos, electric
pianos, organs, strings, choir, and other sounds) all produced by
the Korg pro keyboard company which is well known for their very
high quality instrument sounds used in their pro keyboards. That means
the instrument sounds are high quality and impressive to play and listen to. The sound control
buttons to activate the 30 instruments are located on the left side of
the keyboard and the piano volume and tone controls are on the right
side of the keyboard. They are simple & easy to use as well as
being “minimalistic” in design so they blend in fairly well on the piano
cabinet.
The KD5 has a MIDI output is a very cool feature for those people who want to have an interactive music experience with these external devices that are available these days. The 5′ deep (from front to back) baby grand piano furniture cabinet (left pic in polished mahogany)
is an authentic acoustic baby grand cabinet as I mentioned earlier and it has a full size pedal
assembly, full size thick piano legs, a full size dual level lid, and a
full size grand key cover. The cabinet also incorporates a higher
quality Sitka spruce soundboard (for an organic natural sound
disbursement) with a built-in huge sounding speaker system
which includes one 10″ subwoofer, 5 additional speakers of different
sizes, and three separate amplifiers totaling a whopping 360 watts of
power which is 3 times the power and fullness than the other digital grands in this price range. What that translates to is a big, full, rich tone with deep bass,
good clarity in the middle, and clean high notes without sounding too
brassy. The speakers are built right into the sound board and blend in
very nicely and seamlessly. Quite impressive.
The hammer key action in this piano is very nice and produced by the Fatar piano action company in Italy unlike smaller digital grands in this price range that normally have low quality Chinese key actions. The Fatar company is well known for producing high quality piano hammer key actions for digital pianos. This key action feels good and has actual wood keys just like an acoustic piano, moves smoothly, has graduated weighted keys that get slightly heavier as you play the keys from left to right, and is fairly quiet compared to many other digital pianos I have played. So the playing experience on this piano for those who play would be a satisfying one as far as key action goes.
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| Kohler KD5 speaker soundboard |
In my opinion, the only downside to this piano as far as specs is
concerned is the fact it only has 60 notes of polyphony. Polyphony is
how many notes can play or be heard at the same time (that’s the simple
explanation). This becomes more important if you happen to be a more
advanced player or are needing to layer two
sounds together often for manual play in complex music. 128 notes of polyphony memory would
have been better and and certainly an advantage to higher skill playing
levels. But if you are like most people including younger
or older piano students, 60 notes of polyphony should be more than enough unless you think you’ll be playing lots of keys at one time up
& down the keyboard and using lots of pedaling along with layering two sounds. But when it comes to playing straight acoustic piano sound (and there are many variations), or any other single instrument sound like the electric piano sounds of a Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Yamaha, and other famous pianos, this piano will keep up with most playing and songs.
The KD5 is a unique mix of technologies that for most people who play at recreational intermediate levels or less, will be a great piano to own because it does sound impressive with full piano sound coming through this extra large built-in sound system. And if you also want this piano for it’s looks and CD playing abilities, it’s equally impressive, especially for its new lower price until quantities are sold which I imagine won’t take long. Is this piano a replacement for a Steinway, Yamaha, or Kawai acoustic baby grand or the quality you get from one of those pianos?…absolutely not! But does the KD5 offer a satisfying playing experience for beginner through intermediate recreational players…yes it does. Please contact me directly for more info on this piano and how you can get one while they are available.
If you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call me direct at 602-571-1864
is the KD5 the same as the Kohler digital KD150. I am trying to find information on the KD150 Kohler KD150