Description
Experience the magnificent Kawai K800 AS at Cambridge Pianoforte’s showroom – where over 50 years of expertise meets the absolute pinnacle of upright piano craftsmanship. As one of the UK’s longest-serving Kawai agents, we’re proud to keep this extraordinary instrument in stock for you to play and compare.
The Epitome of Upright Piano Excellence
The Kawai K800 AS represents the culmination of century’s of piano-making expertise – an instrument that embodies everything the company has learned about creating the perfect upright piano. This is not simply an excellent upright; the K800 AS is Kawai’s definitive statement about what an upright piano can achieve when craftsmanship, materials, and engineering are allowed to reach their highest expression.
Its elegant form commands presence in any professional setting, whilst its exceptional tone delivers the musical sophistication demanded by the most discerning musicians and educators. This is an instrument designed without compromise for those whose musical standards accept nothing less than perfection.
Advanced Acoustic Engineering
Agraffes: Grand Piano Precision
The K800 AS features agraffes – precision-engineered brass guides that control string spacing and height with absolute accuracy. Found on the finest grand pianos, agraffes ensure perfect string alignment and provide an additional bearing point that enhances tonal clarity and sustain. This sophisticated component contributes to the Kawai K800 AS’s exceptional tonal purity and projection.
Full Duplex Scaling: Enhanced Harmonic Richness
The K800 AS incorporates full duplex scaling – both upper and lower – representing the most advanced acoustic design in upright piano construction. Duplex scaling carefully tunes the non-speaking lengths of strings (segments beyond the speaking length) to vibrate sympathetically with the main string vibrations, creating additional harmonic overtones that enrich the instrument’s tonal complexity and colour.
This sophisticated enhancement adds brilliance, depth, and harmonic sophistication to every note, creating a rich tapestry of overtones that gives the K800 AS its distinctive, complex voice – a characteristic normally associated only with the finest grand pianos.
Royal George Hammer Felt: Premium Tonal Quality
The K800 AS is voiced using Royal George hammer felt – the finest hammer felt available, renowned for its exceptional tonal qualities and longevity. This premium felt provides optimal density and resilience, allowing precise voicing and ensuring the hammers produce rich, complex tone with beautiful singing quality across the entire dynamic range.
Combined with mahogany hammer cores that are lightweight and extremely responsive, and T-stapling that preserves hammer shape, the K-800 AS’s hammers are fitted with an added interior layer of underfelt to support the creation of exceptional tone. Every detail contributes to the instrument’s ability to express the subtlest musical nuances.
The Millennium III Action: Ultimate Responsiveness
At the heart of the K800 AS lies Kawai’s revolutionary Millennium III action featuring components made from ABS-Carbon (an advanced composite created by infusing carbon fibre into Kawai’s renowned ABS Styran). This action is incredibly sturdy and rigid, allowing the creation of parts that are lighter without sacrificing strength.
A stronger, faster action that offers more power, better control, and greater stability than conventional all-wood actions – providing the professional pianist with complete mastery over every musical gesture.
Extended Keys with Premium NEOTEX Surfaces
The K800 AS features extended key length throughout the keyboard, combined with Kawai’s exclusive NEOTEX key surface material on both sharps and naturals. Extended keys provide more even response from front to back of the playing surface, giving you greater control and more power with less effort.
NEOTEX, made with cellulose fibre, offers the smooth, understated texture of natural ivory and ebony, with a semi-porous, silica-filled surface that absorbs the hand’s natural oils and perspiration to prevent slipping. This premium surface material resists cracking and fading over years of intensive professional use.
True Sostenuto Pedal
The K800 AS features a true sostenuto pedal – the middle pedal found on concert grand pianos. This sophisticated mechanism sustains only those notes whose keys are depressed when the pedal is activated, allowing advanced techniques essential for certain repertoire. The true sostenuto pedal expands the K-800 AS’s expressive possibilities, making it capable of executing passages that require this specialised function.
Precision Engineering Throughout
Three die-cast aluminium action brackets, formed from custom moulds to ensure exact uniformity, provide exceptional strength and stability. These brackets maintain accurate touch and consistent regulation over years of intensive professional use, ensuring the K800 AS’s extraordinary responsiveness remains constant.
Engineered for Exceptional Tone
The Tapered Soundboard: Heart of Musical Expression
The soundboard is the heart of any piano. Kawai uses only straight-grained, quarter-sawn solid spruce for K800 AS soundboards – each strategically tapered to maximise tone-producing capability. Only soundboards meeting or exceeding Kawai’s demanding quality standards are selected for this flagship instrument.
The K800 AS’s soundboard is carefully tapered from bass to treble range, optimising resonance and projection across the entire sound spectrum. The result is an instrument capable of extraordinary tonal beauty: singing clarity in the treble, warmth and presence in the midrange, and depth and power in the bass registers.
The K800 AS delivers the complete tonal palette required for the most demanding repertoire – from baroque counterpoint to contemporary works – with the harmonic richness, dynamic range, and tonal sophistication that professionals demand.
Grand-Style Appointments
Hard Finish Music Rack
The K800 AS features a grand-style “hard finish” music rack – a distinctive design element that reflects the instrument’s premium status. This elegant feature provides generous space for scores whilst adding to the piano’s refined aesthetic presence.
Professional-Grade Construction
The steel-reinforced keyslip prevents warping or bending with changes in humidity, ensuring keys move freely with virtually no possibility of rubbing or sticking. The piano’s keybed is constructed from sturdy laminated hardwoods and reinforced by rear braces on the cast iron frame, providing unwavering stability for decades of professional use.
Every aspect of the K800 AS’s construction reflects its status as Kawai’s flagship upright piano – an instrument built to maintain its exceptional performance characteristics throughout a lifetime of professional service.
The Professional’s Ultimate Instrument
The K800 AS’s uncompromising specifications and exceptional qualities make it the definitive choice for:
- Professional teaching studios where the instrument must inspire excellence in every student
- Conservatoire practice rooms requiring instruments worthy of the most advanced students
- Intimate performance venues demanding concert-level tone and touch
- Recording studios seeking the finest upright piano voice
- Professional pianists who require the ultimate upright piano for home practice
- Institutions where only the very best represents acceptable standards
This is not simply an excellent upright piano – the K800 AS is an instrument that challenges the fundamental distinction between upright and grand piano performance, offering professionals a viable alternative when space or budget makes a concert grand impractical.
Upgrade to Silent Technology
The Kawai K800 AS is also available with Kawai’s ATX4 Silent System factory-fitted – the ultimate practice instrument. The ATX4 system captures every nuance of the Millennium III action with true sostenuto pedal and NEOTEX surfaces, whilst offering the convenience of silent practice through headphones.
Ask our team about the K800 AS ATX4 model when you visit.
The Cambridge Pianoforte Difference
When you choose to purchase your Kawai K800 AS from Cambridge Pianoforte, you’re entrusting your investment to Cambridge’s most established and respected piano specialists. As an independent, family-run business celebrating over 50 years of service, we understand that an instrument of this calibre deserves the highest level of expertise and care.
Our comprehensive professional service includes:
- Expert delivery and installation by our trained technicians at a time convenient for you (see Delivery tab for full details)
- Complimentary tuning package with your new piano purchase
- Ongoing technical support from technicians trained at Steinway’s Hamburg facility – the same professionals trusted by world-renowned pianists and Cambridge’s most prestigious concert venues including Trinity College, King’s College, Cambridge Corn Exchange, West Road Concert Hall, and Saffron Hall
- Specialist regulation and voicing services to maintain your K800 AS’s exceptional performance standards and tailor the instrument precisely to your tonal and touch preferences
- Expert consultation on piano placement, room acoustics, and instrument care to ensure optimal performance
- Showroom experience where you can play and compare instruments, experiencing the K-800 AS’s exceptional capabilities in a professional setting
Visit our Cambridge showroom to experience the K800 AS’s extraordinary capabilities for yourself, or call us to discuss how Kawai’s flagship upright piano could transform your professional practice or teaching studio.
Please refer to the Specification tab for detailed dimensions and weight information. Full delivery information, returns policy, and terms and conditions are available in their respective tabs.
Ready to experience the epitome of upright piano craftsmanship? Call Cambridge Pianoforte or visit our showroom – we’re here to help.
