Do I need a subwoofer? Which brand and model?

Sorry about the shot in the dark. Grateful anyway. The piano reproduction in my setup is the worst of the lot. I have always suspected it but for the past couple of days I have focused on playing solo piano pieces and find the sound to be artificial. I don't know if it's the reproduction or the recording. I don't know if you know of a high quality solo piano recording I can try, I tried Artur Rubenstein Chopin, Vladimir Ashkenazy Bach, and a audiophile high res download of Bill Evans Waltz for Debby. I had my son play on a real piano alongside. This additionally confirmed that the notes from the system sound artificial. It may be that the system itself is not effective in this area - the mid level drivers are the ones that seem to be used.

My room has all hard surfaces. The furniture is all leather. There are no drapes - just blinds.

I will surely read all the articles. I have been reading in all my spare hours and switching from article to article.

Piano is one of the most difficult tasks that you can ask of your audio system. It goes beyond just having a system that is full range.

"I had my son play on a real piano alongside. This additionally confirmed that the notes from the system sound artificial. It may be that the system itself is not effective in this area - the mid level drivers are the ones that seem to be used."

That's a very good test. But I would recommend being cautious about upgrading here. To get things like timbre on a piano correct, is something that will take some work. You're not going to fix it with some well placed room tunes or switching to a speaker with different midrange drivers. You'll need to be comfortable moving into areas that go beyond specs. And that means you will be selecting components based on your experience while listening to them, and little else.

Before you do anything, I would recommend you seek a reference system. Find a system that will reproduce a piano to whatever standard that makes you happy. The reason for this, is so you can see if what you are asking for is even possible, and can be done at a price you can afford. I know that very few people do it this way because its a lot more work, and they would rather just go by reviews and opinion. But you will save yourself from making a ton of mistakes, by doing everything yourself.

Good advice Zd. Can you explain what you mean by a reference system? Do you mean an equipment setup put together by a dealer, for example, that is able to reproduce the sound the way I like it? I can try a local dealer that is willing to do that. I also need to find a piano recording that can be used in such a reference system, or even my own. By doing so, I would eliminate the effect of a poor recording. If you know of one, please let me know. I thought of contacting hdtracks.com to see if they will even respond to this question.

I found this thread on good piano recordings somewhere and will give these a try.

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=31982.0