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Speakers that do pianos really well

I recently had the good fortune to listen to a half a dozen pretty well-regarded speakers back-to-back. For these kind of sessions I like using piano recordings - either solo or jazz trio - as a measure because, to my ear at least, it seems that speakers that can reproduce piano really well seem to be pretty well sorted on everything else. The surprising thing was how many of these speakers did NOT do piano well. Of the group there were only two - Vandersteen and Verity - that I thought really captured the big chords, shadings, timbres, and reverberations cleanly and naturally. The rest - and I'm not going to call them out by name - offered a mixed bag of over-brightness, distortion, and general unnaturalness. I was very surprised by the results as I expected better from some of these speakers based on their reviews and reputations. So my question is, Does anyone else use the piano as a litmus test, and what speakers do people use that they think do pianos really well? Regards.
grimace
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Marty you touched on an interesting point, more than you might realize. There is a world of "pianophiles" that debate the merit of the tonal characteristics of different pianos as we do speakers whether or not you are aware of this. Check out the forum "Piano World" to see, passion abounds not unlike this forum. Steinway, Bluthner, Chickering, Fazoli, Steingraeber, Baldwin, Boesendorfer Yamaha and many others. They all have a different presentation so in that context, an audio system that might have the ability to differentiate the differences in tonality and harmonics, beyond generic realistic piano tone would indeed be extra special. One can always dig a little deeper to realize that it is seldom deep enough!

I do have a question though, can anyone differentiate the differences between piano manufacturers through an audio system? I generally get the Steinway because it has been widely used in classical recordings throughout the 20th Century and the harmonics of the instrument is unique not to say the best!
jburidan
803 posts
 
Tannoy Prestige line.
hevac1
812 posts
 
Any Verity speaker. I have had a few and all did excellent as do my Sarastro II. Decay time and midrange very important for Piano and the Ribbon tweeter in the Sarastro helps also.
wtf's avatar
wtf
307 posts
 
Marty .. indeed, an excellent point. Just curious if you have a favorite(s) recording for auditioning?
rleff
1,065 posts
 
I think my soundlab m2's resolve piano extremely well;maybe soundlab speakers could be a consideration if the size and your electronics can handle the impedances these speakers present.
Before I had my M2's I owned Dunlavy SC III's and these were almost as resolving as the soundlab's are;I would highly recommend them especially the bigger sc 4,5 or 6 if you have the room.
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